October/November 2015 Ala Breve

Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser

Chris Woodside

F e a t u r e s

8 A M E A G o v e r n i n g B o a r d D i r e c t o r y

1 0 2 0 1 6 C o n f e r e n c e Q u i c k F a c t s

1 0 A B A L e g i s l a t i o n

1 2 P h i B e t a M u “ T i p s t h a t C l i c k ”

2 0 Campus Connctions

2 3 2 0 1 6 Conference Clinicians

2 8 2 0 1 6 C o n f e r e n c e F e a t u r e d P e r f o r m e r s a n d S p e a k e r s

3 3 2 0 1 6 C o n f e r e n c e P e r f o r m e r s

3 9 2 0 1 6 Conference Schedule

4 4 A M E A G o v e r n i n g B o a r d M e e t i n g M i n u t e s

4 5 P r o p o s a l s t o R e v i s e t h e A M E A C o n s t i t u t i o n

4 6 E d u c a t i n g T h o s e E a r s b y N a t e B u o n v i r i

4 8 T h e S m a r t e s t T h i n g I E v e r D i d . . . b y M a t t h e w S p i e k e r

5 0 S c h e d u l e o f E v e n t s

5 2 C r e a t i n g a P o s i t i v e S o l o a n d E n s e m b l e E x p e r i e n c e b y J a m e s M i c k a n d D a v i d P o p e

5 5 2 0 1 6 A M E A C o n f e r e n c e P r e - R e g i s t r a t i o n F o r m

5 6 A M E A I n d u s t r y M e m b e r s

5 7 S t r a i g h t T a l k f o r M u s i c T e a c h e r s b y C h a r l e n e R y a n

5 9 F A M E R e g i s t r a t i o n F o r m

0 Choral Reviews by Diane Orlofsky

Carl Hancock, AMEA President

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It’s hard for me to contain my enthusiasm for our upcoming Professional Development Conference Since joining the National Association for Music Education as a colleg e student 27 years ag o, I’ve par ticipated in conferences as a lear ner, panelist, clinician, and speaker Whatever my role, I leave conferences primed, connected, and knowledg eable of the remarkable strides our profession has made So, my excitement for the 2016 AMEA Professional Development Conference (Januar y 21-23, 2016, in Montg omer y, Alabama) should not come as a sur prise, especially in my cur rent role as president.

So, let’s talk about our upcoming conference!

Highlights of the 2016 Pr ofessional Development Confer ence, “We ar e all teacher s, we are all students!”

Alabama’s Music Educators are renowned for par ticipating in professional development W hether attending org anized clinics or par ticipating in infor mal dialog, we have a thirst for lear ning and collegiality, which is why, at our 2016 conference, we are inviting e ver yone to celebrate the 70th Anniversar y of the Alabama Music Educators Association! T here has never been a better time to reach out to our colleagues, especially those who have not attended our conference in a while The AMEA has chang ed significantly, and the 2016 conference illuminates the future of our organization and honors our past accomplishments.

Pr of essional Perfor mances. T he world-renowned professional brass quintet, the Boston Brass, will headline our conference. On T hursday (Januar y 21), they will dazzle us with an opening-night concer t for all registered conference attendees Additional tickets will be available to schools and other organizations. On Friday (Januar y 22), they will present a clinic and retur n to the stage as guest perfor mers with the Oak Mountain High School Band and Alabama Wind Ensemble Hosting our first world-class professional ensemble at our state conference is a testament to the g rowth of our org anization I hope you will join me in welcoming the Boston Brass to Montg omer y

Keynote Speakers By your request, we invited two keynote speakers On T hursday mor ning, you will experience the enter taining insights of the legendar y “Dr Tim” Lautzenheiser If you have ever had even a moment of doubt about being a music educator or need a reminder of the joys of teaching music, he can easily reignite your passion and pur pose On Friday mor ning, political and advocacy gur u, Christopher Woodside, from the National Association for Music Education, will “walk us through” the brilliance of NAfME’s Broader Minded™ music advocacy campaign and present an update on our prog ress with lawmakers in Washington DC.

New Music. Our publisher-sponsored reading band will retur n this year under the baton of composer Brian Balmag es, who will also meet with winners of our Young Composers Competition and present a session on selecting literature for bands and orchestras Speaking of excitement, I am excited to announce that the AOA ar rang ed for a publisher-sponsored reading orchestra, which will be conducted by noted composer, pianist, actress, and conductor Soon Hee-Newbold

Featur ed Clinicians In addition to these spotlights, our division presidents invited clinicians from across the countr y to par ticipate in our conference Joining us this year are Dr Jeffrey Benson, Director of Choral Activities at San José State University; renowned Canadian music specialist, Denise Gagné; and for mer AMEA President and distinguished educator, Beck y (Rodg ers) War ren

T his provides a small snapshot of what the 2016 AMEA conference has to offer. Many of our friends and colleagues are pre paring sessions and perfor mances that will make you proud to be a music educator I encourag e you to take a moment to read the conference schedule in this issue and make plans to attend the 2016 Professional Development Conference. Online registration is conveniently located on our website. Visit http://www.alabamamea.org for more infor mation

For your consideration…a new AMEA position, the Executive Director.

As I per use this issue of the Ala Br eve, I cannot help but feel a sense of pride about the pag es stitched tog ether especially for you, the

committed music educators of Alabama From the stimulating original ar ticles to infor mative division announcements to the exciting conference preview, ever y pag e re presents our values and aspirations as an org anization. T he quar terly publication of the Ala Br eve is a par t of our culture and heritag e. Not long ag o, I decided to read past issues from as far back as 1984, and it is clear to me that throughout our jour ney as a profession, the Ala Br eve has been there to chronicle our prog ress and forecast upcoming challeng es It is a valuable resource that can be used to infor m our present-day decisions When you think about the hours of labor that g o into producing the pages found in just one issue of the Ala Br e ve, it is easy to overlook the fact that this quality publication has been compiled by one person, our Executive Director and Editor, Gar r y Taylor

Backgr ound Our association has not always enjoyed the privileg e of a dedicated Executive In the 1980s, the AMEA str ug gled with the notion that we needed an employee to assist our org anization; after all, music teachers are renowned for putting in extra hours At the time, we were a small association str ug gling with the g rowing pains of exploding membership and demands for superior professional development. Also, we were directly involved in significant legislative effor ts in Montg omer y. Our forbearers realized that while our elected AMEA officers were excellent leaders, as full-time educators, they needed someone to attend to the daily needs of our association in order to tr uly achieve the org anization’s g oals So, they consulted with other state music education org anizations across the countr y, especially in the South, and found kindred g roups that were experiencing similar g rowing pains Many decided to employ a staff dedicated to car r ying out logistical demands Many more decided to employ a fulltime executive manag er After much debate, and assurances from the AMEA leadership, we decided to employ a par t-time Executive Secretar y, which, in the 1990s, transfor med into our present-day, par t-time, position known as the Executive Director The ED ser ves to car r y out the duties assigned by the Gover ning Board, facilitates the pre paration of our professional development conference, administers the business affairs of our org anization, and ser ves as the “ g o-to” person for all members of our association.

We ar e a lar ge and acti ve association. Today, the AMEA is a celebrated and much larg er org anization than it was in the 1980s. According to active member data from NAfME, seven out of ever y ten Alabama music

T he 2015-2016 AMEA Gover ning Board, r esolute to put mor e professional into pr ofessional development.

teachers hold membership, which means we have the third highest percentag e of market penetration of all NAfME state affiliates (70%)! In addition, a rank order of active NAfME members across the US indicates we are the 19th largest state music education organization When we look at indicators compiled by the AMEA, we see that over the past five years, our professional development conference has g rown at an astonishing rate Last year, our conference was the larg est we have e ver hosted as an org anization with more perfor ming g roups, sessions, vendors, and attendees than previously recorded And yet, all of this g rowth is manag ed by one incredibly competent person, our Executive Director, Gar r y Taylor

Assessment of Executive Dir ector workload A couple of months ag o, the Gover ning Board asked the ED to log ever ything he does for the AMEA, and needless to say, the list of daily tasks and responsibilities we saw was overwhelming From neg otiating contracts with vendors, to editing our state jour nal, to maintaining records for our org anization, to org anizing our annual in-ser vice conference, to coordinating matters with the national office, to maintaining membership records, to implementing the initiatives developed by the g over ning board, the ED is a one-person administrative office, public-

relations machine, and so on Historically, the AMEA Executive Director was considered a par t-time position, yet, present-day demands reveal the ED car ries full-time responsibilities W hen I spoke with the leaders of other state music education org anizations, many were shocked to lear n we accomplished so much without a dedicated staff

The pr oblem and pr oposed solution So, we have a problem And it is one that is easy to fix, but it will require some courag e and your suppor t Here is the problem. Each of our divisions has a president and a president-elect, which in my mind, is a healthy redundancy. Interestingly, the most impor tant manag erial position in our association, the Executive Director, does not have a comparable backup to rely on After talking with the Gover ning Board, we concluded that we need an “understudy” who can assist in the manag ement of our association and ser ve as a “backup” in case of an emerg ency We also need to provide the ED with additional suppor t to facilitate the continued g rowth of our Association. On page 45 of this issue of the Ala Br eve is a description of our proposed Assistant Executive Director position and associated constitutional amendments As an org anization, we will vote on these additions to the constitution at the 2016 AMEA Professional

Development Conference I think you will ag ree that this proposal is proactive and designed to ensure the stability of our org anization It is exciting to think about how far we ’ ve come as an org anization Please feel free to contact me with your thoughts, ideas, feedback, and sug gestions I can be reached at 205-657-2624 or by email at alabamamusiceducators@gmail com

Conclusion

I want to thank you ag ain for the oppor tunity to ser ve as your President. It brings me g reat pleasure to re present our association and music educators of our g reat state. I’m looking forward to seeing you in Montg omer y!

Carl B. Hancock, President Alabama Music Educators Association

President Carl Hancock University ofAlabama Box 870366 Tuscaloosa,AL 35487 (205) 348-6335

chancock@bama.ua edu

President, ABA

Micheal Holmes

Mountain Brook Junior High School 205 Overbrook Rd. Birmingham, AL 35213 (205) 871-3516 x8525

thetubaman@charter.net

Past President Sara WomackGreystone Elementary School 300 Village StreetBirmingham, AL 5242 (205) 439-3200 saratwomack@gmail com

President-Elect Susan Smith Saint James School 6010 Vaughn Road Montgomery,AL 36116 ssmith@stjweb.org

President, AOA Sarah Schrader PO. Box 2221 Foley, AL 36536 (334) 728-2855 burkart_sarah@yahoo.com

Treasurer/Registrar

Pat Stegall

PAMEARegistration O Box 3385 Muscle Shoals, AL 35661pstegall@mscs.k12.al.us

Executive Director Editor , Ala Breve Garry Taylor 1600 Manor Dr. NE Cullman, AL 35055 (256) 636-2754

amea@bellsouth net

Recording Secretary

Carla Gallahan 212 Smith Hall Troy University Troy,AL 36082 (334) 670-3502

cgallahan@troy.edu

President,AVA

Carl Davis Decatur High School 1011 Prospect Drive Decatur,AL 35601 (256) 559-0407

carlbethemeryellen@gmail.com

Industry Representative Becky Lightfoot Arts Music Shop 3030 East Blvd. Montgomery,AL 36116 334/271-2787

beckyl@artsmusicshop com

AMEACollegiate Advisor Ted HoffmanUnivesity of Montevallo Station 6670 Davis Music Building 308 Montevallo, AL 35115 (205) 665-6668

ehoffman@montevallo.edu

President, Higher Education

James Zingara UAB 231 Hulsey Center Birmingham,AL 35294 (205) 934-7376 jzingara@uab.edu

President, AMEACollegiat Thad Walker University of Montevallo (205) 636-0756

jwalker14@forum.montevallo.edu

President, Elem/Gen Cliff Huckabee The Montgomery Academy Lower School Campus 1550 Perry Hill Road Montgomery, AL 36106 334-462-3790

cliffhuckabee@gmail.com

James Zingara - President, Higher Education Division

Dear Colleagues,

I hope that the new fall semester is treating you well T his edition of Ala Br eve is dedicated to the annual AMEA Conference in Januar y, and I feel that this year’s sessions are not only interesting but are also quite eclectic as they cover a broad spectr um of topics including teacher education, music business, music technolog y, and applied music Many of these sessions are in themselves eclectic, as they address multiple areas of content as well as overlapping into the interest areas of other AMEA Divisions As with last year, I am glad to see that we have presenters re presenting a larg e cross-section of higher education institutions throughout the state of Alabama: Aubur n University (Jane Kuehn), the University of Alabama (Ellar y Draper), the University of Alabama at Bir mingham (Denise Gainey and Scott Phillips), the University of Montevallo (Ted Hoffman), and the University of Nor th Alabama (Daniel Stevens) I would also like to take this oppor tunity to thank fellow HED officers Beck y Halliday (President–elect) and Mildred Lanier (Secretar y-Treasurer) for their assistance in the session selection process

One of our priorities this year was the inclusion of our community colleg e

colleagues into Higher Education Division activities at the AMEA Conference. I am happy to announce that we will take a larg e first ste p towards this g oal by offering a session by Mildred Lanier, faculty member at Jefferson State Community Colleg e and HED Secretary-Treasurer entitled The Musician/Performer as Sole Pr oprietor Mildred will also be our liaison to bring community colleg e g roups in to perfor m at the HED Student Recital.

We will also continue the HED Panel Discussion (The Br eakdown Betw een the Higher Ed Classr oom and First Year Teacher Experiences ) with a session that focuses on the perceived “knowledg e g ap” between g raduating student expectations and actual perfor mance in initial positions Our main objective is to establish better lines of communication between Higher Education faculty and f ledgling music educators in the field in order to better pre pare students for the challeng es that they will face in their first jobs. We have assembled a g reat faculty panel including Dr Beck y Halliday (University of Montevallo), Dr Brian Kittredg e (University of Alabama at Bir mingham), and Dr Anne Witt (University of Alabama). Joining us will be four first and second year music educators from around the state. I would like to encourag e the HED membership to submit specific questions and discussion points; you can send these inquiries to our HED e-mail: ameahed@gmail com

As I mentioned in the August column, the 2016 HED Recital will ag ain consist of student ensembles led by our HED membership T he idea here is to provide your chamber ensembles with the oppor tunity to perfor m at the state conference as a notewor thy and prestigious endeavor If you would like to have your group perform, please send an e-mail including your proposed program information (title, composer/ar rang er and movement titles) and personnel list to ameahed@gmail.com by November 1st, 2015 In addition, please mark your calendar for the HED Luncheon, which will be held on T hursday, Januar y 21st at 12:00 p.m. T his will be where we will hold our meeting for the nomination and election for the offices of President-Elect and Secretar y-Treasurer If you would like to attend the luncheon, please reser ve your spot by sending an e-mail to ameahed@gmail com by December 1st, 2015.

I am g reatly looking forward to the 2016 AMEA Conference and having the oppor tunity to reconnect with my HED colleagues from around the state Please do not hesitate to write me if you have any questions or ideas concer ning the future activities of the Higher Ed Division. In the meantime, please acce pt my best wishes for a rewarding and successful fall semester!

2016 AMEA Professional Development Conference Quick

Facts

l 70th Anniversary of AMEA!

l Dates: January 21-23, 2016

l Location: Renaissance Montgomery Hotel at the Convention Center and the Embassy Suites Hotel (across the street)

l Special Performances and Clinic by the Boston Brass

l Two dynamic keynote speakers - Chris Woodside and Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser

l FAME applications are due by January 8. Vis it the

l Pre-register on-line (www.alabamamea.org)

online or print the for m on page 59

Or print and mail the pre-registration form on page 55 of this issue.

l Reserve a room at the conference rate: Click on the link on the main page of the AMEA website. Or, call 800-266-9432 (Renaissance) 334-269-5055 (Embassy Suites) code AME

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Balance and the Band Director

T he focus of this issue’s ar ticle is to provide some techniques to help maintain a proper balance of work and “life” Ever y year it seems we lose too many promising music teachers in this state Often, the ones that choose to leave are successful or on the verg e of reaching big pinnacles in their careers. T he reasons for this phenomenon are varied, but frequently the underlying reason has to do with bur nout or lack of personal satisfaction Having a properly balanced lifestyle would probably help many to kee p a healthier perspective on their teaching and give them more years in their chosen profession. I asked three highly reg arded directors to share some thoughts with us and there were glad to give some g reat counsel

Dr David Spencer recently retired after ser ving as the Band Director of the highly accomplished Huntsville High School Band for thir ty-four years He also perfor ms in the Huntsville Symphony and ser ves as the Ar tistic Director and Conductor of the acclaimed Brass Band of Huntsville His advice to us is ver y simple, but sometimes hard for us in the profession to execute: “You have to lear n to say NO and when to say it When we first moved to Huntsville, I played with a big band and the symphony With rehearsals for these g roups plus my band oblig ations, it was not unusual for me to be away from home at least three evenings each week, leaving my wife alone at home with young children T his was not a ver y fair situation and for tunately things played out to where I was able to adjust the schedule of these outside activities and find more time for my family! You have to look at your priorities

and be sure to kee p your values in order by not taking ever y oppor tunity that comes along ”

Dr Mark Walker is the Director of Bands at Troy University where he oversees and plays a ver y active role in all areas of that dynamic band prog ram Previous to his work in higher education, he was a ver y successful teacher in the public schools of Texas, so he understands the demands of a high school and middle school teacher and the need for balance. He shares some ver y useful infor mation: “While the job and your band is impor tant, you have to put your family first I str ug gled with that early in my career and only lately have I been able to find a better balance You also have to have time for hobbies and other interests outside of your job. T hat way, you can recharg e your batteries from time to time and remain fresh for your band Finally, you can't g et ever ything done in one day If you don’t finish something up, it will be there tomor row Take time for yourself and your loved ones. ”

David R aney is the Director of Bands at Sparkman High School in Madison County T his prog ram is one of the larg est and most active in the state and has outstanding achievements in both ensemble and individual assessments. David has been a District Chair man and has also ser ved ABA as the web master of ABAfest com His wife, Regina, is the Band Director at Cedar Ridg e Middle School and an outstanding teacher in her own right.

David speaks ver y candidly about his philosophy about maintaining proper balance and offers some specific sug g estions to assist us: “T he following three things are items I wish I had focused on early in my career but now feel are the foundation to my mar riag e with Regina. Note: Both Regina and I had failed first mar riag es for different reasons. T he following items were not present in my first mar riag e:

1 Christ is at the center of our mar riag e We know that when we work long hours and become fr ustrated with the circumstances concer ning our jobs we have a foundation of tr ust and forgiveness that is rooted in our faith

2 To not include your par tner with your work, which is a larg e par t of your life, can become toxic to a mar riag e. Most of our jobs require long hours and without including your spouse they soon become an outsider to your life

3 Utilize time tog ether when you are not working Find a hobby you both can do like riding motorcycles or playing tennis and plan to do those things ever y moment you have available Allow yourself an oppor tunity to enjoy your spouse as much as you enjoy teaching music

I am ver y blessed to have mar ried up to a person that is faithful enough to tr ust me during the long hours, forgiving enough during the stressful times of year, and smar t enough to be a mentor to me in my own profession ”

T hese are ver y wise and powerful words from three music educators that have had a g reat deal of success in their careers I hope we can all follow their example and strive for balance in building a career and our lives outside of teaching.

Rho Chapter of Phi Beta Mu Inter national Bandmaster Frater nity is committed to the impr ovement of bands and band instr uction in this state Comments on this column and ideas for futur e columns ar e w elcome! Please email: pemin@mac.com

I hope your year is off to fine star t We provided a quality in-ser vice experience at the Fall Workshop. Dr. Debra Spurg eon presented four sessions that addressed 1) Improving the Sound of Your Chor us; 2) Selection of Literature; 3) T he Ar rang ement of Ensemble Members; and 4) Reading Session I also want to thank Dr Mar vin Latimer for providing a really thoughtprovoking session concer ning physical expression during perfor mance I want to also thank Mr Chip Colee and First Baptist Church for hosting the Fall Workshop

All attendants were given an oppor tunity, during the in-ser vice, to enter their biog raphical infor mation on the AVA Membership Database an activity that is required this year before you can par ticipate in an AVA event If you have not registered yet, please g o to the AVA website and enter your biog raphical infor mation Click the “Member Enrollment” link on the home pag e. Registrations are processed in the order received and your registration is not considered received until you register on the database. T his will provide us a yearly up-to-date mailing list which we can use to more effectively communicate with the membership.

Thank you in advance for all the time you are spending in pre paration for the upcoming All-State Show Choir and All-State Choir Auditions T he All-State Slide Show that was presented at the Fall Workshop is available on the AVA All State pag e on the website Pay special attention to the eligibility of your students when registering them for the par ticular ensembles Conductorsubmitted links to YouTube perfor mances, as well as technical instr uctions of eligibility, and par t splits contained in the PowerPoint are also on the website and can be accessed with a provided link.

Pre-registration is now open for the winter AMEA conference Dr Tucker Biddlecombe from Vanderbilt, who ser ved as a clinician last year, will ser ve as the conductor of the AVA Honor Choir I encourag e you to give your students the oppor tunity to par ticipate in the AVA Honor Choir Should you need help filling out a quar tet, please communicate with your district chair. Also

communicate if you have extras that can be used to complete a quar tet

Dr Jeffrey Benson of Diablo Valley Colleg e will present three sessions. His sessions will address: Saying W hat We Mean, Not Just Saying W hat We ‘Say’ -Feedback in the Choral Rehearsal; Conser ve, Love, Understand, Teach: Doable Masterworks for Your High School Chor us; and a Reading Session

I cong ratulate all who submitted an application to have ensembles perfor m at the AMEA conference We are testing a new perfor mance venue in Ballroom A. T his has allowed f lexibility in the scheduling and has

allowed us more perfor mance slots I encourag e you to think this year, as concer ts approach, of making quality recordings of your ensembles and use them to apply for an AMEA conference perfor mance

Communication within our org anization is impor tant Interact with your district chair man, communicating with him/her any needs you have. I look forward to seeing you in Montg omer y

Carl Davis- President, Alabama Vocal Association

T he Pr ocess: Moving Forward (stay in step)

We all have different perspectives on where we are at var ying times throughout the year Beginning band members are mastering opening a clarinet case without spilling instr ument par ts all over the f loor. T hey are lear ning how to enter the band room, where to put their stuff, how to sit, breathe, and hold an instr ument properly Excitement and enthusiasm levels are high for both students and instr uctors. Second and third year students are g etting back in shape; some pre paring for pe p rallies or the occasional middle school football g ame, Veteran’s Day prog rams, and holiday concer ts T hey really love those pe p rallies Visit any high school campus for a little ESPN, a variety of “show” music, and you may even have an oppor tunity to “Stand Up and Get Cr unk” (that one always makes me cr y) Many of my colleagues have also been working on music for their Fall Concer t during band class while “cleaning” the marching band show in the after noons. T his time of year working 40, 50, 60+ hours a week are routine for directors and students alike. Homework, after school practice, par t-time jobs, and all of the other activities available kee p our students busy from breakfast to bedtime Both student and teacher love the band experience. That’s why we keep coming back for more.

