Day: February 22, 2018
AMEA: From the President’s Desk
Feb 22 2018
“Any great art work … revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world – the extent to which it invites you in and lets you breathe its strange, special air.”
― Leonard Bernstein
There are times in life that the stars seem to align, and we experience music making at a level that affects us. As educators, we are trained to spend much of our days looking for mistakes to correct… making it difficult to enjoy music. But sometimes we experience musical performances that allow us to transcend that role of mistake fixers to actually enjoy listening to music. We had several moments like that at the 2018 AMEA Professional Development Conference.
AMEA 2018
When reaching out to artists for the 2018 conference I had a goal to highlight parts of our organization that might not always have the focused attention of our membership and be a draw for all to enjoy. I believe we can all have an appreciation for our differences and will be better musicians and teachers if we are more empathetic to our colleagues as we all TEACH MUSIC!
The Alabama Symphony performance was fantastic and to experience a concert in their home hall was even more enjoyable. The programming, facility and musicianship displayed were all excellent. The management team from the orchestra was very hands on and even had a booth in the exhibits. They are dedicated to supporting music education in our state and have education concerts scheduled for rural and urban students who might not have the chance to hear a live orchestra.
When I made the connection with Voctave about performing at AMEA, I knew it would be a difficult sell for those who had not heard of them or experienced the original ensemble all of them have performed with – the Voices of Liberty at Epcot. As I sat in the concert with tears streaming down my face and the 3rd spontaneous standing ovation was happening, I knew that we had experienced something very special and had breathed rare air. Representatives from all divisions told me how much they enjoyed both concerts. As President of AMEA it is not always clear the path to take – but I have never been more sure after these concerts and moments of cohesion between the divisions of AMEA. This coupled with the Peter Boonshaft Keynote and the Honor Choir and All State Jazz Band concerts, I was thrilled with what we were able to bring to the membership this year.
I was amazed at the resilience and fortitude of our organization, presenters and vendors in the wake of frigid temperatures and icy conditions. As the AMEA board met via multiple conference calls before the conference to discuss how to handle the weather issues – our concern for members and students were always at the forefront of our minds. If at all possible, we wanted the performing groups to be able to perform after all their preparations and for our membership to benefit from the clinicians and sessions offered. Though some members were not able to attend, the show did go on and with a few schedule modifications – all student groups were able to perform. It is my hope that every educator came away from the conference with a new idea or technique that will guide their teaching in the future or make them feel refreshed and rejuvenated for the second half of the year.
Thank you!
Before my time on the AMEA Board I had had no idea how integral each board member is to the conference. Each division president is the point person for their portion of the conference and basically run a conference within a conference. I want to take a moment to thank them and highlight the portions of the conference they oversee.
Garry Taylor and Rusty Logan are our Executive Director and Assistant Director. They oversaw communication with each ensemble, clinician, vendor and the venue. From awards given to the food at luncheons to the projectors in each presentation room – they are working to make the conference happen for the entire previous year.
Carl Hancock, our Immediate Past President, oversaw the FAME program and the Past Presidents luncheon.
Greg Gumina, our President-elect, helped facilitate registration and assisted with the conference as needed
Pat Stegall, our Registrar and Treasurer, worked with NAFME to move our registration process forward.
Doug Farris, ABA President, facilitated the division meetings and sessions.
Kim Bain, Jazz Chair, facilitated the four All-State Jazz Bands rehearsals and performances.
Sam Norlund, AOA President, facilitated the division meetings and sessions.
Ginny Coleman , AVA President, facilitated the division meetings and sessions, the Honor Choir, and the moving of risers.
Phil Wilson, Elem/General President, facilitated the division meetings and sessions, and the moving of many classroom instruments.
Ted Hoffman, Collegiate Advisor, facilitated all collegiate sessions and the collegiate luncheon and reception.
Madison Baldwin, Collegiate President, facilitated the division meeting and the collegiate luncheon and reception.
Becky Halliday, Higher Education President, facilitated the division meeting, sessions, reception and HED recital.
Carla Gallahan, Recording Secretary, recorded all meeting minutes and reported to the membership.
Becky Lightfoot, Industry Representative, made many suggestions that are current policy and continues to guide our path
The AMEA Board knew moving to a new venue would have some challenges and opportunities. The BJCC and the Sheraton complex offer the AMEA Professional Development Conference more space and room to grow. Many of you have made suggestions and these were discussed at our post conference meeting. While there were some rough edges we encountered, we have already started adjusting the schedule, flow and placements of portions of the conference for next year.
