The University of Maine School of Performing Arts offers programs in music, theatre, and dance, preparing students from across the US and around the world for careers as performing arts educators or professional performers. As the flagship campus of the University of Maine System, we are dedicated to serving our students and the citizens of Maine. Students in the UMaine School of Performing Arts receive a rigorous education combining academics and performance within a strong liberal arts curriculum; each year, the SPA stages an extensive slate of live performances made available to not only our campus community but to the public at large. Among our graduates are award-winning actors and stage technicians, touring musicians, educators, and music therapists.
We invite you to find yourself in the arts here at the University of Maine School of Performing Arts.
Find YourselF in the Arts
Majors in Music:
• B.A., Music
• B.M., Music Education
• B.M., Performance
Minors in Music:
• Music (18 credits)
• Jazz Studies (19 credits)
Graduate Degrees
• M.M., Music Education
• M.M., Performance
Other Programs in the UMaine School of Performing Arts
• B.A., Theatre
• Minor, Theatre (19 credits)
• Minor, Dance (18 credits)
• Minor, Theatre Technology (20 credits)
Conference Welcome 2022
Welcome to the campus of the University of Maine Orono for the 2021-2022 MMEA Conference!
It is so exciting to anticipate us gathering together once again to share this experience in person.
We have all spent the better part of two years restructuring, relearning and retooling everything we do in order to bring our students the best possible musical experiences under the cloud of a pandemic. MMEA gratefully acknowledges your efforts, and humbly presents this conference to you–an opportunity to reconnect with fellow educators, participate in outstanding professional development, and witness inspiring performances.
This conference has been brought to you through the dedicated efforts of the members of the MMEA Board. Join us in thanking:
Vice Presidents, who recruit and select our clinicians–Linda Vaillancourt, Orchestra; Drew Albert, Choral; Bill Buzza, Band; Matt Waite, Jazz (with assistance from Mike Sakash); Dorie Trip, K-5 Classroom Music; Dr. Christian Giddings, 6-12 Classroom Music.
BOC All-State Festival Chair, Kristen Thomas, who oversees every element of the All-State student experience, from medical forms to housing to music distribution.
Ensemble Managers, who research, select, and work closely with our guest conductors and accompanists–Kyle Smith, Band; John Lawson, Orchestra; Ashley Albert, SATB Choir; Nora Krainis and Colin Graebert, SSAA Choir.
Conference Co-Chairs, who assist VP’s with session management, scheduling, and budget–Andy Forster (your next President!) and Nancy Cash-Cobb.
Say hello to Jon Siminoff at Conference Registration. Since assuming this role, this will be the first festival Jon has had live! Also on hand throughout the weekend offering assistance will be our District Chairs–Missy Shabo, D1; Sarah Dow-Shedlarski, D2; Brandon Duras, D3; Danielle Gorman, D4; Danielle Collins, D5; Marleina Shwenk-Ford, D6; Pamela Kinsey-D7. Once again
Pam will be coordinating and working with the vendors visiting the conference as well!
Our Hosts and colleagues at the University of Maine Orono, Christopher White, Dr. Phil Edelman, Dr. Laura Artesani and the students of the UMO NAfME-Collegiate Chapter, who provide all manner of support imaginable.
The Executive Committee oversees all workings of MMEA. Throughout this entire time period, Beth Labrie, Executive Director, Ben Potvin, Past President, and Andy Forster, President-Elect have worked countless hours on behalf of music education, students and teachers. It has been my great fortune to work alongside them.
Please make a point of joining us at the following events:
• Thursday, May 19, 6:00 p.m. (Wells Commons) President’s Reception: We are thrilled to welcome our Eastern Division President Sue Barre, who will be offering remarks. We will also recognize and honor music educators and stakeholders who have distinguished themselves in the field this year.
• Friday morning, May 20, 9:00 a.m. (Collins Center Lobby) Exhibits/Meet and Greet: Take in the outstanding products and services offered by our local and national vendors. New this year, we send a special invitation out to all new educators to join us at this time. Whether you’re new to the profession or to Maine, the members of the Board will be on hand to welcome you and answer any questions you may have. We are so glad to have you here!
• Friday afternoon, May 20, 4:15 p.m. (DP Corbett 100)
All-Member Meeting: The MMEA Board will update members on ongoing work and proposed plans for the 2022-23 year. Your attendance and participation are an integral part of the success of this organization.
Thank you for attending the MMEA Conference!
Sincerely, Sandy
Exhibitors and Vendors
BandJoe Music
David French Music
JW Pepper & Son Inc
LeDor Publishing
MSYM
Music & Arts
National Band Association
Osher School of Music- University of Southern Maine
Perkins Music House
School of Performing Arts, University of Maine
Second Wind Music
University of Maine at Augusta
University of New Hampshire
Conference Locations
REGISTRATION: Collins Center for the Arts Lobby
EXHIBITS/VENDORS: CCA Lobby
MEDICAL: 1944 Hall (Hallway)
ORCHESTRA: Black Box Theatre
BAND: Rm 100, 1944 Hall
MIXED CHORUS: CCA
TREBLE CHORUS: Minsky
Session Key
A = All Areas
B = Band
C = Choral
Comp = Composition
D = DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion And Access)
GM = General Music
J = Jazz
O = Orchestra
M = Modern Band
T = Technology
Smith 107 Coe Memorial Union
Williams 120 formerly Little
8:30-9:45 REGISTRATION & EXHIBITS
10-10:55
11-11:55
More Than Diverse
Repertoire: Culturally Responsive Music Instruction
Ashley Cuthbertson
“Firm Goals, Flexible Means”: Universal Design for Music Learning
Ashley Cuthbertson
Behavior Management; A Content Analysis of Articles from MEJ
Christian Giddings
Project-Based Learning for the Secondary Music Classroom
Jocelyn Armes
Beyond Elijah Rock: The Non-Idiomatic Choral Music of Black Composers Marques Garrett
KEYNOTE ADDRESS Sue Barre, 7:30 Concert - USM Osher
(Collins Center for the Arts (CCA) Lobby)
Next Steps with Ukulele as We Return to the Classroom
Scott Burstein
Exploring the Modern Band Method
Scott Burstein
Economic Revitalization Thru Arts in the Community
Sue Barre
ACDA LUNCHEON - North Pod Memorial Union
I Only Program Good Music
Brandon Duras
Band Reading Session
Brandon Duras
Conductor Play
Dr. William Kinne
Developing a Choral Activism Program
Bethany PerkinsHall
Why Are You Educating Only Half My Child?
