About Jan Mittelstaedt
Jan Mittelstaedt grew up in Port Washington, New York, studying piano and oboe. After graduation, she married her high school sweetheart, Ron, and moved to Houston, Texas, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before finally settling in the Portland metro area together, where they raised their three children. Over time, music became central to Jan’s life and she gradually embraced her role as a music teacher. Ron has supported Jan in her endeavors throughout her career.
Jan holds a Bachelor of Science in education from Bucknell University, a Bachelor of Arts in music from Marylhurst University, and a Master of Music in composition from the University of Portland. She has studied composition with Sister Anne Cecile Daigle at Marylhurst, with Dr. Walter B. Saul II at the University of Portland, and independently. Jan is the composer of 13 published piano solos and close to 100 self-published works spanning multiple genres, for a wide range of instruments and voices, including ensemble pieces. She has composed for all levels of performance, from beginner to advanced. She has collaborated with expert performers and composers of instruments of all kinds. Jan has owned and operated her own piano studio for more than thirty years, teaching lessons to hundreds of students at all levels, and she has recently begun digitizing and selling her work digitally to make it more accessible to teachers and students. For a brief time, Jan was also inspired to write poetry.
Jan earned the title of Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM) in piano from the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). This certification exists to improve the level of professionalism within the field of music teaching. The program is based on a set of five standards defining what a competent music teacher should know or be able to do.
She went on to adjudicate Syllabus exams for many years while working at the Oregon Music Teachers Association (OMTA), where she has been an active member since 1982. She has served at both the District and State levels. She worked on the Syllabus committee, planning the first Adjudicator Conference as well as traveling throughout the state for presentations on repertoire and theory. Jan has served as Program Chair for the Portland OMTA. She has given programs for teachers in various OMTA districts on contemporary music for syllabus, ensemble music, teaching and practice ideas, the hemiola in piano music, and composition pedagogy. She also adjudicates student compositions.
In June of 2023, Jan received the OMTA Nellie Tholen Excellence in Teaching award. She also received the Composer of the Year award from OMTA in 1994 and wrote ‘Journey Through a Shadow’, a flute and piano ensemble, which was performed at the state OMTA Conference in Bend, Oregon. She was an OMTA State Composition Festival Chairperson for many years.
In 2011, Jan created OMTA’s Extended Study of Musicianship and Repertoire Program (ESMAR). The ESMAR Program received rave reviews, including a November 2015 article published in OMTA State News titled 'Learning Music for Life Long Enjoyment' written by former OMTA President Pauline Eidemiller, NCTM.
Jan is a sitting member of the Governing Board and a former President of Cascadia Composers, a nonprofit association for music composers based in Oregon. Jan was the second President of Cascadia. 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. Cascadia Composers celebrates diversity and an expansive palette of artistic voices.
Jan has served as Chairman or Co-Chairman of Cascadia Composers’ In Good Hands concert series since its inception. In Good Hands is 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.
She has had articles such as ‘Starting a Studio’ and ‘Practice Can Be a Pleasure’ published in Clavier Magazine as well as articles such as ‘Coaching Children as They Create a Musical Composition’ and ‘Steps in the Creative Process’ published in Oregon Musician (Article). Projects Jan has been a part of have been featured in The Oregonian (Article), Oregon ArtsWatch (Article 1) (Article 2) (Article 3), Willamette Week (Article 1) (Article 2), Piano and Keyboard Magazine, and on Oregon’s All Classical Radio.
She is also a member of the Oregon Federation of Music Clubs (OFMC), the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers (CFAMC), and Mu Phi Epsilon. Her biography is included in the Marquis Who's Who of American Women and Marquis Who's Who in America.