2019 Conference Sessions by Time

Amplify the Future of Music: Opening Doors for All Students

Opening Keynote

NAfME member and 2019 GRAMMY Music Educator Award winner Jeffery Redding of West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Florida, will be the featured speaker at the opening keynote of the conference. Redding, along with his students, will be joined by Connie McKoy and Mackie Spradley as moderators for the conversation.

The West Orange High School choir will open the keynote with a performance beginning at 7:50 AM.

Dr. Jeffery Redding, 48, is the 2019 Music Educator of the Year, as named by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum. Born and raised in Orlando, he is a graduate of Jones High School, attended Florida A&M University for his bachelor’s degree, and holds his master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Florida State University. Dr. Redding started working at West Orange High School in 1997. He was a quarterfinalist for the Grammy Music Educator Award in 2016. As the Director of Choral Activities at West Orange High, he has led his choirs in performances at state, regional, and national conventions of the American Choral Directors’ Association. West Orange choirs have earned first place awards at Heritage Festivals of Gold in California, Chicago, New York, and at the Festival of Spirituals in Washington, D.C. While participating in the International Music Festival in Verona, Italy, West Orange received the Gold Award for best choir, with Dr. Redding honored as top director.

Program-Building in Title I Schools

Amplify: Access

Andy Bower

This session will address the major challenges specific to working in schools in low-income communities. Attendees will hear about five major challenges of teaching in Title I schools and have opportunities to discuss these challenges and brainstorm solutions. By the conclusion of this session, attendees will have acquired several actionable steps to help them build a strong music program in a Title I school.

Strategies for Building Community through Music

Amplify: Community

Marcus Morris

Many music programs experience musical success, but knowledge of that success does not often extend past the four walls of their classrooms. Many educators struggle to gain recognition and support for their music programs, and, as a result, struggle to maintain numbers of students and finances necessary for program growth. The strategies presented here will offer ideas for building connections in schools and with surrounding communities as well as provide practical ideas for building community through music.

Assessing Creativity: Responding to Student Creative Work

Amplify: Creativity

Mitchell Davis

In 21^st-century education, teaching creativity skills and allowing students to generate creative work is essential to meaningful learning. Opportunities for creativity abound across the National Core Arts Standards domains: Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting. In this session, we will explore how teachers can assess and respond to students’ creative work. We will discuss the attributes of creativity, examine examples of learning tasks that require student creativity, and explore measurement and assessment tools and techniques.

Music’s All We Got: Stories of a High School Hip Hop Course

Amplify: Student Engagement

Brandon Catt

Hip hop is the most consumed music in the world (and probably in your school). We decided that it needed to be a part of our curriculum to better represent our student population’s interests. This session will share our story from both staff and students to provide insight into our course proposal/curriculum-writing process, the musical genre itself, and the incredible social, emotional, and political learning opportunities that it has brought to our students.

Technology for a College-District Lesson Partnership

Amplify: Access

Kathleen Melago & Jonathan Helmick

In this session, participants will learn how they can use technology and college partnerships across distance to expand access to students who may not currently have access to one-on-one instruction. We will highlight our partnership where university music education majors provide one-on-one lessons to students in rural, lower-socioeconomic school band programs through technology in very inexpensive and accessible ways that can easily be replicated by other programs.

Instrumental Compositions for Special Learners and Friends

Amplify: Creativity

Janice Smith & Michele Kaschub

This session presents three simple instrumental music composition projects that work well with elementary children, including those with a variety of different abilities: Stormy Weather of Many Kinds; Max Found Two Sticks; and Chamber Music Trios.

Assessment Reset: Grading with Values and Purpose

Amplify: Instruction

Laura Kitchel

Ready to grade beyond participation and instead help ensemble students learn musical skills? This hands-on session is designed to assist directors in creating valued and meaningful performance-based assessments for every level and style of ensemble. Using the National Core Arts Standards as a guide, directors will be assisted step-by-step through the processes of creating assessments based on musicianship and designing purposeful assessment rubrics that lead to deep musical understanding and growth for student performers.

Intersectionality and Inclusivity in the Music Classroom

Amplify: Student Engagement

Mara Culp & Karen Salvador

All human beings occupy intersectional identities. The interplay of various characteristics (e.g., race, gender, class) influences our life experiences, which include our musical experiences. By increasing understanding of how intersectionality manifests itself in music classrooms, fostering dialogue about successes and obstacles, and suggesting strategies to reduce bias and honor diverse identities, we seek to empower PreK–16 music educators to examine current practices and begin or expand conversations about inclusive and responsive practices to enhance student engagement.