Tom Lizotte
Resources, Updates & News from National Office and Eastern Div. of NAfME
Sue Barre
Building a Jazz Rhythm Section from a Horn Player’s Perspective
Mike Sakash
No Judgements: Honest Conversations About Race
Nicolas Dosman
Beyond Sound Effects: Book Scoring with Young Composers
Michele Kaschub
Developing the Compositional Capacities of Middle School Musicians
Michele Kaschub / AWARDS CEREMONY (Wells)
NAfME Eastern Division President
Interest Session Descriptions Thursday May 19th, 2022
10-10:55
More Than Diverse Repertoire: Culturally Responsive Music Instruction
Ashley Cuthbertson
Not a bundle of strategies or just diversifying musical repertoire, Culturally Responsive Teaching is a mind shift change and pedagogy that centers the backgrounds and funds of knowledge of our learners in order to build brainpower. In this session, we will discuss how music educators can move towards culturally responsive instruction to ensure that the learning environment and instruction is affirming, relevant, meaningful, and authentic for ALL our students. We will examine the foundations of culturally responsive teaching and explore practical applications in music curricula in regards to mindset, learning environment, musical content & repertoire, and instructional planning.
Behavior Management; A Content Analysis of Articles from MEJ
Christian Giddings
We all know behavior management in a music classroom is unique. This session investigates articles related to classroom management to determine common strategies used among music educators. A total of 30 articles from MEJ relating to classroom management are listed, explored, and twelve strategies were found in common among all the articles. I will share with you both the list of twelve strategies as well as provide a detailed bibliography of the 30 articles. We will then engage in a discussion about classroom management in the music classroom and how best to apply these strategies in our teaching.
Next Steps with Ukulele as We Return to the Classroom
Scott Burstein
Come and explore some next steps of using the Ukulele after basic chords are already under your belt. Participants will leave the session with a multitude of free and resourceful ideas to use in their classrooms to take the ukulele to the next level in the post-pandemic world that has embraced technology. While popular music can be a powerful tool for generating interest in music, many teachers steeped in formal learning struggle to apply informal techniques to unfamiliar music. This workshop-demonstration is centered on the belief that all people are musical, demonstrated quickly, and in an enjoyable manner for all ages by leveraging the musical choices of the individual.
11-11:55
“Firm Goals, Flexible Means”: Universal Design for Music Learning
Ashley Cuthbertson
Designing music instruction for today’s diverse and inclusive classrooms requires music teachers to anticipate barriers and intentionally design instruction to avoid them. In this session, participants will learn the key principles of Universal Design for Learning, and how to practically apply them when crafting learning objectives and lesson plans that intentionally allow all learners to have multiple
Interest Session Descriptions
Thursday May 19th, 2022
objectives and lesson plans that intentionally allow all learners to have multiple routes for engagement, representation, and action & expression in the music room. Multiple lesson examples will be shared for a variety of grade levels.
Project-Based Learning for the Secondary Music Classroom
Jocelyn Armes
Project-Based Learning (PBL) is a framework for organizing curriculum around an authentic problem for students to solve. In this highly practical session, teachers will learn about the PBL framework, learn how to craft curriculum tailored to student interests, and leave with lesson planning templates for designing their own PBL curriculum in secondary music classes.
Beyond Elijah Rock: The Non-Idiomatic Choral Music of Black Composers
Marques Garrett
The spirituals and Gospel music of Black composers are quite familiar to most choral conductors as evidenced by concert programs across the country. However, the non-idiomatic choral music is lacking in the repertoire of many choirs. This session will include the music of familiar and less known Black composers. Major contributions include anthems, motets, part songs, cantatas, oratorios, and other major and minor choral-orchestral works. A variety of music appropriate for middle school/junior high, high school, college/university, community, professional, and church choirs will be discussed including unaccompanied, accompanied, and choral-orchestral.
Exploring the Modern Band Method
Scott Burstein
This session will explore the new Modern Band Method series by Little Kids Rock and Hal Leonard, the first method for teaching full-class popular music ensembles. This series provides a guided lesson plan for the absolute beginner, complete with audio tracks, video lessons, and many popular songs by the biggest musical artists of the day. Each book is filled with instruction in composition, improvisation, music theory, instrumental technique, and works in tandem with the other books in the series so all students can learn and play music together in the same full band.
Economic Revitalization Thru Arts in the Community
Sue Barre
In this discussion-based session, learn how the arts can be a driver for change in your community. Hear about a revitalized partnership between Waterville Public Schools and Colby College where staff collaborate to offer dynamic arts programming, workshops, performances and professional development opportunities. This partnership is a key component to the palpable and measurable renewal underway in downtown Waterville. Sue Barre, Waterville Music Educator, and Teresa McKinney, Director of the Arts at Colby, will briefly present their work together and then open the floor for discussion on how these kinds of partnerships may be advanced in other communities.
Interest Session Descriptions
1:15-2:15
Voice & Choice with Learning Menus & Centers
Ashley Cuthbertson
In this session, teachers will learn about the importance of learner-centered instruction and experience two specific strategies to amplify student voice & choice: Learning Menus & Centers. Teachers will learn a step-by-step process for setting up the learning environment, creating centers and learning menus that are linked to specific concepts & skills, and management. Additionally, teachers will have the opportunity to experience a learning menu and centers rotation first-hand complete with hands on materials and resources!
Project-Based Learning In Action: Panel
Dr. Jocelyn Armes & Alexander Adams
“In this follow-up session to “”Project-Based Learning for the Secondary Music Classroom””, Dr. Jocelyn Armes and Alexander Adams (Jordan Smalls Middle School) will describe and share resources for implementing a PBL unit around instrument design in a middle school classroom, from conception to implementation. This unit included cross-curricular connections to STEM, and generative compositional processes using technology. Teachers will leave the panel with practical grounding in how to implement PBL units that garner student interests and attention at multiple points of the learning process, and allow for meaningful connections to students’ lived experiences as musical beings.
Engaging Singers in Rehearsals
Marques Garrett
I Only Program Good Music
Brandon Duras
We all aim to program good music—that’s a given. “I only program good music,” has turned into a lazy excuse I often see that seeks to maintain the status quo in band programming. Inspired by conversations with a friend who themself is an underrepresented composer, this session dives into important and ongoing discussions about the band music we program. This session will discuss the importance of programming music of underrepresented composers and provide resources for attendees to expand their programming choices.
Why Are You Educating Only Half My Child?
Tom Lizotte
Especially in these pandemic times music scheduling is a critical challenge. Refiguring curricula is resulting in still more cuts in music scheduling, principally the dreaded trend du jour “Band will be only a half year.” Brain science is our ally. Knowing what we now know about how students learn, proper music scheduling isn’t a nice to have. It is ESSENTIAL. This clinic will address the question of what would happen if a parent approached an administrator and demanded, “Why are you educating only half my child?”
Interest Session Descriptions Thursday May 19th, 2022
No Judgements: Honest Conversations About Race
Nicolas Dosman
Music education majors in the 21st century will be responsible for educating students at schools that will likely be far more diverse than their previous educational environments. New music teachers must understand the cultural norms of the diverse student populations that they will become a part of. All teachers must understand how to respectfully interact with students who come from diverse backgrounds. Given that music teachers have the unique opportunity to teach the same group of students over multiple years, creating an environment that is welcoming to their students will change as their students change. Music educators must address diversity, equity, and inclusion from the onset of their careers. This session is intended to generate dialogue and discuss strategies of how to create an inclusive environment. The following topics will be addressed at this session: how to select appropriate repertoire, cultural appropriation, the everyday social and emotional issues encountered in diverse classrooms.
