Encore Piano Teachers Association (Encore) began in 1991 as an independent volunteer organization of professional piano teachers in Utah County offering motivational, educational, and social opportunities for teachers throughout the year. Encore was started by Paula Clark and Ellen Christensen. Other founding members included Julie Beck, Pat Fox, Jean Franklin, and Sharon Greenwood.
The core group of founding teachers met and brainstormed ideas for an organization that would meet the needs of their children who were studying piano. Their goal was to create a student-focused organization. The dues paid would benefit local students. They had monthly meetings and studied topics that were interesting to them. Events included the same ones that are included today although the order of events has changed over time. A scholarship to the music camp at Utah State was added in the 1990s and many students went to study with professor Gary Amano.
Encore membership dues have been retained over the years through the local community and association. This has translated into direct benefits for member teachers, student event participants, and the cultural community as a whole. All Encore teachers have helped in some way to run the events and festivals.
In 2003, Carmen Hall helped create an online monthly newsletter for Encore teachers and discontinued paper newsletters. Around 2006, Encore created a website called 3octaves, where information and announcements were stored for over a decade. Denise Williams, along with Janae and Jason Williams, helped create this website. The website was very helpful for keeping records and registering for festivals. Until 2006, Encore shared monthly meetings and shared costs of special Encore presenters with Utah Music Teachers Association.
In 2014, Amanda Nixon changed certificates to ribbons for festivals and competitions, which indicates ratings on each event. The early ear training recordings were made in the early 2000s by Carmen Hall and Amanda Nixon and altered throughout the years in ways to make it accessible for the ear training festival. The recordings were updated in 2019 by Christie Sowby and made accessible on YouTube. The handbook was digitized in 2019 by Christie Sowby and made available on Encore’s new website, encorepta.com.
In 2020, Lori Weiss led Encore through the COVID pandemic and helped figure out how to keep events running virtually so students could keep progressing. Lori also worked to rescue the data from the crashed 3octaves website with the help of Christie Sowby and Sharalyn Heath. In 2022, Encore adopted AuditionWare to help event chairs schedule festivals and competitions.
Through 2022–2024, the following occurred: Encore bylaws were created, new positions were created, full executive and general boards were created, official handbooks for every event and every chair were created, board meetings were established and followed through with Robert’s Rules and official voting, AuditionWare was voted to be used for scheduling and payment systems, the Drew Hansen Scholarship was established, copyright rules were written, a new makeup policy was established, a judging document was created to help find the best judges possible as well as a variety for the organization, and a yearly social was created to bond as teachers and friends. Over 1,200 pages were created during this time for all handbooks and each page was created by Christie Sowby during this time.
In 2024, Lynsie Brown became the president. During her time, it was voted that events from Technique, Theory/ET, and Projects Fair do not have to be completed within one Encore Year to receive the Encore Musicianship awards, but rather be applied as students meet the requirements.
Encore believes that every student, regardless of age or performance level, can benefit from participation in the programs. The Encore calendar is full but well-paced. Encore is mindful of the diversity of needs among teachers and students alike, and has encouraged teachers to individualize their students’ program participation to meet personal and studio objectives. Members have always been encouraged to participate in only the number of programs with which they feel comfortable. Current members are kept informed through email and the website.