MTNA Foundation

Chairperson: MINA HIROBE-PERRY (MTNAfoundation@njmta.com)

The future of music education is firmly in the hands of today’s music teachers and students. Our musical future needs a sound foundation built by teachers dedicated to the education of their students. Those teachers need a strong system to support their continuing improvement as educators, businesspeople and cultural-bearers.

Music Teachers National Association, with its 25,000 independent and collegiate member teachers, is an important part of the support system moving music teaching into the twenty-first century. The MTNA Foundation, established in 1989, is committed to keeping America’s music future alive for succeeding generations by supporting programs that demonstrate the value and enhance public understanding of the music teaching profession. The MTNA Foundation supports comprehensive programs that nurture the creation, performance, study, and teaching of music.

Take a few moments to think about music and its place in your daily life. Consider becoming a part of the support system through your involvement in the MTNA Foundation. You can help the MTNA Foundation with your investment in programs that:

• Award teacher enrichment grants to MTNA members for private study or collegiate level coursework.

• Encourage educational projects and community outreach through matching grants to MTNA local associations.

• Offer workshops, seminars, symposia, and other educational programs on topics and issues of importance to the music teaching profession.

• Encourage the generation and performance of new American music through the national composition commission program.

• Bring about the creation of new works by American composers with the MTNA Distinguished Composer of the Year award.

• Encourage student achievement with awards through MTNA Student Competitions at elementary, junior high, high school, and collegiate levels.

• Enable students to participate in MTNA competitions through travel grants.

NJMTA’s 2024 Foundation Fellow: FRANCES CLARK

(1905 - 1998)

Recognized as a preeminent authority in piano pedagogy worldwide, Frances Clark co-founded and served as the President of The New School for Music Study. Until 1994, she held the position of Adjunct Professor of Piano Pedagogy in the Piano Pedagogy and Performance degree program at Westminster Choir College. Dr. Clark is renowned as the co-author of an extensive library of piano study materials bearing her name.

She holds A.B. and D.M. degrees from Kalamazoo College and pursued graduate studies at the Juilliard School, the Paris Conservatory, and the Fontainebleau Academy. In 1945, at Kalamazoo College, Dr. Clark initiated and directed the first four-year undergraduate degree program in piano pedagogy offered by any American college oruniversity. In 1955, Westminster Choir College invited her to establish a similar program for its piano and organ majors.

Subsequently, in 1960, she co-founded The New School for Music Study as a postgraduate center for piano pedagogy and music research.

She has conducted workshops and study courses on college and university campuses across the United Statesand internationally. Furthermore, she has served as a consultant to other academic institutions looking to establish degree programs in piano pedagogy. She is an honorary member of the National Society of Arts and Letters and ofAlpha Sigma Iota Honorary Music Fraternity.

Dr. Clark holds the prestigious Master Teacher Certificate from the Music Teachers National Association, and in1984, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award, the only one ever offered by the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy.

Fellow Program

The Music Teachers National Association Foundation Fellow program offers a meaningful method for honoring deserving individuals while supporting the efforts of the MTNA Foundation Fund through a donation to the Foundation Fund in an individual’s name.

MTNA Foundation Fellows in recognition of their extraordinary service to NJMTA

2023 Julia Lam
2022 Yining Wang
2021 Ting Ting Lien
2020 Tomoko Harada
2019 Hendry Wijaya
2018 Marvin Blickenstaff
2017 Wei-Yuh Christina Xie
2016 Chiu-Tze Lin
2015 Deborah Gers

The Foundation Fund is the repository for all funds from the former MTNA Foundation that was integrated into MTNA on July 1, 2003. It is the fund that receives all tax-deductible contributions to MTNA and is held and maintained separately from MTNA funds. Since the establishment of the MTNA Foundation in 1989, many thousands of dollars have been provided in grants and awards to students, gifted composers, outstanding teachers, and performers and to local associations. By investing in MTNA through your contribution to the MTNA foundation fund, you can support MTNA’s mission to advance the value of music study and music making to society and to support the professionalism of music teachers, thus helping us work for a more musical tomorrow.

Please visit the MTNA website for more information on the Foundation Fund.

MTNA Endowment Fund