News on the 'Net

 MTNA has become aware of a scam directed toward music teachers. As many of you are likely aware, there has been a marked increase in the efforts of individuals performing acts of fraud via the Internet. Some of these acts are now being specifically targeted to independent music teachers. Over the past few years, many music teachers have received e-mails inquiring about having international students study with them. The person sending the e-mail poses as a parent interested in having their child or children study with them. The music teacher is offered prepayment for a certain amount of lessons, and once a cashier's check is sent and in the bank the teacher is asked to refund a large portion of the check because of some emergency or to pay for the fees the "parent" incurred in transferring the money and obtaining the check or for their children's travel. The cashier's check is an elaborate counterfeit and it takes the bank longer than usual to discover the fake.

 Carl Fischer Music, Yamaha, D’Addario and VH1 Save the Music have teamed up to launch the Music For Your Schools Contest – designed to benefit school bands and orchestras in need. Entrants are asked to write a 200-word essay or create a 3-minute video describing their school programs and how they would benefit from the prizes offered.

 Former MTNA competitors Lindsay Garritson, 25, of Missouri, and Alex McDonald, 30, of Texas, will compete for gold in the Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, May 24-June 9, 2013, at Fort Worth's Bass Performance Hall.

The inaugural World Pianist Invitational Classical Music Competition is a two-part competition. The first phase is an online entry through which aspiring competitors, aged 5-29, submit a video recording of their classical piano performance to a panel of international judges by April 20. From those submissions, five finalists across five age groups  will be invited to participate in the second phase–a live concert performance at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Washington, D.C. $10,000 in scholarship prizes will be awarded.

International Jazz Day has been officially designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe every April 30. This year, Istanbul, Turkey will serve as the Global Host City for International Jazz Day, yet the programs and events will spread far beyond to share the power of jazz in creating dialogue, unity and peace among diverse cultures and societies.