Archive for

Day: February 14, 2017

AMEA: 2017 NAfME Federal Landscape Webinar Review

Feb 14 2017

Greg GuminaDear AMEA Membership,

On February 8th, there was a NAfME 2017 Federal Landscape Webinar. I have included a link to the full slide presentation on the NAfME website in this correspondence for your convenience. For those that simply want the big points, below are the highlights of the webinar.

The Presenters Lynn Tuttle-Director of Policy and Content
Ronny Lau-Policy Advisor
Tooshar Swain-Policy Advisor

President Trump’s Transition

  • Seamless in “ceremonial scale”
  • There were protests around country and a Women’s March
  • On 2/28/17 President Trump will make his first speech at a Joint Session of Congress

Expected Education Priorities and Budget Proposal

  • $20 Billion School Choice Voucher Program
  • Immediate freeze in rule making process, this is a normal transitional procedure
  • Blueprint is for a $10.5 Trillion reduction in Federal spending over 10 years
  • Most of the ideas emanate from and/or are influenced by The Heritage Foundation, and the Republican Study Committee (RSC)
  • The goals of the President’s Budget would start with Fiscal Year 2018
  • There are cuts included in the proposed budget to the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for Humanities
  • Many of the Presidents’ proposed budgets have included these items as possible cuts
  • The President’s budget is largely a “wish list” that is presented to Congress
  • Only Congress has the ability to appropriate (spend) money

*Betsy DeVos

  • Recently the Director of the American Federation for Children
  • President Trump has proposed a $20 Billion Block Grant school choice program for disadvantaged children
  • Secretary DeVos is a supporter of school choice and voucher programs
  • Secretary DeVos has a history of being “pro-performing arts,” and has served on the Board of Directors at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

During the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) Committee Hearings, Secretary DeVos did not respond to any of the 13 questions NAfME had submitted

  • Did not expand on the implementation of ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act)
  • Didn’t seem to understand the idea that ESSA was a Federal Law, and tried to divert the responsibility to the States
  • On the HEA (Higher Education Act), Secretary DeVos only gave vague answers
  • You can find Secretary DeVos’ complete answers from the HELP Committee Hearings on the NAfME “Broader Minded Blog” (see NAfME website)
  • This is the first instance in American History that a Cabinet Member has needed the Vice President to break a tie in order to be confirmed

States are to begin submitting ESSA implementation plans in April and again in October of this year

  • Federal funds are to start rolling out this summer
  • ESSA has new limitations on the Secretary of Education (SOE) and the Department of Education (DOE) that were not present in the “No Child Left Behind” Act (NCLB)
  • Title VIII and XI of ESSA restricts the power of the SOE and the DOE
  • Secretary DeVos is “pro-Charter” and “pro-Voucher” under Title IV. However, the SOE can only support, not create and fund a Charter School or Voucher Program
  • Funding is done by Congress-largely will be done through tax code changes
  • States will mostly deal with vouchers and charters, not Federal
  • The SOE is however, able to use the “Bully Pulpit” to advocate for Arts Education
  • The SOE cannot operate outside of the law, see (ESSA) and (HEA)
  • Most Arts Education decisions are, and will continue to be, made at the Local and State level
  • Secretary DeVos cannot defund the Arts

Congressional Review Act (CRA)

  • CRA is an oversight tool for Congress and to check on Federal AgenciesCongress intends to overturn 2 items through CRA:
  • Congress intends to overturn 2 items through CRA:
    The Teacher Preparation Accountability for Education Programs language in HEA. NAfME is currently formulating a request to Congress to remove these regulations-They are too standardized, too prescriptive, and would be too costly ESSA accountability language. NAfME believes it will cause unintentional reduction of student access to music because it is heavily weighted on “tested subjects.” NAfME suggested to broaden the definition of this language to the DOE. That request was rejected.
  • CRA will originate in the House, opposed to the Senate because the Senate is still busy with confirmation hearings. Both items passed in the House on 2/7/2017 (Teacher Prep: 240-181) (ESSA Accountability 234-190)
  • Senate plans to take this issue up by the end of this month (February 2017)