A Collaboration Chat: PreK-12 and Higher Education Working Together

Linda Thornton & Deb Confredo

In this session, the presenters will share benefits and challenges of cross-level educational collaborations.  Attendees will discuss potential areas for collaboration and ideas for implementing collaborative components in their curricula and classrooms.  Suggestions for encouraging collaboration among colleagues and garnering support from administrators will also be discussed.

Young Composers Concert

More information to come.

Strategies for Teaching with Emergent Bilingual Students

Amplify: Access

Denisse Santos

Many classrooms across the United States are becoming increasingly filled with students who are fluent in their own language but limited in their knowledge of English. Many teachers struggle to work with these students and are puzzled as to how to teach in ways they can understand. Emerging bilingual students can be provided with access and opportunities to participate in music classes and ensembles through several practical strategies presented in this session.

Increasing Diversity and Equity in K–12 Ensemble Repertoire

Amplify: Community

Christine D’Alexander, Alexis Lamb & Mary Lynn Doherty

Free improvisation has been shown to increase creativity, connection, and communication in vocalists and instrumentalists. How can we help our students and ourselves put aside fears about improvisation? This session will give music educators concrete tools through which to introduce free improvisation at any level. Participants will be led through a sequence specifically created to ease fears about improvisation and increase connectivity, creativity, and individual voice. Programming ideas, rehearsal strategies, and student comments will be shared.

Creative Expression through Free Improvisation

Amplify: Creativity

Carole Ott & Tadeu Coelho

Free improvisation has been shown to increase creativity, connection, and communication in vocalists and instrumentalists. How can we help our students and ourselves put aside fears about improvisation? This session will give music educators concrete tools through which to introduce free improvisation at any level. Participants will be led through a sequence specifically created to ease fears about improvisation and increase connectivity, creativity, and individual voice. Programming ideas, rehearsal strategies, and student comments will be shared.

Utilizing Music Experiences to Enhance Social Interaction

Amplify: Student Engagement

Briana Nannen & Adam Dalton

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often struggle to navigate social experiences. The 2014 Music Standards advocate for greater opportunities for student collaboration and active engagement, which enhance the overall learning process by providing valuable social interaction experiences for students. Drawing on the principles of Universal Design for Learning, teachers will demonstrate their ability to enhance the learning experience for their students with ASD while simultaneously incorporating teaching practices that benefit all students.

We can do this: Inspirational music programs for all

Give A Note Foundation

As teachers, you’re tasked with the challenging job of engaging students who represent various abilities, backgrounds, and aspirations. How do we inspire students and support their engagement while meeting curriculum requirements, your program needs and standards? Join Give A Note Foundation and 9 inspirational teachers who developed programs that expand our ideas of standard music education. You’ll gain valuable tools and insights you can use to enhance your current music program and creatively engage students.

Day-long Learning Experiences “Informance” Performance

After a day of learning, Day-long Learning Experience attendees will conclude the day by presenting an “informance” to share what they learned and how they plan to implement this new knowledge in their classroom, and perform a few songs together.

Amplify the Future of Music: Opening Doors for All Students

Day 2 Keynote

More information to come.

A student ensemble will open the keynote with a performance beginning at 7:50 AM.

Diverse Learners: Teaching for Tolerance K–5

Amplify: Community

Alice-Ann Darrow & Ryan Aguirre

As elementary music educators, we teach students who represent broad dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, age, and ability. We strive to create a welcoming and more inclusive learning environment by acknowledging our students’ diverse strengths and experiences. This session will provide attendees with songs and activities that build community and encourage students to embrace their differences and recognize their similarities.

Creating a Community of Effective Composition Mentors

Amplify: Creativity

Patricia Riley

This session provides tools for teachers to create communities of effective teacher and student music composition mentors. It explores how teachers can respond to student compositions and how students can be guided in responding to their peers’ compositions. Examples of responses to student compositions at a variety of achievement levels will be shared. Participants in this hands-on session will view and discuss the presented examples and also engage in mentoring activities.

Singing and Moving with Primary Sources

Amplify: Instruction

Carolyn Bennett & Jenny Neff

The Library of Congress has large public-domain sound recording, music, and photo collections from cultures around the world and throughout history. In this session, we will explore ways to use the collection to find pieces that fit the curricular goals of the general music classroom. Participants will experience pieces from African, Native American, European, Latin(x), and American frontier cultures. We will explore inquiry strategies to engage students in becoming independent creators, performers, and responders as they investigate primary sources.

