Fall is a time for fresh starts and now that music educators are back in the classroom, NAfME wants to remind its members of the many benefits and opportunities they receive. On September 26 NAfME staff presented a webinar, “Maximizing Your Membership: How NAfME Can Help You Orchestrate Success!” It covered why music educators benefit from joining NAfME, including access to Professional Development, Teaching Tools and Resources, Student Opportunities, Advocacy, and Personal Benefits. Find a summary in the webinar PowerPoint.
Professional Development Offerings
The NAfME Learning Network includes weekly professional webinars through NAfME’s partner SoundTree and on-demand professional resources. Continuing education credits are available. Members receive a special annual rate of $49.95, a 20 percent discount off the nonmember price. The NAfME Learning Network has more information.
Teaching Tools and Resources
The teaching tools and resources include subject-specific materials for general music, band, orchestra,chorus, jazz, guitar, and others. Members receive NAfME periodicals, like Music Educators Journal and Teaching Music, as part of their membership and, through NAfME’s partnership with Rowman & Littlefield Education, members also receive a 25 percent discount on their co-published books. My Music Class is a searchable database of lesson plans and teaching tips that are available only to members. NAfME’s Copyright Center also offers a variety of copyright resources for members, which can help make sense of complicated copyright laws. NAfME works with ASCAP, BMI, and the Music Publishers Association to offer copyright information for music educators. In addition, Songfile from the Harry Fox Agency gives teachers a way to make, license, and distribute 2,500 copies or less of recordings, while RightsFlow’s online mechanical licensing utility helps teachers clear cover songs for physical, ringtone, and interactive streaming use.
NAfME Resources
Student Opportunities
Students of NAfME members have access to a variety of student programs and competitions including
- The Tri-M Music Honor Society®, an international music honor society for middle and high school students
- The All-National Honor Ensembles
- The U.S. Army All-American Marching Band
- The NAfME Student Composers Competition
- The NAfME Electronic Music Composition Contest
- The NAfME Copyright Awareness Scholarship
Advocacy
NAfME is a strong advocate for music and arts education programs on the national level and also provides the tools music educators need to make a case for music education on the state and local level. Programs include
- Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®), the annual March celebration, which gives music educators an opportunity to advocate for their music programs though concerts and other events.
- The Concert for Music In Our Schools Month, which allows members to receive valuable sheet music and audio tracks provided by Hal Leonard at no charge. Students from throughout the United States will be featured in the concert on the NAfME website.
- Music Advocacy Groundswell, which offers a “share your story area,” news blogs, and a “situation room” for online discussions of music education issues.
- The AdvocaSee Mapper to help pinpoint advocacy activities.
- Webinars that cover advocacy education, capacity building, and research.
Personal Benefits
Through an agreement with Forrest T. Jones, NAfME offers a variety of group insurance coverages for members and their families. Those include term life, disability income protection, personal auto, and others. Roz Fehr, NAfME managing editor for news, September 27, 2012. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org)
