The music component encompasses the broad spectrum of choral, instrumental and general music. Clinicians from around the country use their expertise to help participants enhance their skills and renew their enthusiasm for teaching. In addition to the music sessions, all participants attend performances, musings, special events and other activities.
Elementary/Lower Middle School
Making Music for All Students: Culturally Responsive Elementary General Music
These sessions will address the growing number of English Language Learners (ELL) in the elementary music classroom and address the importance of understanding best practices in ELL classrooms. Participants will explore ways of using culturally responsive material in their classrooms, including games, songs, dances, and stories, with particular attention paid to their applications in Kodaly- and Orff-based settings. Long-term lesson planning that focuses on a holistic approach to teaching diverse student populations will also be addressed.
Inspiring Musical Artistry in General Music
This series will focus on audiation-based approaches that are designed to bring out the musician inherent in every child. Participants will learn sequential, developmental, and practical ways of musically engaging their students in activities that include singing, moving, playing instruments, creating, improvising and developing music literacy. All techniques will focus on the goal of creating a classroom climate that inspires musical artistry.
Music Moves the Mind
Influenced by the Orff-Schulwerk approach, these sessions will playfully guide participants in the exploration of using music and movement as powerful tools for teaching and learning. Rhythm, song, and movement games enhance cognitive, social-emotional, and motor growth; while play, improvisation, skill building, and practice promote creativity and critical thinking skills. Participants will learn how to revitalize music pedagogy, motivate students, rejuvenate mind and body, and cultivate joy through the collaborative process. The lesson plan format models an inclusive, brain-compatible approach. Practical suggestions and strategies for maintaining teacher care will be presented, including BrainDance variations. Dress for simple movement.
Upper Middle/Secondary School
Connections, Creativity, and Expressiveness through Music
Students are brimming with ideas, but sometimes their ideas bubble just under the surface, out of sight. In this workshop, participants will explore imaginative strategies for encouraging their students’ expressive responses to music, creative solutions to musical problems, and in-depth understanding of the connections between music and other subjects in their curricula. Participants will examine examples of units and projects that foster strong relationships between music and personal experience, diverse subject matters, and contemporary society. A comprehensive approach to music learning and teaching, with some strategic interdisciplinary methods, will be illustrated for secondary choral, instrumental, and general music teachers.
The Three I’s that Don’t Include Me
The three “I’s” are involvement, investment (through inside-out rehearsing), and independence. These three lead to the fourth: integrity. Who or what is at the center of your rehearsals? Whose opinions are valued the most? Around whom do you structure your strategies for daily rehearsals? All of these questions must be answered in order to reach students with different curiosities and skills. In this session, out-of-the-box ideas will be explored with the goal of helping participants create student-centered rehearsals. Kinesthetic approaches will be used to facilitate learning, and suggestions will be included for improving the conducting process and developing repertoire.
Conducting: Expressive Gestures Based on the Laban Method
The Laban method is a language and method for interpreting, describing, visualizing, and notating all types of human movement. Created by Roduof Laban, the approach draws on his theories of effort and shape to describe, interpret, and document movement. Used as a tool by actors, dancers, and musicians, it is one of the most widely used systems of human movement analysis. These sessions will demonstrate how Laban principles can be used to convey intended musical content. Attention will also be given to selecting quality repertoire and analyzing scores.