2:25-3:25
Milking a Song for All It’s Worth
Ashley Cuthbertson
Going deeper with less enables students to gain more lasting knowledge and make bigger connections between music, themselves, and the world. In this session, participants will explore “milking a song for all it’s worth” or utilizing a single piece of song repertoire to accomplish many goals. Participants will explore resources and research techniques for selecting diverse, culturally responsive song repertoire and several culturally responsive lessons that accomplish numerous goals with a single piece of song repertoire. Participants will receive a full handout with song notations, objectives, resources, and research tips.
An introduction to technology, practices, and curriculum for creating and implementing electronic music composition, production, and performance in the classroom suitable for grades 5 through high school. No electronic experience necessary for teachers. No music experience necessary for students.
Resilient Choral Teachers
Alex
Favazza, Jr. & Amon Eady
The field of teaching presents many challenges for preservice and beginning teachers. The choral music classroom is no different. These struggles lead many to prematurely leave the profession. How do some choral teachers withstand these struggles and thrive even in difficult situations? Common conceptions of resilience in education research are confidence, self-efficacy, bounce-back, adaptation, and supportive relationships among others. Using these concepts as a framework, this session explores three areas of resilience for beginning teachers: self-efficacy (teacher skillsets), personal magnetism (the intersection of personality, passion, and perseverance), and support systems (areas of support
Interest Session Descriptions Thursday May 19th, 2022
for beginning teachers: school, community, and professional).
Conductor Play
Dr. William Kinne
We are all hardwired to play from birth. It’s how we learn and grow. While our students are playing or singing in rehearsal, we have an opportunity to play and grow as conductors. In this session, we will explore ways to develop our non-verbal communication with students in rehearsal through play. Increase student engagement and become a more compelling conductor without having to take any time from your rehearsal plans. Play like a conductor.
Resources, Updates, News from National Office & Eastern Division of NAfME
Susan B. Barre
Have you utilized the 15 discussion guides and lesson plans for music programs for middle and high school students based on the hit film “Respect”? Did you know that in April of 2023 the NAfME Eastern Division Conference will be held in Rochester, NY or that there is a National Conference in Baltimore in November of 2022? Come to hear more of the programs and plans NAfME has in the pipeline.
Beyond Sound Effects: Bookscoring with Young Composers
Dr. Michele Kaschub
Composer in grades K-3 love to use instruments to add sound effects to stories. However, they are capable of much more. Children’s literature abounds settings that blossom with a little background music, characters who deserve heroic themes, and narrators who benefit from a little musical nudging. This session will feature great literature and accompanying activities for bringing stories to sound with young composers.
3:35-4:35
Illuminating the Schulwerk: Joyful music making…
Karin Puffer & Gerard Stokes
Let’s spotlight Orff pedagogy through playful exploration of the many characteristics that make up the Schulwerk. We will utilize picture books and folk dancing to shine a light on lesson ideas that are kid focused but steeped in many aspects of the music curriculum you are already using in your class. Attending this session will spark the possibilities of what you can do with your own students. Come discover ways to brighten up your music room
Contextualizing Negro Spirituals
Marques Garrett
Band Reading Session
Brandon Duras
Follow-up Session to “I Only Program Good Music”
Developing a Choral Activism Program
Bethany Perkins Hall
In working with her students, Bethany Perkins Hall realized that many of them were struggling with the realities of the world around them, and feeling that they couldn’t do anything to help. She developed a curriculum in which the students choose a cause, research it, develop awareness in the community and even work to make changes as necessary, and then culminate with a themed fundraising concert. All of it is student-led and student-centered.
Building a Jazz Rhythm Section from a Horn Player’s Perspective
Mike Sakash
Many of us who direct jazz ensembles and combos (or who wish to) may not have significant experience playing rhythm section instruments. This session will demonstrate basic guitar, bass, and piano techniques that allow our students to build confidence playing jazz tunes and jazz ensemble arrangements that do not include notated rhythm section parts. Many of these techniques are quite easy, from a technical perpspective, allowing teachers and students the freedom to focus on style, time, and group interaction. This will be a hands-on clinic, so be ready to jump right in and particpate.
Developing the Compositional Capacities of Middle School Musicians
Dr. Michele Kaschub
This session will share an innovative approach to composition teaching and learning to promote the development of the compositional capacities of feelingful intention, musical expressivity, and artistic craftsmanship. Instructional materials from the genres of songwriting, visual media, instrumental music, and music theater will be shared. Teacher-facilitated whole class lessons, small group/partnered work, and independent composition activities will focus on the development of critical and creative thinking skills.
7:00-8:00
8–9:00
Smith 107
Coe Memorial Union Williams 120 formerly Little
REGISTRATION (Collins Center for the Arts
Vocal Development in Preschool & Beyond
Leslie Weaver
9–9:50
9:50–10:50
11–12
Habits of a Successful Orchestra - So, What’s the Plan?...
Christopher Selby
Growing Your Choral Program in a New World
Dr. Nicholas Dosman
EXHIBITS & Coffee/Donuts Break
Movement Development in Preschool & Beyond
Leslie Weaver
Gender Responsive Music Education
Birce Tanriguden
Programming Resources for Diversity & Inclusion
Lucas Richman
Habits of a Successful Orchestra - The Secret…
Christopher Selby
Teacher Favorited, Student Approved
Jeron Stephens
Vocal Pedagogy for Choral Students (ZOOM)
Tamarceo Shaw
12–1 EXHIBITS
GENERAL MUSIC LUNCHEON
1:10–2:10
The Adaptive Music Educator
Dr. Erin Zaffini
2:20–3:20
Beginning Steps into Culturally Responsive Teaching for the Novice Music Teacher
Dr. Erin Zaffini
Habits of a Successful Orchestra - Teaching Concert Music…
Christopher Selby
Conducting Techniques
Lucas Richman
Time Well Spent! Using Inquiry-Based Learning…
Julia Edwards
Teacher Favorited, Student Approved
Jeron Stephens
3:30–4 JAZZ MEETING (DP Corbett 107) 4:15–5:30 All Member Meeting (DP Corbett 100)
7:30 Evening Events TBD 9:30–11 UMO/USM Reception
(CCA) Lobby)
Music Therapy: A Career for You? A Career for Your Students?
Bryan Hunter
(Collins Center Lobby)
Guiding Performers to Make Artistic Decisions in Band
Brent Johnson
Choral Warm-up Roundtable
Julia Edwards
Get Your Toe Out Of Your Mouth
David Stern
Teaching Cultural Awareness Through Jazz
Tom Lizotte
Unlocking Improvisation through Rhythms & Shapes
Chel Illingworth
Supporting LGBTQ+ Students in the Music Classroom
Jeremy Milton
Teaching Music Remotely & Audio Basics
Joshua Jandreau
(Collins Center Lobby) (Jeremy Milton, speaker) - Bear’s Den, Memorial Union
Collecting and Using Data for Better Ensemble (and Individual Playing)
Trevor Marcho
Markings & Mini-Lessons: Setting up Beginners for Success
Caitlin Ramsey
General Music for Non-Musicians
David Dashefsky
Interest Session Descriptions
8:00-9:00
Vocal Development in Preschool & Beyond
Leslie Weaver
The ability to think tune is valuable to a child’s overall musical development. This session will provide techniques and activities, from the research-based First Steps in Music curriculum, teachers can use to engage their PK-2 student head voices and increase student ability to think tune.
