Jan Mittelstaedt | Portland, Oregon Piano Teacher

Trusted educator,

accomplished

composer.

Jan is a sitting member of the Governing Board of Cascadia Composers, a nonprofit association for music composers in the Pacific Northwest. Based in Oregon and comprised of over 100 composers, it is the largest local chapter of the National Association of Composers USA, and a go-to resource within the Pacific Northwest for exciting and inspirational music. Inclusive and accessible, Cascadia Composers celebrates diversity and an expansive palette of artistic voices.

Jan is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM) by the Music Teachers National Association's Professional Certification Program. This certification exists to improve the level of professionalism within the field of music teaching. For the public, certification helps readily identify competent music teachers in their communities. The program is based upon a set of five standards defining what a competent music teacher should know and be able to do.

Jan is the Director for In Good Hands, a yearly concert series that pairs up local composers with teachers and students. Students communicate directly with the composer and describe a situation or feeling for the composer to base their piece on. Students practice and make the pieces their own, before performing them during the concert. The series has been acclaimed and beloved for years, and is expanding this year to a Eugene concert as well as a Portland one.

"The ESMAR program, developed by Jan Mittelstaedt, is very innovative. I used it for students who had completed OMTA's syllabus program. It is particularly useful and appropriate for motivated students who are not ready for or do not wish to participate in highly competitive auditions for OMTA, MTNA or other organizations.

ESMAR prepares a student for college music but is not limited only to students who wish to major or minor in music. It prepares them for a lifetime of enjoyment. My students solidified their 10 years of OMTA Syllabus study and stretched beyond. Playing by ear, transposing, sight reading, and preparing a recital for the public were some of the activities that were new to them. Since my students take fall syllabus evaluations, they had one and a half years to prepare for their ESMAR assessments. I recommend that many students might take 18 months for preparation so they will have plenty of time to organize a full recital and become comfortable with playing by ear and transposing. It was fun to have a different thrust to the education of my students and I learned right along with them.

For ten years our students have experienced a very private evaluation with an adjudicator who writes his or her critiques. ESMAR is completely different! Parents and teachers (take along paper and pen!) are invited to sit in on the experience. [The instructor] works with the student as in a private master class rather than silently writing a critique. Everyone learns and the student plays even better!

My two students also enjoyed the collaborative recital of all the students taking ESMAR. They heard great music from their peers in a non-competitive atmosphere and felt good about their own success. They had time to chat with the other students afterwards as friends completing a hurdle and enjoying it all.

There are so many plusses for this program of which I have barely scratched the surface. It is a college music preparatory program, but all of your motivated students will benefit from it and so will you as a teacher. You’ll learn right along with them!"

– Pauline Eidemiller, NCTM and former President, Oregon Music Teachers Association (1996-1998)