My high school diploma is a vocational diploma with an emphasis in car pentr y But that didn’t matter I so loved my experience in band that a couple of months before g raduation I knew I wasn’t ready for it to end. So, to whom did I g o for direction? My band directors, Johnny Jacobs and Michial Mayhall T hey made a call and by the middle of the next week, I was auditioning for a scholarship with Dr Jimmy Simpson who was then band director at T he University of Nor th Alabama. T he rest is histor y. You mean the world to your students. If you work as hard as they do and are honest and fair with them, they will never let you down If things aren’t always working out as planned, take a look in the mir ror It’s usually on us and our students are counting on us to right the ship when needed. And we will because we are band directors, and that is our “Super Power ”

What a g reat month Se ptember has been in Alabama Two “President’s Own” perfor mances on school campuses at Florence and Homewood. T hanks to the band staffs (should that be staves?) at both schools for hosting I had the pleasure of attending the concer t at Homewood High School the night before I completed this ar ticle T hose Marines did not disappoint

From Mark Foster, Jazz Chair...

Please check the ABA website for audition requirements and registration infor mation for the 2016 All-State Jazz Bands. We will have three high school bands ag ain this year (Gold, Silver, and Bronze) and one middle school band

We had 177 students audition for the bands last year, and I would like to see this number g row substantially this year Please encourag e your students to audition for the band

Students perfor m a recorded audition on CD, which consists of two jazz standards (including some improvisation), an etude, and several scales T hey should be able to improvise with just a few scales, so please don’t let your

Marches, Sinatra, an Alabama-bor n clarinet soloist, and “Lincolnshire Posey” were all on the menu, and we all left full. T his was definitely taxpayer money well spent.

T his issue of Ala Br e ve will be filled with schedules, biog raphies, registration for ms, and all manner of infor mation needed to pre pare you for the AMEA In-Ser vice Conference in Januar y, 2016 Please make ever y effor t to attend. As you read this issue, you will become better infor med of all that is offered in the way of clinics, business meetings, and perfor mances ABA will have numerous perfor mances and clinics to present Renew your NAfME membership now if you have not done so. Please do not wait until the AMEA Conference in January to renew as this creates delays in the on-site registration and pre-registration pick-up process

Check the AMEA/ABA website regularly

You will find needed for ms, All-State Band audition requirements and etudes, Cumulative Music list, ABA Director y, District and State Calendar, and other useful and needed infor mation Check the abafest com site weekly for announcements and calendar updates Your ABA state officers and district officers will be using this site to keep you infor med as well as have you register for events such as All-State and MPA We are just g etting star ted I hope to see you at Midwest and AMEA Kee p it g oing for your students and DON’T FORGET THE SUNSCREEN!

Micheal Holmes - President, Alabama Bandmasters Association

“The President’s Own” Marine Band perfor ms at Homewood High School

COLLEGE of FINE ARTS

DEPARTMENT of MUSIC

C OLLEGE of FINE ARTS

DEPARTMENT of MUSIC

AUDITION DATES:

NOV. 14, 2015

JAN. 30, 2016

MARCH 12, 2016

For more information, visit www.montevallo.edu/music

AUDITION DATES:

NOV. 14, 2015

JAN. 30, 2016

MARCH 12, 2016

For more information, visit www.montevallo.edu/music

W hy do we need to make connections with others in our own area of exper tise? Is it to for m friendships, have someone to call on for a favor or help land a job? All of the above and more! Ever yone knows this, so why am I writing about connections today? I want to show you how being active in AMEA and your smaller branch, AOA (or any others for that matter) can be a g reat way to make connections and help you accomplish your g oals

I recently moved from Aubur n, where I was VERY involved in music education in the community and music at church to Baldwin County. We moved because my husband acce pted a new job in the area My family has strong ties to this area and it is THE BEACH, so we were excited to move, but it was hard for me to give up all that I did in Aubur n, especially the teaching. I wanted to g et involved in my new community teaching, but didn’t know exactly how to do that

W hen thinking about how to g et star ted, I remembered that I met and spoke many times to the director of the Baldwin County Youth Orchestras, Leroy Hughes, at AMEA Conferences Luckily for me, he felt it impor tant to take advantag e of the AMEA conference offered to our members, so I met him and now I have a small connection to my new area. I then g oogle searched the youth orchestra and found his contact e-mail to send him a note that I would be moving to

the area and oh yeah, do you remember me? He did, and ag reed to meet with me to help me figure out how I can star t fitting in to my new community It just so tur ned out that his org anization received a g rant to provide instr uments and teachers for afterschool

Connections and AMEA

prog rams in elementar y schools around Baldwin County this year. He was looking for teachers, and here I was ready to g et involved T he timing worked out perfectly I am now teaching two string classes at a local school and loving being in the classroom ag ain. I know this doesn’t seem like much, but I only wanted to teach a little bit (which is a blessing that music education allows us), so I could focus more time and energ y on raising my precious 2 year old boy

Without this connection I made through AMEA conferences I wouldn’t have been awarded the oppor tunity to be a par t of something so amazing in Baldwin County T hank you Mr. Hughes and other AMEA members for suppor ting our org anization and making connections count!

Connections you make with other AMEA

members at our conference are not just to help with g aining employment, but also for friendships, favors, and help I have been blessed to know so many people who are willing to help AOA when we are promoting activities, need advice, for friendships, and favors! My connections have been g reat this year in helping with favors needed to make our All State Orchestra Festival g reat! We rely on many people to help out with judging and sectionals to provide the best experience for the youth of Alabama and for your help I am ver y g rateful AMEA conferences are a breath of fresh air away from students It is the best place to come and catch up with old colleg e friends, colleagues, and meet new members. I am always so refreshed and energized to retur n to teaching after a conference. It is one of the highlights of my year!

I encourag e each of you to attend the annual AMEA conference and if you know someone who hasn’t attended in a while or ever, bring them along It is so impor tant for us to make those connections that are vital to making our lives whole as music educators. For AOA, this year is one you do not want to miss. We will have the oppor tunity to meet world renowned composer Soon Hee Newbold! I hope to make connections with all of you at our AMEA conference in Januar y!

Sarah Schrader - President, Alabama Orchestra Association

2016 Alabama All State Orchestra Conductors

Festival Orchestra

Peter Bay became Music Director and Conductor of the Austin Symphony Orchestra in 1998

He is also Music Director of the Hot Springs Music Festival in Arkansas, and Conductor of the Big Sk y Festival Orchestra in Montana.

Maestro Bay has appeared with seventy different orchestras including the National, Chicag o, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, Baltimore, New Mexico, New Jersey, Nor th Carolina, Syracuse, Tucson, Virginia, West Virginia, Colorado, Hawaii, Jacksonville, Richmond, Sarasota, Alabama, Arkansas, Canton, Eug ene, For t Wor th, Springfield, Chattanoog a, Bochum (Ger many), Carinthian (Austria), Lithuanian National, and Ecuador National Symphonies, the Minnesota and Alg ar ve (Por tug al) Orchestras, the Louisiana, Buffalo, Rhode Island, Tulsa, For t Wayne, Reno and Las Veg as Philhar monics, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Eastman (Arg ento’s Postcard fr om Mor occo) and Aspen (Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe) Opera Theaters, and the Theater Chamber Players of the Kennedy Center Summer music festival appearances have included Aspen (CO), Music in the Mountains (CO), Grant Park and Ravinia (IL), Round Top (TX), OK Mozar t (OK) and Skaneateles (NY).

Peter is the primar y conductor for the ASO’s perfor mances with Ballet Austin. He made his Austin Lyric Opera debut in Januar y 2002 with André Previn’s A Str eetcar Named Desir e, conducted Verdi’s La Tra viata in November 2002, Puccini’s Turandot in November 2003, and Mozar t’s The Mar riage of Figar o in April 2005

Other positions held by Mr Bay have included Music Director of the Erie Philhar monic, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Breckenridg e Music Festival (CO), Britt Festival Orchestra (OR), and four different conducting posts with the Rochester Philhar monic Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony in Virginia Bay and the Austin Symphony Orchestra have released a CD of Edward Burlingame Hill’s music on the Bridge label, and with the Richmond Symphony he recorded the US premiere perfor mance of Britten’s The Sw ord in the Stone for Opus One Records. Voices, featuring the percussion ensemble NEXUS and the Rochester Philhar monic Orchestra, is on the Nexus label

A native of Washington, DC, Mr Bay is a g raduate of the University of Mar yland and the Peabody Institute of Music In 1994, he was one of two conductors selected to par ticipate in the Leonard Ber nstein American Conductors Prog ram. He was also the first prize winner of the 1980 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Young Conductors Competition and a prize winner of the 1987 Leopold Stokowski Competition sponsored by the American Symphony Orchestra in New York In July 2012 he appeared in Solo Symphony, a choreog raphic work created for him by Allison Or r of Forklift Danceworks. He is the conductor of Hanan Townshend’s score to the motion picture The Vessel released in 2015

Peter is mar ried to soprano Mela Sarajane Dailey and they have a son, Colin

Sinfonia Orchestra

David A Pope is Director of Orchestras at Elyria High School and Nor thwood Middle School near Cleveland, Ohio In addition, he ser ves as the conductor of the Camerata Orchestra at Case Wester n Reser ve University Previously, Dr Pope directed orchestras at Manatee High School (FL) and in the Mar yville City Schools (TN) He also ser ved as the Associate Conductor of the Sarasota Youth Orchestras, the Executive Director of the Tallahassee Youth Orchestras, an instr uctor for the VanderCook Colleg e of Music, and on the orchestral librarian staffs at the Aspen Summer Music Festival and Spoleto Music Festival USA

Dr Pope received his bachelor’s deg ree from Florida State University, master’s deg ree from the University of South Carolina, and Ph D in Music Education from Florida State University. Cur rently, Dr. Pope ser ves as a senior conductor and co-director of Florida State University’s Summer String Orchestra Camp As an active adjudicator and clinician, he has conducted numerous all-state orchestras, regional honor orchestras, and ser ved as a guest clinician for various orchestra prog rams throughout the United States

Dr. Pope has presented string pedag og y clinics and his research at state, regional, and national conferences His research has also been published in the Jour nal of Resear ch in Music Education, String Resear ch Jour nal, Bulletin of the Council for Resear ch in Music Education,

Missouri Jour nal of Resear ch in Music Education, and Florida Music Dir ector Dr Pope has ser ved on the Florida Orchestra Association’s Executive Board and been a leader in the American String Teachers Association by ser ving as the President of the Florida State University ASTA chapter and on the Tennessee Board of Directors Dr Pope received the Distinguished Music Educator Award (2015) from the Yale Symposium for Music in Schools and was the recipient of the Outstanding Young Music Educator Award (2009) for the state of Tennessee.

Consor t String Orchestra

Kirsten Marshall, Director of the Orchestral Prog ram and violin instr uctor, is on the faculty of Ithaca (NY) Talent Education (ITE), as well as par t time lecturer in violin perfor mance at Ithaca Colleg e Ms Marshall received Bachelor and Master of Music deg rees from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) with majors in violin perfor mance and Suzuki pedag og y. Ms. Marshall also holds a Bachelor of Science deg ree in music education from Case Wester n Reser ve University, with an emphasis in strings Her conducting studies were with David Einfeldt (Har tt School of Music, Connecticut), Carl Topilow and Louis Lane (CIM) She is a member of Pi K appa Lambda, the National Music Honor Society

Ms. Marshall conducted the 2014, 2012 and 1998 Suzuki Youth Orchestra of the Americas at the biennial Suzuki Association conference in Chicag o, Illinois, as well as conducting the faculty orchestras for the piano soloist in both the 2008 and 2010 national conferences An avid suppor ter of contemporar y music, Ms Marshall conducted and produced two premiere string orchestra pieces on a CD released by ITE (Bach to the Futur e). She is an active perfor mer in the Ithaca area and is a member (Da vid and Lesli Sagan chair) of the Cayug a Chamber Orchestra, Ithaca’s professional ensemble In 2003, she cocommissioned and premiered a new sonata for violin and piano by Rober t Paterson Additionally, she composes for string orchestras. Ms. Marshall is frequently sought after as a clinician specializing in youth orchestras across the United States and Canada Her high-energ y style blends humor and passion, eng aging both players and audience in riveting perfor mances

Cliff Huckabee - President, Elementary/General Division

As I type this messag e, we are just weeks away from our tenth annual Elementar y Music Festival and our annual fall workshop on October 9th and 10th in Bir mingham I am excited that so many of you are bringing your students to par ticipate in this wonderful festival We also welcome our new festival directors, Ben & Kristina Sisco T hey have done a fabulous job org anizing and promoting our festival We have several new schools par ticipating, and it is g oing to be a g reat weekend for our students and teachers. Our festival will include two g reat clinicians, Mrs Tiffany English and Mrs Andrea Coleman I am excited to hear the two fabulous children’s choirs perfor m on Friday evening at beautiful Wright Center on the campus of Samford University. We thank Samford University for their suppor t and generosity in making this festival possible. We also thank Dr Moya Nordlund for her par tnership with us She has retired from Samford but has continued to work with us to coordinate this year’s festival Mrs Tiffany English will also present the following day at our Saturday fall workshop at Gwin Elementar y School in Hoover It will be a fabulous weekend to celebrate elementar y music education!

If I don’t g et to see you at the fall workshop,

I hope I will see you at our Januar y conference. T he 2016 AMEA Conference will be held in Montg omer y ag ain this year, and this is a conference you will not want to miss Pre-registration is now open at www alabamamea org and you can reser ve your hotel room at the Renaissance or Embassy Suites as well Our conference this year is g oing to have a wide rang e of sessions that will include something for ever yone.

We welcome Denise Gagne from “T heme & Variations” to Alabama as one of our main clinicians She will present several sessions on T hursday and Friday along with a special fun evening folk dance session on T hursday night. She was with us many years back in Tuscaloosa, and I use many of her resources in my own classroom We also welcome Rog er Sams from “Music is Elementar y ” as our second main clinician He will be presenting throughout the conference and will also have an evening fun session on Friday night. Both Rog er Sams and Denise Gagne will have booths in our exhibit hall bringing more elementar y music resources to our exhibits

We will also hear from several of our own elementar y division teachers including Tiffani Stricklin, Kelly Hollingswor th, and Jeanette Shorey We will have two elementar y choral sessions following the two keynote presentations on T hursday and Friday mor nings with the Boaz Inter mediate Honor

Choir, under the direction of Miriam Richey, perfor ming for us on T hursday; and T he Kitty Stone Elementar y Sing ers, under the direction of Lisa Gillespie and Cher yl Wight, perfor ming on Friday Other sessions will be presented by Quaver Music, ChordBuddy, and many more T his will be one of our best conferences yet! I want you to be a par t of the action so g et pre-registered today!

If you are not receiving emails from the Elementar y Division, I would love to add you to our email list Just send me an email and I will add you to our email list: elementar yamea@gmail com

I look forward to seeing you and lear ning tog ether at our upcoming events

Respectfully Submitted, Cliff Huckabee

Upcoming Events

NAfME 2015 National In-Ser vice Conference

Nashville, Tennessee

October 25-28, 2015

AOSA 2015 Professional Development Conference San Diego, California

November 11-14, 2015

AMEA 2016 In-Ser vice Conference

Montg omer y, Alabama

Januar y 21-23, 2016

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November 13–14, 2015

February 5–6, 2016

February 26–27, 2016

is an Equal Opportunity Educational Institution/Employer.

Campus Connections...

News and Happenings from Alabama’s Colleg es and Universities

Alabama State Univer sity

Recent Student Activities

Ezra Joshua Smith, a senior BA voice major, placed third in the collegiate division at the Gulf Coast Steinway Society Piano & Voice Awards Festival held on September 12, 2015 on the campus of the University of Mobile

Joycelyn Bradford, a senior BA violin major, and Corelia Davis, a junior BA/BME piano major, were selected as a violin/piano duo for the Music Mountain Festival held on August 20-24, 2015 in Lakeville, Connecticut T he weeklong workshop featured coaching sessions led by members of the Harlem String Quar tet

ASU Around the Globe

Dr. Doug Bristol, professor of theor y, had Impetuous Encounter for sopranino saxophone and brass quar tet, perfor med at the World Saxophone Cong ress in Strasbourg, France on July 10, 2015 Members of the brass faculty at ASU, including Dr Carly Johnson (tr umpet), Dr. Brenda Luchsing er (hor n), Dr Doug Bristol (trombone) and Dr Jeremy Crawford (tuba) traveled to Strasbourg for the French premiere.

Dr Adonis Gonzalez Matos, professor of piano, ser ved as adjudicator and clinician at the Lyceum Mozar tiano de la Habana Festival Y Concurso de Piano Musicalia 2015. Gonzalez also recently appeared as soloist with the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional at the Sala Avellaneda del Teatro Nacional in Havana, Cuba on a nationally televised perfor mance of the Prokofiev third piano concer to

2016 ASU Honor Band & Honor Choir Festival

The 2016 High School Honor Festival for g rades 912 will be held on Febr uar y 26-28, 2016 T he annual event features a weekend of rehearsals and clinics, culminating in a g rand finale concer t given by festival par ticipants T he festival also ser ves as a scholarship audition oppor tunity for g raduating seniors Online application for ms will be available soon at www.alasu.edu/music.

Recent Alumni Activities

LeBar ron McWhor ter (BME, ’06) was one of six conductors selected to par ticipate in the 2015 National Conducting Symposium sponsored by the U S Ar my Band “Pershing’s Own ” Held on July 20-24, 2015 in Arlington, Virginia, the symposium featured guest clinician Dr. Jack Stamp.

Additional infor mation about the Depar tment of Music may be found at www.alasu.edu/ music

Aubur n Univer sity

T he Depar tment of Music at Aubur n University is thriving and can boast of outstanding and active

faculty We offer exciting oppor tunities for perfor mance and music education majors, as well as for students majoring in other fields who wish to par ticipate in classes and ensembles T he depar tment strives to achieve and sustain excellent standards of perfor mance, creativity, pedag og y, research and scholarship in music Many of our talented faculty members have achieved national recognition for their accomplishments We appreciate the oppor tunity offered here by AMEA to share infor mation with you

We are delighted to announce that Dr Michael Pendowski has been appointed Assistant Professor of Saxophone and Jazz. He holds the Doctor of Music Ar ts deg ree in Jazz Studies and Contemporar y Media from the Eastman School of Music and will continue his outstanding work with our jazz ensembles and saxophone students Dr Nikki Gross joins our faculty as Assistant Director of Athletic Bands She holds deg rees from the University of West Virginia and the Doctor of Music Ar ts deg ree in conducting from the University of South Carolina We are thrilled to have these two outstanding faculty members in the Depar tment of Music

At Aubur n we provide a nur turing atmosphere that provides oppor tunities for individual attention and regular perfor mance for students Our depar tment is g rowing and the quality of students continues to improve. Encourag e your students who are interested in Music or Music Education deg rees to schedule an audition through our website at: . . ⁄ Audition dates are: Feb. 13 and 20, 2016 and visits to our campus can be ar rang ed any time

We will hold our annual Middle School Honor Band on Febr uar y 4-6, 2016 and the High School Honor Band on Febr uar y 11-13, 2016 with an option for honor band par ticipants to audition as music or music education majors on Thursday, Feb 11 Find infor mation at: http://band aubur n edu/ event/honor bands/index.htm.

Please contact the De par tment of Music at 334844-4165 or by email to music@aubur n edu if you have questions about our deg ree prog rams or offerings

War Eagle!

Samford Univer sity

T he Division of Music at Samford University, housed within the School of the Ar ts, beg an the academic year with the School of the Ar ts Student Gala and the Division of Music Faculty Gala. T hese two events have come to be favorites among students, faculty, and the broader Bir mingham community T hese prog rams showcased the work of students and faculty, respectively, and inaugurated an academic year full of music activity by students and faculty as well as distinguished guest ar tists

T his year marks the 100th anniversar y of the

De par tment of Music at Samford To celebrate, the Division of Music has a spectacular lineup of events, including a November 17 concer t featuring our combined choirs and orchestra presenting the Mozart Requiem. In addition, the Division of Music will host world-renowned ar tists through the Davis Architects Guest Ar tist Series T his series will begin with the premier Takács Quar tet on Se ptember 29 in Brock Recital Hall, followed by the Arianna String Quar tet with Israeli pianist Einav Yarden on October 29 Sur rounding these concer ts are recitals by Samford faculty members Demondrae T hur man (euphonium), Brian Viliunas (clarinet), Brad Diamond (tenor), Ryan Beach (tr umpet), and Jeffrey Flaniken (violin) with Ang ela Flaniken (viola) and Don Sanders (piano) Interspersed between the Davis Architect Series and faculty recitals are concer ts featuring Samford’s A Cappella Choir, Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, Jazz Band, and various chamber ensembles.

Off the stage, Samford’s music faculty is engaged in an extensive cur ricular project that will include a revision of all music deg rees T he cur ricular revision is par t of a larger project within the School of the Ar ts to bring students from all ar tistic disciplines tog ether in an innovative, creative, entre preneurial ar ts core from the freshman to senior years Finally, this fall the Division of Music welcomed its first cohor t of students into the Master of Music deg ree with a concentration in Voice Perfor mance This new deg ree complements existing g raduate prog rams in church music, music education, and piano perfor mance and pedag og y

For a full listing of all recitals, concer ts, and other events through the Division of Music at Samford University, visit arts samford edu/ music

The John M. Long School of Music Troy Univer sity

We are g rateful to AMEA for providing this oppor tunity to share infor mation with our music colleagues and music students across the state

Special Anniversaries

Our School of Music is celebrating two landmark anniversaries this year : The 50th anniversar y of the “Sound of the South” marching band and the 75th anniversar y of the Troy University Band prog ram. We look forward to continuing to build on this tradition of excellence

New Steinway Ar tist Concer t Series

During the 2015 Spring semester, Troy University celebrated two significant ar tistic milestones: the John M Long School of Music became an AllSteinway School; and, Dr. Hui-Ting Yang, Assistant Professor of Piano, was awarded the designation of Steinway Ar tist In recognition of these two

Colleges and universities are encouraged to submit newsworthy material and announcements for publication in Ala Breve

major accomplishments, the School of Music is launching a new Steinway Ar tist Concer t Series to showcase musical excellence at the highest level

New Faculty

Professor John (Jeff) Lee has joined our School of Music faculty Specializing in audio sound design & concer t production, Professor Lee’s responsibilities include teaching upper division audio techniques, mixing, mastering, recording studio techniques, & live concer t production skills Professor Lee is one of the original creators of the Tony and Emmy Award winning show Blast!, and has ser ved as the Music Director for Mason Enter tainment Group (creators of Blast!, Shockwave, CyberJam, M I X, & various other projects)

New AMEA Reception

T he John M Long School of Music will host an Alumni Rece ption at the 2016 AMEA In-Ser vice Conference. All alumni are invited to join us on T hursday, Januar y 21, 2016 from 5:45-6:45 p.m. in River view 2 at the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center

Additional infor mation about the John M Long School of Music may be found at music troy edu We invite you to visit us online or in person soon

The University of Alabama

T he University of Alabama School of Music is proud to announce the completion of one major constr uction project and the beginning of another.