Growing Your Choral Program in a New World
Dr. Nicholas Dosman
This session will focus on building/rebuilding choral programs. The following topics will be addressed in this session: Choral music in a COVID-Post-COVID world, creating a welcoming atmosphere, challenges unique to elementary, middle, and high school choirs, rehearsal priorities, music literacy, and programming for success. This session is designed to give choral teachers at any level strategies for building a choral program.
Habits of a Successful Orchestra - So, What’s the Plan? A Path To Creating Meaningful and Useful Long-Range Plans
Dr. Christopher Selby
We know what we want to rehearse, but what skills are we supposed to teach? Instead of just giving out more music, come learn how to plan and teach the technique students need to make them more skilled musicians. Incorporate sequential technique-building strategies into your orchestra rehearsals and teach your students the skills they need to perform the great orchestral music they deserve to play.
Teaching Cultural Awareness Through Jazz
Tom Lizotte
Race and women’s rights are hot button issues in our times and, increasingly, in our students’ lives. Jazz can be an important part of increasing that cultural awareness, and it is our responsibility as educators to fill that need.
This clinic will detail how racial relations and jazz are inextricably linked. It will show the relationship between jazz and events such as the Harlem Renaissance, racial strife post-World War II and the Civil Rights Movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s. It will discuss how we can program jazz to illuminate these events.
Also discussed will be the role of women in jazz from the early days (when virtually the only performance opportunities were for singers) through the emergence of composer/performers such as Mary Lou Williams to the emerging women in jazz movement.
Interest Session Descriptions
9:50-10:50
Movement Development in Preschool & Beyond
Leslie Weaver
Friday May 20th, 2022
The ability to move expressively to music is a skill that should be cultivated in children as early in their development as possible. This session will provide techniques and activities, from the research-based First Steps in Music curriculum, teachers can use to develop their PK-2 student abilities to move expressively and internalize steady beat.
Supporting LGBTQ+ Students in the Music Classroom
Jeremy Milton
LGBTQ+ students are disadvantaged and marginalized in the current public school system through stigmatization and erasure in policies, curriculum, and materials. This session will explore how music education has played into and strengthened this marginalization. We will also discuss strategies to begin or continue the difficult work of confronting hegemony and heteronormativity in public school music classrooms to help ensure that all students experience an equally safe environment in which to learn.
Teacher Favorited, Student Approved
Jeron Stephens
This reading session is great for teachers of new or growing choral programs and for teachers who want to discover choral pieces loved by and approved for this session by the students who sing them. You are guaranteed to leave this session with new songs that your students will love.
Programming Resources for Diversity & Inclusion
Lucas Richman
This session will highlight recent efforts being made by new websites and music publishing companies to feature music by hitherto neglected BIPOC and female composers. Programming resources for concert band, orchestra, chamber groups and choral ensembles will be presented. Additional discussion will include techniques and plans for the organic incorporation of measures promoting diversity and inclusion
Guiding Performers to Make Artistic Decisions in Band
Brent Johnson
The goal of this clinic is to create a collection of common practices for conductors, teachers, and musicians to facilitate the development of artistry in the performance of repertoire within the wind ensemble with a specific focus on contemporary music of diverse composers. This clinic will also include a discussion of the implementation of the project with audio samples so the reader may see examples of how these techniques can inspire their own performance.
Interest Session Descriptions
11:00-12:00
Gender Responsive Music Education
Birce Tanriguden
In order to create learning environments and school community that embrace and honor gender diversity, identifying general music lesson materials and practices that create barriers to this diversity is a necessity for establishing gender responsive music education. Once it is created, sustainability of gender responsive music education requires the development of teaching approaches, the creation of model lessons plans, and the evaluation of materials through a gender-responsive lens. This session is designed for the music teachers who would like to create and/or sustain gender responsive education in their classrooms.
Teaching Music Remotely & Audio Basics
Joshua Jandreau
An introduction to technology, best practices, and audio basics necessary for professional remote teaching and recording. Participants will be able to set up a personal studio for remote teaching and will learn the basics of audio production for recording and mixing. No electronic experience necessary.
Vocal Pedagogy for Choral Students (ZOOM)
Tamarceo Shaw
This presentation will outline key elements for developing the voices of choral students. The human voice is a power tool. Singers use their voices to express meaning and emotion in vocal literature. However, this cannot be effectively achieved without a basic understanding of how the vocal mechanism functions. Many students will enter the music classroom with a love of singing but knowing little about healthy vocal production. Students who have a strong foundation in vocal pedagogy will also foster good vocal habits, prevent vocal injuries, and contribute to a balanced choral sound.
Habits of a Successful Orchestra - The Secret Is the Right Hand: Teaching Rhythm, Rhythmic Literacy, Tone and Articulation in String Orchestra
Dr. Christopher Selby
In this session we examine the central importance of tone and articulation in superior string performance, and we introduce rhythm teaching activities that address rhythmic bowing, rushing and dragging, how to decipher complex rhythms, and how to use sequential sight reading methods to teach students the literacy skills they need to independently sight read challenging string repertoire.
Get Your Toe Out Of Your Mouth
David Stern
Educators are invited to bring brass instruments or mouthpieces to this interactive session addressing correct methods for teacing articulation.
Interest Session Descriptions Friday May 20th, 2022
Unlocking Improvisation Through Rhythms & Shapes
Chel Illingworth
In this workshop we will focus on unlocking improvisation through rhythms and shapes. These lessons can be easily taught by teachers who are new to improvisation as well as those who are experienced jazz musicians.
We will learn step by step group activities and lessons that will get students started in improvisation with confidence. This is a classroom method in which everyone improvises and where theory is constantly introduced, reinforced, and explored.
The focus on rhythms and shapes removes some of the common barriers and worries that new improvisers often have, “what if I play a wrong note?” or “I don’t know what to play?”
These ideas can also be applied to the more advanced improvisers to help increase flexibility, encourage the development of new ideas, and to improvise in solid time so that they can really lock in with the rhythm section.
Choral Warm-up Roundtable
Julia Edwards
Let’s get together and share our favorite, most effective warm-ups for choral groups, open-mic style. Email me (jedwards@rsu16.org) if you are interested in sharing something that you and your students love, or something you find to be really helpful for vocal development. You will then be directed to a form to submit more info about your warm-up. You may also just show up and share! Warm-up categories will be: mental, physical, breath, vocal, diction. We’ll have a piano and will try to gather all of the warm-ups and descriptions to send home with you!
