On April 24th, the PTNA Piano Teachers' Seminar vol.49 was held in Tokyo, having 300 piano teachers in the audience. This event is one of the special programs for commemorating the 50th anniversary of PTNA. 

The 1st session was presentations and poster sessions by 8 piano teachers, sponsored by 8 publishing companies (PTNA corporate members). The lecturers were Papp Akiko (How to teach Bartok's piano works? / Ongaku-no-Tomo), Yuko Hisamoto (photo, Excellent instruments created excellent music, from Mozart to Liszt / Gakken), Miho Abe (Training techniques and expressions together / Edition Kawai),  Katsuko Kaneko (Relax and play legato / Shunju-sha), Mami Imano (Training techniques and expressions through Gillock's pieces for introductory level students / Zen-on Gakufu), Atsuko Fujiwara (One step forward to refined music making with Bastien Method/ To-on Kikaku), Koichi Hashimoto (Let's play piano with your favorite music / Doremi Music Publishing co.), Masayo Baba (How to choose music to raise children's motivation / Yamaha Music Media).

The 2nd session was titled "What should piano teachers consider now?" , in which PTNA executive members talked about the transition of the piano teaching trend and its future prospects. 4 panelists were Katsuko Kaneko (The Teacher's Licence program) , Mitsuyo Esaki (the history of PTNA Piano Competition and the importance of ensemble education), Mutsuko Tozawa (the history of PTNA Piano STEP) , and Hideo Sugiura (the importance of the basics in music education). 

The 3rd session had Akiko Ebi (pianist) as lecturer and Arisa Iida (music writer) as interviewer, to discuss what and how young pianists should learn piano in order to achieve higher level of artistry.  Ms.Ebi served as a jury member in renowned international competitions including the Chopin Piano Competition and the Hamamatsu Piano Competition both in 2015, and saw a lot of young talents across the world. She encouraged young Japanese pianists to have strong belief and solid attitude in their music making. She also referred the music education in Russia to exemplify how they cultivate imagination, and also talked about Schiff András and Gerhard Oppitz of their young days in Leeds Piano Competition.  Lastly, she showed a short video of her teacher, late Aldo Ciccolini, performing Elger's "Salut d'Amour". The audience was impressed by his performance filled with affection and humanity, and witnessed that warm personality and musicality was passed down to his student.