Completing the triangle: how students, college faculty and a local chapter formed an MTNA collegiate student chapter at Western Washington University.(Forum Focus: Collegiate Chapter)(Music Teachers National Association)

The academic year at Western Washington University began with our MTNA collegiate chapter, now in its second year, hosting a convocation for our entire music department on the second day of classes. Jonathan Metz, the savvy collegiate chapter president, succeeded in mobilizing our music department chair and music faculty to attend, with the goal of enticing both incoming and returning students to join. The collegiate chapter provided pizza and refreshments.

Looking back three or four years, I recall being nudged by my friend Dorie Guidon of the Bellingham MTA Chapter regarding the possible formation of a collegiate chapter at Western. Guidon, a former chapter president, state conference chair, and district vice president, wondered why Western, with its large music department and thriving piano area, did not have a student chapter. She also wondered why Washington State, with its large MTNA membership, had so few collegiate student chapters at the time. The topic of collegiate chapters came up with increasing frequency in WSMTA leadership seminars and state conferences. I joined the Education Board in 2007, where the nudges coming from Debra Florian, chair of the Education Board, Northwest Division director, and a former state president, proved too persuasive for me to resist any longer.

I got things started by arranging for Guidon to meet with students taking the piano pedagogy course at Western to see whether there would be interest in forming a collegiate chapter. Right from the start, she was impressed by how active the students were. To quote Guidon, "It was the students who ran with the ball." There was a quick follow-up meeting with Guidon where all of the officer positions were filled, including two vice presidents, and the collegiate chapter application was completed. All of the students who joined as officers already had their own private students or wanted that for their own futures. They all had had former teachers who encouraged them to teach their own students. All of them had come to the realization that they are going to have to teach to make a living.

The Bellingham MTA offered to mentor members of the newly formed student chapter on a one-to-one basis, and assist with any start-up activities. Guidon had ...