1:10-2:10
The Adaptive Music Educator
Dr. Erin Zaffini
Every student in our classroom has needs. Many children learn best in a variety of ways - with multiple paths for engagement towards understanding. This experiential and interactive session will focus on the struggles that general music teachers face as they strive to ensure a quality music education for all of their students in classes. Participants will learn about the “big three” modes of adaptations that they can implement to promote students’ learning as they experience, first-hand, general music activities that promote kinesthetic, aural and visual learning.
Time Well Spent! Using Inquiry-Based Learning and Group Work to Maximize Rehearsal Time and Student Authorship
Julia Edwards
It can be difficult to find a balance between concert preparation time and content time in the ensemble rehearsal. We often feel like we are “sacrificing
Interest Session Descriptions Friday May 20th, 2022
precious rehearsal time” in order to teach elements like reading skills, cultural context, and musicianship not directly related to our performance. If you’ll join me, I’d like to walk you through some of the routines my students and I use to build student curiosity, critical thinking skills, and authorship of performance. We have been expanding how we think about music, our musicianship, and our world!
Habits of a Successful Orchestra—Teaching Concert Music and Achieving Musical Artistry with School String Orchestras
Dr. Christopher Selby
Attendees will learn to avoid common concert music mistakes, improve ensemble skills, and improve student engagement. Come learn how to keep the joyful parts of music making and artistic expression at the center of our concert music instruction without sacrificing the skill development students need to perform all the notes, rhythms and technical skills that good concert music requires.
Collecting and Using Data for Better Ensemble (and Individual) Playing
Trevor Marcho
Using data to inform instruction is increasingly prominent in evaluations for both preservice and in-service teachers. Music teachers must meet this obligation but is it practical or beneficial? Data can be easily collected and used practically and thoughtfully to benefit our ensembles and, ultimately, our students’ musical growth.
2:20-3:20
Beginning Steps into Culturally Responsive Teaching for the Novice Music Teacher
Dr. Erin Zaffini
This interactive session will introduce novice teachers to beginning steps they can take to become more culturally responsive in the classroom. Participants will “learn by doing” as they practice using tools and strategies that will foster self-reflection, identify hidden curricula regularly promoted within the music classroom, and engage with each other through meaningful steps that will help them go beyond removing inappropriate repertoire from their curricula.
General Music for Non-Musicians
David Dashefsky
Create general music lessons with topics and activities geared toward non-performing students often enrolled in elective general music classes. Review interactive resources that promote an accessible and device friendly classroom. Students of all backgrounds and learning styles will embrace the variety of music studies relevant to their personal musical listening preferences. Through the use of online resources, Middle and High School learners will develop a new perspective on influences that contribute to the music of their daily lives.
Interest Session Descriptions Friday May 20th, 2022
Teacher Favorited, Student Approved
Jeron Stephens
This reading session is great for teachers of new or growing choral programs and for teachers who want to discover choral pieces loved by and approved for this session by the students who sing them. You are guaranteed to leave this session with new songs that your students will love.
Conducting Techniques
Lucas Richman
This session addresses the role of the conductor with an approach that balances requisite leadership skills with the practical application of expressing musicality through clear baton technique. The program begins with a review of the rudiments of technique, focusing on proper beat patterns, multiple meters, tempo changes, left-hand signals, dynamics, articulation and cueing, as well as utilizing one’s breath properly to convey all the above. If time allows, participants will also discuss rehearsal techniques and various aspects of the “business” of conducting, ranging from the responsibilities of music directors and staff conductors to the future of orchestral music as an art form.
Markings & Mini-Lessons: Setting up Beginners for Success
Caitlin Ramsey
As we rebuild our programs, setting up beginners for success is more vital than ever. This session focuses on ways to jump start the achievement of your beginning instrumentalists in the face of challenging schedules and limited class time. In this session, you will learn how to utilize instrument markings to maximize class time and how to organize a mini-lesson event that ensures a smooth and successful first class for both students and teacher!
MMEA Concert Information
Tickets are free for conference attendees but you need to register ahead of time.
Saturday, 11:00 AM
All-State Orchestra
All-State Concert Band
Saturday, 3:00 PM
All-State SSAA Chorus
All-State SATB Chorus
Jocelyn Armes
Dr. Jocelyn Armes is a lecturer at the University of Southern Maine, where she coordinates fieldwork experiences and teaches upper division music education coursework, professional seminar, and internship seminar. Prior to working in Maine, Dr. Armes taught in K12 schools in Colorado, New York, and Maryland. Her research interests include assessment and curriculum, job fit, and gender representation in the music education profession. In her personal time, she enjoys yoga, crafting, and spending time with her beloved pets.
Susan B. Barre
Susan B. Barre is currently the President of the NAfME Eastern Division and is a Past President of the Maine Music Educators Association. Mrs. Barre is the band director in Waterville, Maine for grades 5-12 and serves as chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Department K-12. Mrs. Barre is a strong advocate of and for collaborative teaching across the music department and beyond. Mrs. Barre’s professional awards include the 2017 School Band and Orchestra Magazine “50 directors who make a difference”; 2015 Grammy Community Award; 2016, 2014 and 2012 Waterville Board of Education Community Awards.
Scott Burstein
Dr. Scott Burstein is the National Director of Teaching and Learning for the non-profit Little Kids Rock. His duties include managing Little Kids Rock’s musical content, curriculum, and professional development. He previously taught 12 years of public high school in Los Angeles, with subjects ranging from Marching Band to AP Music Theory. Scott studied music at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Eastman School of Music, and received his DMA in Music Education at the University of Southern California. While primarily a guitarist, he has performed on a variety of instruments in the fields of classical music and jazz.
Ashley Cuthbertson
Ashley Cuthbertson (she/her) is a passionate General Music and Chorus Educator dedicated to culturally responsive, joyful, learner centered music instruction in Northern Virginia. Addi-
tionally, she is an Adjunct Faculty member at Loyola University Maryland. A Nationally Board Certified Teacher, Ashley holds certification in the Kodály approach and Arts integration. Ashley holds positions in the Virginia Music Educators Association where she serves as Chair of the DEI Council; the Organization of American Kodály Educators where she serves as Eastern Division President-Elect & co-chair of the OAKE Equity Committee; and the Virginia Organization of Kodály Educators where she serves as President.
David Dashefsky
Mr. Dashefsky has been teaching general music and ensemble classes at both the Middle and HS levels since 2000. His sessions have been presented at Arizona, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Texas Music Conferences. He is a graduate of both The University of the Arts and Boston University. Mr. Dashefsky has also served as a Success Coach for Rowan University’s Summer PCI/ASCEND Program.
Nicolas Dosman
Nicolás Alberto Dosman is an associate professor at the University of Southern Maine, Osher School of Music. Dr. Dosman came to the University of Southern Maine in 2015 from his position as the Director of Choral Activities at Colby College and adjunct assistant professor of music at Molloy College. He has taught graduate and undergraduate level courses in “Choral Conducting” and “Music Education.”
