Heidi Mayer receives PTGF Award.

Heidi Mayer, NCTM, of Chicago, Illinois, received the 2004 Piano Technicians Guild Foundation (PTGF) Teacher of the Year Award, worth $1,000. This grant provides advanced study opportunities related to piano to Nationally Certified Teachers of Music (NCTM).

Mayer received a bachelor's degree in piano performance and choral music education from the University of Michigan, an M.M.A. degree from Eastern Michigan University and a Diploma at the Hochschule fur Musik and darstellende Kunst (Vienna Academy of Music) in vocal accompaniment under the auspices of a Fullbright scholarship. In New York, she studied the Taubman Technical Method with Edna Golandsky while she continued teaching and performing.

In 1989, Mayer moved to Chicago, where she taught piano on the faculty of DePaul University. She also served as youth music director at Edison Park Lutheran Church and Park Ridge Presbyterian Church and was youth choir director and rehearsal pianist for the Lincoln Opera. Currently, Mayer is an independent teacher of fifty students in Park Ridge. She is an active solo and collaborative pianist and is in demand as an adjudicator and clinician.

She has served the Chicago Area Music Teachers Association in the capacity of president, vice president and certification chair and assists on many committees. She has been a board member of Illinois State Music Teachers Association.

The PTGF Teacher of the Year Award, given annually, is open to individuals who have earned and maintained MTNA Professional Certification for at least six years and are at least age 28.