Getting Started with K–12 Modern Band

Amplify: Student Engagement

Jasmine Faulkner

Ukulele, guitar, keys, bass, drums, vocals, sound engineering, songwriting, recording … whether you teach in an elementary or secondary general music classroom, you can bring the innovative and creative Modern Band model to your classroom. Get lessons, play-along videos, and PowerPoints that will jump- start your first weeks in Modern Band. We’ll learn how playing games supports student-centered and collaborative music-making and why instrumental music is for everyone, regardless of ability or previous musical experience.

Diversity in Music Education

Amplify: Access

Latrice Green

This session explores categories of diversity and how we can acknowledge the differences in our students and colleagues in an effort to make meaningful connections while effectively meeting the needs of diverse learners.

No Teacher Is an Island: Tools for Survival

Amplify: Community

Jenny Neff

This island-themed session will share insights into maintaining a positive department culture, understanding others, uniting with colleagues to face adversity, building consensus, and working toward department advocacy. Results of research on the use of types of power, dealing with difficult people, and overcoming adversity will be woven into engaging activities for participants.

Maximizing the Interdependence of the Artistic Processes

Amplify: Instruction

Johanna J. Siebert

With instructional time at a premium, how can we plan for standards-based instruction across the school music program? This session will share a practitioner-developed resource of Responding units that connect with the Performing and Creating processes to develop students’ voice, choice, and music literacy both in classroom and ensemble settings.

Engaging Students in Urban Schools

Amplify: Student Engagement

Lisa Lehmann & Jeanne Reynolds

Each year, more schools are classified as high-poverty institutions. Music teachers in some of the highest-poverty schools in Florida have learned to engage students through the training from a Professional Development for Arts Educators grant, and as the grant sunsets, they are sharing their successes to keep this work sustainable. Attendees will learn from the teachers currently teaching in these schools and take away strategies, techniques, and lessons to create an engaging, culturally responsive music classroom.

This Is What I Can Do—What Will You Add? Inclusive Ensembles

Amplify: Access

Christine Lapka

Experience reverse inclusion as we start the session with students in choir who chant, sign, sing some of the pitches, “fill in” on a modified guitar, and improvise on harmonica. Participants will be asked to add their musical abilities to the group. During the process, we will work cooperatively to create a musical product. At the conclusion, participants will discuss the principles of reverse inclusion.

Soundtrap: Record, Create, and Collaborate!

Amplify: Creativity

Jasmine Faulkner

Let’s explore Soundtrap, a new online, collaborative music-creation software designed for the modern K–12 classroom. This software has endless possibilities for recording, music creation, student access even at home on a computer or smartphone, and online collaboration between the students in your classroom and around the world. Attendees will record a short song, experiment with loops, and leave with some fun starter lessons. Bring your electronic device and jam!

Rehearsal Strategies: Fast and Furious Critical Thinking

Amplify: Instruction

Greg LeFils & John Lychner

Conductors often confidently exclaim that ensemble performance develops creativity, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking. Evidence, however, points out that our students are more frequently obedient direction-followers. This session will explore ways in which conductors can create more opportunities to foster ingenuity, musicianship, student leadership, enhanced performance, musical literacy, and rehearsal engagement.

Not All Superheroes Wear Capes—Making All Successful

Amplify: Student Engagement

Paul McLaughlin & Lorraine McLaughlin

This hands-on session will provide examples of activities and methods we have used for years in our music room and music therapy sessions to meet the needs of all students. We will provide you with materials you can take with you and use immediately in your classrooms. Join in, play along, or sit back and take notes. We hope this information will inspire you to create fun ways to teach music to your students.

The World in Their Hands

Amplify: Community

Rosalee Goley

This session is about how Google Earth can promote global music citizenship and community in a rural classroom. Using location hotspots, students and teachers can walk in the footsteps of Bach or visit a famous music hall. This activity also lends itself to dynamic interpretation and the study of musical genres. This session will be hands-on and accessible to all who want to add a new technology resource to their curriculum.

Chord Cooking! Composition Projects to Teach Basic Chords

Amplify: Creativity

Rachel Houk

Students build meaning and deeper understanding by being given opportunities to create their own music. In this session, participants will be led through a series of lessons that develop a deep understanding of chords, dissonance, chord structures, and chord progressions. Each lesson consists of a short composition project that 5th graders love! Bring an instrument to play.

