Music Educators Association of New Jersey

Serving teachers and students since 1927

Welcome to the Music Educators Association of New Jersey Website!

Celebrating 90 Years of Music Excellence

The Music Educators Association of NJ is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization of private piano teachers founded in 1927. Our mission is to raise the standards of private music teaching throughout New Jersey, while encouraging musical excellence and instilling a love of music in our students. To achieve these goals, we provide continuing education opportunities for our member teachers through monthly lectures, workshops, recitals and master classes. For our students, we offer auditions, competitions, recitals, scholarships and master classes given by artist teachers. Our current President is Yudit Terry, 2019-2021. Click here to read Messages from the President. (These can also be found under Membership on the main menu.)

We invite you to browse our website and discover the exciting world of music MEA offers.

Please note that hyperlinks are noted in Bold Red and when clicked will bring you directly to related pages or forms.

The Glissando, January 2021
Start off the New Year with another great issue of The Glissando!

Richard Allaway, and his staff, bring us another great issue of The Glissando  with Opus 93, No. 2! If you are not getting your e-letters via email blast, contact Lisa@mea-nj.org.  The Glissando is also posted under: Forms /Downloads.

MEA GENERAL MEETING
January 21, 2021
Magdalena Baczewska

Debussy’s Many Worlds of Sound

 How to revolutionize music while respecting the tradition? Claude Debussy’s musical innovations and expansion of the musical language go hand in hand with the composer’s close attention to the compositional techniques of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In his cycles for solo piano, Estampes and Images, Debussy creates a revolution.
You can visit Ms. Baczewska's website here: https://www.magdalenanyc.com

Members will be sent the Zoom link to this meeting in an email blast.

2021 Eric Steiner Original Composition Competition
Registration is now open!

Registration is now open for the 2021 Eric Steiner Original Composition Competition. The deadline to enter is March 1st.  Because of the nature of the competition, late submissions cannot be accepted.

Please be sure to check the Print Version PDF, linked from the Eric Steiner Original Composition Competition webpage  for the latest updates. You will find the link in the upper right hand corner of the webpage. Thank you!

Kathy Knittel, Chair:  compositioncompetition@mea-nj.org

2021 Annual Piano Competition
The 2021 Interactive APC Syllabus Has Arrived!
Join us on “A Musical Journey to Vienna!”

Click Here for the Interactive Syllabus

The Annual Piano Competition Committee is proud to announce that the 2021 syllabus is now available in an interactive format.  Just click on any of the links to hear the selections. The theme is "A Musical Journey to Vienna" and features the music of Schubert, Mozart, Brahms, Haydn, Beethoven and more, in the categories of solos, concertos, duets, and duos.  The competition is tentatively scheduled to take place in May 2021. Please look the syllabus over, listen to some of this glorious music, and encourage your students to enter and begin their own musical journey! 

2020 HONORS RECITALS 

COMING SOON . . . 
The MEA Honors Recital provides a wonderful opportunity for qualified students to perform. Because of potential health concerns, MEA conducted video auditions for the first time. Students submitted two videos, each one representing a different  musical period. Two judges evaluated each student’s performances via links to YouTube. Of the 70 submissions, the judges awarded Honors to 61 talented soloists! 
 
Brilliant! Fantastic! Sparkling! are only some of the words used to describe the performances. All students have received the judges’ evaluations and certificates awarding Honorable Mention or Honors. The 17 participating teachers will receive the engraved trophies to present to their students.
 
Three beautiful Recital Videos are being created, showcasing the outstanding musicianship of these Honors Students. They will be available soon for viewing through the MEA website. Teachers will be notified when the recitals have been uploaded.
 
Congratulations to the pianists, their parents and teachers! Thank you to the judges, the Honors Recital Committee, the Video Editor, and MEA-NJ for making this new format a success!
 
Charlene Step
Honors Recital Chair

General meeting: Thursday November 19, 2020 
Paul Roberts — Reading Liszt: Performing the Petrarch Sonnets

Read the Highlights HERE

If you missed this wonderful meeting, no worries!

The Zoom link to view the recorded version was sent via email to our membership. If you missed that email blast and want to watch, reach out to Lisa@mea-nj.org.

Concert pianist, writer, lecturer and inspiring teacher Paul Roberts performed the three Petrarch Sonnets from Liszt's Italian book of the Années de pèlerinage, with readings from the poems, and explored how an understanding of the literary context can aid interpretation. 

Paul Roberts Website

September 17, 2020
Beatrice Long Presented
A Musical Journey to Vienna
Read The Highlights Here.

In connection to the MEA Annual Piano Competition 2021, Beatrice Long presented a lecture on the music scenes in Vienna from 1750-1899, and the lives of nine Viennese composers whose works are featured in the 2021 competition’s syllabus:  Haydn, Mozart, Diabelli, Schubert, Beethoven, Czerny, Hummel, Johann Strauss II and Brahms.

This presentation was held via Zoom. Beatrice did a wonderful job with the technology and topic! All the guests fortunate enough to attend were inspired by the joy shared through the music, her live performances and the many interesting stories told. Be sure to read the highlights written by Bertha Mandel Here.

2020 COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED

The Scholarship Committee is pleased to announce that James Bally, student of Sondra
Tammam, has been awarded an MEA-MJN scholarship to William Paterson University for the fall 2020 semester. A jazz performance major, James enjoys composing and performed two of his original jazz compositions at recent Honors Recitals. In addition, he performed during the “virtual” jazz class conducted by Dan Crisci at the 9th Taubman Festival in June 2020. To read more about this talented student, please click
 
The MEA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, and all donations to the MEA-MJN Scholarship Fund are fully tax-deductible. The scholarship fund relies solely on generous individual donations, matching contributions from employers, and music sales at the monthly MEA General Meetings (when they are held in person). Making a contribution to this fund is a meaningful way to honor a person with congratulations (birthday, anniversary, graduation, etc.), get well wishes, or in memoriam. An announcement of your tribute, including your personal message, will be sent to the honoree. Please donate generously so that MEA can maintain and expand this supportive program!
Charlene Step & Sondra Tammam
Scholarship Committee Co-chairs

THE ANNUAL PIANO COMPETITION 2020
WINNERS' RECITAL
THE BEST OF YESTERYEAR
APPLAUSE!!!!

We are pleased to present the MEA-NJ Annual Piano Competition Winners' Recital in video this year! A special thanks to Youn-Hee Kim, a competition committee member, for  taking on this huge project. The recital is presented in three separate video clips from Youtube. To start enjoying these wonderful performances, click on one of the following links. We hope you of course watch all three segments!
 
 
 
 Congratulations to Barbara Landi Hause and Anna Katznelson, Co-chairs, and their entire committee for holding the competition under such challenging circumstances. BRAVO!!!

2019-20  MEA MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY 

The 2019-20 Membership Directory can be found on your Member Homepage. Log on and take a look. It is listed under Downloadable Documents. You can view or Download. 

The new 2020-21 Directory should be ready by early November.