Aside from an airport layover years ago, this was my first time in Texas. On the way to hotel, I learned that Houston has a downtown, uptown and midtown. Who knew? Not me!

In my short time at TMTA I knew I couldn’t miss spending some time at the exhibit hall. I always look forward to seeing familiar faces as well as meeting new ones. And of course, catching up with teacher friends! Here are just a few pictures I remembered to grab. There were too many I still missed!

Saturday night I was invited to join a group for dinner at Le Bistro which ended up being at the Culinary Institute in Houston. It was a lovely surprise and such a wonderful experience! I ordered the ribs, and they were the most tender ribs I have ever eaten! Yum! Houston teachers, you must check this place out. Great food at great prices and it’s not well-known! (You can reserve on OpenTable too and earn points!)

I kept hearing how cool the digital keyboard orchestra sessions were, so I just had to check it out. Beth is so funny, and I was happy she was leading our session. She invited me to fill in as a “student” and I was happy to do so. Imagine my excitement when I saw that the first book we would be using was Paula Manwaring’s, Musical Discoveries! (affiliate link) I’ve been wanting to check it out for a while. Now that I have experienced it, I can highly recommend it! Written for multi-track sequencing, it also makes creating digital ensembles a breeze!!! She also has a 2nd book here.

I was scheduled to present on Sunday morning. I was all ready to go, the moderator was just turning the time over to me and…

Yep! The fire alarm went off. I will admit… I stood there in disbelieve for a little bit hoping the alarm would go away as they told us on the intercom to evacuate. After a few minutes, I gave in and unplugged my computer and packed up my bag and headed out the door, praying that this wouldn’t eat up most of my presentation time. While I was waiting, my mind went back to a MTNA conference a couple of years back or so when the same thing happened. Except back then, I was attending the presentation, not presenting. I was worried that what happened back then would also happen this time and I would lose my entire hour. Thankfully, prayers were answered and the setback was only 10–15 minutes. And yes, it turned out to be just a false alarm.

With a little bit of adjustments, I was able to give my presentation to all who were in attendance. Yay! Thanks for having me, TMTA!

Missed TMTA Convention Part 1? Read it here.