2018 NAfME National Conference

Don’t miss out on special hotel room block rates! Reserve your room now. Join us again in Dallas, TX, as we take a deep dive into leading topics in music education. The following tracks, or “Opuses,” will allow you to share your own practice, collaborate and network with colleagues from across the country, and expand your toolkit of ideas, models, and activities: Amplify: Learning; Amplify: Innovation; Amplify: Involvement; Amplify: Inspiration; and Amplify: Technology. You can earn up to 30 hours of professional development by attending the conference. Justification Toolkit is now available. Deep discounts on registration rates are available with hotel packages. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Learn More

FEATURES AND NEWS

The Unexpected Benefits of Commissioning New Music

The Unexpected Benefits of Commissioning New Music By NAfME Member Aaron Given When my students and I first commissioned a composer, the opportunity basically fell into my lap. I wasn’t sure exactly how to get started, but I knew I wanted to figure it out. After all, it was bound to be a good learning experience for my students! I hoped it would help them realize that composers are not just dead guys in silly wigs, but real people whom they can get to know and understand. I thought…

Creepy, Gross, and Macabre Things Lurking in Your Music Classroom

Scary Music!!! Creepy, Gross, and Macabre Things Lurking in Your Music Classroom By NAfME member Peter J. Perry, D.M.A. It is October, and the scariest things in your music room are not the post-summer vacation sounds coming out of your students’ instruments at rehearsals! In the spirit of Halloween, I present some seasonally inspired (creepy, macabre, and even gross) aspects of what we do. These should hopefully be informative, but at the very least, be interesting to read or pass on to students and colleagues. Invasion of the Evil…

Informed Musical Understanding through Composition

Informed Musical Understanding through Composition Creating, Performing, Responding in the Large Ensemble By NAfME Member Dr. Ruth Debrot, Boston University “Imagine a society that taught children to read, but not how to create stories or poems of their own. A music education that does not value children’s potentials in sound—their ability to create songs and pieces uniquely their own—is similarly less than complete.” (Kaschub and Smith, 2009) Why Teach Composition? English teachers teach students to read and write English. Why don’t music teachers teach students to read and…