On 12/9/16, Congress passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) which funds the Federal Government until 4/28/17 at Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 levels

  • Appropriation discussions for FY 2017 will resume in March or April of 2017
  • ESSA funding is currently unaffected because funds on this law don’t start rolling out until summer of 2017
  • If Congress does not resume Appropriation discussions in a timely manner, or they pass another CR for FY 2017, it could significantly complicate ESSA’s first year process because funding is currently fashioned around the old NCLB legislation.
  • See slides (link to PDF) for what NAfME’s specific dollar amount “asks” will be regarding the funding of ESSA. The “asks” will be for fulling funding the aspects of ESSA that are beneficial to Music Education.

*Perkins Career Technical Education (CTE) Reauthorization Proposals

  • NAfME is trying to introduce language that would allow Federal funding to be used in order to pioneer innovative courses such as music recording under this legislation
  • Likely to pass in a few weeks

Advocacy

  • Under the “Advocacy” tab on the NAfME website, check out:
  1. “Everything ESSA”
  2. “Rules and Regulations”
  • Music Education Policy Roundtable is a coalition of many members who all advocate for Music Education (Includes Private, Public, and Industry sectors)
  • Title IV-A may not be funded this year

Resources:

http://www.nafme.org/advocacy/grassroots-action-center/

http://broaderminded.com

Things we need to be aware of and involved in at the State level

  • State template for the consolidated state plan under the ESSA law
  • There is a link to every state’s plan on the NAfME website
  • NAfME has a resource to help align ESSA and states’ plans for its implementation

There is a 1 contact hour Professional Development credit available on this presentation

  • Login to NAfME and navigate to “archives.” You can go through the slide presentation and then take the short quiz in order to earn the credit.
  • Here is the link to the PDF for this presentation:

http://www.nafme.org/wp-content/files/2017/02/Q1-2017-Federal-Landscape-FINAL.pdf

Respectfully Submitted,
Gregory L. Gumina, President-Elect AMEA
Advocacy Chair
ggumina85@gmail.com
president_elect@myamea.org

AMEA Registrar: The AMEA Professional Development Conference was wonderful!

Feb 14 2017

Pat Stegall

I would like to thank the volunteers who helped stuff packets on Wednesday evening.  It was great seeing you all networking with each other while you assisted.  I would also like to thank all of you that pre-registered for helping to make the check-in process so easy!  We are using the NAfME equipment now and it really helps us speed up the process so you can attend the concerts and clinics instead of standing in line.  We still have a great number of people who wait until check-in to join or renew their NAfME membership and to register on-site for the conference.  Let me encourage you to plan ahead to join, renew, and pre-register next year. It takes less than a minute at the conference to check-in if you have done this.  There is also a discount if you pre-register so take advantage of this incentive. We will continue to offer on-site registration and plan to have several computers available for that purpose when we move to Birmingham, but you can avoid the long lines and delays by doing your part.

Currently, we are seeing about 75% of our membership use the pre-registration option which is great, but we can do better! My goal is 100% pre-registered with no delays in the process of check-in.  I encourage you to do your part by planning ahead.  On June 30, 2017, all members need to renew their membership, and in late August, pre-registration will open for the 2018 conference.  Go ahead and add these dates to your calendar as a reminder!  Again, thank you for attending the conference.

ABA: ARE YOU READY FOR ANOTHER GREAT MPA AND ANOTHER GREAT ALL-STATE BAND FESTIVAL?

