This weeks blog comes a bit late because the music education department went on a trip to the 2011 OMEA conference in Cincinnati. However, I will discuss some of the clinics I attended as well as class discussion. I'll start in chronological order with last Monday's class.
Once again we discussed recruitment for band programs. Again, I have not seen or heard anything that has really surprised me about having to recruit students to participate in band. While my questions from last week about money and budget was not discussed in this class, I am still hopeful that they will be in the future. I still see it as an essential subject to cover.
However, I was very interested about one particular topic that we discussed;personal contact. I would really like to become a high school band director, and I think it would be necessary to be involved in some way in the lives of the students at the other schools.
As a high school director I would like to see the students entering my program to be very musical by the time they get to high school. In order to see that my future students are doing well, I believe that I would need them to know what is expected of them by the time they reach high school. a very important way to do this would be through physical contact.
By being involved in the lives of the students, current as well as past and present, it shows that an educator really cares for every student and that they are important to the band program. Young kids could be able to see what it is like to be a band student in the future, current students learn that you care for them outside of the classroom, and former students realize that you were sincere and that you still care how they get along in their life, musically or not. No matter what, I see it imperative to have physical contact in some way with all of the students that you may come in contact with.
As for OMEA, I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting to find many clinics and events that I would want to attend. Unfortunately I did not find many that I wanted to attend, or concerts that I wanted to hear. Maybe I am jaded to the thought of OMEA, the glitz and glam being gone after three years; but I refuse to accept this. Instead I believe that this OMEA was not a 'high profile' as the former that I have attended.
However, I did find three clinics that I felt would really help me further in my career. The one that I would like to share was not an instrumental session; but it dealt with a facet of all music performance areas that is super important, programming music. The session was very informative and had a lot of important information. I liked the medium in which the material was presented and the speaker himself.
The session was presented by Dr. Joe Miller from Westminster Choir College. His focus was on proper programming, in other words, how to pick the music that will fully benefit your program. He included six different topics which one could consider when picking music. They include; personal inspiration, the needs of students, the community, musical balance, marketing, and assessing your outcomes.
Dr. Miller was very helpful and inspiring. I was very weary of the fact that I was out of my element when I first heard it was a choir event. However, it was truly inspirational and a great enjoyment. We ended the session by singing a newer piece called "Newlyweds" by Nathan Jones. It was so simple and gratifying that I wished I could end all of my sessions by performing a truly beautiful piece like this one.
I will be writing about my other clinics later on this week, by Friday, once I have had time to discuss them in class. But I am very excited to explain and detail what I saw at OMEA.
Professional conferences will have varying appeal from year to year. Beyond the clinics and concerts, the exhibits are often valuable. This is especially true once you have your own program and are in need of , and wish to evaluate, specific materials that can be found on the exhibit floor. A feature of conferences that is often highly regarded by inservice teachers is the opportunity to network and learn from colleagues. This informal learning is frequently cited as one of the most valued forms of professional development.
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