His research and teaching areas include Choral Ensembles, Choral Conducting, and Music Education. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, National Collegiate Choral Organization, and the National Association for Music Education and regularly participates in Regional and National Conferences. Dr. Dosman has recently presented at the American Choral Directors Association Regional conference and published an article in the journal Arts Education Policy Review. He is currently under contract to publish a choral text titled: Growing Your Choral Program: A Practical Guide. Since coming to USM, he has conducted ensembles at the regional, national and international levels. He has conducted and/or presented in Panama, Mexico, and Greece as well at major national conferences. Under his direction the USM Chamber Singers were selected to perform at the ACDA Eastern Region Conference. Dosman will lead a concert in Carnegie Hall as a guest conductor with National Concerts in the spring of 2022.
He holds degrees from the Oberlin College-Conservatory of Music, Florida State University, and Teachers College, Columbia University.
Brandon Duras
Brandon Duras is currently the Director of Instrumental Music at Brunswick HS—a NAMM Foundation Best Communities for Music Education. In addition to his position, he also serves as the District 3 Chair for the Maine Music Educators Association, and the Maine State Chair for the National Band Association. A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he received his Bachelor of Music education in 2017 and Master of Arts in Wind Conducting in 2019. He has been named a semi-finalist in the National Band Association’s Young Conductor Composer Competition (2019) and the Warsaw Wind Ensemble Conducting Competition (2021)
Julia Edwards
Julia Edwards is the choral teacher at Poland Regional HS and Bruce M. Whittier Middle School in Poland, Maine. She earned her B.M. in Music Education at UMass - Amherst, where she developed a curiosity for how we perceive and perform music. Her interests include cultural connections through music, neuroscience and music cognition, and various pedagogies for the choral classroom. She applies these research interests in her teaching practice, which helps students develop tools for ethically exploring the world around them and grow skills for participating in that world.
Amon Eady
Amon Eady is Director of Choral Activities at Central Michigan University, where he conducts ensembles and teaches Choral Conducting and Literature. He has presented at state, regional, and national NAfME conventions, and his choirs have performed at state and regional ACDA conventions. Dr. Eady is current President-elect of MI-ACDA
Alex Favazza
Alex Favazza is Director of Choral Activities at the University of New Hampshire where he conducts ensembles and teaches Choral Methods. As a composer, Dr. Favazza’s choral works are published by Hinshaw and Colla Voce Music. He is current president of NH-ACDA and also conducts the Rockingham ChoralSo-
Society, Exeter, NH.
Marques Garrett
Marques L. A. Garrett is an Assistant Professor of Music in Choral Activities at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He is an accomplished vocalist and composer with his works available through several publishers and performed by festival/honor choirs, all-state choirs, and professional and university choirs such as Seraphic Fire and the Oakwood University Aeolians. He regularly serves as a choral clinician and guest conductor for festival and honor choirs throughout the country. He is an active researcher with published articles and presentations on the choral music of Black composers and rehearsal techniques for state, regional, and national conferences.
Dr. Christian Giddings
Dr. Christian Giddings is a conductor, composer, and music educator from Unity, Maine. He holds a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from the University of Arizona, and both an M.M. and B.M. in Music Education from the University of Maine. Additionally, he is a Co-founder of Choir Unlimited - a choral music publisher specializing in publishing digital copies of choral music. Currently, Christian is the music director of the CODA Chorus in Winthrop, Maine, and music teacher at Deering HS in Portland, Maine.
Chel Illingworth
Chel Illingworth is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and has taught music for over 25 years with a focus on middle school band. Chel is returning to the seacoast area after living in Lusaka, Zambia for the past eight years where he started a band and choir program at the American International School of Lusaka. As a jazz musician and saxophonist Chel brings his passion for improvised music into his teaching as a way for students to develop skills, actively learn theory, and to be creative and expressive musicians.
Joshua Jandreau
With music described as “dreamlike” by the Portland Press Herald, composer, songwriter, recording artist, and teacher Joshua Jandreau (he/him) creates genre-bending multimedia art that reframes traditional thinking and fosters personal connections, having been performed across the United States and internationally by Grammy-nominated and award-winning artists.
An active advocate for arts education, Jandreau is the recipient of many grants for educational and community outreach, partnering with charity organizations and leading successful crowdfunding campaigns to donate instruments and music to schools.
Brent Johnson
Brent Johnson currently serves as Associate Director of Bands at Murray State University in Murray, KY where he conducts the symphonic band, teaches music education courses, and is marching band director. Johnson received his DMA in conducting from the University of Kentucky in May 2021. He spent 17 years as a successful HS band director in Kentucky, Texas, and Washington state with national performances at NAfME All Northwest and MFA National Concert Band Festival.
Dr. Michele Kaschub
Dr. Michele Kaschub is Professor and Director of Music Teacher Education in the Osher School of Music at USM. Her scholarly interests include children’s composition, curriculum design and assessment, and teacher development. She is co-author of Minds on Music: Composition for Creative and Critical Thinking, Experiencing Music Composition in Grades K-2, EMC in Grades 3-5, EMC in Middle School General Music, and co-editor of Composing Our Future and Promising Practices in 21st Century Music Teacher Education, and editor of the Oxford Handbook of Music Composition Pedagogy. Michele is an active clinician and guest lecturer presenting papers and workshops throughout the United States and abroad.
Dr. William Kinne
Dr. William Kinne is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands at the University of Southern Maine, where he conducts the Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, and Portland Youth Wind Ensemble. Dr. Kinne also teaches undergraduate courses on conducting and music
Dr. Kinne’s career as a music educator spans a decade of teaching middle and HS instrumental music. Ensembles under his direction have earned praise for cross-disciplinary performances and have earned superior ratings at state festivals. His research interests include the intersection of music creation and technology, the music of Charles Ives, and a wind ensemble transcription of Dmitri Shostakovich’s operetta, “The Tale of the Silly Little
Mouse.”
Dr. Kinne holds degrees from The University of New Hampshire, The University of Michigan, and The University of Colorado Boulder. His primary conducting teachers are Allan McMurray, Donald McKinney, Michael Haithcock, and Andrew Boysen. Dr. Kinne is a member of the College Band Directors National Association and The National Association for Music Education and is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma.
Tom Lizotte
Tom Lizotte recently retired after 31 years in public education, the last 17 as director of bands at Cape Elizabeth HS. He is a member of three teaching halls of fame, including Maine Music Education Association. He is the 2019 recipient of the Berklee College of Music/JEN John LaPorta national jazz educator of the year award. Tom is active in marching band and jazz adjudication and is chief music judge for the Massachusetts Judges Association. He is a frequent contributor to The Instrumentalist and jazzED magazines and has had a 50-plus career as a marching arts performer, instructor and designer.
Trevor Marcho
Hailing from Old Town, Maine, Trevor Marcho serves as a college lecturer at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio, teaching music education courses. He has taught music at every level of education from kindergarten through higher education. Trevor earned a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Music in conducting from the University of Maine, where he taught elementary, middle and HS music, as well as courses at the University of Maine. He earned a Ph.D. in music education from The Ohio State University where he researched gender equity in school instrumental music programs.
