In June 2008, the MENC National Executive Board named the MENC headquarters in Reston, Virginia, The National Center for Music Education. In July a slate of four different events demonstrated the potential for the center’s future.
Workshop Immerses Music Educators in Mariachi Curriculum, History
July 7-11 — Sponsored by Yamaha and Villanova Summer Studies for Educators in cooperation with MENC, the first July workshop was “Everything You Need to Know about Starting a Mariachi Program in Your School.”
MENC Mariachi is a membership of MENC. The MENC Mariachi Advisory Committee aims to help educators run successful school-based mariachi programs.
Workshop participants received resources including beginning level musical arrangements, standards-based curriculum and historical information.
Music educators also learned to play the guitarrón, vihuela, and mariachi guitar in authentic styles including ranchera, son, and bolero. At the end of the week-long workshop, the music teachers showed off their new skills in a concert performed for MENC staffers in Reston.
Here Marcia Neel, president of Music Education Consultants, Inc, and mariachi participants applaud the MENC staff after their concert. Until 2007 Neel was supervisor of the Secondary Music Education Program of the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada.
State MEA Managers Discuss the Business of Music Education
July 14–15—State managers from MENC’s state Music Educators Associations met in Reston for in-service training. The state associations are federated units of MENC. The managers discussed a variety of topics, including
• The state of the music industry
• Financial planning
• Advocacy
• Technology
• Fundraising
Bruce R. Belrose, business manager for the Florida Music Educators Association, discussed a variety of topics with state managers, from financial planning to fundraising.
Yamaha Sponsors In-Depth Technology Seminars
July 15–20— A group of nearly thirty music educators from around the United States met in Reston to learn Music in Education technology from experts with Yamaha.
Yamaha’s Music in Education (MIE) is a turnkey program that uses state-of-the-art keyboards as a learning tool and curriculum to help music educators teach students to play, compose, and discuss music.
The technology workshops were hands-on sessions for students and instructors alike.
Yamaha Corporation set up state-of-the-art keyboard equipment in the Assembly Room of the National Center for Music Education in Reston, Virginia.
Guitar Teaching Workshops Draw Advanced Students
July 21–25—Guitar strumming took center stage when MENC members took an advanced Teaching Guitar Workshop facilitated by the MENC Guitar Education Team.
The Guitar Level II workshop was aimed at music educators who had already taken the introductory guitar course. The program is designed to help MENC members introduce and expand guitar programs at their schools.
The MENC Guitar Education Team receives generous funding from the Guitar and Accessories Marketing Association (GAMA) and the International Music Products Association (NAMM).
Small groups like this helped music educators connect with their material and each other.
Here the July group poses for a “class photo” outside The National Center for Music Education in Reston, Virginia.
—Roz Fehr, August 7, 2008. © MENC: The National Association for Music Education