Teaching the Beginning 21st-Century Musician

Amplify: Instruction

Timothy Bupp

With the demand for 21st-century skills on the rise, this session takes some tried-and-true ways of teaching and amplifies them in a way that will challenge, affirm, and energize your teaching and your students’ learning!

A Collaboration Chat: PreK-12 and Higher Education Working Together

Linda Thornton & Deb Confredo

In this session, the presenters will share benefits and challenges of cross-level educational collaborations.  Attendees will discuss potential areas for collaboration and ideas for implementing collaborative components in their curricula and classrooms.  Suggestions for encouraging collaboration among colleagues and garnering support from administrators will also be discussed.

Assessing Beyond Presenting a Polished Performance

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Glenn Nierman

For decades music educators have focused on assessing the finished product of students’ musical learning—the performance. Using the Musical Selection and Rehearsal Rubrics from the NAfME Ensembles Model Cornerstone Assessment (MCA) tasks for the National Music Standards Common Anchor Standards #4 and #5, Showcase attendees at this display will be engaged in hands-on practice in evaluating actual students’ preperformance component processes—selecting, analyzing, interpreting, rehearsing, evaluating, and refining.

But Is He a Real Musician? A Single Case Study

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Kate Miller

What defines a person as a musician? As music educators we are concerned with music literacy; after all, the National Core Arts Standards include iconic and traditional notation beginning in first grade. This research study examines a popular musician, his lack of formal music training, and his ability to read standard notation. Is he still a “real” musician?

How Do Music Educators Use Student Voice and Choice?

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Christine Weatherman & Wendy Barden

Action research! Educational best practices include student-centered learning. We want to learn if—and how—music educators engage student voice and choice in their classrooms. We’ll survey music educators across the country. Showcase participants are welcome to answer the survey, too. Take away compiled teaching strategies along the voice and choice continuums.

Gender Inclusivity in the Music Classroom

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Briana Nannen

Variations in gender presentation in American culture are continuously changing. Music educators need to be aware of the shifting landscape in K–12 school settings with regard to gender and how they might alter their teaching practices for such diversity. This line of research is focused on presenting past and current trends concerning gender in the music classroom, along with recommendations for how music educators might create a more gender-inclusive environment in their own classrooms.

Music & Literature as a Springboard for Exploring Diversity

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Suzanne Hall

Music and literature (Language Arts) have the powerful ability to reflect cultures and can transmit both shared and varying stories that validate one’s lived experience. Using music and literature, in tandem, can support educators in creating a learning environment that is culturally inclusive. This presentation will discuss various approaches and tools, through which educators can create an inclusive environment where all students’ voices are heard, validated, and included in the music classroom.

Field Trip Soundscapes

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Janice P. Smith & Michele Kaschub

This is a composition project for a whole class based on a field trip or other experience the class has shared.

An Opportunity, Not a Chore! A Modern Approach to Teaching

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Carol Lynn Shansky

This poster/table offers an alternative approach to teaching Music Appreciation that is relevant to our students’ musical experience and inspires classroom engagement and critical thinking. Through a thematic approach, different musical genres, origins, and styles are explored through what they have in common. With this approach, a curriculum can be developed that is interesting for both the teacher and the class.

Children’s Literature: Create, Perform, Respond, and READ

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Rebecca Birnie

Singing picture books and books with a beat, rhythm, or rhyme are highly motivating to students. This session will explore hands-on strategies for implementing children’s literature through creating, performing, and responding, combined with reading. Strategies will be demonstrated and shared, including hands-on activities, lessons, teaching activities, manipulatives, assessment, and performance—all from successful classroom experiences. Connections will be made to the National Core Arts Standards and a resource list of take-back-to-the-classroom ideas to implement.

Differentiation Strategies in Secondary Choral Ensembles

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Allison Paetz

Secondary choral ensembles often contain a variety of ability levels when participation in private lessons, membership in other secondary ensembles, and years of in-school music instruction may vary between individual students, even in an auditioned ensemble. Appropriate differentiation is crucial for keeping students engaged and addressing these differences in ability levels. This poster will address strategies for differentiating instruction and assessment to mixed-ability secondary choral ensembles, drawing from both music education and general education literature.

Every Student Is a Musician. Every Student Is a Composer.