Jeremy Milton
Jeremy D. Milton is a Candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Music Education at Boston University, and holds the Master of Music in Choral Conducting, as well as the Bachelor of Music in Music Education degrees from the University of Maine where he studied under Dr. Dennis Cox. Currently, Mr. Milton serves as the Director of Choral Music for Old Saybrook HS in Old Saybrook, CT where he conducts two non-auditioned HS choral ensembles, the auditioned Chamber Singers, Basso Chorus and Treble Choir, and teaches UConn Music Theory.
Dr. Chris Oberholtzer
Dr. Christopher Oberholtzer, Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Southern Maine, completed his Doctor of Arts degree in Trombone Performance/Pedagogy with a Secondary Emphasis in Jazz Pedagogy at the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley. Chris earned his Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies with a Cognate Field of Trombone Performance from Indiana University, Bloomington, and his Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from the University of Southern Maine, Gorham.
As a professor and director of jazz studies at USM, Chris leads a thriving program that is recognized as being one of the leading college jazz programs in New England. In addition to his USM teaching responsibilities, Chris also enjoys actively serving throughout the country as a guest artist, director and/or clinician for numerous high school and college jazz ensembles, including All-State and Honors Festivals in Colorado, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. Other major appearances include those at universities such as the University of Northern Colorado, Brevard College (North Carolina), Ball State University, Eastern Washington University and Utah State University. Chris’ performance credits also include international festivals such as the (Newport) JVC Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the Montreal Jazz Festival.
Chris maintains a busy schedule as a professional freelance trombonist. He has performed, toured and recorded throughout the country and abroad with many groups in varying classical, jazz and commercial genres. His playing experience includes touring with the Artie Shaw Orchestra, the Guy Lombardo Orchestra, Ringling Brothers Circus, Toni Tenille the Capitol Jazz Orchestra and Holland America cruise lines.
Serving as Musical Director of the Portland Jazz Orchestra, Chris is quite busy with the details of leading a regionally active big band. The Portland Jazz Orchestra is a contemporary big band staffed by jazz professionals, many of whom are also music educators, from the northern New England area. Playing music from the classic libraries of the Count Basie Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Woody Herman Orchestra, the PJO also enjoys performing more contemporary big band literature from prominent writers such as Gordon Goodwin, Tom Kubis and Maria Schneider. In addition, the PJO focuses on performing original compositions and arrangements written by its own band members. Many of these compositions are published and
are highly regarded on a national level.
Bethany Perkins-Hall
Bethany Perkins Hall teaches middle school chorus and elementary music for MSAD 51 (Greely). She is an M.Ed in Humane Education student with Antioch University/Institute for Humane Education. Bethany sings with OperaMaine Chorus and St Mary Schola, and is the soprano section leader for The Episcopal Church of St Mary in Falmouth. Prior to teaching at Greely, she worked as a private voice and piano tutor and music director for churches and theaters.
Karin Puffer
Karin Puffer is a K-6 general music teacher in Westborough Public Schools in Massachusetts. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Music Education from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY, and her Masters of Music Education from Boston University. She has completed her Level III Certification in Orff-Schulwerk. Ms. Puffer serves on the board of the New England American Orff-Schulwerk Association Chapter as Past President and serves as a National Board Trustee for the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. She has previously presented workshops at various state music education conferences and at local AOSA chapters.
Caitlin Ramsey
Caitlin Ramsey is the director of bands at Cape Elizabeth Middle School. For the past eighteen years, she has been an active adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor throughout the state of Maine and currently serves as the Eastern Division Rep on the National Council of Band Education. In 2020, Ms. Ramsey was named the MMEA Music Educator of the Year.
Lucas Richman
GRAMMY award-winning conductor Lucas Richman has served as Music Director for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra since 2010 and held the position as Music Director for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra from 2003-2015. Over the course of nearly four decades on the podium, he has garnered an international reputation for his graceful musical leadership in a diverse field of media. In concert halls, orchestral pits and recording studios around the world, Richman earns rave reviews for his artful collaborations with artists in both the classical and commercial
music arenas.
As a composer, Mr. Richman has had his music performed by over two hundred orchestras across the United States including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops and the symphonies of Detroit, Atlanta, New Jersey and Houston. He has fulfilled commissions for numerous organizations including the Pittsburgh Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Bangor Symphony, Johnstown Symphony, the Debussy Trio, the Seattle Chamber Music Society and the Organ Artists Series of Pittsburgh. His “Symphony: This Will Be Our Reply” was premiered to critical acclaim by a consortium of orchestras in 2019, including the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra (TN), the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra (MN) and the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony (CA). Upcoming commissions include The Warming Sea for the Maine Science Festival/Bangor Symphony Orchestra (prem. 3/19/22) and Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra for the Atlanta Musicians Orchestra (2022).
Mike Sakash
Mike Sakash holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts in Music Education and Performance, as well as a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media from the Eastman School of Music. He has studied saxophone with Lynn Klock and Raymond Ricker, improvisation with Yusef Lateef, and jazz composition and arranging with Fred Sturm. Before settling in New Hampshire Mike was Associate Professor of Music at Washington & Jefferson College (PA). Currently, he is the arts department chair at Fryeburg Academy, in Fryeburg, ME, where he directs the instrumental ensembles and teaches courses in music theory, guitar, and jazz improvisation. Mike also serves as a guest artist and clinician at music festivals throughout the country. In 2017 Mike received the Maine Music Educators Association “Music Educator of the Year” award, presented at the Maine All State Conference. As a saxophonist he has performed, recorded, and toured with the Phoenix Jazz Project and the Traverser Saxophone Quartet, in addition to being a regular member of the Portland Jazz Orchestra. As a member of the Portland Jazz Orchestra Mike has had the opportunity to solo with vocalist and saxophonist Darmon Meader, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, and saxophonists David Demsey and Jeff Coffin.
Christopher Selby
Dr. Christopher Selby is the author of Habits of a Successful
Orchestra Director, Music Theory for the Successful String Musician, and co-author of the Habits of a Successful String Musician series, a collection of string method books for middle and upper level orchestras published by GIA. He is an active clinician and conductor, and has presented sessions at two Midwest Clinics, five American String Teacher Association (ASTA) National Conferences, and numerous state conferences across America. Dr. Selby regularly guest conducts Regional and All-State Orchestras, and he currently directs the HS orchestras at the School of the Arts in Charleston, SC. Under his direction, the School of the Arts HS Orchestras performed at the 2019 Midwest Clinic, and they won the 2016 ASTA National Orchestra Festival’s top award of Grand Champion in the competitive public school division. Dr. Selby earned his music education degree from the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut, and a Masters and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees in Orchestral Conducting from the University of South Carolina. He began teaching at the Charleston School of the Arts in 2012, and before that Dr. Selby taught orchestra in traditional elementary, middle and HSs since 1992 He was the Orchestra Coordinator in Richland School District Two from 2001 to 2012, where he taught HS and supervised the district’s orchestra curriculum and instruction. He is currently the Chair of the ASTA K-12 Committee, and also held leadership positions in the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). Dr. Selby was the President of the South Carolina Music Educators Association (SCMEA) from 2011-2013, and he served two separate terms as the President of the state’s Orchestra Division. He was named the SC ASTA Orchestra Teacher of the Year in 2009. He is a contributing author for Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra, vol. 4 and has written articles for NAfME and in ASTA’s American String Teacher.
