NYSMTA
RegistrationTentatively 3:00pm-5:30pm
More information will be available in September
Lightning Talks
The Lightning Talk session will take place again this year. A call for submissions will be sent out in early Summer. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact: Dr. Asami Hagiwara (a.hagiwara@sunyocc.edu).
Call for Lightning Talks
Submission Deadline: 11:59pm EST on Sunday, August 3, 2025
The New York State Music Teachers Association is pleased to announce a Call for Lightning
Talks for its Virtual Symposium on Saturday, October 18, 2025, via Zoom.
All musicians and teachers (MTNA members/non-members) are encouraged to participate:
collegiate chapters, college students, newly graduated young professionals, K-12 music teachers,
private music teachers, and collegiate faculty. The submission deadline is August 3, 2025
(11:59pm EST).
LIGHTNING TALKS
As the name suggests, these are fast! Lightning Talks are 5-minute presentations on a music-
related topic of choice. Visual aids such as PowerPoint slides are encouraged. The topics should
be practical, applicable to a wide audience of musicians and teachers, and focused on a single
idea.
The 5-minute limit for Lightning Talks is strictly enforced. Make sure your proposed talk will fit
the time limit. The most effective lightning talks are usually specific and focused on a single
topic/idea, rather than trying to provide summaries of many ideas.
Sample lightning talks from the 2023 NYSMTA Virtual Symposium
We will notify applicants of the status by late-August. Selected presenters must register for the
2025 NYSMTA Virtual Symposium. Please direct any questions about the Lightning Talks to:
Dr. Asami Hagiwara (a.hagiwara@sunyocc.edu).
Guest Presentation
Our featured symposium clinician this year is Leila Viss. Since 2012, Leila has inspired teachers, students, and parents through her blog (http://leilaviss.com/). She creates imaginative, tech-savvy resources for her piano studio and website, and offers Space to Create courses designed to help pianists nurture their creativity through improvisation, composition, and arranging.
Leila is known for her engaging presentations and is Colorado’s 2024 MTNA Foundation Fellow. Her presentation, titled Words Matter: Does Your Feedback Need Fixing?, will focus on providing meaningful feedback to Generation Alpha students. Leila will explain how traditional feedback often falls short and introduce six steps for transforming it into more effective”feedforward.”