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Michael Albertson

At the Geffen Academy we have designed a secondary music program around student composition and songwriting. I will share how we integrated composition of diverse musical genres into every grade and course based on student interest, allowing every student to participate in our music program, regardless of prior musical experiences. Participants will leave with activities they can implement immediately in their own classrooms as well as suggestions for getting support from all stakeholders.

Intersections: Music Teacher Preparation and Community Music

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Melissa Ryan

Some suggest that the values of community music and music education are at odds. However, I propose that the values of community music align with the goals of music-teacher preparation programs. A literature review revealed intersections of practice between music-teacher preparation and community music programs. Research suggests that preservice music teachers’ experiences in community music settings served as transformative learning events that operated as supplemental or alternative environments for the overall growth of teachers.

Amplifying Your Reach in Music Utilizing the STEAM Framework

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Melissa Hammonds & Heather McKeen

Come and experience the working model of a STEAM school where classroom teachers and music teachers share their curriculum and students have greater access to music. STEM is a nationwide driving force in education. Few states have incorporated STEAM (fine arts included) as an important part of the STEM framework. The STEAM framework offers fine arts an equal seat at the table. Leverage the momentum of STEAM, and provide greater access to music.

Interdisciplinary Activities to Scaffold Ensemble Readiness

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Katherine Willow

Several years ago, I found that I had scaffolded the musical content knowledge needed for my students to succeed in a group composition project but had not prepared students for the emotional or interpersonal elements of the process. I will present some of the interdisciplinary activities I have used in class in recent years that have helped scaffold students’ readiness for ensemble-based activities by developing their emotional intelligence and interpersonal skillset.

Help, I’m Stuck! Unfreezing Students with Trauma Histories

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Erin Price

Attendees will learn about engagement strategies for elementary general music education students with trauma histories and intense emotional-support needs. An overview of pedagogical, curriculum, and classroom management strategies will be provided, as well as insight on how to make meaningful music with students with challenging behavioral needs.

Who Are We Leaving Out? Marginalization in Music Education

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Kristofer Olsen

What does music education “look” like in your school and community? Has the field changed to reflect the vast diversity of our musical world, or are students learning the same methods of musical creation that have been around for centuries? This project challenges the historical approach to music education that privileges a small geographical region of musical creativity and offers resources for introducing students of all ages to diverse musical voices.

The Value of Creativity in Secondary Ensembles—Research

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Marissa Guarriello & Kevin Feher

This session will discuss current research on creativity and composition being completed in the secondary ensemble classroom. Presenters will discuss student benefits, challenges from their project, and how students and school community value the act of creating in a secondary ensemble setting where recreating is heavily emphasized.

Inquiry/Problem-Based Learning Utilizing the 4Cs

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Richard Frank

With the help of a live, high school jazz ensemble, we will directly apply inclusivity, inquiry-based and problem-based learning, and creative music-making in an engaging and thought-provoking workshop. With “modern” rhythm section-based music, traditional methodologies generally do not translate well. We are solving for this with innovative methodologies that are firmly grounded in the National Core Arts Standards. While rehearsing a composition, we will demonstrate these attributes as well as collaboration, communication, and critical thinking.

Sequential Activities to Develop Pitch Sight-Singing Skills

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

James Reifinger

Reading printed music notation and then producing the represented pitches by singing is a complex task involving many subskills. It is a skill that eludes most of the general population, though it could be taught to all students in general music. Addressing the stages of skill development, this session demonstrates a sequence of easy-to-use activities to teach and assess the development of pitch sight-singing skills in a general or choral music setting.

Improving Rehearsal Efficiency with Score Study

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Justin Antos

Effective score study practice is paramount to a successful rehearsal. But with so many definitions and techniques of score study in our field, it is sometimes difficult for us to step back and evaluate whether our score-study processes are rooted in common practice or best practice. The purpose of this presentation is to share a specific music-theory-based approach to score study that can significantly improve rehearsal efficiency in instrumental music classrooms.

Empowering the Individual Voice: Celebrating Inclusiveness

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Nicole Sonbert & Meg Stohlmann

This session provides insight into how we can work collaboratively to empower our developing singers in the classroom. Hands-on activities, tools, and examples will be provided that help educators create a safe space for vocal exploration where each individual voice can be confident in contributing to the community and the ensemble. By creating this safe space for singers to explore their individual sounds, a community of inclusiveness and diversity can be amplified beyond our current understanding.