AMEA is only as strong as its members and leadership and your experience with the organization is what you make of it. I encourage each of you to get involved in your divisions and volunteer to help with the AMEA as you can. It is certainly fulfilling to be an advocate for music education in Alabama and the conference is the embodiment of the organization’s impact on the arts.
Thank you again for all you do each day in the classroom. Music is our subject, but teaching is our passion and calling. Don’t let the ups and down of the school day rob you of remembering that YOU make an impact on the future of children and while they might not remember every detail taught – they will remember how they felt about music in your class.
Susan
COLL: Collegiate Conference News
Feb 22 2018
The 2018 AMEA Professional Development Conference was a great success for the Collegiate Division. The conference kicked off with the first-ever Collegiate Orientation for the conference on Thursday, and it served as a gateway for pre-professional music educators to make the most of their conference. Guest speakers – including AMEA President Susan Smith, Collegiate Secretary Tyler Jones, first year teacher Savannah Smith, and second year teacher Stacy Daniels – discussed how the conference is the perfect opportunity for collegiate members to build their professional network with their peers, veteran educators, and individuals in the music industry; to gain new ideas, strategies, and resources on music education from phenomenal presenters and clinicians; and to get out of their comfort zone and experience professional growth outside of the classroom. The orientation was very beneficial and we hope for it to be successful and useful for years to come.
Collegiates benefited from numerous sessions on topics ranging from edTPA to how to interview for your first teaching job. The Collegiate Division/Higher Education Division mixer was held on Thursday night and helped strengthen the organic partnership between these two divisions and allowed teacher and students to engage outside of the classroom. The collegiate luncheon was held on Friday. We had representation from 14 collegiate chapters from across the state. We had a successful lunch and business meeting, where we began planning a state Hill Day where we can lobby for music education on the state level.
We held successful elections and the four Executive Board members from 2017 rolled off after a year of service (Madison Baldwin, President, Jacksonville State University; Tyler Jones, Secretary, University of Montevallo; Brenton Nash, Treasurer, University of Alabama) and Jordan Banks, VP/President-Elect, assumed the office of President.
The new Collegiate Executive Board for the 2018-2019 year is as follows:
- President: Jordan Banks, University of Montevallo
- VP/President-Elect: DeLee Benton, University of Montevallo
- Secretary: Kylee Berggren, Samford University
- Treasurer: DeShawn Sewer, Alabama A&M University
Written by:
Jordan Hare Banks and Tyler Jones
AMEA Registrar: From the Registrar
Feb 22 2018
Thank you to everyone that pre-registered for the 2018 AMEA Professional Development Conference. In spite of the weather issues, we were able to see a great number of members in attendance. We had over 1000 attendees (780 pre-registered and over 220 on site). Being in a new venue, we experienced some technical issues regarding the internet wifi that I hope will be resolved before next year’s conference. If you did not pre-register, you should. It is easy with the online payment method and I want to be able to process the Check Ins as fast as possible so that you may spend your time enjoying the conference instead of waiting in line to register. I am working to make sure that no one has to wait very long. I may ask for some help from our members to open more stations next year, but you can help speed up the process by making sure your NAFME membership is current prior to the conference and by registering online.
On another note, some of you are experiencing issues with your pre-registration checks being returned because of the wrong address on the checks. Some schools have a program that defaults to a Sheffield, Alabama PO Box when the Zip Code 35661 is entered. Please have your bookkeepers check on this if your check was returned and have them make a note of it for the future. The correct address for mailing pre-registration forms is: AMEA Registrar, PO Box 3385, Muscle Shoals, AL 35661
Pat Stegall
ABA: Birmingham or Bust!
Feb 22 2018
In spite of the weather, what a great conference in a new location. As with anything new, there were some hiccups but the positives very much outweighed the negatives or newness. I would like to thank all the performing groups; Southside HS, Jacksonville State University, Thompson Jazz Band, Hoover First Edition, Hillcrest HS, Pelham HS, the ASO, the All State Jazz Bands and Vocatve. Music education is alive and well in our state. The clinics were on great topics and gave new information for directors of all levels. The state of Alabama has some phenomenal programs and directors that have great talents to share. As you come away from the conference, be inspired to apply for next year. Come up with the next outstanding inspirational clinic sharing your ideas and techniques that make your programs great.
