Texas Music Teachers Association

Amazing People ✅
Great Performances ✅
Best State for Music ✅

That’s a WRAP! Thank you to all of our presenters, performers, vendors, guests, parents, students, and teachers who made our 2026 Conference one for the books. See you next year in Dallas!

Yesterday at the Conference, we were fortunate to celebrate our most valuable asset - our teachers and their love of music. Thank you all for the lasting impact that you’ve made on your students and the musical culture of Texas

TMTA Teacher of the Year: Lisa DeBellevue, Carrollton and Dallas

TMTA Pre-Collegiate Teacher of the Year: Hye-Gyung Ji, Lubbock

TMTA Collegiate Teacher of the Year: Ilka Araujo, Fort Worth

We were also honored to host Dr. Christopher Guzman (a former TMTA student affiliate!) for a recital filled with intellect, command, and imagination. Dr. Guzman now enjoys a thriving career as an educator and concert artist.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has engaged with our social media during the conference! So far have attracted over 40k engagements between our Facebook and Instagram pages - we love the enthusiasm in our Texas community!

Texas is fortunate to have many thriving collegiate chapters, and their talents and expertise were on full display yesterday at our Collegiate track at the Conference! From collaborative piano to musical exoticism to working with students with autism, your presentations were outstanding and filled with insight. Congratulations to you and your advisors!

PERFORMANCE CONTEST WINNERS
Elias Yuen - Piano Solo Junior 1
Avery Nguyen - Piano Solo Junior 2
Lillian Bai - Piano Solo Senior 1
Chris Hao - Piano Solo Senior 2
Andrew Nan - Piano Concerto Senior 1/2
Kaitlyn Ouyang - Piano Solo Senior 3
Anjali Thevananther - Piano Solo Senior 4
George Robinson - Piano Concerto Senior 3/4
Yishan Xiao - Piano Solo Young Artist
Sangeun Kang - Organ Solo
Mason Hayes - Vocal Solo 1/2
Maggie Li - Vocal Solo 3/4
Paxton Nomura - Orchestral Solo 1/2
Ya Wen - Orchestral Solo 3/4
Kaylah Paxton - Orchestral Solo Young Artist

We’re having an amazing time at the Conference! Congrats to Plano MTNA on winning Best of State. Also pictured: the Fargason Memorial Concert featuring jaw-dropping performances from our finest young talent, our tireless Performance Contest judges, a moving and inspiring keynote address from Dr. Christopher Fisher, and an outstanding collegiate master class by Prof. Katherine Fisher.

Greetings from your TMTA leadership team! We’re thrilled to bring you a conference filled with great music, great ideas, and great people. Please make sure to tag us with in your posts.

See you tomorrow in Houston, TMTA! Our Performance Contest begins bright and early, and we wish all of our participants good luck

WEDNESDAY
Orchestral Instruments (all levels): Dogwood
Piano Concerto (all levels): Regency
Piano Solo Junior Division 1: Arboretum IV
Piano Solo Junior Division 2: Imperial West
Piano Solo Senior Division 1: Arboretum II
Piano Solo Senior Division 2: Arboretum IV
Piano Solo Senior Division 3: Arboretum II
Piano Solo Senior Division 4: Imperial West
Piano Solo Young Artist: Imperial West
Vocal Solo Senior Division (all levels): Cottonwood

THURSDAY
Piano Solo Junior Division 1 Finals: Dogwood
Piano Solo Junior Division 2 Finals: Arboretum II
Piano Solo Senior Division 1 Finals: Cottonwood
Piano Solo Senior Division 2 Finals: Dogwood
Piano Solo Junior Division 3 Finals: Cottonwood
Piano Solo Junior Division 4 Finals: Arboretum II

Please remember the following rules and regulations for the Performance Contest:

*Neither contestants nor their teachers are to identify themselves to the judges at any level of the contest. No conversation beyond the running of the contest is allowed between judges, teachers, and students.

*Students are not allowed any additional time in the warm-up or contest rooms. Students found using a piano outside of their assigned times may be disqualified.

*For additional practice time beyond the assigned warm-up times, there is a piano lab in Live Oak (4th floor) available for contestant use. Please limit time to 15 minutes if others are waiting.

*Contestants are allowed up to one minute to warm-up before beginning the performance. Contestants may not play any portion of their contest program as they warm-up.

*Contestants should wear appropriate, formal performance attire.

*All music must be published and copyrighted. Measures should be numbered at the beginning of each system for the judges. Names of students, teachers, and any other identifying marks must have been removed from the music.

*Critique sheets, certificates, and awards will be distributed at the results presentations in Window Box (2nd floor). Results will also be posted on the Winners Boards in the Exhibit Hall following announcements.

*First place winners will perform on recitals on Thursday at 5 PM (Piano Solo Junior 1, Junior 2, and Senior 1, Concerto Senior 1/2, Instrumental Junior 1/2 and Senior 1/2, and Vocal Senior 1/2) and 8 PM (everyone else) in Regency (2nd floor).

*Plaques and checks not picked up will be mailed. Critique sheets will not be mailed.

Make sure to save time on Thursday to see our collegiate chapters in action! We have a full schedule of events designed to showcase the many bright and innovative ideas from students all across Texas.

Arboretum IV
11:30-12:30 Collegiate Master-Master Class with Katherine Fisher

President's Suite (2920)
12:30-1:30 - Young Professionals Meet and Greet

Arboretum IV
1:40-2:00 - Alissa Ruff, "The Piano Teacher’s Spellbook: Magical Metaphors for Musical Mastery"

2:00-2:20 - Emma Fernandez, "Nurturing Creative Musicianship: Improvisation Resources for the Piano Studio"

2:20-2:40 - Lingxi Liu, "The Athlete at the Piano: Investigating Pre-Lesson Physical Warm-Ups and Their Impact on Piano Performance"

2:50-3:10: Soyoung Bae, "Listening and Structure: What Musical Features Help Autistic Learners Engage in Piano Lessons?"

3:10-3:30: Stephanie Christiano, "Unlocking Secure Memory: Revealing Musical Structure through Structural Mapping and Matrix Diagramming"

3:30-3:50: Xiaolin Chen, "Imagination and Integration: Exploring Exoticism in Mozart, Debussy, and Chen Yi"

4:00-4:20: Yuda Jiang, "From Technical Grouping to Musical Pulse: Teaching Upbeat and Downbeat through Physical Motion"

4:20-4:40: Brenno Candido de Lima, "Collaborative Piano as a Musical Discipline: Artistic and Pedagogical Perspectives of Elvia Puccinelli"

In addition to our many wonderful presenters at the Convention next week, don't forget about these performances by our members, new teachers and students!

WEDNESDAY, 7:30-8:30 (Regency Room)
Jo Ann Dunn Fargason Memorial Concert
This exciting concert will showcase MTNA/TMTA State Performance and Composition Competition Winners.

THURSDAY, 5:00-6:30 and 8:00-9:30 (Regency Room)
Performance Contest Winners Recitals
TMTA SA Performance Contest Winners from the Wednesday and Thursday competitions will be showcased on these recitals. There will be an afternoon recital for Junior Division 1 and 2 and Senior Division 1 and 2 winners followed by an evening recital for Senior Division 3 and 4 and Young Artist winners.

THURSDAY 6:30-7:30 (Imperial West)
New College Faculty and Commissioned Composer Recital
The New College Faculty Recital and the premiere performance of this year’s commissioned composition by Jack Benson will constitute this evening recital.