T he newly renovated and redesigned Butler practice field (the classroom for the university’s famed “Million Dollar Band”) was opened in August 2015, affording the marching band a stateof-the-ar t environment in which to rehearse

Immediately following the conclusion of that project, work beg an on a new 26,000 ft. addition to the existing Moody Music complex. T he new addition will house two new rehearsal spaces (one larg e and one medium-sized), new faculty offices, student locker room and storage facilities, common spaces and additional conference room and classroom facilities Although primarily dedicated to the university band prog ram, this new addition to the existing facility will ser ve the entire School of Music at larg e. Completion is slated for July 2016 and we anticipate full use of the facility by fall semester 2016 T his will give us a much-needed increase in space to match our g rowing numbers and evolving prog ram needs

In addition to new and enhanced facilities, we are ver y proud to announce the appointment of eight new additions to our faculty T hey are: Jacob

Adams, viola; Jeremy Crawford, tuba/euphonium; Kevin Chance, piano; Edisher Savitski, piano; Amir Zaheri, composition; Rob Alley, jazz studies; Joshua Mailman, music theor y, and Benjamin Crofut, string bass. We are ver y pleased to have these new faculty members joining the dynamic and professionally eng ag ed faculty already active in Tuscaloosa

Our faculty remain highly eng ag ed as perfor mers and researchers in ever y aspect of music study and application across a comprehensive spectr um This year will see over 250 public concer ts along with many more presentations, symposiums, workshops and clinics I encourag e you to investig ate all that is happening at the University of Alabama School of Music by contacting any of our faculty members or investig ating our website: music.ua.edu.

We look forward to the oppor tunity to share additional news with you in the future as we continue to g row in ever y capacity and realize the completion of these exciting projects.

T he AMEA is working on a collaborative membership drive with NAfME HQ for the next few months and we would love to have your help. Our g oal is to increase membership by 5% by Febr uar y 1st The campaign will have a direct mail and email marketing component

As a cur rent member, you know well the benefits of membership and would be an excellent resource in helping us achieve this g oal. We have recently made a “Call for Volunteers” and have a ter rific g roup of volunteers ready to begin the work of g rowing our membership It is not too late to volunteer! Your specific involvement will be to supplement the mail and email campaign by directly contacting a selection of non-members

and new teachers If you would like to ser ve as a volunteer in our campaign, please complete the sur vey by following the link: http://tinyurl.com/ameavolunteer

Once we have finalized our volunteers, you will be contacted with the next ste p in the process and be guided and trained on the marketing messaging and calling/emailing scripts At this time, if you know of anyone who should be a member of AMEA/NAfME, and is not cur rently a member, forward their contact infor mation to me at psteg all@mscs k12 al us Volunteers are the lifeblood of AMEA and thank you for your consideration I look forward to the success in this campaign and I hope you will be par t of our volunteers!

Remind your colleagues to join, include the new music teachers, invite the inactive music teachers and be involved as a mentor to young music teachers

Renew your membership now at www.nafme.org. Membership in NAfME is required for par ticipation in state MEA sponsored events

Jane Kuehne, AMEA Research Chair

like the AMEA Conference, the Elementar y Division Fall Conference, and the All-state and Musical Perfor mance Assessments Joining NAfME secures your membership in AMEA and in your division

Register now for the 2016 AMEA conference online at www.alabamamea.org. You will find it is easy and it will save you time and money Reunite with friends and colleagues from all over the state in Januar y Rejuvenate your energ y and renew your enthusiasm for the rest of the school year!

ALABAMA MUSIC EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION

CALL FOR RESEARCH ABSTRACTS

T he Alabama Music Educators Association, Higher Education Division invites research poster submissions from all levels of music scholars and practitioners. Submissions may include completed and in-prog ress research studies involving any aspect of music (education, therapy, histor y, psycholog y, perfor mance, music in higher education, etc ) Research based on issues facing music educators, musicians, and music students in the Southeastern United States are especially welcome, though this is not a requirement

All submissions should meet the Code of Ethics found in the Jour nal of Research in Music Education

Research presented at other conferences will be considered However, previously published work will not be acce pted

SUBMIT PROPOSAL HERE: http://amea-research org

Confer ence Days and Location T he AMEA conference will be T hursday, Januar y 21, 2016 – Saturday, Januar y 23, 2016 at the Renaissance Montg omer y Hotel and Convention Center in Montg omer y, Alabama See http://www alabamamea org for more infor mation

Poster Session Day and Time. T he poster session will be on Friday after noon Check the conference pag e of the AMEA website for more infor mation about the schedule

Pr oposal Submission Interested researchers should submit a detailed abstract of the research project (up to 1000 words) as a Word or PDF document through our online submission website: http://amea-research org

Deadline. Submissions must be received by 11:59 p m CST on Monday, November 16, 2015 for full consideration

Process for Review & Notification. All abstracts will be peer-reviewed and authors will be notified of acce ptance by email on Monday, December 7, 2015 When acce pted, at least one of the authors must register and attend the AMEA Conference to present the poster.

Poster Dimensions. Posters should be professional in appearance and have poster dimensions of dimensions no larg er than 36 inches by 48 inches. Presenters are expected to bring 15-20 copies of their research abstract to the session

Mor e Inf or mation Contact Dr. Jane Kuehne at Aubur n University by phone at (334) 844-6852 or by email at kuehnjm@aubur n edu

Remind your colleagues to join, include the new music teachers, invite the inactive music teachers and be involved as a mentor to the young music teachers.

l i n i c i a n s

All-State Middle School Jazz Band Clinician

Mr. David Allinder will be directing the middle school jazz band Mr Allinder is the band director at Shades Valley High School in Bir mingham where his symphonic, marching, and jazz bands have received statewide and national acclaim. Mr. Allinder was previously the band director at Gresham Middle School in Bir mingham where he had a tremendously successful prog ram He is an active bass player throughout the Bir mingham area He holds a bachelors and masters deg ree from the University of Alabama David was a 2009 district finalist for state teacher of the year He is a member of the Phi Beta Mu honorar y band frater nity and the National Band Association. David cur rently resides in McCalla, Alabama with his wife Jennifer and their children, Tanner and Mackenzie.

Brian Balma ges is an active composer, conductor, producer, and perfor mer His fresh compositional ideas have resulted in a high demand for his wind, brass, and orchestral music throughout the world He received his bachelor’s deg ree in music from James Madison University and his master’s deg ree from the University of Miami in Florida Mr Balmages’ compositions have been perfor med worldwide at conferences including the Colleg e Band Directors National and Regional Conferences, the Midwest Clinic, the Inter national Tuba/Euphonium Conference, the Inter national Trombone Festival, and the Inter national Tr umpet Guild Conference.. His music has been perfor med by members of leading orchestras including the St Louis Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, and others He has also had world premieres in prestigious venues such as Car negie Hall and perfor mances at the Macy’s Day T hanksgiving Day Parade and abroad Cur rently, he is Director of Instr umental Publications for T he FJH Music Company Inc in For t Lauderdale, Florida He resides in Baltimore with his wife, Lisa and their sons, Jacob and Collin

Dr. Jef frey Benson is cur rently Director of Choral Activities at San José State University in San José, Califor nia Previously, Dr Benson ser ved as Director of Choral Activities and Fine Ar ts Depar tment Chair at H-B Woodlawn Secondar y Prog ram in Arlington, Virginia The Washington Post hails his choirs for singing “with an exquisite blend, subtlety of phrasing, confident musicianship and fully supported tone…that would be the envy of some professional ensembles." Benson received his Masters deg ree and his Doctorate in Choral Conducting/Music Education from The Florida State University and his Bachelors deg ree in Music Education from New York University

Alabama Honor Choir Clinician

Tucker Biddlecombe is associate professor and director of choral activities at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, where he ser ves as conductor of the Vanderbilt Chorale and Symphonic Choir, and teaches courses in choral conducting In addition, he ser ves as director of Blair's five-year bachelor of music/teacher education deg ree (Ma5) prog ram offered in conjunction with the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt Biddlecombe holds a Ph D in music education and M Mus in choral conducting from Florida State University, and a B Mus in vocal perfor mance and music education from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam He is a native of Buffalo, N Y , and resides in Nashville with his wife, Mar y Biddlecombe, who is ar tistic director of the Blair Children’s Chor us prog ram.

George R Boulden holds the rank of Associate Professor of Music and is the Associate Director of Bands at the University of Kentuck y, where he ser ves as the conductor of the Symphony Band. Additionally, he teaches conducting, music technolog y, and super vises student teachers Previously, he taught for nine years in the public schools of South Carolina and Florida, and was the recipient of the ASBDA-Stanbur y Award as the outstanding young band director in Florida -and- the Southeaster n region of the United States In 2011, Georg e was selected as the Kentuck y Music Educators Association College/Uni versity Teacher of the Year In Febr uar y of 2014 Georg e received the Outstanding Bandmaster Award from the Psi Chapter of Phi Beta Mu, inter national bandmasters frater nity Active as an adjudicator for Bands of America, Dr um Corps Inter national, and Dr um Corps Japan, George has also ser ved as a clinician and guest conductor throughout the United States, Canada, and Japan. George also ser ves as editor of the Bluegrass Music News, the official jour nal of the Kentucky Music Educators Association. Georg e resides in Richmond with his wife, Shelly, daughters, Jenna and Julianna, and sons, Bob and Jonah

All-State Show Choir Choreog rapher

Kye Brackett is a native Floridian who, via Los Ang eles, is cur rently residing in Las Veg as, Nevada, his self-proclaimed "City of Dreams" T hroughout his 30 year career his many talents have taken his life into many areas of the enter tainment field As a sing er/dancer Kye has been in Broadway, LA and West End productions of Five Guys Named Moe (for which he g ar nered a NAACP Imag e Award), Dreamgirls and Rent as well as the inter nationally acclaimed command perfor mance for the Queen of England called, “Hey, Mr. Producer”. As a choreog rapher Kye has choreog raphed for T he Miss America Pag eant, Walt Disney World, T he Muppets, and Holland America Cr uise Lines. He also choreog raphed and star red in the musical revue “Could It Be Magic”, the Bar r y Manilow Songbook which played at T he Mercur y T heater in Chicag o Recently Kye toured with Manilow in his “Final Farewell” tour in which he ser ved as both backg round vocalist and staging director

Joe Brennan is the director of the string prog ram at Haverford Middle and High Schools, located in suburban Philadelphia; a position he has held for the past 29 years He directs five orchestras at the secondar y level and teaches g eneral music at the Middle School In addition to his teaching duties, Joe is the Music De par tment Co-Chair for the School District of Haverford Township W hile at Haverford, Joe has brought many string chamber ensembles and orchestras to perfor m at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) annual state convention In 2006, Joe was recognized by PMEA with the Citation of Excellence Award T he Haverford High School Orchestra has par ticipated in a “Side-by-Side” rehearsal and perfor mance with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as having represented the State of Pennsylvania by perfor ming in America’s 400th Anniversar y, a national event, with President Bush in attendance, to commemorate the 400th anniversar y of the first per manent English settlement in the US, namely Jamestown Joe lives in Hainespor t, New Jersey with his wife and children and enjoys doing many DIY homeowner projects Since being a kidney donor, Joe, has been an advocate for org an donor awareness

Jon Bubbett is in his 34th year of teaching, having ser ved as band director at Thompson High School since 1993. The Thompson Wind Ensemble perfor med for the AMEA In-Ser vice Conference in 2014 and the National Concer t Band Festival in 2015.

Bubbett is a five-time recipient of the NBA Citation of Excellence Award T he T hompson Wind Ensemble was awarded the NBA Prog rams of Excellence “Blue Ribbon” Award for 2014 Bubbett is the recipient of the Phi Beta Mu, Rho Chapter 2015 “Bandmaster of the Year” Award He has ser ved as panelist for both AMEA In-Ser vice Conference and Midwest Clinic

Dr. Frank Buck ser ved as a band director, principal and central office administrator during a career in education spanning almost 30 years He was band director at Goodwyn Jr High school and Pizitz Middle School Both prog rams were recognized as "Band of the Month" in the United States by Bandribbons, Inc Frank has been named to Who's Who in American Education, Outstanding Young Men of America, and has numerous honors in the field of music education, including the National Band Association Citation of Excellence He holds deg rees in music education and f lute perfor mance from Jacksonville State University, a Masters in music education from the University of Alabama, Educational Specialist deg ree from the University of Montevallo, and Doctorate from the University of Alabama at Bir mingham. Cur rently, Frank provides sessions all over Nor th America on org anization and social media techniques made easy for music educators

Gene Butler is in his 6th year as Director of Bands at Trinity Presbyterian School in Montg omer y, AL. Mr. Butler received his Bachelor of Music Education and Masters of Science in Music Education deg rees from Troy University Under his leadership the Trinity Band Prog ram has g rown from 39 students to over 80 students At Trinity, Mr Butler teaches 5th Grade Beginning Band, Middle School Beginning Band, Middle School Concer t Band, Marching Band, Symphonic Band, and Music Technologies Mr Butler cur rently ser ves as the Vice-Chair man for ABA District VI and was awarded the Outstanding Young Music Educator of the Year for 2015 from AMEA

Randall Coleman is cur rently the Associate Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alabama where he ser ves as the conductor of the Alabama Symphonic Band, the Associate Conductor of the Alabama Wind Ensemble, and the CoDirector of the Million Dollar Band He also teaches g raduate and underg raduate conducting and wind band literature classes Additionally, Professor Coleman ser ves as Conductor and Ar tistic Director of the Alabama Winds, an all-adult community wind band based in Bir mingham, Alabama Prior to his appointment to the faculty at the University of Alabama, Mr Coleman enjoyed a successful 25-year career as a high school band director and super visor in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia He received his Bachelor of Science Deg ree in Music Education at Jacksonville State University (AL), and the Masters of Music Education deg ree from Georgia State University (GA) Professor Coleman has ser ved as a guest conductor of the Sabina Wind Orchestra in Rieti, Italy, and has presented a Rehearsal Lab clinic session at the Midwest Clinic in Chicag o, Illinois He has conducted All State and Regional Bands across the countr y, and has conducted the University of Alabama Million Dollar Band in perfor mances at the Southeaster n Conference Football Championships, and in the Sug ar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Califor nia and the Orang e Bowl in Miami, Florida, where the Crimson Tide won the 2009, 2011 and 2012 BCS National Championship Games.

All-State Silver Jazz Band Clinician

Dr Chip Crotts, a world-class jazz tr umpet player, is the director of jazz studies at the Georgia Institute of Technolog y in Atlanta, Georgia where he directs the jazz ensemble and assists with the marching band He has worked with numerous g roups (including several top 12 dr um and bugle cor ps) and professional musicians throughout his career Dr Crotts holds deg rees from East Carolina University, Penn State University and a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin

Jim Cude ser ves as Band/Fine Ar ts Director of Whitesburg High School in Whitesburg, Texas His bands have consistently received the UIL Swee pstakes award and have advanced to the State Marching Contest in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2013 T he band was a finalist in 2004 and 2013. In 2013 they were named the Class 2A State Marching Band Champions. Mr. Cude is active as a clinician and adjudicator both in Texas and in Oklahoma. He previously ser ved as a member of the Executive Board as the 3A re presentative to the ATSSB and on the State Board of TMEA as Region 2 President He is cur rently ser ving as President-Elect of the Association of Texas Small School Bands He is a member of TMEA, ATSSB, TMAA and Phi Beta Mu

Dr Ellar y Draper is Assistant Professor of Music Therapy at The University of Alabama. Dr. Draper has worked as a music therapist with a variety of ages and populations and as an elementar y general music teacher. Cur rently she ser ves as the Chair of Multicultural and Special Education Committee for the Alabama Music Educators Association Her research is published in the Jour nal of Music Therapy, Jour nal of Research in Music Education, General Music Today, and Ala Br eve She holds deg rees in music education and music therapy from Westminster Choir College, Florida State University, and The University of Texas at Austin

Beth A. Fabrizio holds a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music in Clarinet Perfor mance and a Masters of Music in Conducting, Education and Perfor mance from Ithaca Colleg e She has studied conducting with Rodney Winther and Dr Donald Hunsberg er and Clarinet with Michael Webster, Richard Waller, Stanley Hasty, William Osseck, Car mine Campione and perfor med in master classes with Richard Stoltzman. Ms. Fabrizio maintains a private clarinet studio with numerous students pursuing careers in music education, therapy, recording and perfor mance. She herself perfor ms as the principal clarinetist and personnel manag er with T he Greater Rochester Music Educators Wind Ensemble, and for mer Eb clarinet with T he Perinton Concer t Band Beth is a freelance perfor mer with operas, orchestras and musicals Ms Fabrizio is an active ar tist/ clinician for T he D'adar rio Cor poration

Denise Ga gné is a music specialist with 35 years of experience teaching band, choir and classroom music from pre-school to university levels. She has deg rees in music and education, as well as Level 3 training in both Kodály and Orff. Her choirs and bands have won many awards at Music Festivals and have perfor med for local and national spor ting events, on national radio and even for the Queen She has been a workshop presenter in ever y Canadian province and ter ritor y and more than 43 states She presents regularly for Orff and Kodály chapters, music educators conferences and preschool and kinderg ar ten conferences in Canada, the USA, Asia, Europe and Australia! Denise is cur rently the managing editor of T hemes & Variations

Dr Denise A Gainey is Associate Professor of Clarinet and Instr umental Music Education and Coordinator of Graduate Studies in Music at the University of Alabama at Bir mingham. A Backun Ar tist/ Clinican, Gainey is the Secretar y of the Inter national Clarinet Association, and is an active clinician and recitalist throughout the United States Gainey has compiled and edited a collection of clarinet solos, Solos for Clarinet, published by Carl Fischer in 200 She received the BME from Florida State University, the MM in Clarinet Perfor mance from T he University of Nor th Texas, and the DMA in Clarinet from T he University of Kentuck y

Andrew Gekoskie is T he Music Director of the fully professional Winchester Orchestra and its new music ensemble T he Orchestra X Project With over 35 years of experience as a perfor ming pianist and 27 years as a conductor, Gekoskie has conducted throughout the U S and has been recognized by colleagues, perfor mers, inter national org anizations, and leading professionals Making his Car negie Hall conducting debut in 2003, Gekoskie has conducted perfor mances in many major venues in the U.S. and Europe. Other achievements include: Guest on National Public Radio's Deser t Island Disks, published and featured in Music Industr y Mag azines, recognized with national awards including the Citation of Excellence, producer of professional and educational concer ts with guest ar tists the Har tt Symphony Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the University of Michig an Symphony Band, the Dennis DiBlasio Quar tet, the Chris Vadala Quar tet, and the Har tt Wind Symphony A Pennsylvania native, Gekoskie is the founder and for mer Music Director of the Lehigh Valley Youth Wind Orchestra and for mer Assistant Conductor of the Spar ta Symphony Orchestra in New Jersey He has ser ved as the Ar tistic Director, Resident Conductor, and Music Director for Campus Inter national Music Festivals, held Ar tistic Director positions in Pennsylvania and Texas, and regularly guest conducts orchestras, and wind orchestras

Dr. John Ginocchio is the Director of Bands and Music Prog ram Coordinator at Southwest Minnesota State University where he directs all the bands and teaches conducting and instr umental music education courses Dr Ginocchio holds Doctor of Ar ts and Master of Music deg rees from Ball State University and a Bachelor of Music Education deg ree from Indiana University Prior to acce pting the position at SMSU, he was a doctoral assistant director in the band de par tment at Ball State University, and before that he was the Director of Instr umental Music for the Adams Central Community Schools in Monroe, Indiana, a position he held for ten years.

Otto Gross is a cum laude g raduate of Berklee College of Music with a deg ree in Music Education. He has taught General Music, Band, Chor us, Jazz Band, Percussion and private lessons in Massachusetts, Mar yland and Tennessee He has perfor med with ar tists including Bobby McFer rin & T he Marsalis Brothers Otto has toured inter nationally with EMI ar tists as a music director, pianist, bassist and dr ummer Otto is cur rently a Training Re presentative and songwriter for QuaverMusic com and has a passion to see children excited to lear n about music!

Alabama All-State Show Choir Clinician

Paul Gulsvig taught vocal music for 33 years, and retired in 2006 from Onalaska High School in Onalaska, WI, where he taught for 28 of those 33 years Paul’s desire to positively inspire all teachers and their students led him into a retirement career that he refers to as More T han Music. T his career includes ser ving as retreat presenter, show doctor, motivational speaker, as well as conducting leadership and in-ser vice workshops for school districts. He has assisted a wide variety of schools, including elementar y, middle and high schools, colleg e and g raduate prog rams Paul also ser ves as a show choir adjudicator and clinician, as well as All-State and Honor Choir clinician His varied exper tise and encouraging love of students and teachers has taken him to at least 30 states, including Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, K ansas, Michig an, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Califor nia, as well as his home state of Wisconsin He is most proud of his three children who have colleg e deg rees in music, two of which are choral conductors In his spare time you will find Paul on the g olf course, working out at the fitness center, or spending time with his g rand twins, Hailey and Riley and their baby sister, Lily.

