Celebrate the everyday student. (Dear Reader).

MTNA embarked on a new initiative this year focusing on the needs of the "everyday" music student. Our national president, Dr. R. Wayne Gibson, led this venture, which has produced the new MTNA Music Study Award and the MTNA Studio Festival Program. Member interest in these new programs has exceeded our expectations. Obviously, this initiative has struck a responsive chord within our association.

This issue of AMT continues the emphasis on the "everyday" student. It is devoted entirely to this topic, beginning with President Gibson's introduction to the "everyday" student. His article, Music for One and All, tells why these initiatives are so important to him and the association.

Kathleen Rountree, NCTM, chair of the AMT Editorial Committee, introduces us to several prominent Americans who were "everyday" music students and, as typical, opted for careers in other fields. How different would the world be today if former President Clinton, Alan Greenspan and Albert Einstein all followed their musical inclinations instead of pursuing other interests?

That's followed by pedagogy expert Yu-Jane Yang's article that offers helpful hints for teaching the "average" teenage piano student. The article defines "average" and discusses effective communication strategies for teenagers.

The rest of this issue of AMT is equally rewarding. I had the opportunity to hear Brian Chung, Kawai America General Manager and former chair of the MTNA FOUNDATION, during his address at the Summit for MTNA Leadership last September. His remarks are the most insightful and motivational of any I have heard on the topic of the role of the music teacher in today's society and the need for more music makers. We print excerpts from those remarks in this issue so you can be inspired--as was our leadership last September.

Rounding out this issue, don't miss the quotes about music by members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Our colleagues at MENC: The National Association for Music Education gave us permission to print selected comments from our congressional leaders. These are excerpted from MENC's publication, ... and Music for all, 2nd Edition.

Those are the features of this AMT, and there's lots more good ideas in the columns. We've tapped the very best of our resources, as we do every issue, to make American Music Teacher magazine your best professional resource. I'm certain you'll find it so.

Gary L. Ingle 

--Gary L. Ingle
Executive Director