Feb 14 2017

Mike Holmes2

AMEA Conference 2017 was extraordinary.  I was so impressed with the performances delivered by all of our outstanding ABA representative ensembles.  Mike Guzman led the Velvet Blue Jazz Orchestra in a very energetic and “tight” performance to kick off the Alabama Bandmasters Association’s first scheduled performance, the Hewitt-Trussville Middle School Honors Band (Brandon Peters-conductor) and Oak Mountain Middle School Advanced Band (Heather Holmes-conductor). Both were outstanding.  We definitely have some fine middle school band programs and directors in our organization. Oak Mountain High School Wind Ensemble (Kevin Ownby-conductor) and Bob Jones High School Wind Ensemble (Leigh Thomas-conductor) were in end- of-the-year form and it was only January.  The UAH Wind Ensemble under the baton of Dr. C. David Ragsdale offered a stellar performance with a little something for everyone in their program.  “That’s a middle school group?”  I heard that asked several times by those that attended the performance of the Pizitz Middle School Percussion and Jazz Ensembles (Kim Bain-Leah Seng-conductors).  These indeed were two very mature-sounding groups. The Homewood Middle School Percussion Ensemble (Chris Cooper, Terrence Cobb, and Lauren Nowak-conductors) presented a high energy, very-fun-for-the-audience performance. The Homewood Middle School Synergy Drum Circle, which is a special needs group of students, performed with the percussion ensemble and then returned to the stage with a bring the house down performance accompanied by keynote speaker Scott Lang.  And that is exactly what happened!  These students brought a level of energy, excitement, and love to the state’s music educators in the audience, as I have never before seen.  Thank you, Synergy for sharing your love and joy with us!

But wait, there’s more!  All-State auditions and Music Performance Assessment (MPA) will more than likely be over by the time you read this article. My hope is that these activities are a positive experience for you and your students and that they allow for musical growth for directors and students alike.  With a dedicated and diligent approach to preparation, All-State auditions and MPA should provide opportunities for your students to continue to progress and become stronger fundamental musicians.  They should provide you with the opportunity to better know your students as you work with them individually, in sectionals, and as a full ensemble in preparation for these events.  I have found over time that there is nothing that helps directors be prepared to stand on the podium more than knowing the capabilities of the students sitting in the chairs in front of them.

ALL-STATE BAND FESTIVAL IS ON THE MOVE.  As you will read in this issue we have four very successful and in-demand clinicians coming to Alabama to work with our outstanding all-state band students. Smiths Station High School director Gene Butler, with AMEA Executive Director Garry Taylor playing the role of negotiator, has been working, planning, and putting together our move to Montgomery – all while changing jobs.  Gene has done a great job and I am confident that we will have a positive and successful all-state band experience in Montgomery.  We will communicate details of the event’s venues, schedules, etc. by way of abafest emails and postings on the myamea.org website (Choose Band Division).  Check often for updates.

By the time we get to Montgomery, Spring will be in the air, birds will be singing, and the sun will be shining, so . . . DON’T FORGET THE SUNSCREEN!!

AOA: Orchestrating Excellence

Feb 14 2017

Sam Nordlund

The 2017 AMEA Professional Development Conference was a smashing success! The AOA welcomed BYU Professor Emeritus and longtime orchestra composer and educator, Dr. Andrew Dabczynski, as a guest clinician for three sessions, sponsored by the AMEA, J.W. Pepper, and Alfred Publishing.  We all learned a great deal about helping young students with sight-reading, teaching Baroque beyond just the notes on the page, and creating a deeper learning experience in our classrooms or studios.  Besides Dr. Dabczynski, we hosted or co-hosted sessions by Jacob Bitinas, Anne Witt, Blake Richardson, and Robert Grogan on everything from technology in the classroom to dealing with parents.  I certainly learned a great deal and I know other conference participants did as well.  Next year, we plan to increase the string and orchestra presence at the AMEA conference, and we hope you will join us in Birmingham.  Besides presenting outstanding clinicians, in 2018 we plan to involve pre-college and collegiate chamber groups in masterclass type sessions as well as lobby performances.  Our goal is to begin to flood the conference with string and orchestra students and increase our presence.  Along those lines, the AOA is looking at moving the All-State Orchestra Festival to the AMEA conference starting in 2020.