Timothy Heath is a doctoral student in music education at T he University of Alabama. He is g raduate teaching assistant for the university bands and assists with underg raduate music education courses. He has taught in Nor th Carolina at Spring Creek High School, EE Smith Middle School, and adjunct at the University of Mount Olive Timothy holds deg rees from the University of Nor th Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Nor th Carolina at Pembroke

Dr Edward C “Ted” Hof fman, III, is Assistant Professor of Music and Head of Music Education at the University of Montevallo, where he coordinates the underg raduate music education prog rams, teaches g raduate coursework in the Master of Education prog ram, directs tuba/euphonium studies, administers the summer Young Musicians’ Camp, and is faculty advisor to the University of Montevallo chapter of NAfME-Collegiate He is a member of the Executive Gover ning Board of the Alabama Music Educators’ Association, State Advisor for AL-NAfME Collegiate, Chair of the Alabama Teacher Education Committee, and ser ves as the Alabama representative to the National Board of the NAfME Society for Music Education

Dr. K elly Hollingswor th cur rently ser ves as the music specialist at Aubur n Early Education Center and is in her sixteenth year teaching elementar y music She has also been an adjunct instr uctor at Souther n Union State Community College and Troy University-Phenix City Years after completing her Bachelor’s deg ree from the University of Mobile, Kelly ear ned her M Ed and Ph D from Aubur n University Her research interests include music literacy, early childhood music education, and teacher efficacy. She has presented posters of her research at AMEA. A longtime member of AMEA, Kelly has ser ved as the hospitality chair and District V co-chair for the elementar y/g eneral division Kelly has been Teacher of the Year at three Aubur n City elementar y schools, was the 2013-2014 Aubur n City Schools Elementar y Teacher of the Year, and a sweet sixteen finalist for the 2013-2014 Alabama Teacher of the Year

All-State Bronze Jazz Band Clinician

Mr. Br yan Hooten, a g raduate of Vestavia Hills High School in Bir mingham, is director of bands at Collegiate High School in Richmond, Virginia Previously on the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University, Br yan taught the Jazz Ensemble II, jazz trombone, and theor y Mr Hooten is a member of the nationally acclaimed g roup, No BS Brass Band, and he maintains an active schedule as a professional trombonist in Richmond, Virginia He holds deg rees from the University of Souther n Mississippi and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Gene Inglis, a g raduate of Jacksonville State University, has completed his 42nd year teaching and his 12th year as Director of Bands at Saks High School in Anniston, Alabama. He retired as Director of Bands for Rome City Schools June 30, 2003, completing his 11th year at Rome High School, which was created in 1992 Prior to that, he was director for 12 years at West Rome High School and 6 years at West Rome Junior High School His first position was at Scottsboro Junior High School in Scottsboro, Alabama Gene received the national award; the “Legion of Honor” presented by the John Phillip Sousa Foundation and the National Band Association, and was recognized at the Midwest Band Clinic in Chicag o, IL, December 2002 Inglis received the “Citation of Excellence” presented by the National Band Association in 2007 and was listed as the Alabama recipient for the “50 Directors Making a Difference” in Band and Or chestra Magaz ine. Gene is mar ried to the for mer Shenley Back of Gadsden, Alabama. T hey have three children, Tony, Allison Brown, & Gena Inglis Nix; and four g randchildren, Taylor and Emma Nix, T J Brown, and Claire Inglis

AMEA 2016 Featured Perfor mers and Speakers B o s t o n B r a s s

For 29 years, Boston Brass has set out to establish a one-of-a-kind musical experience. From exciting classical ar rang ements, to bur ning jazz standards, and the best of the original brass quintet re per toire, Boston Brass treats audiences to a unique brand of enter tainment, which captivates all ag es T he ensemble's lively re par tee, touched with humor and personality, attempts to bridg e the ocean of classical for mality to delight audiences in an evening of g reat music and boisterous fun. T he philosophy of Boston Brass is to provide audiences with a wide selection of musical styles in unique ar rang ements, provided in a friendly and fun atmosphere

T hrough over 100 perfor mances each year, the members of Boston Brass play to audiences at concer ts, educational venues and jazz festivals In addition to solo perfor mances, Boston Brass regularly perfor ms with orchestras, bands, org an, jazz bands and a variety of other ensembles. T hey have perfor med in 49 states and 30 countries and have conducted master classes around the world including sessions and residencies at the Eastman School of Music, T he Julliard School, She pherd School of Music at Rice University, Peabody Conser vator y of Music, University of Nor th Texas, Royal Academy of Music in London, Yong Siew Toh Conser vator y at the National University of Sing apore and Mahidol University in Bangkok

Dr Maribeth Yoder-W hite has taught choral and g eneral music education in Pre-K through university settings at public and private institutions She has a distinguished record as a choral clinician and has conducted state and regional elementar y, middle, and high school honors chor uses throughout the countr y T he Nor th Carolina American Choral Directors Association awarded Yoder-White the Lara Hog g ard Award for distinguished ser vice in choral music in Nor th Carolina An active educational consultant, Yoder-W hite presents professional development for teachers through workshops, demonstration lessons, and ar ts-integ rated cur riculum design Dr Yoder-White is a recognized Orff-Schulwerk specialist who teaches Orff-Schulwerk teacher education courses and presents professional development sessions for school districts and at state, regional, national, and inter national conferences. Dr. Yoder-W hite has ser ved in leadership with many professional org anizations including ser ving as President of the Souther n Division of the National Association for Music Education, President of the Nor th Carolina Music Educators Association, and President of the Nor th Carolina American Choral Directors Association

Christopher Woodside retur ned to the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) in August of 2010 to assume the position of Assistant Executive Director heading the association’s Center for Advocacy and Constituency Eng ag ement. In his cur rent capacity, Christopher manag es NAfME’s advocacy staff, directs, controls and oversees all issues with relation to the development and implementation of the association’s larg e-scale advocacy and public affairs ag endas, ser ves as NAfME’s primar y lobbying presence on Capitol Hill, and facilitates music education’s newest collaborative advocacy venture: T he Music Education Policy Roundtable. Previously, Christopher ser ved as the Policy Coordinator for T he Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, in his first tenure with MENC, as the Director of Gover nment Relations and Outreach, and as a Legislative aide to Representative Chris Van Hollen from Mar yland’s 8th district Christopher received his Bachelor of Ar ts in Political Science from Miami University

Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser beg an his teaching career at Nor ther n Michig an University He then moved to the University of Missouri, and from there to New Mexico State University During that time, Tim developed highly acclaimed g roups in both instr umental and vocal music. In 1981, Tim created Attitude Conce pts for Today, Inc., an org anization designed to manag e the many requests for teacher inser vice workshops, student leadership seminars, and convention speaking eng ag ements focusing on the area of effective leadership training After thir ty-plus years of clinic presentations, some three million students have experienced one of his popular sessions Tim presently ser ves as Vice President of Education for Conn-Selmer, Inc He is a nationally recognized voice touting the impor tance of ar ts education for ever y child His books, produced by G I A Publications, Inc., continue to be bestsellers in the educational community. He is also co-author of popular band method, Essential Elements, as well as the Senior Educational Consultant for Hal Leonard, Inc Tim is also the Senior Educational Advisor for Music for All, and NAMM (T he National Association of Music Merchants) He holds deg rees from Ball State University and the University of Alabama He is presently the Chair of the National Association for Music Education Music Honor Society (Tri-M)

Stuar t Ivey is ser ving in his second year as Director of Bands at Huntsville High School Mr Ivey was bor n and raised in Huntsville and is a g raduate of Grissom High School He received a Bachelor of Music Education from Aubur n University and a Master of Music in Trombone Perfor mance from the University of Missouri in Columbia. Mr. Ivey beg an his teaching career as the Associate Director of Bands at Baldwin County High School in Bay Minette, AL, where he also taught 7th and 8th g rade. He also ser ved as Director of Bands at Vinemont High School and Middle School for one year, where he taught g rades 6-12 T hroughout his teaching tenure, Mr Ivey's bands have received consistent Superior ratings in both marching and concer t settings Mr Ivey has been involved with many other teaching oppor tunities, including the Macy's Great American Marching Band, Aubur n Marching Leadership Camp, and Camp Fasola, a shape note singing camp for all ag es He has also taught private lessons on all brass instr uments as well as dr um major lessons Stuar t and his wife, Cour tney, reside in Madison, AL, and are expecting their first child in August!

Gail K opetz joined the music de par tment at Mississippi State University in 2014 where she directs the Women’s Chorale, super vises student teachers, and teaches piano Prior to joining the faculty at MSU, Mrs Kopetz directed the Women’s Chor us at Capital University and ser ved as Choral Director and Music Coordinator at Columbus School for Girls (OH) Mrs Kopetz holds a Bachelor in Music Education from T he Ohio State University, a Master of Music from T he University of Utah, Orff-Schulwerk cer tification (I- post Level III), and administrative licensure She has ser ved on the AOSA board of tr ustees, has been a Levels instr uctor, has spent many years teaching music K-12 in both pubic and private institutions, and provided both underg raduate and g raduate teacher pre paration instr uction at the following institutions: Fur man University, Utah State University, and the University of Utah. She has been active as a presenter and clinician with professional invitations from many org anizations including: OMEA, UMEA, OAIS, Midwest Kodály Conference, and AOSA

Anna K ozlowski has worked in the Educator Preparation section of the Alabama State Depar tment of Education since 2006 and leads the effor t to revise the prog ram review process She has also ser ved on review teams for the Council for the Accreditation of Education Preparation (CAEP).

Dr Jane M K uehne, Associate Professor of Music Education at Aubur n University, teaches underg raduate and g raduate music education courses, coordinates/super vises labs and inter nships, super vises g raduate research, and is academic advisor for underg raduate and g raduate music education students. She ear ned bachelors and masters deg rees from the UT San Antonio, where she was named Outstanding Alumna in music in 2009, and a Ph D from FSU In 2008, she established the Beethoven & Me project, for which she received the 2010 Robby D Gunstream Award from the Colleg e Music Society Her main research interests are sight-singing and teaching music with at-risk/disadvantag ed students Dr Kuehne’s research and writing has been published in Jour nal of Research in Music Education, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Souther n Music Education Jour nal, Jour nal of Technolog y in Music Lear ning, Ala Breve, Mississippi Music News, New Jersey Tempo, and others Cur rent research projects include analysis of underg raduate music education students' attitudes when teaching at-risk high school students for which she cur rently has a paper under review.

Mildred Lanier received her Music and Business education in the United States and Europe She holds a B A deg ree from Samford University, a Masters Deg ree in Music from T he University of Oklahoma, and a Masters in Public and Private Manag ement from Bir mingham-Souther n Colleg e She has studied at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and the E M Lyon Business School in Lyon, France Because of her education, Ms Lanier has been blessed with many wonderful oppor tunities to use her education and her talents. As an Instr uctor at Jefferson State Community Colleg e, Ms. Lanier has taught 8 years in the Business and Infor mation Systems De par tment and was honored in 2010 by the Chancellor of the Alabama Community Colleg e System with the Alabama Community Colleg e System Award of Excellence Because of her broad academic credentials and deg rees, Ms Lanier was recently selected to become the full-time Music Instr uctor for the Shelby-Hoover She continues to teach Manag ement and Marketing in the Business De par tment Chosen by her peers, she is the newly elected member of the Planning Council for the Shelby-Hoover campus for Jefferson State

Dr. Mar vin E. Latimer, Jr. is Associate Professor of Choral Music Education, Chair of the Music Education De par tment, and Assistant Director of the School of Music at the University of Alabama He has published research in numerous jour nals and is a frequent presenter at state, national, and inter national music conferences and symposia Dr Latimer is President of the Alabama Choral Directors Association and Chair of the Org anizational Histor y Subcommittee of the ACDA Research and Publications Committee

Andy Meadows is the Ar ts Education Specialist in the Instr uctional Ser vices division under the Office of Teaching and Lear ning at the Alabama State De par tment of Education. T his position includes the responsibility for coordinating and implementing fine ar ts education prog rams and cur riculum in all disciplines as well as staff duties and responsibilities. He is a native of Alabama where he received his underg raduate deg ree at Huntingdon Colleg e and his Masters of Fine Ar ts from the University of Alabama He has ser ved as a visual ar ts educator and fines ar ts administrator for the past 20 years Andy has exhibited his work in national and inter national shows and his work has been collected by museums and private collectors

Soon Hee Newbold was bor n in Seoul, Korea and adopted as an infant by the Newbold family. She spent her childhood, along with two sisters, in Frederick, Mar yland Soon Hee beg an playing piano at ag e five and violin at ag e seven As a soloist and in professional orchestras throughout the world, Ms Newbold has appeared in venues such as Car negie Hall, T he Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, Disney World, Aspen, and Tanglewood and in countries like Scotland, England, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan Ms Newbold received her Bachelor of Music deg ree from James Madison University where she concentrated on film scoring, orchestration, and audio production As an actress, Soon Hee expanded her experiences to film and television She g ot her first break in the film, “T he Waterboy,” star ring Adam Sandler, and first television role in the family comedy, “Camp Tanglefoot.” Sadly, Ms. Newbold’s mother was diagnosed with Huntington's disease, a ter minal, devastating g enetic neurological illness for which there is little treatment and no cure. Soon Hee wrote the popular song “Endless Dreams,” and dedicated it to those affected by Huntington’s to spread awareness and hope Published through the FJH Music Company, Soon Hee’s compositions can be heard around the world in film, orchestras, and other perfor ming g roups Outside of work, Ms Newbold enjoys mar tial ar ts and weapons training and has black belts in Taekwondo, Hapkido, and Kigumdo

Caroline Nordlund is a lecturer at Samford University where she teaches string methods, instr umental pedag og y, and plays in the Samford University Faculty String Quar tet. She is also Coordinator of Strings of the Samford University Music Academy. Caroline teaches violin at the Alabama School of Fine Ar ts and ser ves as the President for the Alabama chapter of the American String Teachers Association Caroline ear ned a Master of Music in violin perfor mance and pedag og y from Nor thwester n University as a student of Gerardo Ribeiro At Nor thwester n, she was awarded the Richard and Helen T homas Fellowship while a g raduate assistant to Stacia Spencer and Dr James Kjelland Caroline is a member of Pi K appa Lambda, American String Teachers Association and Music Teachers National Association Originally from South Carolina, she g raduated summa cum laude from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Music in violin perfor mance

Br uce Pear son g rew up in Bloomington, Minnesota. He has taught at the elementar y, junior high, high school and colleg e levels for over 40 years. In December of 1998, Dr. Pearson was awarded the prestigious Midwest Clinic Medal of Honor in recognition of his outstanding contributions to music education In 2007, he was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni award at St Cloud State University Also in 2007, he was recognized as the first Patron for the Mar yborough Conference in Queensland, Australia Dr Pearson continues to ser ve as a guest lecturer, clinician, and conductor in addition to his work as a composer, ar rang er, and author

Scott L Phillips is Associate Professor of Music Technolog y at the University of Alabama at Bir mingham He frequently makes scholarly presentations, leads panels and reading academic papers at top music, education, and technolog y conferences. His book Beyond Sound: The College and Car eer Guide in Music Technolog y was released in 2013 and has sold around the world He is a for mer middle school and high school music teacher, and is often called upon by major music technolog y companies to ser ve as a trainer, clinician, and consultant in schools, churches, theaters, and recording studios

David Pr yor has been teaching for 26 years He is a g raduate of Loyola University He has taught in Louisiana, Missouri and Alabama He is Director of Instr umental Music/ Music De par tment Chair man at Faith Academy in Mobile He is on Staff of Mobile Singing Children He is a member of ABA, AMEA, NAfMe, NBA, AISBA and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia He has ser ved as ABA District 7 Chair man and is presently District 7 Vice-Chair man He was awarded the “Citation of Honor” in 2005 and in 2015 from the NBA and awarded Faith Academy “Teacher of the Year” in 1998. He was honored by the “Fiesta-val” Invitational Music Festival in Atlanta, GA with the “Award of Distinction” in April 2013

Phillip Riggs is cur rently a music instr uctor at the Nor th Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham, NC Phillip is a recipient of the Exce ptional Contribution in Outreach Award presented each year by the University Of Nor th Carolina Board Of Gover nors for his work with music education prog rams throughout Nor th Carolina Prior to joining the NCSSM faculty, he was the first band director and fine ar ts chair at Ronald Reag an High School in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System. Before assuming that position, Mr. Rig gs taught in Davidson County for sixteen years. Twelve of those years were with the Ledford Bands. During his tenure, the Ledford Middle and High School Bands and High School Choirs under his direction received numerous Superior Ratings at the state concer t festival (MPA) He received his underg raduate deg ree from Appalachian State University and his master’s deg ree from the University of Nor th Carolina Greensboro Mr Rig gs is a Past President of the Nor th Carolina Band Directors Association

Roger Sams retired from the music classroom in 2013 after 31 years of teaching music in public and private schools. He has ser ved as adjunct faculty, teaching methods courses and super vising student teachers at Cleveland State University and has been on the faculty in teacher education prog rams at the University of St Thomas, Cleveland State University, Akron University, the University of Montana, University of Missouri-St Louis, and other venues throughout the US Rog er is a regular presenter at state, regional, and national conferences, has ser ved on the AOSA National Board of Tr ustees, and has worked with teachers in Canada, China, Indonesia and India He cur rently ser ves as Director of Publications and Music Education Consultant at Music is Elementar y (www.MusicIsElementar y.com). Trained in Gestalt therapy, Rog er is interested in the power of choice in the ar tistic process, teaching, and life. He is the co-author of “Pur poseful Pathways: Possibilities for the Elementar y Music Classroom” with Beth Ann He pbur n. He has published works for children’s choirs in the “Crooked River Choral Project” series and a collection of rounds and par tner songs entitled, “A Round My Hear t ”

Jeanette Shorey has been a general music teacher and choir director for 17 years. She has also directed the Florida Singing Sons. Jeanette cur rently teaches at Oak Mountain Inter mediate School and Shelby Elementar y School Jeanette ear ned her underg raduate deg ree at The University of Florida and has also ear ned a Masters deg ree in Elementar y Education with a specialization in Literacy Jeanette is a National Board Cer tified teacher and integ rates literacy skills into ever y lesson

Char les G. “Skip” Snead ser ves as Director of the Music School and Professor of Hor n at the University of Alabama. He has perfor med inter nationally as a soloist and chamber musician and is a founding member of the widely acclaimed TransAtlantic Hor n Quar tet He has solo recordings available on the Centaur and MSR Classics Labels, and ser ves on the Board of Advisors for T he Inter national Hor n Competition of America He also ser ves as an on-site accreditation evaluator for NASM He has perfor med with many orchestras throughout his career and has been principal hor n in the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra for 27 years

All-State Gold Jazz Band Clinician

Mike Steinel is a jazz tr umpeter, pianist, composer and ar rang er He is presently Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Nor th Texas where he teaches jazz improvisation, Jazz Ar tist in Residence at Bethel Colleg e and was on the faculty of Nor ther n Illinois University Inter nationally recognized as a jazz educator Mike is the author of Building a Jazz Vocabular y and Essential Elements for Jazz Ensemble both published by Hal Leonard Music Cor poration. Mike is an active clinician and guest ar tist and has perfor med throughout the US, Canada and in Europe He has perfor med as soloist at the MENC and IAJE national conventions and at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic His playing experience includes work with Clark Ter r y, Don Ellis, Bill Evans, Jer r y Berg onzi and recordings with the Chicag o Jazz Quintet and the Frank Mantooth Big Band Honors received include an Illinois Ar ts Council Chair man ' s Grant and a jazz fellowship g rant from the National Endowment for the Ar ts Mr Steinel has ser ved as Co-Chair of the Jazz Advisor y Panel for the National Endowment for the Ar ts and holds a BME deg ree from Emporia State University and a MME deg ree from the University

Daniel Stevens cur rently ser ves at the University of Nor th Alabama as an Associate Professor of Music / Conductor of the Shoals Symphony Orchestra, and Director of the Peer y Center for Orchestral Studies. His roles include conductor and ar tistic director of the Shoals Symphony Orchestra and teacher of applied violin/viola. As a conductor, he has been the guest clinician/adjudicator for the K ansas Music Educators Association Larg e Ensemble and Solo & Ensemble contests, at the Nor theast Oklahoma All-District Honors Orchestra, and the Tulsa Metro Honors Orchestra He had ser ved on the faculty of Southwester n College (Winfield, KS) for eight years as the Mazie Bar net Kilmer Chair for String Education and conductor of the South K ansas Symphony He has also ser ved as Visiting Professor at the University of Tulsa as conductor of the University Orchestra Daniel is regularly invited to clinic/present at universities, recently including the Georgia Institute of Technolog y, Florida Souther n College, Nor ther n Arizona University, the University of Tulsa, and Idaho State University. Daniel wishes to thank Anton Kr utz, Misha Kr utz, and KC Strings Violin Shop for their g enerous suppor t of sponsorship. Daniel’s violin and viola are premiere custom instr uments made by Anton Kr utz and family.

Gar y Stith has authored numerous articles and penned chapters in The Drum and Percussion Cookbook published by Meredith, the Conductors Antholog y published by The Instr umentalist, and ser ved as Contributing Editor for a recent compilation entitled Classic Beginning Solos for the Complete Per cussionist published by Kendor He is active percussion adjudicator and has played with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra and the Columbus Symphony He is cur rently Professor/Conductor Emeritus and for mer Coordinator of Music Education at the Greatbatch School of Music, Houghton Colleg e in Houghton, NY, where he was the recipient of the 2010-11 Excellence in Teaching Award Gar y is also the author of Score & Rehearsal Preparation: A Realistic Approach for Instr umental Conductors published by Meredith Music Publication.