Your ABA board is striving to make the organization more sound and stronger for the years to come. The board has adopted a four year self study that will be collecting data over the next four years to be studied by a committee outside the board and make recommendations on improvement. We hope this is a great first step in bringing our organization forward and more equitable for all.
As we have just finished the All-State auditions, there were over 4500 students to register for All-State. This is a daunting task for everyone involved. I would like to thank the board for their organization, our members for the work in judging, tabulations and running, but most of all, our students for preparing and auditioning. This year, All-State will have some great clinicians; Red Band, Retired Colonel Timothy Holtan; White Band, Julie Giroux; Blue Band Rick Good; Middle School Band Cheryl Floyd. We will also be offering the second edition to the Coffee Shop, a middle school band chat with Brandon Peters, Leah Seng, and David Caddell on Friday. The Friday night concert will be the Alabama A&M Wind Ensemble under the direction of Carlton Wright.
Before we set our eyes on All-State, there is a small hurdle of Music Performance Assessment. Let me encourage you to make sure you understand the new classification system as you register and prepare your groups. Call you colleagues and ask them to come listen, make recordings and share with mentors for advice on how to make your band better. Take every advantage to make your band the best they can be. While another director was in front of my band, a young director asked, “Are you worried that another person can get more music out of the group?” I said, “No, because sometimes hearing the same words from someone else is all it takes. The bottom line is the band is better and in the end, isn’t that what we want?” So remember, it doesn’t make you a bad director if someone else can spark a flame in your students. It is then your job to nurture the spark into a flame and passion that will always burn for music and excellence.
AOA: Springing Forward from #AMEA2018
Feb 22 2018
Right now it doesn’t really feel like it, but Spring is right around the corner. What better way to launch us toward warmer weather than a fantastic AMEA Professional Development Conference in the middle of a polar vortex! Despite typical first-year obstacles presented by the move to Birmingham, AOA’s clinicians and performers were first-rate. Although we missed the intimacy of Montgomery, the Birmingham Sheraton and BJCC offer the potential for our division to grow significantly.
Dr. Bob Gillespie, our headline clinician, presented three outstanding sessions. As a co-author of the Essential Elements method books, his introduction into the new technology options was extremely informative. Likewise, his demonstration of teaching bowing, from the basics to more advanced techniques, was spot-on, and demonstrated his decades of experience as a leading pedagogue.
What was most exciting to me, though, was his session on motivating students. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear a word of it, because our session room became so packed that I was unable to even crane my neck through the door. But I could hear the excited response from the standing room only crowd. I heard from AOA members who have been involved much longer than me that this was by far the highest attendance at an AOA specific session. The reason we drew so many from across the other divisions (especially collegiate) is that the session title was not string or orchestra specific. It didn’t hurt that we had a world-class clinician who has been a keynote speaker at conferences around the world.
I should not neglect the other AOA clinicians, as Joe Brennan, Travis Baird, and Anne Witt all presented fascinating sessions. Besides his session on technology in the classroom, Brennan also gave a public masterclass with performers from the Alabama School of Fine Arts. The involvement of performing groups from ASFA was a welcome addition, and the AOA will involve more student groups at future conferences, both as chamber groups and orchestras. Speaking of orchestras, I was thrilled to present the outstanding performance of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. As the only premier, full-time orchestras in the state, they really do represent us well, and give inspiration to students all over Alabama.
The first four months of the calendar year are incredibly eventful for AOA. By the time this is published, we will have (hopefully) wrapped up another highly successful All-State Orchestra Festival at UA, February 8-11. We had the largest number of auditions ever, and the largest number of accepted students. All-State Orchestra is consistently improving in not only quantity, but quality, thanks to music educators all over Alabama.
On April 6, AOA will hold our 3rd annual Orchestra MPA at Samford University in Birmingham. Registration forms and information are available at www.alabamaorchestraassociation.org. We hope to grow this event, supporting the visibility and viability of orchestra programs across our state. After this busy Spring, I will hand off the Presidency of our organization to Dr. Guy Harrison on June 1. His vision and experience will lead to continued growth, and take the AOA to even greater heights. Orchestra in Alabama is trending upward, and I like it!
AVA: Thank you for your contributions to the AMEA Conference
Feb 22 2018
AMEA CONFERENCE
It was so nice to see many of you at our conference last month. Despite the winter weather and the move to a new venue, we had a great turnout! 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. The conference will be held January 17-19, 2019 at the BJCC.