What especially stood out to me at the 2017 AMEA conference was simply how determined the orchestra community in Alabama is.  As everyone knows, we are the red-headed step-child of music education in Alabama.  But that is not stopping the level of All-State Orchestra from rising every single year.  Our featured orchestra, the University of Alabama’s Huxford Symphony Orchestra, led by Blake Richardson, presented a simply spectacular performance of American music.  What heartened me most is that some band directors heard the performance and were blown away.  Exposing the band community to the potential of a full orchestra is a crucial step toward increasing orchestra programs and opportunities for students in this state.  In the same vein, as I played Copland’s majestic 3rd Symphony with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra last week, I couldn’t help but wish every single music student in Alabama, string or band, could have been present.  To me, there is nothing quite as majestic as the full symphony orchestra.

We will soon welcome conductors Sandra Dackow, Foster Beyers, and Christina Chen-Beyers, and composer, Alejandro Basulto-Martinez, to work with talented orchestra students from across the state.  The All-State Orchestra will be held February 9-12 at the University of Alabama.  Later this spring, the Alabama Orchestra Association will host our second annual Orchestral Musical Performance Assessments.  Our April 21 location will be Auburn University, and the University of North Alabama will host ensembles from across the state on April 22.  Registration is available at www.alabamaorchestraassociation.org.  We hope to see full orchestras, string orchestras, and even guitar ensembles again this year.  Please encourage your local strings or orchestra programs to participate.  At the AOA, we are orchestrating excellence!

AVA: Thank you for your contributions to the AMEA Conference!

Feb 14 2017

Ginny Coleman

It was so nice to see many of you at our conference last month.  I appreciate all those who worked to be sure that everything ran smoothly.  Those who were in attendance enjoyed re-connecting with each other, sharing information, and attending sessions and concerts.  If you did not attend the AMEA conference this year, I encourage you to go ahead and make plans to do so next year.  We are excited and a little nervous about our move to Birmingham in 2018, and are looking forward to the opportunities that a different venue will open up for our conference.

I certainly enjoyed my interaction with J.D. Frizzell at the AMEA conference.  I particularly appreciated his session on teaching philosophy.  It is so important to reflect on what we do each day instead of merely running on autopilot.  I thought his reading session addressed content for various levels and included repertoire appropriate for our singers.  I encourage you to contact JW Pepper any time that you need literature as they provided the reading session booklets at no cost to AVA.  Our other sessions covered a variety of topics from “how to” vocal jazz and a cappella pop to proper diction to recruiting and retention.  If you have something new or interesting that you would like to share, I encourage you to submit to present at AMEA next year.

Congratulations to the students and directors who provided performances at the conference.  Because of our move to an alternate performance venue, we were able to hear more choirs than we have in the past.  We hope to continue the pattern of an alternative venue and a two-hour concert block at the 2018 AMEA Conference.  We encourage you to submit an application to perform.  This year, we will provide you with a recording of your SCPA performance as a part of your SCPA registration cost.  Our hope is that the recording will make it a little easier for you gather the materials needed for your application.

ALL-STATE FESTIVAL

We are looking forward to seeing you and your students who were chosen to be a member of an all-state choir in March.  You will find information about all-state and the conductors in this issue of the Ala Breve.  Or, you may visit the AVA website to view the information.  By the time you read this article your all-state correspondence packet will be available on the AVA website from our president-elect Meg Jones.

We appreciate Samford University for once again hosting all-state.  Kenny Gannon, Brian Ernsberger, and their staff have already begun working to be sure that our event is a success.  Thanks to everyone who has agreed to serve as a choir coordinator, assistant coordinator, or attendance monitor.  Your service is appreciated.

SCPA

In an effort to connect with our colleagues who are not plugged in with AVA, we are offering a free registration initiative for State Choral Performance Assessment.  Directors may register one choir for free (school fee and student fees waived) if their school has not participated in SCPA in the past three years.  Please share with your colleagues who may be interested in taking advantage of this offer.