Tif fani Stricklin has taught elementar y music for 13 years at Greenwood Elementar y and Minor Community Schools in Jefferson County, Alabama. She g raduated in 2002 from the University of Montevallo with a Bachelor’s of Music Education. In 2015, she g raduated with a Master’s of English as a Second Languag e from the University of Alabama at Bir mingham. She is also a National Board Cer tified Teacher She has ser ved in many positions on the board of the Alabama Chapter of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association She is cur rently a District Chair person for the Elementar y Division of the Alabama Music Educators Association

Dr Matthew D Talber t is cur rently Assistant Professor of Music Education/Music at Berea Colleg e, in Berea, KY, where his duties include overseeing the Music Education prog ram, directing the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble, and teaching applied lessons Prior to his appointment at Berea, Talber t was a band director in the public schools of Nor th Carolina. Dr. Talber t is a member of NAfME, the Kentucky Music Educators Association, the National Band Association, and Pi K appa Lambda. Dr. Talber t ear ned Music Education deg rees from Appalachian State University, and a Ph D in Music Education from the University of South Carolina

Beck y Rodger s War ren is cur rently an associate band director at Mandan Middle School Her duties include recr uiting for beginning band, coordinating the 6th g rade band prog ram, and director of the Marching Braves Mrs War ren's clinic presentations include AMEA, NDMEA, SDMEA, and Midwest She ser ved two ter ms on the Board of the ABA and was President-elect She ser ved as President of AMEA and founded FAME She is a member of NAfME, NBA, and Phi Beta Mu-having ser ved a two year ter m as the President of the Nor th Dakota Chapter She has also ser ved on the Board of NDMEA

Ben Watson has been employed for the Dale County Board Of Education for the past six years. He cur rently teaches g eneral music kinderg ar ten through sixth g rade. At the High school level he is in his second year of teaching guitar. Mr. Watson is 1987 g raduate of Susan Moore High School in Blount County Alabama 15 miles nor th of Oneonta which is 45 miles nor th of Bir mingham He received his bachelor’s deg ree (1994) and Masters of Music Education (2001) from Jacksonville State University Mr Watson has ser ved as a Music Educator for seventeen years and cur rently resides in Enter prise, AL, and has been mar ried to his high school sweethear t Shelia Wilemon Watson for over 28 years

Conrad Weber lives in Bratt, Florida with his wife, Leslie, and their three children He studied piano perfor mance at the University of West Florida, and completed his Master’s Deg ree with Eug ene Pridonoff at the Cincinnati Conser vator y of Music During colleg e, he vowed he would never g et into music education, and years later in 2008 he beg an his teaching career in Atmore, AL, where he was hired to star t a piano lab He re-star ted the choir prog ram several years later, and continues teaching at Escambia County Middle and High Schools in Atmore with 140 students in the choir prog ram

Dr. Susan Williams, soprano, is Assistant Professor of Voice at the University of Alabama In March 2015, she traveled to Havana, Cuba to teach and research at the Instituto Superior de Ar te In December and Januar y of 2014-15, she traveled to Kolkata, India to perfor m concer ts at the Oberoi Grand Ballroom, St Paul’s Cathedral, and the U S Consulate, Kolkata She is a RYT 200 cer tified yog a instr uctor, and her scholarly interests include using body movement systems and the use of vir tual anatomy to enhance student lear ning in the studio Dr Williams received her DMA from the Cleveland Institute of Music

Joshua Wine is cur rently the Director of Bands at Aubur n Junior High School in Aubur n, AL, where he directs and oversees three concer t bands, percussion ensemble, jazz band, music study club, and teaches music appreciation Fur ther more, Mr Wine assists with instr uction of the marching band at Aubur n High School In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Mr Wine was recently appointed Director of the Summer Band Camps at Aubur n University sponsored by the National Band Association A native of Wetumpka, Mr Wine attended Troy University in Troy, Alabama, where he ser ved as a section leader and dr um major for the renowned “Sound of the South” Marching Band. While at Troy, Mr. Wine studied conducting with Dr. Mark Walker, tr umpet with Dr. James Zing ara and Dr. Mike Huff, and Voice with Dr Diane Orlofsk y and Alber t R Lee

Dr Anne C Witt is a Music Education faculty member at the University of Alabama She taught middle school and high school orchestra for four teen years in Austin, Texas, and played cello in the Austin Symphony. In 2005, she founded the string prog ram in the Tuscaloosa City Schools. Dr. Witt is known for “student tested” presentations for teachers, and her book A Rhythm a Week is widely used by orchestra and band directors Leadership roles include being President of the American String Teachers Association and President of the Texas Orchestra Directors Association She ear ned deg rees at the University of Alabama and the University of Texas

Dr James Zingara is cur rently Assistant Professor of Tr umpet at the University of Alabama at Bir mingham, where his responsibilities include applied tr umpet and brass methods, brass ensembles, perfor ming with the UAB Faculty Brass Quintet and coordinating the annual UAB Brass Symposium. He has perfor med in 34 states as well as England, Latvia, Ger many, Denmark, the Czech Re public, Sing apore and China. From 1989-1996 he ser ved as principal cor net/tr umpet soloist with the US Air Force Heritag e of America Band. Dr Zing ara cur rently re presents Conn-Selmer as a Bach Tr umpet Ar tist and also ser ves as a tr umpet faculty member at Blue Lake Inter national Fine Ar ts Camp

The Alabama Wind Ensemble is a select g roup of the finest wind players and percussionists from within the University Band Prog ram and the School of music. The ensemble has been invited to perfor m at prestigious events such as the Colleg e Band Directors National Association Convention, the Souther n Division of the Music Educators’ National Conference and the Alabama Music Educators Association Conference T he Alabama Wind Ensemble has commissioned and premiered works by noted composers such as Donald Grantham, Nigel Clarke, and Richard Saucedo

The Aubur n Junior High Mixed Choir is comprised of students from the three mixed choirs of the AJHS choral prog ram T hese students have been a par t of recent AMEA lobby g roup perfor mances and regularly par ticipate in the Fall Choral Festival in Dothan, Alabama All-State Chor us and various state and national choral assessments. All AJHS choral students set g oals to ear n superior scores and top three placements in all choral ventures – having recently ear ned first in division at the Fall Choral Festival, superiors with distinction at state choral perfor mance assessments, and caption awards such as best vocals T his year, these students will produce their triennial “Mer r y Madrig als ”

The Boaz Inter mediate School Honor Choir was for med in 2006 It is an auditioned g roup of four th and fifth g rade students which rehearse once a week after school T his choir presents an annual Christmas and Spring Concer t as well as perfor ms at various local events throughout the school year. T hey have perfor med in conjunction with the Gerhar t Chamber Music Festival since 2007. T he Honor Choir perfor med at the 2012 AMEA Conference T he g roup cur rently has 100 members and is under the direction of Miriam Richey

The Bir mingham Seven (B7) is a straight-ahead jazz septet (four hor ns and three rhythm) patter ned after the small g roups of the hard-bop era led by Chris Kozak and co-led by Daniel Wester n Comprised of some of the finest and most sought after jazz perfor mers in the region as well as cur rent faculty and alumni of the University of Alabama, their live reper toire consists of transcriptions and adaptations from iconic recordings by ar tists such as Duke Ellington, Oliver Nelson, Gigi Gr yce, Sun Ra, and Lee Morg an as well as original ar rang ements and compositions by Chris Kozak, Daniel Wester n, Tom Robinson, and Tom Wolfe While following the trajector y and tradition of hard bop ensembles, there is an air of uniqueness in the f lexibility of the perfor mers to improvise in a variety of styles T he B7 has a familial quality as the personnel has remained unchang ed since its ince ption in 2006 and that is evident in their live and recorded perfor mances

The Crimson Jazz Quaret is a Professional Contemporar y Jazz Quar tet featuring the Jazz Studies Faculty from the University of Alabama and was for med in 2005 T hey are Professor of Jazz Studies Tom Wolfe on Guitar, Professor of Saxophone/Woodwind Area Coordintor/ Jazz Studies Dr. Jonathan Noffsing er on Saxophones, Professor and Director of Jazz Studies Christopher Kozak on Double and Electric Bass, and Instr uctor of Dr um Set/Jazz Studies Mark Lanter on Dr um Set T he re per toire of the g roup rang es from traditional Jazz Standards to more contemporar y ar rang emenst of popular music as well as original compositions T hey have been featured nationally and inter nationally at Jazz festivals in the Southeast and around the world T hey are cur rently in the studio recording their sophomore effor t to be released in Spring of 2016

The Faith Academy Choral Program is a member of the AVA and the AISA With Elementar y, Junior, Senior, and Chamber Choirs, the Choral Prog ram has a total number of 127 members In 2015, 27 members of the Junior and Senior Concer t Choir par ticipated in the Alabama All-State Choir All choirs received superior ratings at AISA with the Senior Concer t Choir and Chamber Sing ers receiving superior ratings at the AVA State Choral Perfor mance Assessment as well as the Fiesta-Val Invitational Festival in Myr tle Beach, South Carolina.

The Symphonic Band II from Grissom High School is made up of students enrolled in g rades 912. About 60% of the band is 9th and 10th g raders. T hey are selected to be a member by audition and meet ever y day for 50 minutes T hey have two after school rehearsals during concer t season for 2 hours each T he band presents four concer ts a year at the school; a Fall Concer t, a Christmas Concer t, a Symphonic Band Camp Concer t, and a Spring Concer t. T his ensemble consistently perfor ms g rade 5 and some g rade 6 literature In 1994, the Symphonic Band II was selected by audition as one of fifteen bands to perfor m at the 3rd Annual Bands of America National Concer t Band Festival in Chicag o, Illinois Grissom was the first high school to have 2 bands invited to perfor m at this prestigious festival T he band recently par ticipated in the Dixie Classic National Adjudicators Invitational Festival in Chattanoog a, TN. Bands are invited to this festival based upon their previous years of superior ratings at their state’s MPA T his year the band received all superior ratings and were awarded the only f lute and tr umpet soloist awards of the day T he percussion section received the only outstanding percussion section award of the day. T he Symphonic Band II has rarely received less than an overall superior rating in any adjudication In recent years at the state’s Music Perfor mance Assessment the band has received superior ratings with distinction It is an honor to have been selected to perfor m at the 2016 Alabama Music Educators Association’s Conference!

James Clemens High School opened in August of 2012 In its first year, the JCHS Marching Band fielded 87 members, ear ning superior ratings at all marching competitions as well as Best in Class Band and Best in Class Percussion awards. T he following Spring, the Symphonic Band ear ned Superiors with Distinction at State Music Perfor mance Assessment, perfor ming an A class prog ram T he Symphonic Band also competed in Atlanta, GA, receiving a superior rating, outstanding brass, and outstanding woodwind awards. In its second year, the band g rew to almost 130 members in the marching band, and was able to divide into a Wind Ensemble and Concer t Band in the spring of 2014 Perfor ming a class A prog ram, the Wind Ensemble received Superiors with Distinction, and was the only band in the Madison City School system to ear n this rating. In the fall of 2014, the marching band g rew to almost 160 members and continued its re putation of superior ratings and Best in Class Awards In the spring of 2015, the band perfor med a class AA prog ram, receiving straight superior ratings, and once ag ain was the only band prog ram in the system to do so. T he Wind Ensemble also competed in St Louis, MO and received a superior rating and the Outstanding Instr umental award, given to the highest scoring instr umental ensemble at the event, reg ardless of class T he James Clemens High School Wind Ensemble strives to “Be the Example” in all areas. From prog ramming quality literature to perfor ming that literature with excellence, the ensemble’s g oal is to be a standard bearer for music education

The Kitty Stone Singer s elementar y choir, under the direction of Lisa Gillespie and Cher yl Wight, consists of four th through sixth g rade students who meet once a week after school. T he ensemble has been a fixture in the Jacksonville City School system throughout the school’s histor y T he choir maintains a membership enrollment of 60-80 sing ers yearly T he Kitty Stone Singers perfor m in a variety of community events including the Jacksonville State University Honor Choir Festival, the annual Lighting of the Jacksonville Christmas Tree and the JSU David L Walters De par tment of Music holiday prog ram T he choir enjoys perfor ming both traditional re per toire as well as show choir style musicals.

The Jacket Singer s are McAdor y Middle School’s top female choral students. T his g roup re presents their school at various functions, including concer ts, fine ar ts g alas, pe p rallies, festivals, and various community events T he Jacket Singers routinely receive superior ratings on stage and in sight-reading at adjudicated perfor mance assessments, ear ning the Alabama Vocal Association’s Distinguished Musicianship Award in 2015.

Founded in 1977, Mobile’s Singing Children (“MSC”) has been the premier youth chor us on the nor ther n Gulf Coast Perfor ming choral music of the highest quality drives our children and teens toward excellence in song, spirit and studies Org anized into four ag e and skill appropriate ensembles, MSC provides oppor tunities for a diverse g roup of dedicated music students Headquar tered in Mobile Al, students are drawn to the prog ram from many locations within a 60-mile radius “MSC” perfor ms regularly with Mobile Opera and Mobile Symphony Orchestra Over its 39 year histor y, MSC has perfor med in hundreds of venues including the W hite House, Gover nor’s mansion, Car negie Hall, Kennedy Center, and appeared on National Public Radio’s “From the Top” Our perfor mances for the 2015 -16 season include Veterans Day with Mobile Pops Band, Gover nor’s mansion, Annual Christmas Concer t at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conce ption in Mobile, and a spring perfor mance with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra. We are honored to be a par t of the 2016 AMEA Conference.

T he Oak Mountain Wind Ensemble is made up of fifty-nine ninth through twelfth g rade students at Oak Mountain High School Membership in the band is deter mined by individual audition Since the school’s inception, the ensemble has continued to push the boundaries of high school musicianship by perfor ming literature in the advanced realm of the wind band re per toire. Students in this ensemble regularly pursue roles in the Alabama All-State Bands and Orchestras. From 1999 to 2012, the ensemble was under the direction of Jim Duren Now, under the direction of Kevin Ownby, the OMHS Wind Ensemble has continued a tradition of excellence by never receiving a score less than superior at any adjudicated competition or assessment Recent accomplishments include, perfor ming at the 2014 CBDNA Souther n Division Conference in Jacksonville Florida, 2014 GNAI Honor Band Recipient, and a 2015 perfor mance in New York’s Car negie Hall.

The Oak Mountain Middle School Advanced Symphonic Band is the premiere ensemble for the Oak Mountain Middle School band prog ram. T his is an auditioned g roup of 7th and 8th g raders The Advanced Symphonic band perfor ms at pep rallies, home football g ames, assemblies, the Fall Concer t, the Holiday Concer t, the PreMPA concer t, MPA, and the Spring Concer t T his g roup consistently receives Superior ratings at the state and national level Advanced Symphonic Band students are strongly urg ed to par ticipate in the Solo and Ensemble festival, various honor bands and to audition for the Alabama Middle School All-State Band.

Oak Park Middle School Choir, UNITY, is under the direction of Stacy Owens, who has been teaching for twenty years. Unity is an auditioned g roup, which meets daily and par ticipates in Alabama All-State Chor us, State Choral Perfor mance Assessment, as well as concer ts during both semesters T he Oak Park Choral prog ram has four choirs: Beginning Girls’ Choir, Treble Choir, Phoenix, and Unity Each of the various choral g roups is consistently awarded superior ratings in the assessment process

The Randolph Upper School Concer t Choir is the non-auditioned, elective choral ensemble of Randolph School’s Upper Division (g rades 9-12) Since 2011, the Upper School Concer t Choir has g rown from an enrollment of 16 sing ers to 35 at the conclusion of the 2014-2015 school year Visibility in the g reater Huntsville community has increased with such initiatives as concer t collaborations with the choirs of the University of Alabama Huntsville in 2013, and the Huntsville Youth Orchestra in 2015. Sing ers in the Randolph Upper School Concer t Choir are routinely acce pted into the Madison County Honor Choir Festival, the Alabama Honor Choir, and the Alabama All-State Choir Festival Since 2011 the ensemble’s first par ticipation in many years the Randolph Upper School Concer t Choir has g ar nered 2 overall Excellent and 2 overall Superior ratings (including Superior ratings, ever y year, in Sight-Reading) at State Choral Perfor mance Assessment.

Since their founding in the fall of 2008, the Randolph School Middle School Percussion Ensembles have been a staple of the instr umental music prog ram T his prog ram ser ves to enrich the student experience in band through the perfor mance of chamber ensemble literature T he ensemble consists of three g roups- the 6th Grade Percussion Ensemble, the Middle School Percussion Ensemble, and the MS Honors Ensemble These ensembles regularly perfor m at campus concer ts and assemblies. In addition, this ensemble has had numerous showings at the Nor th Alabama Percussion Ensemble Festival.

T he Shoals Symphony at UNA is a par tnership org anization under the auspices of the University of Nor th Alabama and suppor ted by the Shoals Symphony Association T he Association is funded by the g enerosity of individual and cor porate sponsors, contributions by alumni and friends, g rants, and ticket sales T he Symphony encompasses the perfect balance of UNA faculty and rising students (majors and non-majors), as well as area professional musicians Dedicated, enthusiastic musicians are selected by open audition T he Shoals Symphony at UNA beg an as a g roup of local players wanting to make music tog ether It has g rown and evolved into a semi-professional regional orchestra and is recognized as such by the Alabama State Council on the Ar ts. We invite you to enjoy this year’s perfor mances as we welcome Dr. Daniel Stevens to the podium for the Symphony’s 33rd season.

UAB Concer t Choir is the select choral ensemble at the University of Alabama at Bir mingham Most recently, the choir competed in the 2014 Interkultur 8th World Choir Games in Rig a, Latvia, winning a g old and two silver medals in three categ ories (Youth Mixed, Musica sacra with accompaniment, and Spiritual) T he choir’s first CD project, “Unceasing Love,” is available at digital outlets including iTunes and Amazon, and via the de par tment’s online store. Additional activities include a World Premiere perfor mance of Glenn McClure’s Voices of Freedom, a work commemorating the anniversaries of the Civil Rights movement and the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 2013, and K. Lee Scott’s Gloria for Mor ningStar Publications in 2012 T he choir tours annually, and has given concer ts in Philadelphia, PA, Knoxville, TN, Greenville, SC, and Virginia Beach, VA, and at the AMEA In-Ser vice Conference in 2012 T he choir has built a strong re putation of choral excellence, and has perfor med at past conferences of the American Choral Directors Association(ACDA), and in inter national choral competitions, including the Fleischman Inter national Trophy Competition in Cork, Ireland and the 34th annual Florlileg e Vocal de Tours in Tours, France

UNA Chamber Choir - An elite g roup of sing ers, this ensemble appears on and off campus at events such as the Renaissance Faire in Florence, on tour with the UNA Collegiate Singers, in collaboration with other g roups such as the UAH Concer t Choir and Huntsville Youth Orchestra, and as par t of the Alabama ACDA Collegiate Choirs Festival In the spring of 2009, they had the privileg e of re presenting the University of Nor th Alabama on the De par tment of Music & T heatre’s first inter national tour to Italy. Since then, the g roup toured to Costa Rica in the spring of 2011 and Ireland in spring 2013 as par t of UNA’s Study Abroad prog ram; they completed a second tour to Italy in the spring of 2015 They have been featured perfor mers at the AMEA conference in 2006 and 2013

UNA Vocal Jazz Ensemble - A small g roup chosen from among the members of the UNA Collegiate Sing ers, this ensemble explores the uniquely American idiom of jazz as well as pop and world music, often ar rang ed by its members T hey have been featured at the W.C. Handy Music Festival in Florence, at the Panoply Festival of the Ar ts in Huntsville, on tour with the Collegiate Sing ers, and regularly at special UNA events

T he percussion ensemble at T he Univer sity of Nor th Alabama is dedicated to exciting perfor mances of both new and historic re per toire for percussion ensemble Consisting of both percussion majors and non-majors, the UNA percussion prog ram features 3 percussion ensembles annually: The Percussion Group, Percussion Ensemble and Percussion Orchestra Each of these g roups var y in size to cover a wide rang e of re per toire as well as to provide perfor ming oppor tunities to as many percussion students as possible at UNA Members of the percussion ensembles are also active as perfor mers in the 2013 Percussive Ar ts Society Dr umline Battle winning Pride of Dixie Dr umline, T he Shoals Symphony at UNA, T he UNA Studio Jazz Band, UNA Wind Ensemble and UNA Concer t Band T he UNA Percussion Group is a smaller g roup selected by audition annually. T his g roup specializes in the highest level of chamber works for percussion ensemble, as well as commissioning new re per toire as well T he Percussion Group has recently been selected to perfor m at the 2015 NAfME National Conference and the 2016 AMEA State Convention

An educational festival for elementary, middle, and high school students in band, choir, and orchestra

2016 dates: April 22-23, April 29-30, May 6-7

2017 dates: April 21-22, April 28-29, May 5-6

www.SMMFestival.com or call:1-855-766-3008

2016 Conference Schedule

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

5:00-7:00 PM

5:30 - 6:00 PM

6:00-9:00 PM

7:15-9:30 PM

7:15-9:30 PM

7:15-9:30 PM

AMEA Governing Board Meeting - Renaissance, Riverview 2

All-State Show Choir Registration - Exhibit Hall C

All-State Show Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall B

ABA Governing Board Meeting - Renaissance, Riverview 1

AOA Governing Board Meeting - Renaissance, Riverview 3

AVA Governing Board Meeting - Renaissance, Riverview 4

7:15-9:30 PM Collegiate Division Governing Board Meeting - Renaissance, Riverview Boardroom

Thursday, January 21, 2016

7:45-8:45 AM

AMEA Leadership Breakfast - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

Keep Calm and Lead On: Celebrating Excellence and Serving

Featured Speaker: Maribeth Yoder-White - President, Southern Division NAfME

8:00 AM-5:00 PM Conference Registration - Renaissance Registration Booth

9:00-9:30 AM Alabama Honor Choir Registration - Exhibit Hall A

9:00-9:50 AM Interest Session - Renaissance, Montgomery 5

What to Expect When Expecting a Lab or Intern Student - Jane Kuehne, Clinician

9:00-9:50 AM

AVA Reading Session - Renaissance, Ballroom A

Jeffrey Benson, Clinician

9:00-9:50 AM Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom E

Finding Notes Among the Notes: Being the Catalyst for Cross-Curricular Teaching and Integration of Music in Your School. Joshua Wine, Clinician

9:00-9:50 AM

9:00-9:50 AM

9:00-9:50 AM

9:00-11:00 AM

9:00 AM-12:00 PM

9:00 AM-4:00 PM

10:00 AM

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Interest Session - Embassy Suites

Ostinati, Descants, and Other Musical Marvels - Roger Sams, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Riverview 3

Picking the Perfect Piece for Your Concert - Soon Hee Newbold, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom B

Essential Elements - Tim Lautzenheiser, Clinician

Alabama Honor Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall A

All-State Show Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall B

FAME - Riverview 1

Grand Opening of the Exhibits - Renaissance, Exhibit Hall C - Open until 5:00 PM

Featured Performance by the Birmingham Seven

AMEA General Session - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

Choosing Excellence is Easy: Maintaining it is the Key to Success - Dr Tim Lautzenheiser, Keynote

Boaz Intermediate School Honor Choir - Miriam Richey, Conductor

12:00-1:00 PM

12:00-1:00 PM

1:00-2:00 PM

AMEA Past President’s Luncheon - Renaissance, Riverview 2

HED Luncheon - Renaissance, Riverview 4

AVA Performance Session - Renaissance, Ballroom A

Randolph School Concert Choir - Christopher M Walters, Conductor

Oak Park Middle School Unity - Stacy Owens, Conductor

1:00-2:00 PM

1:00-2:00 PM

1:00-2:00 PM

Interest Session - Embassy Suites

Rhythm Instrument Fun - Denise Gagne, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

A Successful First 5 Years in the Classroom - Gene Butler, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Riverview 3

We All Perform On the Same Stage - Improving the Ensemble Skills Of Your Secondary String Players

Joseph Brennan, Clinician

1:00-2:00 PM

1:15-2:00 PM

1:30-5:30 PM

1:45-2:45 PM

2:00-5:00 PM

2:15-3:15 PM

2:15-3:15 PM

2:15-3:15 PM

2:15-3:15 PM

2:15-3:15 PM

3:00-5:00 PM

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom E

Music Teacher Educator Roundtable - Ted Hoffman, Moderator

ABA Performance Session - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

Grissom High School Symphonic Band II - Theo Vernon, Conductor

Alabama Honor Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall A

All-State Jazz Bands Registration/Check-In - Renaissance, Montgomery 7

All-State Show Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall B

Interest Session - Embassy Suites

Listening Fun with Scarves, Tennis Balls and More! - Denise Gagne, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom B

The Proof is in the Process: Concert Band 101 - Randall Coleman, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

The Frenzied Instrumental Conductor's Guide to Score Preparation - Gary Stith, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom A

Movement to Make Your Choir Come Alive - Jeffrey Benson, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom E

The Musician/Performer As A Sole Proprietor - Mildred Lanier, Clinician

All-State Jazz Bands Rehearsal

Gold Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 7 Silver Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 1

Bronze Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 6 Middle School Band - Renaissance, Riverview 7

3:30-4:20 PM

3:30-4:20 PM

3:30-4:20 PM

3:30-4:20 PM

3:30-4:20 PM

AOA Performance Session - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

Shoals Symphony at UNA - Daniel Stevens, Conductor

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom A

Sight-Singing: You Can Teach Them To Read - Jane Kuehne, Clinician

Interest Session - Embassy Suites

Stories That Sing - Integrating Literacy Skills into the Music Classroom - Jeanette Shorey, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom E

Sound Use of Space: Ensemble Seating - John Ginocchio, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom B

Building Success in the Small School (or any sized school) Band Program

Jon Bubbettt, Gene Inglis, Jim Cude, Clinicians

3:30-4:20 PM

4:30-5:30 PM

4:30-5:30 PM

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

iPad and iPhone Apps for Music Education - Scott Phillips, Clinician

HED Recital - Renaissance, Ballroom A

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom E

Maximizing the Potential of Your Middle and High School Horn Players, Do's and Dont's Charles G "Skip" Snead, Clinician

4:30-5:30 PM

4:30-5:30 PM

4:30-5:30 PM

Interest Session - Embassy Suites

Ukulele and Guitar in the Elementary Music Classroom - Denise Gagne, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Montgomery 5

Programming with Passion - Jeffrey Benson, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

Shut the Front Door: Recruitment and Retention for Beginning Band

Rebecca (Becky) Rodgers Warren, Clinician

Sponsored by Gadsden Music Company and Burns Travel

4:30-5:30 PM

AOA Reading Session - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

Soon Hee Newbold, Clinician

Sponsored by JW Pepper Bring your instruments!

