Collegiate Chat: Creating Neurodiverse Ensembles

All educators are welcome!

NAfME Collegiate members, advisors, and all interested are invited to attend and engage with this presentation, which will address the following topics:

1. Learn the first steps in creating a neurodiverse ensemble in your space. Practical step-by-step actions that build a welcoming, musically educational classroom for every student who walks in the door.
2. Receive. Retain. Return. Challenging moments in the neurodivergent classroom. Where to begin to adapt.
3. Reliable resources to find further information.
4. Locating your TEAM. Students with IEPs provide extra challenges AND joy! Meeting and working with the people who know your new students best will be your greatest resource.
5. Prepare yourself to find joy in teaching like never before!
6. Mind shift from “disability” to “differently-abled.”
7. Some of your finest musicians will be in your adaptive class.
8. Everyone deserves a chance to make music.

Ruth “Pippa” LeMay is a high school urban music educator in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, Public Schools, neurological music therapy allied professional, and Adaptive Music Professor at University of Wisconsin in River Falls. She is in demand as a national speaker and trainer for her inclusive music education philosophy and iconic music methodology, 3 Strings. Via video or in person, Emergence is the forward-facing ensemble showcasing the effectiveness of 3 Strings methodology. Thanks to the Augustine Foundation, this full-length documentary can be viewed at 3Strings.org. Ruth holds degrees from the University of South Dakota and University of Minnesota in Music Education and Choral Conducting, respectively. She is Vice President of Secondary Ensembles for MMEA in Minnesota, serves on the NAfME Council for Guitar Education, and is Member-At-Large for the Collegiate Advisory Council. Ruth was recently honored as the 2025 Celedonio Romero Guitar Institute Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient.

NAfME presents this live virtual event at no charge to all as a service to the music education profession. To register, you must enter your NAfME member information or create a nonmember account. After registering, check your email for instructions. A recording of this program will be available to all registrants for one week following the live event. Members can also view archived NAfME webinars in the NAfME Academy.

The views expressed are those of the presenter; they do not necessarily reflect the views of NAfME.