Inspiring Elementary Students into Secondary Arts Electives

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Daniel Fear

Our Inspiration Showcase idea is an elementary fine arts tour with local professional musicians and a painter, a dancer, and a poet, integrated into a 45-minute assembly geared towards fourth and fifth graders. Our mission is inspiring students to continue to make art of all kinds at the middle school level. The program also provides live examples of instruments and musical elements that are found in the state end-of-course exam for elementary students.

I Love My Job, but It’s Killing Me!

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Lesley Moffat

You have the best gig ever—but it can be exhausting. If chronic stress and sickness are affecting your quality of life and ability to do your job, then look no further than my new book for strategies that will soon have you recharged and ready to go. This session will share a number of techniques from the book.

Amplify Student Voice with Flipgrid

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Rebecca Jontos

Learn how to amplify student voices in your classroom. Flipgrid is a social learning platform on which the teacher poses a question/task and students record video responses. Students then watch and respond to other students’ posts. This has huge possibilities in the music room, including presenting compositions/projects, discussing topics, performing independently for assessment, and connecting with families. Participants will see examples of student work and have a chance to record their own video.

Composition Games for the Modern Band Classroom

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Kristen Gilbert

Participants will be able to see examples of how to use composition in the classroom—specifically, the Modern Band classroom. Enhance your students’ inner creativity to create and compose their own works in a Modern Band setting.

Expert-Novice Differences in Music Reading in Eye Tracking

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Yue Luo & Hang Su

Visual information processing through music reading is a critical skill for music learners, yet most novices have difficulties in reading music. This study tested expert-novice differences in three areas using eye-tracking technology to test: (1) how novices are less effective than experts, in reading music, (2) differences in visual-auditory integration and information processing, and (3) differences in working memory and “chunking” processability. Findings promote our understanding and improve music sight-reading instruction.

Engaging Brass Players with Music Technology

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Bryan Powell

Traditional approaches to teaching brass instruments are often music-staff-notation-based and rely on instrumental method books to sequentially walk students through learning the instrument. This presentation will demonstrate ways to start beginning band students off while incorporating iconic notation and popular music in the beginning band classroom. Videos and iPads will be used to demonstrate these approaches.

The Dorseymer: Promoting Music Literacy

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Kevin Dorsey

The Dorseymer is a one-stringed musical instrument designed to promote student engagement through simple technique, student choice, differentiation, and cultural responsiveness. Stop by to play one, see how they were made and developed for my classroom, and come away with an idea for a musical instrument for your students!

Alternative Notation to Support Students with Autism

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Jacqueline Smith

Some students with autism have difficulty with abstract concepts. In this session, I will share an alternative music notation system developed in Finland that I have used with success for students with autism and with other students who struggle with traditional notation. Figurenotes uses shapes and colors to help students connect the aural to the visual so that they can progress to traditional notation. Teachers can use the idea to create their own visual adaptations.

School-Community Partnerships in Community Children’s Choirs

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Elizabeth McFarland

This descriptive study examined community children’s choirs’ participation in K-12 school-community partnerships to describe characteristics of these organizations and their partnerships, and to examine what the directors believed to be the benefits and challenges of such partnerships. The purpose of this study was to provide researchers and educators with a nationwide picture of community-based children’s choir participation in K–12 school-community partnerships to describe characteristics of these organizations and how they work together.

All for One and One for All

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Michael-Benjamin Minotti

This session shares how a general music classroom can use cooperative, collaborative, and project-based learning in the curriculum to produce many benefits to the students.

General Music in Concert: An All-Access Pass

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

David Dashefsky

Create general music lessons with topics that engage technologically diverse students. Develop learning activities and assessments that promote an accessible and device-friendly classroom. Students of all backgrounds and learning styles will embrace the variety of modern music content that incorporates curriculum-based music standards. Through the use of online and streaming music technology resources, students will develop a new perspective on the relationship between all genres of music and their daily lives.

“Bossa Nova” Brazilian Rhythms in the Group Piano Classroom

Amplify Inspiration Showcase

Ricardo Pozenatto

Bossa nova is a traditional rhythm that was born in Brazil, specifically in Rio de Janeiro. This attractive rhythm can be effectively used in group piano instruction, enhancing creativity, coordination, cooperative learning, and cultural exchange among students. A variety of activities that involve pairs and small groups of students in the class piano setting will be showcased as examples of how to implement bossa nova in your class piano teaching.