5:45-6:45 PM

5:45-6:45 PM

7:00-9:00 PM

Troy University School of Music Alumni Reception - Renaissance, Riverview 2

HED Reception - Renaissance, Riverview 4

All-State Jazz Bands Rehearsal

Gold Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 7 Silver Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 1

Bronze Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 6 Middle School Band - Renaissance, Riverview 7

7:00-9:30 PM

All-State Show Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall B

7:30-8:30 PM Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

Sensational Singing Games and Folk Dances for K-6 Classrooms - Denise Gagne, Clinician

7:30-8:15 PM

7:30-9:30 PM

ABA Performance Session - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

James Clemens High School Wind Ensemble - Keith Anderson, Conductor

AVA Performance Session - Renaissance, Ballroom A

Mobile’s Singing Children - Susan Hoitt, Conductor

Faith Academy Senior Concert Choir - Amanda Goins, Conductor

Auburn Junior HS Mixed Choir - Teresa Rhyne, Conductor

McAdory Middle School Jacket Singers - Ben Cook, Conductor

7:30-10:00 PM

8:30-9:30 PM

Alabama Honor Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall A

Featured Performance - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

Boston Brass

7:30 AM-1:00 PM Conference Registration - Renaissance Registration Booth

8:00-9:00 AM

ABA Performance Session - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

Friday, January 22, 2016

Randolph School Middle School Percussion Ensemble - Andrew Kruspe, Conductor

University of North Alabama Percussion Group - Tracy Wiggins, Conductor

8:00-9:00 AM Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

The Singing Voice – Our Primary Instrument - Roger Sams, Clinician

8:00-9:00 AM Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom E

Classroom Management 201: Handling Minor Confrontations with Skill and Confidence

Anne C Witt, Clinician

8:00-9:00 AM Interest Session - Renaissance, Montgomery 5

Making Music Together: Teaching Strategies for Inclusive Music Classrooms - Ellary Draper, Clinician

8:00-9:00 AM

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom A

Technology for the Modern Choir Director - Scott L Phillips, Clinician

8:30 AM-5:00 PM Exhibits Open - Exhibit Hall C

9:00-11:30 AM Alabama Honor Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall A

Friday,

January 22, 2016

9:00 AM-12:00 PM

All-State Jazz Bands Rehearsal

Gold Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 7 Silver Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 1

Bronze Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 6 Middle School Band - Renaissance, Riverview 7

9:00 AM-12:00 PM

9:15-10:15 AM

9:15-10:15 AM

9:15-10:15 AM

All-State Show Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall B

Interest Session - Renaissance, Montgomery 5

Vocal Warmups and Energizers - Denise Gagne, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom E

Branding Made Easy: Using Social Media to Promote Your Program - Frank Buck, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

HED Discussion Panel 2016: The Breakdown Between the Higher Ed Classroom and First Year Teacher

Experiences - James Zingara, Moderator

9:15-10:15 AM

9:15-10:15 AM

9:15-10:15 AM

Interest Session - Renaissance, Riverview 3

The Publishing Process: How it Works and How to Submit - Soon Hee Newbold, Clinician

AVA General Meeting - Renaissance, Ballroom A

ABA General Meeting - Renaissance, Ballroom B

10:30-11:45 AM General Session - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

AMEA Awards

Think Beyond the Bubbles - Chris Woodside, Keynote

Kitty Stone Singers - Lisa Gillespie and Cheryl Wight, Conductors

11:45 AM-1:00 PM Collegiate Luncheon - Embassy Suites

11:45 AM-1:00 PM Phi Beta Mu Luncheon - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

12:00-1:00 PM

1:00-3:00 PM

1:15-2:15 PM

1:15-2:15 PM

1:30-3:30 PM

1:30-4:30 PM

ACDA Luncheon - Renaissance, Riverview 2

HED Research Poster Session - Exhibit Hall Lobby

Interest Session - Renaissance, Riverview 3

Bow Games and Twinkle and Solfege, Oh My! - Caroline Nordlund, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom A

The Singer's Body: Addressing Common Tensions Through Virtual Anatomy - Susan Williams, Clinician

Alabama Honor Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall A

All-State Jazz Bands Rehearsal

Gold Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 7 Silver Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 1

Bronze Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 6 Middle School Band - Renaissance, Riverview 7

2:00-5:00 PM

2:30-3:20 PM

All-State Show Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall B

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom B

NO MORE LIMITATIONS! Composing and Choosing Band Music Regardless of Level

Brian Balmages, Clinician

2:30-3:20 PM

2:30-3:20 PM

2:30-3:20 PM

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom E

Inspire Excellence in Your Young Band: Achieve the Most in Every Lesson - Bruce Pearson, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom A

Why am I Singing this Song? Choosing Repertoire for Developing Choristers - Marvin E Latimer Jr , Clinician

Interest Session - Embassy Suites

New Teachers, Veteran Teachers: We All Have a Role in the Mentoring Process

2:30-3:20 PM

2:30-3:20 PM

2:30-3:20 PM

3:30-4:15 PM

3:30-4:30 PM

Interest Session - Renaissance, Montgomery 7

Ten Lessons In Jazz Improvisation - Mike Steinel, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Montgomery 5

Teaching Can Be Fun Again with Quaver! - Otto Gross, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

Music and Language Learners - Tiffani Stricklin, Clinician

ABA Performance Session - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

Friday, January

22,

3:30-4:30 PM

3:30-4:30 PM

3:30-4:30 PM

3:30-4:20 PM

3:30-4:20 PM

4:30-5:30 PM

Oak Mountain Middle School Advanced Symphonic Band - Heather Holmes, Conductor

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom A

Bridging Cultural and Racial Divides to Start a Choir Program from Scratch: The Ups and Downs of One

Teacher's Story - Conrad Weber, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Montgomery 5

Using Social Media in the Applied Studio - Denise Gainey, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom E

Teaching Guitar is Easy and Fun with ChordBuddy - Ben Watson, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

Creating an Interactive Notebook in General Music Classes - Kelly Hollingsworth, Clinician

Interest Session - Embassy Suites

Survival Strategies: Thriving in your First Year at a New School - Stuart Ivey, Clinician

AOA General Meeting - Renaissance, Riverview 3

General Session - Renaissance, Ballroom B

Rewired: The Incredible Benefits of Getting Back to Basics Maybe it's Time for Your Band! Boston Brass, Clinicians

6:20-6:45 PM Alabama Honor Choir Dress Rehearsal - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

7:00 PM All-State Show Choir Rehearsal - Exhibit Hall B (if determined necessary)

7:00-8:00 PM

7:00-9:00 PM

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

Play Parties Plus! - Roger Sams, Clinician

ABA Performance Session - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

Oak Mountain High School Wind Ensemble -Kevin Ownby and Travis Bender, Conductors

Alabama Wind Ensemble - Ken Ozzello, Conductor

7:30-9:00 PM

AVA Performance Session - Renaissance, Ballroom A

University of North Alabama Chamber Choir and Vocal Jazz Ensemble - Ian Loeppky, Conductor

UAB Concert Choir - Brian Kittredge, Conductor

Alabama Honor Choir, Tucker Biddlecombe, Clinician

9:30-11:00 PM

President’s Reception - Renaissance, Ballroom B

Featured Entertainment by the Crimson Jazz Faculty Quartet

7:30-8:45 AM

8:00-9:00 AM

8:00-9:00 AM

All-State Show Choir Dress Rehearsal - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

AVA Executive Board Meeting - Renaissance, Ballroom A

ABA General Meeting - Renaissance, Ballroom B

Saturday,

8:00-9:00 AM

8:00-9:00 AM

January 23, 2016

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom E

Injury Prevention for the String Studio - Daniel Stevens, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

The Music Education Majors TOP TEN: What You Need To Do NOW Before You Start Your First Job

George R Boulden, Clinician

8:00-9:00 AM

9:00-10:00 AM

Interest Session - Embassy Suites

Hand Drums, Rhythm Sticks and other Untuned Percussion - Roger Sams, Clinician

All-State Jazz Bands Rehearsal

Gold Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 7 Silver Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 1

Bronze Band - Renaissance, Montgomery 6 Middle School Band - Renaissance, Riverview 7

9:15-10:15 AM

9:15-10:15 AM

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom B

Teaching in a Rural Setting-Keys to Success! - Timothy Heath, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom E

Perform Internationally: A Comprehensive Talk about Touring and Performing Internationally Andrew Gekoskie, Clinician

9:15-10:15 AM

9:15-10:15 AM

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom A

Upgrading Your Ensemble by Strengthening the Clarinet Section - Beth Fabrizio, Clinician

Interest Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

Got Strings? - David Pryor, Clinician

9:15-10:00 AM AVA Performance Session - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

All-State Show Choir

9:15-10:15 AM

10:30-11:30 AM

10:30-11:30 AM

Interest Session - Embassy Suites

Exploring to Knowing: Defining the Path to Music Literacy through Orff Schulwerk - Gail Kopetz, Clinician

Interest Session - Embassy Suites

Improvisation in the General Music Classroom - Roger Sams , Clinician

Lightning Round Session - Renaissance, Ballroom CD

Ready? Set? Go! You have six minutes and 40 seconds to share your brilliant idea or vision for music education!

Carl Hancock, Moderator

10:30 AM-12:00 PM

ABA Performance Session - Montgomery Performing Arts Center

All-State Jazz Bands

1:00-3:00 PM AMEA Governing Board Meeting

AMEA Gover ning Board Meeting Minutes

August 1, 2015

Embassy Suites Hotel, Montgomer y, Alabama

T he AMEA Gover ning Board met at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Montg omer y, AL on August 1, 2015 The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a m by AMEA President Carl Hancock Board members present at the meeting: Carl Hancock, Sara Womack, Susan Smith, Gar r y Taylor, Carla Gallahan, Michael Holmes, Sarah Schrader, Carl Davis, Ted Hoffman, Pat Steg all, Becky Lightfoot, Doug Fariss, Cliff Huckabee, Phil Wilson, Beck y Halliday, Frank Buck, Andy Meadows, and T had Walker Guests included Mai Yamane, Allie Glover, and Mildred Lanier

T he minutes of the June 8, 2015 meeting of the AMEA Gover ning Board were read by Recording

Secretar y, Carla Gallahan T he minutes were amended and a motion was made to approve the minutes as amended (Smith, Womack) Passed Officer, Representatives, and Division Repor ts may be viewed online by visiting our website, www alabamamea org

Committee Repor ts

Teacher Education – discussed the addition of a roundtable discussion at the 2016 AMEA conference on specific music education areas of interest.

Historian – 2016 will mark the 70th Anniversar y of AMEA Frank Buck discussed some ideas for promoting this anniversar y and requested the Board to consider additional ideas. Membership – Pat Steg all, Chair, is working with

NAfME to increase our AMEA membership by 5% by the end of the 2016 Conference. He is seeking volunteers to assist with the membership drive

Breakout Session – the Board par ticipated in Breakout Sessions on the following topics:

• “Ideas for increasing membership: incentives, volunteers, reason to retur n, targ ets?

• Ways to celebrate our 70th: conference, Ala Breve, website, activities

• Lightning round: names of rising stars, have something to share, unique”

T he Board reconvened to discuss the ideas shared in the Breakout Session

Unfinished Business

Job Position Description - Gar r y Taylor created a list of responsibilities included in the position of

AMEA Executive Director highlighting areas that could be the responsibility of an Assistant Executive Director T his infor mation was discussed by the Board A motion was made to create the position of AMEA Assistant Executive Director and request Gar r y Taylor continue to develop the job description (Womack, Huckabee)

Passed

Conference Planning – Gar r y Taylor presented and discussed a draft of the 2016 Conference schedule

A review of the schedule and discussion occur red T he Board addressed planning issues involving the 2016 AMEA conference including the 70th Anniversar y, sponsored clinics, the Boston Brass perfor mance, FJH and Brian Balmag es addressing the Young Composers, FAME student par ticipants attending entire Conference, the inclusion of Lightning Round Sessions, and creating a location for members, perfor mers, etc to pose for a picture with the AMEA sign

Special Session of the AMEA Gover ning Board

August 29, 2015

Sheraton Hotel, Bir mingham, Alabama

T he AMEA Gover ning Board met at the Sheraton Hotel in Bir mingham, AL on August 29, 2015 The meeting was called to order at 11:20 a.m. by AMEA President Carl Hancock Board members present at the meeting: Carl Hancock, Sara Womack, Susan Smith, Gar r y Taylor, Carla Gallahan, Michael Holmes, Pat Steg all, Sam Nordlund, Cliff Huckabee, Har r y McAfee and Jim Zing ara Present via conference call: Sarah Schrader, Ted Hoffman, Becky Lightfoot

Old Business:

MOTION 1: A motion was made to accept Box5

Music Education Day at the Capitol – the date for this event will be decided upon in November Once the date has been set, infor mation will be available in the Ala Breve T he 70th Anniversar y will be incor porated in this event

Website Redesign Update – the Board discussed having a new website design for AMEA that will allow Division use as well. President Hancock has been communicating with Cog ent Path on this topic A motion was made for the Board to accept the proposal from Cogent Path for AMEA website redesign and for President Hancock to continue neg otiation of an AMEA log o (Womack, Schrader) Passed

New Business

AMEA Award nomination materials were distributed and reviewed T hese awards will be presented at the 2016 Conference

Two motions were madeto revise the AMEA Contsitution (See below)

Announcements:

• AMEA Tri-M Music Honor Society Alabama Coordinator needed by Sept. 1.

• Souther n Division NAfME Leadership meeting 9/13/15 – 9/14/15 in Atlanta, GA

• NAfME In-Ser vice Conference in Nashville, TN.

October 25-28, 2015

• AMEA Board Meetings: Pre-conference 1/20/16 at 5:00 p m , post-conference 1/23/16 at 1:00 p m

• Ala Breve Column Deadlines: 9/15 of October 2015, 1/15 for Febr uar y 2016, 4/15 for may 2016

T he AMEA Gover ning Board meeting was adjour ned at 3:00 p m

Respectfully submitted, Dr Carla Gallahan, AMEA Recording Secretar y

Media as the recording company for the 2016 AMEA Conference (Womack, McAfee) Failed

MOTION 2: A motion was made to move the AMEA Conference to the Bir mingham Jefferson Civic Center for the 2018-19 Conferences (Womack, Holmes). Passed

New Business:

2016 AMEA Hall of Fame - T he Board reviewed and voted upon nominees

T he Board conducted a preliminar y discussion on the topic of “cross – division par ticipation” within the AMEA Divisions.

Announcements:

• Souther n Division NAfME Leadership meeting 9/13/15 – 9/14/15 in Atlanta, GA

• NAfME In-Ser vice Conference in Nashville, TN. October 25-28, 2015

• AMEA Board Meetings: Pre-conference 1/20/16 at 5:00 p.m., post-conference 1/23/16 at 1:00 p m

• Ala Breve Column Deadlines: 9/15 of October 2015, 1/15 for Febr uar y 2016, 4/15 for May 2016

T he AMEA Gover ning Board meeting was adjour ned at 12:13 p m (Homes, Zing ara)

Respectfully submitted, Dr Carla Gallahan, AMEA Recording Secretar y

Motions to Revise the AMEA Constitution

(to be voted on at the 2016 AMEA Conference)

Motion 1:

Ar ticle 4, Section 3 - Cur rently Reads Gover ning Board T he Gover ning Board shall be composed of the President, Past-President, President-Elect. Recording Secretar y, Treasurer/Registrar, the Collegiate Faculty Advisor, and the President or Chair person of each of the Divisions Ex-officio members shall be the Music Consultants of the State De par tment of Education, the Editor of Ala Breve Mag azine, the Executive Director of the AMEA, the Industr y Member Representative, the AAAE Representative, the State Collegiate President, and the Executive Director of the Alabama Association of Secondar y School Principals, who shall ser ve in a non-voting capacity Additional ex-officio, non-voting members of the g over ning board may be appointed and ser ve at the discretion of the Gover ning Board

Advisor y members shall be the Presidents-Elect of each of the Divisions and shall ser ve in a nonvoting capacity

Ar ticle 4, Section 3 - Chang e to Read: Governing Board The Governing Board shall be composed of the President, Past-President, PresidentElect, Recording Secretar y, Treasurer/Registrar, the Collegiate Faculty Advisor, and the President or Chairperson of each of the Divisions

Ex-officio members shall be the Ar ts Education Specialist of the Alabama State De par tment of Education, the Editor of Ala Breve Mag azine, the Executive Director of the AMEA, the Industr y Member Re presentative, and the State Collegiate President, who shall ser ve in a non-voting capacity

Additional ex-officio, non-voting members of the g over ning board may be appointed and ser ve at the discretion of the Gover ning Board

Advisor y members shall be the Presidents-Elect and/or Vice-Presidents of each of the Divisions and shall ser ve in a non-voting capacity.

Motion 2:

Add to Ar ticle1, Duties of the Officers, Section 7 Assistant Executive Director It shall be the duty of the Assistant Executive Director to aide and assist the AMEA Gover ning Board in planning professional development prog rams for the association and assist the Executive Director in implementing those plans He/she will ser ve as the AMEA liaison to the State De par tment of Education and maintain the AMEA Constitution, Bylaws, and Executive Handbook in cooperation with the President and Executive Director He/She will assume the duties of the Executive Director in the case of disability or absence of the Executive Director He/she shall maintain membership in AMEA and perfor m such other duties as may be required by the Constitution and By-Laws, the Gover ning Board, and the Executive Director

Educating T hose Ear s!

W hen I describe my research in aural skills pedag og y to friends and colleagues outside of music, I tell them it entails training students’ ears for better musicianship T hey often re ply “Well, isn’t that basically ever ything in music education?” with a sur prised look “Well yes ” I respond, knowing that all too often the ears ironically g et crowded out of cur riculum by other musical topics The purpose of this ar ticle is to explore the role of the ears in the wider school cur riculum and specifically in music cur riculum, and to highlight ways music teachers can help students create and maintain focus on their aural skills while they g row as musicians

Ear s in the School Cur riculum

Consider for a moment some of the courses students take in high school: g eometr y, English, biolog y, physical education, world histor y, ar t appreciation, chemistr y, and alg ebra, for example. None of these courses typically contains much emphasis on students’ ears Students may be hearing instr uctions from the teacher or listening to audio as they watch a video demonstration, but they are not focusing on their ears as the fascinating natural tools they have been given, or maximizing the potential that lies within them

Foreign languag e courses can provide students with specific focus on nuance and variety of sound by vir tue of spoken communication that does not match the native tongue Unfortunately, many schools require only two years of these courses, and students begin them relatively late in life Fur ther more, foreign languag e courses in high school often are taught and lear ned mostly visually; students might read from a book, memorize a char t of endings for verb conjug ations, study the order of words for sentence str ucture, and compose phrases, sentences, and shor t stories. All these activities can be accomplished without the ears! Quality pronunciation and acute attention to aural nuance frequently take a backseat.

Among all the classes listed above, students have ample time to exercise their visual and kinesthetic faculties For example, math classes incor porate for mulas, shapes, and g raphs, and histor y classes offer char ts, maps, and timelines, all of which students study in visual layout Chemistr y entails measuring, pouring, and mixing, and physical education introduces stretching, exer tion, and body control, all of which students study kinesthetically Music classes can, and should, provide students the oppor tunity to explore their aural capabilities in special ways, an oppor tunity not afforded them by most of the rest of the cur riculum

T he example courses above are typical of high school cur riculum, but elementar y and middle school classes offer much of the same A broad look at classes at these levels also reveals heavy

emphasis on visual activities and lear ning tools, some emphasis on kinesthetic activities and tools, and relatively little emphasis on aural activities and tools Note, for example, that elementar y and middle schools tend not to offer even the basic requirement classes in foreign languag e that high schools offer T herefore, special attention to developing students’ aural skills may be even more impor tant at these educational levels; music teachers can help

Ear s in Music Cur riculum

Putting out a call for strong er advocacy for music prog rams in our nations’ schools is not the focus of this ar ticle; I would be “preaching to the choir.” We all know that more and better music prog rams would benefit our students I will instead put for th a call to music teachers who already have at least some classes in place. Please do not neglect those ears while teaching music! We have a responsibility in our classes to prompt students to use their ears in ways they do not use them during the rest of the day

Not all K-12 students will g o on to become professional musicians but all of them can benefit from g etting a real glimpse into what musicians actually do W hat musicians actually do is use their ears to create, perfor m, understand, and enjoy a ver y special ar t. Some would say this is a biased opinion, but one cannot fairly judg e a statement to be biased until one has tried it Thoroughly This is the problem Students who do not have the oppor tunity to really f lex and exercise their ears in exciting ways can never fully understand as adults why it would be impor tant for the next generation of students to have that same oppor tunity. To re peat and clarify my call: for those of us luck y enough to be teaching music classes, and who understand the unique beauty of an aural ar t, we need to make the most of the oppor tunity to help students focus on developing their ears in special ways

You may be thinking “Aren’t we already doing that?” You probably are, to a cer tain extent My aim in this article is to prompt you to review how you approach students in daily music activities; considering how to develop their aural skills in a way that takes into account the lack of focus on those skills across the g eneral cur riculum

Many of our advocacy effor ts tend to focus on how music relates so well to other subjects, suppor ting at the ver y least better standardized test scores and at best a more integ rated cur riculum with interdisciplinar y f lair T he problem is that many of these connections involve material apar t from the ears For example, transfers from music to mathematics might involve understanding metric str ucture with its cor responding beats, divisions, and subdivisions T his can be, and all too often is, understood without the ears; it can be explained with a char t Transfers from music to world

by Nate Buonviri

histor y might involve par ticular connections between composers and authors, or compositions and world events. Ag ain, these are helpful for students, but can be studied without hearing a note T he impor tant question is not “W hat are we teaching, and what connections are students making?” but “How are we teaching it, and how are students making those connections?”