I certainly enjoyed my interaction with Dan Davison at the AMEA conference. I particularly appreciated his session on teaching the changing male voice. 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. Other sessions covered a range of topics from sight-reading to authentic assessment. 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, including the AVA Honor Choir. We encourage you to submit an application to perform. Like last 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. By the time that 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, Tim Banks, and the staff at Samford 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 again 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.
OUR MISSION
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 5 judges on a tour around the state
- Modifying the All-State audition form to a rubric-style adjudication form
- 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
- The future of Honor Choir and how it fits into the structure of AVA
- We sent a survey at the end of the AVA Membership meeting on January 19th. If you did not already complete the survey, please do. We will use the information gathered from the survey when scheduling AVA event dates for the 2018-2019 school year. We are also 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 to 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: NEWS!
Feb 22 2018
Scholar Jean Piaget once said, “The goal of education is not to increase the amount of the knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things.” During the 2018 AMEA Professional Development Conference, we hope you gained possibilities to take back to your students for them to invent and discover new music making opportunities. This year we discovered unique music opportunities with Valerie Diaz Leroy and Quaver, drummed on buckets with Viktoria Truesdail, learned about the magic of stories and traveled around the world with recorders courtesy of Darla Meek. We discovered more stories that sing with Jeanette Shorey, learned about more modern ways to compose with our students with Adriana van Rensburg and learned how to utilize the Chord Buddy apparatus with Deanna Bell, her students and Chord Buddy. Lorelei Batisalong taught us wonderful new ways to use our ukuleles, Steve Campbell lead us in drumming and Roger Sams inspired us to sing, play and dance with our students. We also heard an outstanding performance by the Mitchell Elementary Honor Chorus directed by Doris Day. This spectacular event occurred in the midst of an uncommon Southern snow storm, which did not stop or deter us.
Thank you elementary division for your positive enthusiasm as we charted new territory at the BJCC. A very special thank you to Garry Taylor and the elementary board for your hard work in making this conference a success! We will be back at the BJCC next year and look forward to new opportunities to bring learning to our students. If you have further suggestions to improve our experiences, please let us know.
There are great things happening in your classrooms every day that need to be shared with the division. Please consider applying for the 2019 conference to share those ideas. Also, consider applying for your choirs to perform at next year’s conference. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at elementaryAMEA@gmail.com. Remember to follow and post pictures and videos of things you are doing in your classrooms to our AMEA Elementary Facebook group page.
Respectfully Submitted,
Phil Wilson, Elementary/General President
Upcoming Events
Alabama Chapter of AOSA
Spring Workshop, Jim Solomon, Clinician
March 10, 2018, Samford University 9-3
Band Room
Sweet Home Alabama Kodály Educators (SHAKE)
Free Spring Workshop
Jeremy Howard, “Happy Endings and New Beginnings”
April 14, 2018, Vestavia Hills Elementary East, 9-3
2018 Young Voices Festival
April 27-28, 2018
University of Alabama
Kodály Levels 1 and 2
University of Montevallo
July 9-20, 2018
See the SHAKE Facebook page for updated information
Orff Levels I and II
Samford University
July 18-29
See the Alabama Chapter of AOSA’s Facebook page for more information
East Alabama Music Workshop
Grace United Methodist Church, Auburn
August 25, 2018
Music Festival
Friday, October 12, 2018
Samford University
Joint Fall Workshop
Saturday, October 13, 2018
Time and place to be determined
HED News!
Feb 22 2018
Thank you all for contributing to a great conference at our new location in Birmingham! This event is always energizing and informative, and this year was no exception. The HED invited presenters from across the state, most of whom were able to come despite the icy weather to the south. In those sessions, we gained insight into topics such as EdTPA, non-traditional pedagogy, Universal Design, the 2017 Alabama Course of Studies, and social media marketing. Our music teacher educator roundtable highlighted topics related to the Praxis exams, the new Alabama Course of Studies, and culturally responsive pedagogy. In addition, the HED recital featured students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Montevallo. At the HED luncheon, we elected a new slate of officers: Mildred Lanier, President; Michael Zelenak, Secretary/Treasurer; and Katrina Phillips, President-Elect. In addition, the HED and the Collegiate Division hosted a combined mixture for the second year, allowing students and faculty the opportunity to interact in a more relaxed setting. Moving forward, we hope that this collaboration between divisions will continue to grow as we explore our concurrent interests. As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions, questions, or concerns about the happenings of the Higher Education Division. With that said, I wish you a wonderful spring semester!
