Here are the latest articles from our leaders published in the Ala Breve. To see all the Ala Breve articles and more, go to our Ala Breve Archive page.
I recently have been thinking about the impact that my band directors had on my life. I had a different director almost every year that I was in school until I got to college. From seventh and ninth grade band with Dr. Wayne Cameron, to high school band with Bill Hickman, Bill Lazenby, Bill Mallory, and Dr. Tom Hunter and then college with Dr. John M. Long.
The new school year is officially underway and moving quickly. I hope that in these first few weeks of school, you are reaping the benefits of your pre-planning and preparation for this year. By now you have met and reconnected with students and colleagues, pre-assessed skills and knowledge, chosen repertoire, established routines, and mapped out your calendar of events.
I hope everyone has had an excellent start to your school year! It’s wild that we’ve already made it this far into the first semester. I know that there is beautiful music being made in all the AOA members’ classrooms, studios, and venues. We have so much to look forward to this year!
Are you a lifelong learner? I have been thinking about this lately as I began the new adventure of violin lessons this past summer. As an organist, pianist, and choir director, I can tell you it has been a humbling experience. I can now play “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and “Go Tell Aunt Rhody.” Yikes! As tempting as it is, I refuse to give up.
Time flies. I know, that is the understatement of the year. The school year started only about a month ago and already look at all that you and your students have accomplished. Whether choral, general music or instrumental, a lot has happened since the first day of school.
Are you one of those folks that likes to be ahead of the crowd? Would you like to breeze through the AMEA Professional Development Conference check in? If that’s a description of you, then it’s time to check out a couple of things that will make the process very easy. Everything you need is in one convenient location! Go to www.myamea.org and select the conference tab.
We hope your semesters are off to a strong start. As the year gets underway, we gain more opportunities to get involved. Whether they are musical or not, there are many ways to get invested in the campus community. However, one of the best activities on campus and in our professional community is cNAfME.
Resilient: If the recent past has taught us anything, the lesson gleaned is the Alabama Music Educators Association is resilient. From COVID shutting down our conference, to putting on a very successful virtual conference the following year, and even having to reschedule performance groups after canceling our 2024 conference due to weather concerns, this association has shown time and time again that together we are resilient.
I closed my last Ala Breve article by expressing my profound gratitude for the dedicated members of the entire ABA Board, who tirelessly work behind the scenes to ensure our students have opportunities to grow and experience musical moments that they will cherish for a lifetime. As I reflected, these past few days, after our Summer Board Meeting, I once again felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
Greetings to all! I am currently writing this article after having spent 12 days traveling with the Hoover High School choir in France and, unexpectedly, Holland. If you are curious about the unexpected part, I hope I will have the opportunity to share the whole story with you at an event this year. Wherever life’s path led you this Summer, I am grateful it brought you back to a new school year!