Examining Your Approach

If we wish to highlight the ears more in music class, the best place to star t may be in the activities we are already doing I present here some re presentative applications and accompanying examples. I hope they will ser ve to spark your imagination about similar activities you may cur rently offer and to illustrate how just a bit of adjustment can produce a dramatic chang e

Since I alluded to a couple of interdisciplinar y connections already, we will begin with those In many cases, the easiest and most effective way to exercise students’ ears is simply to reverse a given lear ning sequence Take the example of a char t showing the division of a whole note into two halves, and the two halves into four quar ters, and so for th T he summar y infor mation is already laid out. I would sug g est that our job is to help students ar rive at that infor mation through their ears rather than presenting the char t and explaining it away For instance, can students listen to a shor t piece without any visual aid, find the pulse, discover the number of pulses in a cycle, deter mine whether the pulse is breaking down into twos or threes, and deter mine how each of those divisions is fur ther broken down? Can they do that several more times with contrasting examples? All of these ste ps require them to discover musical math through their ears, not from a char t Once the aural work is finished, the char t ser ves simply as a reminder

The second example I mentioned previously was helping students make connections between music and world histor y These connections help them understand chronological developments both in music and in the world in g eneral prompting them to reinforce knowledg e in both fields reciprocally If we push them to do this with their ears, we help them develop a par t of their mind that otherwise would idle. Instead of mapping events on a timeline or showing images or videos illustrating a composer’s life and world events, we can approach the summar y infor mation through sound Helping students ar rive at realizations through g radual aural ste ps can make all the difference

For example, can students listen to recordings of Louis Ar mstrong’s Hot Five and Duke Ellington’s big band and draw comparisons in the sounds, textures, and for m, followed by educated guesses and resultant discussion about

Editor’s Note: This article appears as one of a series written especially for Ala Breve by experts in the field of music education.

the musical inf luences, sur rounding events, and available resources that made these musics what they are? Many teachers could easily tackle these topics on the spot, and could present students with an accurate and compelling description within just a couple of minutes, but the process of helping students discover these conce pts through sound is what really matters

Many times the difference lies simply in when students hear the music in relationship to the spoken or written knowledg e Give them a chance to hear for themselves before anyone, including you, tells them what’s what! Consider, from both the math and world histor y examples how convenient and efficient it may be to “teach” conce pts in a directed fashion, and how lasting and powerful it can be for students to lear n conce pts in an active, aural way instead

Let’s explore one more example: perfor ming ensembles Most ensemble directors would ag ree that “ g ood ears” generally help students play and sing better We must ask ourselves, constantly, whether we are helping students to develop “ g ood ears” or simply giving them what they need to make momentar y prog ress Do we tell our clarinetists they are cheating the four th beat or help them discover and deter mine it themselves? Do we instr uct our sopranos to simply “Wait for my cue; it will be cr ystal clear” or help them aurally understand the preceding material on which their entrance is based? Do we tune the dr ums for our young timpanists or take the time to teach them the skills they need to do it themselves? How about violinists? Guitarists?

In a recent meeting of my Percussion Methods course, I mentioned in passing that perfor ming musicians all know that we don’t look up at the conductor all the time, and sometimes relatively rarely My colleague, a fabulous choral conductor, happened to be in the room obser ving my class that day. T he students all gig gled and looked in his direction a bit apprehensively. I followed with “Yes, your director is in the room today, but he knows it’s tr ue If he expected that you would take ever y bit of musical infor mation only from his g estures, your choir would be in big trouble ” Emphatic nods all around, including my colleague. We want our musicians to tr ust their ears and listen to each other; we have to give them the oppor tunity to develop those skills which will help them g row as inde pendent lear ners and musicians Ultimately, those experiences come back to reward our prog rams as our students g ain confidence in their musicianship

Getting Star ted

Some readers may find these ideas to be fairly new; others may be doing these things regularly already In all cases, periodic review of the ways you are approaching the materials in your classes and rehearsals is wor th the effor t In music, educating the ears should play a key role in org anizing and planning those instr uctional sequences

T he g ood news is that educating the ears does

not have to be costly or complicated In class, shifting the emphasis to students’ ears may require simply encouraging them to use their voices freely or to listen before looking, for example Establishing and maintaining an environment in which students expect to use their ears differently in your room than they have the rest of the day is cr ucial Following are practical tips to help generate this routine Again, these are simply a couple of specific examples that I hope will spark your own creativity

Player s and Singer s

Instr umentalists and vocalists may experience ver y different music educations especially as reg ards daily training of the ears for musical g rowth Many instr umentalists lear n to read scales, ar peg gios, etudes, solos, and ensemble par ts without necessarily hearing inter nally what they will play prior to executing it Some of them will cr uise through several years of band or orchestra without tr uly eng aging the aural par t of the musical perfor mance cycle. A saxophonist can simply push down the right keys and blow a steady stream of air without aurally imagining the pitch, duration, or sound quality desired. A violist can hold down the right fing ers and use kinesthetic memor y to approximate the position needed to produce the right note, but ag ain perhaps without actually eng aging the ears fully in the process. Instr umentalists tend to receive lots of valuable technical and musical infor mation in their training but sometimes they do not combine that infor mation with trained ears

Many vocal students r un exactly the opposite risk T hey can use their ears directly to find their way through a passag e but may not have understood the context in which it occur red As an illustration, singers can stumble into rehearsal late and still join right in on the ascending scale war m-up without having any idea what pitches they are singing In that situation, they too are missing a piece of the musicianship cycle; they have sur vived the exercise but may not have lear ned anything lasting to apply to future situations

T he solution to both problems could be rather simple Teachers can emphasize the missing link for each g roup Instr umental students can play their war m-ups and scales according to vocalized examples; they can spend lots of time practicing apar t from their written music; and they can improvise within cer tain parameters appropriate to the re per toire or instr uctional unit Sing ers can ascend and descend through their war m-up patter ns with notation of those patter ns in hand; they can sight-read rhythmic patter ns g raduated in difficulty; and they can analyze recorded or spontaneous singing for pitch, rhythm, key, mode, or meter infor mation. T he g oal is to g et each “camp” to understand how the other functions; musicians who have substantial experience in both instr umental and vocal ensembles would attest to the benefits this approach can yield

The Triplet

Consider one more example likely to be introduced in a g eneral music class, but possibly

a new conce pt for music students in practically any class: the triplet. You will probably guess from the preceding parag raphs that I would recommend students discover the triplet through their ears first Of course! T hat may seem obvious, but take a closer look to review the points presented so far.

T he core conce pt of a triplet is rather simple: dividing something into three instead of two. Math teachers use side-by-side pie char ts, overlaid line g raphs, or the ratio 3:2 to illustrate this same conce pt easily In an ideal cur riculum, they might even help students make connections to music by showing how a pair of eighth notes and an eighth-note triplet look beside each other T he music teacher’s job, though, is to introduce or reinforce the same conce pt through the ears. Students need to hear many triplets in many contexts, decode the infor mation through tapping, patting, clapping, singing, or sketching, and ar rive ultimately at the understanding of how triplets function in order to be able to use them to perfor m other music or create their own Ag ain, that may sound obvious to many of you, but too often teachers show this musical conce pt first and then play, sing, or lead some examples of it Notice the subtle, but incredibly powerful difference I am recommending that teachers help students to g radually reach conce pts through their ears rather than to g radually reach their ears through concepts This slight shift in approach can chang e ever ything

In Conclusion

I hope this ar ticle has sparked your interest in the role of students’ ears in your own classrooms Our students do not have the chance to use their ears in special, sophisticated ways ver y much in typical school cur riculum We have ample oppor tunities to help them use and enjoy these amazing natural tools in our music classes and rehearsals Take a few moments to search your own cur riculum for additional ways you can educate those ears!

Nate Buonviri is Assistant Professor of Music Education at Temple University in Philadelphia He has presented research and workshops on aural skills development across the United States and around the world. Buonviri is published in the Jour nal of Research in Music Education, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Jour nal of Music Teacher Education, Percussive Notes, T he Instr umentalist, and Music Educators Jour nal His book, Building Better Dictation Skills, is available as of August 27th from Rowman & Littlefield Buonviri is principal percussionist of Utah Festival Opera and dr ummer for Philadelphia-based Polkadelphia. He recorded two CDs with the Dallas Wind Symphony under the direction of Jer r y Junkin and Frederick Fennell

Smar test T hing I Ever Did – Using Smiley Face Stickers

by Matthew H. Spieker

Holding students accountable in a middle school music prog ram is an on-g oing challeng e for music educators In collaboration with another music colleague, in a middle school setting, we developed a communication tool that helped students, parents, and teachers kee p track of individualized g oals, prog ress, and achievement We discovered that small ste ps accompanied with positive feedback contributed to eng ag ed students, satisfied parents, and clear, daily lessons.

Several years ag o I was privileged to work with Scott Schlup; he directed the bands and I directed the orchestras T his rewarding work was due, in par t, to having a creative colleague who enjoyed the challeng e of pursuing new ideas as much as I did. Such an energized environment shaped us both into mature directors and impacted the quality of our instr uction

Pass-Off Cards

Among the creative, unique ideas we tried was a smar t, practical manag ement tool that helped us implement the cur riculum Conce pts developed in my previous position and refinements added by Scott massag ed the idea that eventually became known as a “PassOff ” card, (see Figure 1). In addition to their ability to communicate, hold students accountable and show prog ress, the cards suppor ted individualized lear ning plans

Pass-Off cards were printed onto cardstock using school colors to re present the different ensemble levels. Cardstock was impor tant for two reasons. T he heavier paper could withstand re peated handling and use during an entire semester, and it conveyed to students that this was an impor tant document On the first day of class, Pass-Off cards were presented to the students with their handbook, method book and other materials. One side of the card included expected firstquar ter accomplishments and the other side included second-quar ter skills, thus making the Pass-Off card g ood for an entire semester

T he Pass-Off card became a snapshot of a student’s prog ress throughout the semester. T he teacher, student, and parent(s) handled the Pass-Off card ever y week, making it a weekly prog ress re por t, an impor tant

communication, and an accountability tool for all interested par ties Most impor tantly, the cards helped students celebrate their accomplishments and plan future work, making them accountable for their music lear ning.

Cards were collected on Mondays and retur ned to students on Tuesdays Prog ress made during the previous week was recorded in the computer and then marked on the card with a “smiley face” sticker if a student ear ned full points, or a number of acquired points for lesser achievements T here is something encouraging about filling out a card with these visual reminders of a job well done, and the middle school students seemed motivated by a smiley face.

months of hard work, Suzuki felt he made no prog ress and eventually decided he was without talent “Without talent, tr ying so hard, ever y day – ‘it’s not wor th it,’ I told myself I felt that I had no ability, and wanted to die” (Suzuki, 1983, p.35). Suzuki eventually lear ned this thinking ser ved as an excuse for avoiding work He later writes, “Ever y child can be educated; it is only a matter of the method of education Anyone can train himself; it is only a question of using the right kind of effor t” (p.36). The Pass-Off card ser ved as a tool that helped kee p students on track and use the “right kind of effor t ”

Practice

Becoming a Musician

I emphasized to students the impor tance of acquiring points as a way to accomplish music skills. Ever ybody star ted with nothing and the g oal was to build up their g rade I often compared this to acquiring musicianship skills

As musicians, we star t the jour ney with little in ter ms of talents, but through hard work and dedication we acquire the necessar y skills to become accomplished. T his adventure does not happen over night Nobody is bor n with g reat skills, but rather ever y g ood musician commits himself or herself to work daily and re petitively on those skills until they become accomplished

As a young man, Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998) studied violin in Berlin, Ger many W hen reminiscing about those early days, he often wrote about his lack of ability Despite many

T he first section on the Pass-Off card displayed nine lines for the nine weeks of practice the student was to complete for the quar ter (see Figure 2) Students were required to commit a minimum of 30 minutes per weekday and 30 minutes over the weekend resulting in three hours of weekly practice If a student didn’t accomplish the three hours, then points were awarded incrementally based on how much they practiced. The infor mation letter to the parents asked them to kee p a record of their student’s daily practice, and to only give credit for actual daily practice Bunching tog ether all three hours of practice on Sunday after noon defeats the pur pose of the critical, daily discipline of practice. Students ear ned points based on the total amount of practice for that week and smiley faces were reser ved for more than three hours Parents had to sign the card ever y week acknowledging they had seen the card and their child had practiced for that time amount. Next to the specific week of practice, I asked students to fill in skills I wanted the class to accomplish that week Sometimes, I would have students identify their own issues such as technique they needed to work on or PassOffs still to be completed. Individualized lear ning was a buil t-in element of the plan

Figure 1

Figure 2

Skills

T he next section on the card, called Pass-Off, ref lected skills the student was expected to lear n during the quar ter (see Figure 3). Listing the basic cur riculum elements also kept me on task with my instr uction Young teachers tend to focus on literature with the g oal of having g ood perfor mances, which makes sense, as often that is how a teacher’s success is judg ed. Effective teachers have g ood concer ts, but this is the result of thorough teaching of skills rather than re petitive rehearsing of sheet music Master teachers rehearse skills especially foundational ones with a constant, concise, and systematic approach that allows students to transfer those skills to the literature, and they do all of this with an intense sense of urg ency (Brand, 1990; Hamann & Gillespie, 2013)

Pass-Off cards were given that name as credit was assigned to the student after he/she showed master y of a skill. T he reward on the card was a smiley face sticker For many students, this master y was demonstrated during class when playing that week’s PassOff For students not demonstrating master y during class, there were other oppor tunities to prove themselves. Pass-Off simply meant they needed more practice on the skill. T his process provided an oppor tunity to discuss how musicians lear n at different speeds, which we emphasized as nor mal and expected “Test” or “Playing Test” ter minolog y was never used because a test sug g ests a one-time event of success or failure while the rest of the class marches on. Pass-Off means “kee p working and show me you can play it later ” Before school, lunch, and after school times were often busy, but became valuable one-onone times with students needing extra suppor t to master Pass-Off skills.

perfor mance (theirs or others), reading assignments, etc.

Other Issues

Different classes have different needs throughout the semester of which the PassOff card accommodates My young er students were allowed to play in g raduation, but only as an honor given them for hard work throughout the year and if they could play the music T he Pass-Off card ref lected a section labeled Graduation Music (see Figure 4) Under this labeling were lines, “Excer pt #1, Excer pt #2,” etc I didn’t label specific excer pts as different ensemble sections had different difficult passag es. If a student didn’t acquire full points, I would make quick remarks about where to focus their attention T hese comments helped focus their practice and reminded me each student’s individual improvement needs T he excer pts section proved useful for regular concer ts as well and in some classes was a regular section on the Pass-Off card

Eng ag ement and Accountability

Eng ag ement and accountability are common educational buzzwords. We expect teachers to kee p children involved and parents infor med. I ag ree A teacher’s responsibility is to be eng aging and accountable, but it can be challenging to do this ever y day Pass-Off cards do both T he Ger man ’ s have a saying, “Zw ei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen. ” Translated this means to kill two f lies with one swat Pass-Off cards accomplish exactly that and this is why I feel it was one of the smar test things I ever did Tr uthfully, the smiley face stickers only helped

References

Brand, M. (1990). Special focus: T he making of a master music teacher Music Educators Jour nal, 77(2), 23

Hamann, D. L., Gillespie, R. (2013). Strategies for teaching strings; Building a successful string and orchestra pr ogram New York: Oxford University Press

Suzuki, Shinichi (1986) Nur tur ed by love: The classic appr oach to talent education Van Nuys, Alfred Publishing Co., Inc.

Chamber music was an impor tant aspect of my prog ram as well Most of my classes went through a chamber unit in the third quar ter, culminating in a perfor mance at Solo and Ensemble. Specific conce pts were delineated and assigned a set of points. T hese conce pts included rhythm, intonation, musicality, g roup g rade, and final perfor mance (see Figure 5)

Written Assignments

Written assignments were designated on the next section on the card In my classroom this often meant music theor y assignments, usually theor y worksheets to be completed throughout the quar ter and, naturally, smiley face stickers were put on the card when a student received a g rade of an A Other topics could also occupy this space such as histor y assignments, ref lective writings on

Infor mation

T he final section on the Pass-Off card g ave infor mation including concer t dates, reminders of assignment due dates, extra assignments or practice ideas, etc. I simply labeled it “Comments” (see Figure 6) and used it to be infor mation specific for that student When the class size is larg e this section helps me to remember specific issues for each student

Matthew H Spieker has been a music educator who has taught all levels of orchestra and g eneral music in U S school districts of South Carolina and Colorado, and inter nationally at the John F Kennedy Schule in Berlin, Ger many. He now works at the University of Arizona teaching violin, and music education courses and he conducts the Philhar monic Orchestra

Dr Spieker guest conducts honor orchestras and lectures at music education conferences through various org anizations and events in Arizona, Colorado, South Carolina, and in cities abroad including Br ussels, Vienna, Geneva and Beijing

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

AMEADivision Events 2015 -

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January 21-23, 2016 - Renaissance Montgomery Hotel at the Convention Center

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January 21-23, 2016: AMEA In-Service Conference; Montgomery, Alabama

by James Mick and David Pope

Creating a Positive Solo and Ensemble Experience for Your Students

Perfor ming at solo and ensemble festivals can be an overwhelming experience for both students and teachers While some students are naturally calm and confident when perfor ming for an adjudicator, many others become anxious and disheveled no matter their level of pre paration. T he one unifying factor, though, is that all students desire a high-level perfor mance that increases selfconfidence and g ar ners positive feedback from adjudicators

As teachers, we strive to provide tools that help our students succeed. T he following sug g estions are aimed at closing common g aps in students’ pre paration for solo and ensemble festivals. Some tips address specific perfor mance issues while other tips provide broader oppor tunities for students to hone their perfor mances If students kee p the various g oals in mind, they are bound to build strong er perfor mance habit strengths. Based upon your own students’ talents and needs, you can use these teaching tips individually or in combination to help your students have a successful solo and ensemble experience.

1. Cr eate a “Game” Plan – Just like successful head football coaches in the SEC, students should for mulate a “ g ame ” plan well in advance of their solo and ensemble event First, students need to deter mine how much time they have until the solo and ensemble event. While looking through their calendars, it is impor tant to note potential conf licts that may distract from practice time, such as vacations, spor ting events, and concer ts

Secondly, students should schedule a regular practice time in their daily and weekly calendars By creating a regular practice schedule, students will be able to deter mine the exact amount of practice time they have to lear n and pre pare their music Ensemble members will need to schedule both personal practice time and g roup rehearsals It is also impor tant for students to schedule various oppor tunities to perfor m their music before the solo and ensemble event T hese

perfor mances can be for family members, friends, their music class, or even a recital. Ideas and g oals for practice perfor mances will be discussed more in “Ste p 4: Play Early and Play Often ”

T he third and final ste p in creating a g ame plan is for students to for mulate a conceptual practice plan that identifies shor tter m and long-ter m g oals T hese g oals will make lear ning the re per toire more manag eable by providing markers and indicators of success along the way To begin the g oal-setting process, students should analyze the music and develop a broad understanding of the music’s str ucture, for m, and phrasing. Many times sections re peat or var y slightly from other sections, and by locating these instances students will be able to transfer similar concepts from one section to another T he process of lear ning to transfer similar conce pts will allow students to better utilize their practice time Also, by breaking music into se parate lear ning segments, students may be able to avoid feeling overwhelmed by needing to lear n an entire piece all at once.

It is impor tant to note that creating a g ame plan teaches students many valuable skills One of the most impor tant skills it teaches students is personal responsibility and accountability Meeting shor t- and long-ter m g oals along the way is a different experience than procrastinating. T his g oal-setting skill can positively impact the level of their perfor mance abilities, but equally as impor tant, if transfer red, it can also inf luence other academic and personal aspects of their lives. Lear ning this skill now will set students up for success in colleg e

2 Tempo, Tempo, and Mor e Tempo –“Can we practice with a metronome today?” are words rarely spoken by developing musicians However, most young students have trouble cor rectly playing rhythms and doing so with a steady pulse To build proper rhythmic skills, students need to set a longter m g oal tempo for their solo and ensemble perfor mance T his g oal tempo can be

written at the top of the music but students should kee p in mind it is the final g oal to be achieved after much practice

When initially lear ning new music, students should learn the cor rect notes, rhythms, style, and bowings with a metronome set at a slow tempo How slow? T he tempo should be slow enough that students can play the rhythms, notes, style, and bowings of each par ticular section cor rectly Once students can play a passag e cor rectly at a slow tempo, the metronome speed can be increased a few clicks each day. Some passag es are more complex than others and will need more practice at slow tempi While most attention should be focused on these more difficult and temporarily slower passag es, it is okay for students to practice other easier passag es at faster tempi Stag g ering the success of various passag es allows students to feel a sense of accomplishment while directing attention to areas still in need of more devotion. It is impor tant for students to keep in mind, though, that most effor ts should be delivered to the slowest, most difficult passag es. If two or more passag es are perfor med tog ether, then the slowest tempo must be maintained throughout the entire combined passag e

To kee p track of prog ress, students should write daily tempi in their music next to the individual passag es After each par ticular passag e is mastered at a specific tempo, students can cross off that tempo in their music. Conversely, though, if mistakes occur during practice, the marked metronome tempo should be decreased Students need to understand that reaching their perfor mance tempo with the cor rect notes, rhythms, style, and bowings takes patience and time

3. The Tr uth Machine – As much as most students do not like to listen to themselves, listening to one ’ s self perfor ming is a necessity if students wish to understand their faults and to improve their perfor mances more quickly. Students should record por tions of their practice sessions to identify

Editor’s Note: This article appears as one of a series written especially for Ala Breve by experts in the field of music education

and isolate passag es that need extra work. Students should then analyze their recordings to identify er rors, specifically according to left or right hands

Once students are able to ascer tain what causes the mistakes in their playing, they can address the mistakes by implementing practice strategies lear ned in class or from their applied instr uctor To kee p track of what is successful, students should kee p a jour nal of what techniques helped them lear n the difficult passag e For passag es that cannot be solved individually, students can retur n to their instr uctors with a list of failed strategies and ask for help. Both audio and audio-visual recordings are helpful, and ideally, students should use a mix of both recording techniques when analyzing their playing

4 Play Ear l y and Play Often – Students should have weekly oppor tunities to play their re per toire in front of live audiences beginning at least one month prior to the solo and ensemble festival. Having perfor mance oppor tunities scheduled well in advance will hold students accountable and decrease the likelihood they will procrastinate Infor mal perfor mance oppor tunities can include playing for their school music class, perfor ming for their families and neighbors, playing during a chamber music concer t at school or a community outreach concer t, or a host of other options.

