MMTA’s 2019 Musical Achievement Evaluations (MAE) were held in two locations: Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy (April 7) and Indian Hill Music School in Littleton (April 14). MAE is a great opportunity for piano students to receive feedback on their work in a non-competitive environment. Students perform their selected repertoire in a one-on-one evaluation session and receive written and verbal feedback, as well as an opportunity to practice the suggested improvements with the evaluator during their assessment.

We were honored to have the following evaluators this year: Dr. Lisa Cleveland, Vladimir Gurin, Ellyses Kuan, Dr. Gulimina Mahamuti, and Heather Riley. Thank you to each of our wonderful evaluators! Also, MMTA would like to extend a special thanks to Dr. John Nielson who helped organize the Eastern Nazarene College location and personally assisted with the event. Last but not least, thank you to all the teachers who helped to prepare their students for the MAE program. Your work and dedication to music education is so appreciated!

We were so happy to receive positive feedback from students and parents about this year’s MAE event. The students arrived very well-prepared and dressed up in performance attire. Students and parents came out of the evaluations smiling and happily reading the evaluators’ comments. It was an encouraging, inspiring, and supportive experience for everyone involved! Congratulations to all the participating students for their hard work in preparation for MAE!

We hope to expand the MAE program in the future to include opportunities for other music students (e.g. strings, winds) to participate. Meanwhile, we are also brainstorming ways to reach to more teachers who live further away from the current evaluation locations. If you have any suggestions, please contact Penny Ouellette, Musical Achievement Evaluations Chair.