Clinton Pratt honored with state Teacher of The Year Award

We are thrilled to share that our district's own Clinton Pratt has been given the award of 2023 OMTA State Certified Teacher of the Year! Read more about him below:

"Clinton grew up in a musical family: his grandmother played and taught piano for decades, both of his parents sang, his mother occasionally played piano at church, and family holidays consisted of sitting around the piano, singing in 4-part harmony. Clinton was not the ideal piano student, however, as he didn’t practice regularly and he quit lessons several times! He always loved music and the piano, but never took it that serious, and certainly never imagined he would become a piano teacher!

Clinton wanted to become an architect, but as high school graduation came near, he entered a piano contest on a whim and ended up winning scholarship money! To get the scholarship, he had to major in music, so he enrolled at Cincinnati Christian University as a trombone major, having enjoyed his time in marching band. He later switched to piano, then continued into graduate school, earning an MM in Piano Performance from Miami University.

After graduation, he began teaching piano at various music academies and getting involved in MTNA. At first, this was just a logical decision, but after just a short while, Clinton realized he loved teaching! His enthusiasm for the profession only grew as he gained more experience, attended more workshops, and served on local and state boards. Eventually, he opened his own studio, Piano Sensei, which has Japanese branding influenced by his early years in Japan.

Clinton owns and manages Piano Sensei, a multi-teacher studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is the current President of OhioMTA Southwest District. Clinton has given over 40 presentations on multiple topics at local and state conferences, MTNA, and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. He has written articles and reviews for American Music Teacher and was on the Editorial Committee for the journal from 2017-2021. He is a member of the RCM College of Examiners and has judged numerous other competitions and festivals as well. One of Clinton’s favorite music teaching philosophies is Dalcroze Eurhythmics, an experiential way of knowing music through the body, and he recently became certified in Eurhythmics by the American Eurhythmics Society."

Congratulations Clinton on this special honor! He is now in the running for the 2023 MTNA Teacher of the Year national award.