Most students get ner vous the first time they play alone or with a small ensemble in front

of an audience, and providing extra oppor tunities for your students to perfor m in front of others will help ease their anxiety. As the students become more confident as a perfor mer, their ner ves will subside and their musicality will be able to shine. Ultimately, a solo or small ensemble perfor mance should feel like an ordinar y event in your students’ lives By removing anxiety and ner vousness through multiple perfor mance oppor tunities – as much as some students may not like them at the time – you will be helping your students have a successful festival experience.

5. Put the Instr ument Down – Periodically, students should put down their instr uments and practice their perfor mance without anything in their hands. Removing the instr ument from the practice process heightens musicians’ awareness and helps them decipher problems Like yog a, musicians become aware of tiny muscle movements and how those affect their perfor mance In addition to removing the instr ument, it is also impor tant to remove the music from practice sessions Ideally, music is memorized However, mental practice of music that may not be completely memorized still allows the brain to soak in the details of the music both deliberately and subconsciously

Practicing away from both the instr ument and music also allows musicians to hear the music in their head and to reinforce their inner voice Periodic mental practice is a g reat way to spend time reinforcing musical aspects of a perfor mance in the later stag es

of lear ning a piece. It is also useful earlier in the process when students have limited time between other activities and may not have an instr ument with them

In an ideal world, all students would be able to experience the joy and elation of successfully perfor ming by themselves and in small ensembles Students who experience this joy will surely seek more oppor tunities to find pleasure in playing their instr uments throughout their lives T he five tips above will help your students have better solo and ensemble festival experiences, but more impor tantly, they will hopefully help to create lifelong musicians.

Dr. James Mick is an assistant professor of music education at Ithaca Colleg e in upstate New York He is also music director of the Rochester Philhar monic Youth Orchestra and president-elect of New York ASTA He ear ned deg rees from Texas Christian University (BME), Ithaca Colleg e (MM), and Florida State University (PhD)

Dr David Pope is Director of Orchestras with the Elyria City Schools near Cleveland (OH), the conductor of the Camerata Orchestra at Case Wester n Reser ve University, and co-director of the Florida State University String Orchestra Camp He is a frequent guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States.

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by Charlene Ryan

Adults tend to think of young children as fearless – don’t they love to put on a show? While this is tr ue for many children, most early-childhood teachers (and parents) can recall inexplicably mute, cr ying, back-tur ning, and staying-with-mom-forthe-entire-show children – at least one in ever y concer t Music Perfor mance Anxiety, also known as stag e-fright, is a common issue among young musicians In fact, research has shown that many children and adolescents experience anxiety leading up to and during a perfor mance and that it begins as early as the preschool years

Later in elementar y, middle, and high school, perfor mances become more frequent and par ticipation in multiple ensembles is fairly common And while the over t expressions of stress that young children exhibit are typically kept under wraps, ‘coming down with something’ on concer t day is not unheard of Feeling anxious and wor ried about making mistakes, forg etting the music, and not perfor ming your ver y best is actually ver y common.

Research, up until about 20 years ag o, focused almost exclusively on adult musicians – examining the prevalence of anxiety among professional and colleg e-level perfor mers and their str ug gles to overcome it Children and teens were usually left out of the conversation In recent years, however, developing musicians have been the focus of more and more studies which have shed valuable light on the needs and str ug gles of our young musicians. Here’s what we have lear ned so far :

Young musicians want to talk about perf or mance anxiety. Unlike previous generations, today’s students recognize that they are not alone in their experience of anxiety They want to talk about it, especially with their teachers And they want their teachers to talk with them in a nonjudgmental, non-dismissive way. Studies have shown that children as young as 12 have already developed their own coping strategies for perfor mance situations T hese children have also already experienced teachers who, when asked for advice, tell them not to w or r y, don’t be str essed, or simply that they’ll be fine Students are not searching for vague reassurance or platitudes when they bring up ner ves. They really do want teachers to listen to their concer ns and discuss strategies for perfor mance success

More practice is not the cure A poorly-prepared perfor mance is unlikely to g o well and a student who is not well pre pared is likely to feel anxious However, most people – students and professionals alike – who experience perfor mance anxiety are anxious no matter how well they’ve prepared. In

Straight Talk for Music Teachers About Performance Anxiety

fact, the definition of perfor mance anxiety frequently cited in the research specifically describes a situation that precludes preparation:

“…the experience of persistent, distressful apprehension about and/or actual impair ment of perfor mance skills in a public context, to a deg ree unwar ranted given the individual’s musical aptitude, training, and level of preparation ” (Salmon, 1990, p 3)

T herefore, advising conscientious students who express concer ns about perfor mance anxiety to practice more is not usually an effective way to help them

On the other hand, practice-perfor ming might indeed be ver y useful We often make the mistake of equating lear ning to play with lear ning to perfor m when, in fact, the two are quite distinct, though inter related, concepts Practice-perfor ming for a test audience helps to put students in a perfor mance frame-of-mind that allows them to hone their perfor mance chops T hey must make a psychological shift from I know how to play my piece to I know how to play my piece under pr essur e, distraction, and possibility of failur e in fr ont of others T he process also helps students to lear n whether or not they can g et back on track if things g o awr y Family and friends are often the most likely candidates for the job of pre parator y audience. Music teachers and music peers are also g ood choices – better, in fact, because they are more threatening to the young musicians’ sense of musical self-esteem They know music and are more likely to be aware of something amiss, thus making them a wor thy adversar y for one who is perfor mance-anxious T he fear of being caught-out is much g reater when perfor ming for someone in-the-know than for mom or dad or your best non-musician friend.

Practice-perfor ming in the actual perfor mance environment is ver y valuable - a definite step-up from the practice room or living room in that it familiarizes students with the actual space and setup of the room For pianists, it also provides an oppor tunity to g et a feel for the instr ument Acoustical proper ties will, of course, chang e from practice-perfor mance in a near-empty hall to perfor mance for a full house, but an initial g o in the hall will give students some sense of the sound and feel of the room Research has shown that students who rehearse in the perfor mance venue experience less anxiety at the actual show than those who do not

Teacher s can have a big impact. We all believe this with reg ard to our teaching and to the power

that music education can have on our students’ lives However, in the heat of last-minute details in pre paring for a perfor mance we sometimes forg et that how we behave at that par ticular time can also impact – sometimes neg atively – upon our students’ experience and enjoyment of the moment Research has shown that conductors, for example, play an impor tant role in musicians’ experience of anxiety in perfor mance, and can have g reat inf luence on musicians in the days and weeks leading up to a perfor mance Conductors who are disorg anized, have weak conducting skills, who call out individuals for criticism, and who make last minute chang es are par ticularly notorious. But the number one faux-pas that a conductor can make is to actually show over t signs of anxiety Remember the old adag e you heard before student-teaching –‘fake it ‘till you feel it’? – well, bring it back and put on your best poker face to reduce stress in your young perfor mers If you appear calm and in control, it can pay g reat dividends for your students

Student musicians look up to their teacher s

We all know this I recall sitting in the audience at a high school competition a few years back and being str uck by how students in all of the ensembles seemed to simply idolize their music teachers – all different types of music teachers It was actually quite a remarkable experience to recognize the clear bond that occurs between student musicians and their musician model. Students want to know about their teacher’s experiences including those involving perfor mance anxiety T hey want to know that someone they admire has ‘been there’ and they want to know how the teacher manag ed it W hat works? Help us! Don’t be afraid to open up and be honest with your students Lear ning to play is NOT the same as lear ning to perfor m And knowing about perfor mance anxiety, for many musicians, is par t of lear ning to perfor m.

They care what we think Be careful what you say before and after perfor mances – thoughtless words can have a long-lasting impact Making last minute chang es or reminding students about difficult par ts in their pieces right before they g o onstag e are unlikely to help improve perfor mance but ver y likely to increase anxiety and r umination about those tricky par ts, which almost never bodes well It takes courag e and strength of character to g et onstag e and perfor m Sometimes ever ything g oes g reat and sometimes it doesn’t – for all levels of musicians To do anything less than cong ratulate students on their perfor mance is to do them a g reat disser vice and under mine their confidence for many perfor mances thereafter

Editor’s Note: This article appears as one of a series written especially for Ala Breve by experts in the field of music education

Perf or mance anxiety is not genr e-specific Many of us who were trained in traditional conser vator y-type schools tend to think that perfor mance anxiety is a problem primarily experienced by high-level classical musicians T his is categ orically untr ue Studies have shown that musicians of all stripes experience anxiety and search for ways to cope with it Your rock band, jazz band, recorder ensemble, a capella choir, and concer t choir kids are all in the same boat and all need your suppor t

Expectations matter We always want our students to perfor m at their best; we want to encourag e them and suppor t them and bring out the best in them Just remember that students who are expected to perfor m at a high level have been shown to have g reater anxiety than those not burdened by those expectations. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place! Simple awareness of this fact for teachers may help them to ease the pressure on and suppor t the perfor mance endeavors and anxious experiences of their highest-perfor ming students

Boys ar e gir ls do not al ways r espond in the same way. Research has shown that females are more consistent and predictable in their response to perfor mance situations Typically, they wor r y about impending perfor mances well in advance of them and re por t g reater anxiety and increased physiological response prior to them However, this does not mean that males are immune T hey simply respond differently In one study of young musicians, many boys re por ted minimal anticipator y anxiety and maintained nor mal hear t rates even in the minutes before they were about to perfor m for a larg e audience However, they displayed a variety of anxious behaviors (e g , fidg eting) and, when it actually was their tur n to g o onstag e, had sk yrocketing hear t rates (It is interesting to note that the boys who did not display anxious behaviors, but rather stayed completely still, had high hear t rates earlier on and ultimately did not perfor m as well as their fidgeting counter par ts.) What does this tell us? While girls may stress about impending perfor mances well in advance, it is less common for boys to r uminate about them, and possibly more detrimental for those who do Perhaps fidg eting is a coping mechanism to kee p the focus off the impending situation Ultimately, the anxiety still kicks in, to g reater and lesser extents, whether students think it is g oing to or not. It is impor tant for teachers to be aware of this disparity lest they think it is only the girls who need suppor t It is not

Middle school is par ticular ly challenging T his is tr ue in ever y imaginable way, but par ticularly with regard to perfor ming We need to remind ourselves of the high level of self-consciousness and vulnerability children experience in this period of development. To put oneself out there, on display, in a perfor mance is a brave endeavor. It should be encourag ed and lauded

Musical perfor mance can be a wonderful par t of student musicians’ lives – bringing the fr uit of many hours of practice, effor t, and hear tfelt musical expression to an audience And while anxiety may be a common experience, it does not need to be the over riding emotion Talk to your students; nor malize the experience and share your thoughts and exper tise with them T he more we can lear n and share with the next g eneration, the better pre pared they will be to face perfor mance challeng es and to successfully and happily bring their musical offerings to the world for many years to come

Selected References

Boucher, H & Ryan, C (2011) Perfor mance stress and the ver y young musician Jour nal of Research in Music Education 58, 329-345

Fehm, L & Schmidt, K (2006) Perfor mance anxiety in gifted adolescent musicians Jour nal of Anxiety Disorders, 20, 98-109

Fishbein, M , Middlestadt, S E , Ottati, V , Straus, S , & Ellis, A (1988) Medical problems among ICSOM musicians: Over view of a national sur vey Medical Pr oblems of Perfor ming Artists, 3 (1), 1-8

Kenny, D T & Osbor ne, M S (2006) Music

Perfor mance Anxiety: New Insights from Young Musicians Advances in Cognitive Psycholog y 2, 103-112

LeBlanc, A (1994) A theor y of music perfor mance anxiety The Quarterly Jour nal of Music Teaching and Lear ning 5 (4), 60-67.

LeBlanc, A , Jin, Y C , Ober t, M & Siivola, C (1997) Effect of audience on music perfor mance anxiety Jour nal of Research in Music Education 45, 480-496

Maroon, M T (2003) Potential contributors to perfor mance anxiety among middle school students perfor ming at solo and ensemble contest Dissertation Abstracts Inter national 64 (2A), 437

Osbor ne, M & Kenny, D (2008) T he role of sensitizing experiences in the experience of music perfor mance anxiety in adolescent musicians Psycholog y of Music, 36, 447-462

Osbor ne, M. S. & Kenny, D. T. (2005). Development and validation of a music perfor mance anxiety inventor y for gifted adolescent musicians Anxiety Disorders, 19, 725-751

Osbor ne, M S , Kenny, D T & Holsomback, R (2005) Assessment of Music

Perfor mance Anxiety in Late Childhood: A Validation Study of the Music Perfor mance Anxiety Inventor y for Adolescents (MPAI-A) Inter national Jour nal of Str ess Management, 12, 312-330

Papag eorgi, I (2006) Understanding perfor mance anxiety in the adolescent musician: Appr oaches to instrumental lear ning and perfor mance. In M. Baroni, A. R. Addessi, & M Costa (Eds) Proceedings from the 9th Inter national Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, Universita di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

Rae, G & McCambridg e, K (2004) Cor relates of Perfor mance Anxiety in Practical Music Exams Psycholog y of Music 32, 432-439

Rothlisberg er, D J (1992) Ef fects of video modeling pr eparation on student instrumental audition perfor mance achievement and perfor mance anxiety Disser tation Abstracts Inter national 53, 2287A-2288A

Ryan, C A (2013, March) The Role of Par ents in Young Musicians’ Experience of Music Perfor mance Anxiety Paper presented at the Inter national Symposium for Research in Music Behavior, Seattle, WA

Ryan, C A (2015, March) The Experience of Perfor mance Anxiety in Young Contemporar y Musicians, Tallahassee, FL

Ryan, C A (2006) Experience of Musical Perfor mance Anxiety in Elementar y School Children Inter national Jour nal of Str ess Management 12, 331-342

Ryan, C A (2004) Gender di fferences in children’s experience of musical perfor mance anxiety Psycholog y of Music 32, 89-103

Ryan, C A (1999) Musical perfor mance anxiety : Are junior high band students affected? Opus 41 (1), 8-9

Ryan, C A (1998) Exploring musical perfor mance anxiety in children. Medical Pr oblem of Perfor ming Artists, 13 (3), 83-88

Ryan, C A , Andrews, N , & Aharonian, M (2011, Febr uar y) Perfor mance Anxiety and PostSecondar y Plans of High School Musicians Paper presented at the Inter national Symposium for Research in Music Behavior, Barcelona, Spain

Ryan, C A & Andrews, N (2009) An investig ation into the choral sing er’s experience of music perfor mance anxiety Jour nal of Research in Music Education, 57, 108-126

Ryan, C A , Boucher, H , & Ryan, G (2009, Febr uar y) The Role of Teachers in Childr en ’ s Experience of Musical Perfor mance Anxiety Paper presented at the Inter national Symposium for Research in Music Behavior, St. Augustine, FL.

Salmon, P G (1990) A psychological perspective on musical perfor mance anxiety: a review of the literature Medical Pr oblems of Perfor ming Artists, 5, 2–11

Charlene Ryan, Ph D , is Associate Professor of Music

Education at the Berklee Colleg e of Music in Boston, MA She has published extensively on the performance experiences of young musicians, with a par ticular focus on the development and experience of perfor mance anxiety in children and youth

FAME

Future Alabama Music Educators

Open to High School Juniors and Seniors

Thursday, January 21, 2016 9:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M. Renaissance Montgomery Hotel at the Convention Center

Application and $20 registration fee are due postmarked no later than January 8, 2016

Student Grade

Nominating Teacher NAfME #

School Name

School Address

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This student participates in (circle all that apply): Band Chorus Orchestra

Publicity Waiver

I give AMEA permission to take photos of FAME attendees and use the photos for publicity purposes By this authorization, I understand and agree that no participant shall receive remuneration and that all rights, title and interest to the photos and use of them belongs to AMEA

Signature of Student

Enclose $20 Registration Fee Make checks payable to AMEA

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The FAME program includes many important topics for students considering a career as a music educator This year ’s program features a performance by the Boston Brass on Thursday Evening

NEW! AMEA provides a $1000 scholarship opportunity to a FAME participant who plans to major in music education at an Alabama college or university. Visit www.alabamamea.org for details.

Lunch will be provided by AMEA

Mail this application, along with the $20 registration fee, to:

Sara Womack, AMEA Past President

2130 Banberry Drive Hoover, AL 35244

Postmark Deadline: January 8, 2016

Choral Reviews

⅞ (“Tree of the Lonely Soul”)

Antonio Estévez (1916-1988)

Text: Spanish, poem by Alber to Tor realba SATTBB; Tenor solo

Publisher : Ear thsongs

T his Venezuelan piece is in two distinct sections T he “A” section is ver y quick and rhythmic and is based on the combined 3/4 and 6/8 meters that are characteristic of a dance called the jor opo. In the jor opo section, the choir imitates instr uments typically used to accompany the dance The tenors and altos have the rhythm of the cuatr o (a small, 4string ed guitar), the sopranos imitated the diatonic harp and the basses provide the guitar bordones. T he tenor soloist re presents a llaner o or “man of the plains” in Venezuela, whose songs are improvised

T he “B” section is ver y slow, meditative, and lyrical According to the editor of the Música de Latinoamérica series, María Guinand, “the music de picts the solitude and myster y of the llanos, the high plains of Venezuela. The lively jor opo section retur ns to complete the ABA for m

In addition to being lots of fun to perfor m, this 3’52” piece will prog ram well and would add an authentic world music element to any prog ram Translation of the text is as follows:

Tr ee of the lonely soul, W ide opening of the ri versideNow you will be able to say: Her e sle pt Cantaclar o

W ith the whistle and the sting of the twisting wind, the dappled and violet dusk quietly enter ed the cor ral. The night, tir ed mar e, shakes her mane and black tail above the ri verside; and, in its silence, your ghostly hear t is filled with aw e

⅝ ⅞ (On the Last Day of May)

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936, ar r. Rober t Sieving)

Text: Italian, 16th centur y anonymous SATB divisi, a cappella, approximately 2’50”

Publisher : Heritag e Music Press, Prima Cantate series

L’ultimo dì di Mag gio (On the Last Day of May) is an interesting combination of styles and time periods. Ottorino Resphighi transcribed a balletto (originally written for lute in 1599 by Simone Molinaro) and paired it with an

anonymous poem from earlier in the 16th centur y Rober t Sieving then ar rang ed it for SAATTBB voicing. T his madrig al kee ps the integ rity and exuberance of Molinaro’s dance while celebrating the lighthear ted sentiments of the text and use of syllables that play with the word Tantandaridondela From the ar rang er’s notes: “ this setting is not an attempt to pose as a moder n edition of a Renaissance choral work, but rather as a vocal re presentation of Molinaro’s char ming lute piece and of Resphighi’s endearing homage to his musical heritag e ” (Rober t Sieving) T he work compliments prog rams that utilize earlier madrig als (for example, I have prog rammed Matona, Mia Cara (Lassus) and Si Ch’io Vor rei Morire (Monteverdi) along with this piece for an interesting juxtaposition of chronolog y and style) Translation of the text is provided below:

On the last day of May, a pleasant mor ning among the fr eshness of the r oses, the lovely maid w ent walking in the garden, accompanied by tw enty damsels, each one in love, gracious, wise and fair Tantandaridondela!

Alas! It is also she who has chained m y hear t, who has stolen it with beauty of her radiant face Ther e was a garland of fair jasmine which ador ned her hair. Blithely, she went her way on the first of W hitsuntide O happy day, joyful, fair and bright! *********

Fancies

1 Tell Me Where is Fancy Bred? (1’40”)

2 T here is a Garden in Her Face (4’00)

3. T he Urchins’ Dance (1’48”)

4 Riddle Song (3’40”)

5 Midnight’s Bell (2’10”)

6. T he Bellman’s Song (3’30”)

John Rutter (1945 -)

SATB; full instr umentation includes 2 f lutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 hor ns, percussion (1 player), har p and strings, with instr umentation var ying per movement Publisher : Oxford University Press

First perfor med in London on June 13, 1971, this 16-minute small masterwork is a tr ue gem! T he cycle of six choral settings is created around whimsical themes and is based on Elizabethan poetr y (with one fancy using an anonymous 15th centur y text) Each song is meant to capture the f leeting ideas, thoughts, musings and daydreams of a poet on a summer’s evening

T he first movement (“Tell me where is fancy bred?”) derives its inspiration from

Shakespeare’s Mer chant of Venice T he character, Bassanio, is reminded by the music that “fancy” is sometimes bred in the hear t, sometimes bred in the head and that he should not judg e by exter nal appearances

T he poignantly beautiful second movement (“T here is a g arden in her face”, text by T homas Campion) was the movement that first “hooked” me and provoked my interest in this work Metaphors and similes abound as an admirer seeks to compare his lady to the splendors of nature; yet we are never sure the affection is retur ned It is an incredibly delicate movement and lives up to Rutter’s signature use of lyric and har monic elements.

“T he Urchins’ Dance” musically and texturally paints a picture of fairies appearing in the night, traveling two by two and three by three. In the “Riddle Song”, the anonymous 15th centur y text describes the innocence of young love and the str ug gles to understand the complexities of longing. Rutter allows us to eavesdrop on the sounds that the bellman hears as he g oes about his job in “Midnight’s Bell”. We listen to the ting, the howling, the cricket chir ps and the cats cr ying mew as the instr umentation is used to create a haunting atmosphere. T he final song of the set (“T he Bellman’s Song”) is filled with mysterious, g othic imag er y Sung either by the bass section or baritone solo, the Bellman petitions for sweet slumber for all in the town “Good day to you ” is his final benediction and creates a ref lective end to this masterwork

I have successfully prog rammed this piece with a smaller instr umental ensemble (piano, f lute, clarinet, oboe, hor n, percussion) and it complimented my chamber choir well. T he work is both challenging and accessible and I highly recommend it!

Dr. Diane Orlofsky is Pr of essor of Music and Dir ector of Choirs at Tr oy Uni versity, wher e she oversees the choral pr ogram and teaches under graduate and graduate classes in music education She is the conductor of the Tr oy Uni versity Concer t Chorale and the Dir ector of the Tr oy Uni versity vocal jazz ensemble, fr equenc y

Dr Diane Orlofsky

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