We are also pleased to be able to provide additional services this year during our SCPA event.  Each district chair will contract a recording engineer to record all choirs that perform at SCPA.  After SCPA is complete, each director will receive a copy of his/her ensemble’s recordings at no additional cost.

COMMUNICATION

This year we have made an effort to provide the AVA membership with increased instruction and reminders about registration deadlines, etc.  We occasionally get questions about where to find information.  You should expect all information for all AVA events to be available on our website.  For example, if you are attending an SCPA in another district, you should be able to get all information concerning the event you are attending from the AVA website.  Let your district chairman know if you have difficulty accessing anything.

The AVA Board is continually striving to 1) maintain adherence to our mission statement and 2) improve our functionality.  Along those lines, we have begun discussion about the following:

  • Streamlining the All-State audition process using available recording technology rather than sending five judges on a tour around the state
  • Modifying the sight-reading portion of SCPA to allow directors to choose an appropriate sight-reading example for their students based on students’ ability
  • The future of All-State Show Choir and how it fits into the structure of AVA

We are interested in thoughtful, written feedback in the form of an email to me or anyone else on the AVA Board.  Please let us know if you have anything you would like to add to the conversation.  Your thoughts are welcome and appreciated.

Thank you for taking the time to read about your professional association.  Please send questions, suggestions, or ideas to me at presidentofava@gmail.com. I am looking forward to seeing you in March!

Ginny

 

ELEM/GEN: Greetings from the Elementary/General Division of the AMEA!

Feb 14 2017

Cliff Huckabee

We just finished a very successful professional development conference in Montgomery and we are looking forward to a fabulous 2017!

For those who attended the conference, I hope you were all inspired by the clinicians and their sessions. I appreciate all our out-of-state clinicians who presented sessions including Andrea and Joey Coleman, Roger Sams, Dr. David Frego, and Dr. Georgia Newlin. I also appreciate our Alabama teachers/clinicians including Dr. Patricia Corbin from JSU, Dr. Susanne Burgess from Samford University, Dr. Rob Lyda from Auburn City Schools, Mrs. Lea Hoppe from Randolph School, Mrs. Deanna Bell from Vestavia Hills City Schools, and Kristi Howze from UMS-Wright. We also had two wonderful performances from The Montgomery Academy 5th and 6th Grade Chorus led by Ms. Meg Griffin and the Ogletree Singers led by Mr. Phil Wilson. It was a great time of professional growth.

During the general business meeting at the conference we elected our new 2017-2019 Executive Board for the Elementary Division:

  • President – Phil Wilson
  • President-Elect – Kelly Hollingsworth
  • Hospitality – Kristi Howze
  • Treasurer – Lori Zachary
  • Secretary – Rob Lyda
  • Past-President – Cliff Huckabee

I encourage everyone to start planning for the 2018 conference in Birmingham at the BJCC. It will be held January 18-20 and it will be an exciting time as we move to a new location. I encourage our music teachers to consider doing two things for our next conference.  First, I encourage you to submit a proposal for a session. I love to see our own music teachers sharing their ideas and passions during the conference. We learn so much from each other, so think about a topic that you feel you could share and submit. Second, I encourage those that have performing groups to submit a performance application. We are one of the largest divisions in AMEA yet we have the smallest number of performance applications each year. Let’s change that! It is a rewarding experience not only for you and your students but also for our division. It inspires and motivates us all to see quality performances from our own teachers. So, I strongly encourage our division to step up and submit proposals and performance applications for 2018! You can do both on the AMEA website: www.myamea.org.

Our 11th Annual Elementary Music Festival will be held on Friday, October 6th at Samford University. We are still in the planning stages and hope to have our two clinicians secured soon. It will also be followed by our AMEA/AOSA Joint Workshop on Saturday, October 7th. We will send out more information soon via our email list.

I also wanted to update you on other upcoming events around our state:

AOSA Spring Workshop with Artie Almeida – March 4, 2017 – Samford University

Kodaly Workshop presented by SHAKE – April 22, 2017 – Vestavia Hills Elementary East

ACDA Young Voices Festival April 28-29, 2017 at University of Alabama

Orff Certification, Samford University:  Level 1; June 19-June 30, 2017

Kodaly Certification, University of Montevallo – Levels 1, 2, & 3 – July 10-21, 2017

East Alabama General Music Workshop – Saturday, August 26, 2017

Lastly, if you are not receiving emails from the Elementary Division, please send us an email at:

elementaryamea@gmail.com

We would love to add you to our email list to keep you informed of upcoming news and events for our division. I wish everyone a great 2nd semester and do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance to you.

Respectfully Submitted,

Cliff Huckabee, President

Elementary/General Division

HED: Congratulations! From the Higher Education Division President

Feb 14 2017

Beck Halliday

Congratulations to all who contributed to the 2017 AMEA Professional Development Conference. This event is always energizing and informative and this year was no exception. The HED hosted clinicians whose topics included advocacy, copyright, web-based instruction, arts integration, inclusivity, video game music, and EdTPA. In addition, our panel discussion included accomplished pianists who work in tandem with students and applied faculty. We would like to thank panelists from Alabama State University: Dr. Adonis Gonzalez (piano faculty), Dr. Katrina Phillips (clarinet faculty), Terrance Brown (voice faculty), Zabriel Rivers (voice student), and Devin Gavin (clarinet student). From the University of Montevallo, we were joined by Dr. Laurie Middaugh (piano instructor), Dr. Joseph Ardovino (trumpet faculty), and Sam Ardovino (trumpet student). These panelists performed on the HED recital later that afternoon.

In addition, the HED and the Collegiate Division hosted a combined mixer that was well attended by both students and faculty. We look forward to future collaborative efforts to explore mutual interests between divisions, particularly as EdTPA approaches. Comments and suggestions are always welcome!

I wish you a wonderful spring semester!

COLL: ­Fantastic Year, Collegiates!

Feb 14 2017

Josh Meyer

The AMEA Conference is now behind us and I want to thank all of you for a fantastic year. We’ve set record attendance at the annual Collegiate Summit as well as the AMEA conference. Additionally, we’ve added two new collegiate chapters and more are in the process of being engaged. It has been an honor to serve an organization that is so eager to grow.

With that being said, the board has compiled data on the demographics of our participating collegiate members.  What we’ve found is a great enthusiasm among freshman, juniors, and seniors, but a lack of attendance among sophomores. It seems that sometime after the first year, music education majors become somewhat disenchanted and dismayed by the workload that comes with our profession.

As we move forward as Alabama’s pre-service music educators, I encourage you to help your colleagues through their first year of college. Between music theory, history, and the discovery that practice is no longer just a fun hobby, the path to becoming a music teacher can seem long and arduous. Be a helping hand to those who are struggling; offer the best advice you have but also follow with action. Chapter presidents, look for ways to keep newcomers engaged throughout the year, even after the conference and honor band season has passed.  Music is a “we, not me” activity, and those of us who are nearing the end of our degree programs should be shining examples of that.

As a parting word, I would like to wish all of you the best as you become teaching professionals. It has been an honor to serve as your division president and I greatly look forward to seeing all of you in the future.

Sincerely,

Joshua Meyer

AMEA Collegiate Division President

jpmeyer@crimson.ua.edu

(256) 566-1265

The results of the Collegiate-AMEA elections held during the Collegiate luncheon were as follows:

  • Madison Baldwin, President – JSU madisontaylorbaldwin@gmail.com
  • Jordan Hare, VP/President-Elect Montevallo – jhare1@forum.montevallo.edu
  • Tyler Jones, Secretary – Montevallo tjones33@forum.montevallo.edu
  • Brenton Nash, Treasurer – Alabama banash1@crimson.ua.edu
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