Tamarceo Shaw
Male soprano and music educator Tamarceo Shaw is from Florence, Mississippi. He graduated from Simpson College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music (Voice) and Austin Peay State University with a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance. His unique soprano voice has afforded him the ability to shape a career as a solo artist. He has been seen in performances with the Mississippi Chorus, Harry Burleigh Spiritual Festival, Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church, and the Holtzclaw Summer Institute. Tamarceo has been teaching vocal music education for seven years and strives to empower his students through song.
Jeron Stephens
Jeron Stephens is the Director of Choral Activities at Melvin H. Kreps Middle School is East Windsor, NJ. There, Stephens developed a comprehensive vocal program, including four curricular choirs and one extracurricular choir, and has grown its size four-fold by continuously innovating ways to interact and engage with his students. Throughout his six years at Melvin H. Kreps, the programs have received superior ratings at Music in the Parks, the NJMEA Middle School Choral Festival, and other competitions and festivals. Stephens received his BA in Musical Education (voice) from Mason Gross School of Arts at Rutgers University.
David Stern
David is delighted to be serving on the faculty at the University of Maine at Orono. Bachelor in Music Education was obtained from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Masters and Ph. D from Texas Tech University.
Gerard Stokes
Gerard Stokes teaches K-5 general music in Berkeley County Schools in South Carolina. His Bachelor of Science in Music Education came from South Carolina State University and his Masters of Education Administration and Supervision from Southern Wesleyan University. He completed Orff Level I at Winthrop University and Level II at Appalachian State University. He serves AOSA as a member of the Diversity and Inclusion subcommittee and as chapter president of the Lowcountry Chapter of AOSA. Mr. Stokes has presented at AOSA’s Professional Learning Network, co-presented for Teaching with Orff.
Birce Tanriguden
Tanriguden earned her B.S in music theory and composition at Bilkent University; Music Pedagogy Certification at Baskent University; and M.S in Music Education at University of Hartford. Presently, she is pursuing a doctoral degree in music education at the Hartt School. She has been teaching music to students from preschool to college level since 2007. Her current professional activities include working as the piano faculty of Hartt Community Division, teaching assistant and supervisor of student teachers at the Hartt School. Tanriguden presents her works and research at conferences, including the NAfME and CMEA annual conferences and the SMTE Research Symposiums
Leslie Weaver
Leslie Weaver, MS, MMEd is a K-5 General Music Teacher in the Hamburg Area School District in Hamburg, PA. She is in her 17th year of teaching in the Pennsylvania Public Schools. She is an Endorsed Teacher Trainer in First Steps in Music.
Erin Zaffini
Dr. Erin Zaffini is the Director of Teacher Education for the fully online Master of Music in Music Education program and Summer Studies at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA. She has taught preK-8 general music, adaptive music, and choral and instrumental music. She is an active clinician around the country, she serves as the General Music Chair and Mentor Program Coordinator for the New Hampshire Music Educators Association and sits on the Advisory Committee for the Music Educators Journal. Dr. Zaffini is the project leader for NAfME’s National Music Mentor Training Initiative. She has published articles in General Music Today, Music Educators Journal, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, and Qualitative Research in Music Education.
MMEA Board Members
MMEA Past Presidents
Elbridge Pitcher 1916-1917
A.V. Sprague 1920
Gertrude Thorne 1921
Lilla Atherton 1922
Elbridge Pitcher 1923-1925
Eve Towne 1926
Dorothy Marden 1927-1929
Mary Stuart 1931-1932
Ethel Wardwell 1933
Fredrick A. Westcott 1934
Gertrude Smith 1935
H.A. Hurd 1936
Leland Whipple 1937-1939
Lilla Atherton 1939-1940
Mary Smart 1941-1942
Madeline Perazzi 1944-1947
Angela Tsika 1948-1949
Ary Dulfer 1950-1951
Ellen F. Blodgett 1952-1953
Elizabeth Canavan 1954-1955
Katherine Ela 1956-1957
Anna Crouse 1958-1960
Nina Bailey 1960-1961
Richard Barbeur 1962
Nina Bailey 1963
Edward Murphy 1964-1966
Paul Phelan 1966-1968
S. Merrill Shea 1968-1970
Aime Simoneau 1970-1972
Frank Stevens 1972-1974
Robert S. Modr 1974-1976
Lawrence Woodward 1976-1978
Curvin “Chip” Farnham 1978-1980
Ceila Jones 1980-1982
Joseph Henry 1982-1984
Charlotte Neuberger 1984-1986
Bob Bahr 1986-1988
Bruce Lewia 1988-1990
Nancy Cash-Cobb 1990-1992
Betty W. Atterbury 1992-1994
Terry Eldridge 1994-1996
Arnold Poland 1996-1998
Faith Varney 1998-2000
Terry Eldridge 2000
Faith Varney 2000-2002
Joan Hamann 2002-2004
Ed Judd 2004-2006
Rob Westerberg 2006-2008
Silvia Moore-Young 2008-2010
Dr. Michele Kaschub 2010-2012
Nancy Penna Curran, 2012-2014
Pamela Kinsey 2014-2016
Susan Barre 2016-2018
Benjamin Potvin 2018–2020
Sandra Barry 2020–2022
MMEA Association Board
Executive Committee
President: Sandy Barry
President-Elect: Andrew Forster
Past President: Ben Potvin
Executive Director: Beth LaBrie
Board Officers
Secretary: Cassie Cooper
Treasurer: Sarah Bailey
G. Music K-5 VP: Dorie Tripp
G. Music 6-12 VP: Dr. Christian Giddings
Orchestra VP: Linda Vaillancourt
Band VP: Bill Buzza
Choral VP: Drew Albert
Jazz VP: Matt Waite
District Chairs
D1 Chair: Missy Shabo
D2 Chair: Sarah Dow-Shedlarski
D3 Chair: Brandon Duras
D4 Chair: Danielle Gorman
D5 Chair: Danielle Collins
D6 Chair: Marleina Ford
D7 Chair: Pam Kinsey
Specialty Interest Chairs
Music Teacher Education Chair:
Dr. Philip Edelman
Tri-M Honors Society Chair:
Dr. Richard Nickerson
Advocacy Chair: Melissa Birkhold
Retired Teachers Chair: Sam Moore-Young
Collegiate Chapter Chair: Dr. Jocelyn Armes
USM Collegiate Representatives: Josh Hyssong, Katie Lind, & Gabe Reed
UMO Collegiate Representative:
Jacob LaMontagne, Emily Dulap, & Kylie Temple
Conference Chairs
Conference Co-Chairs: Nancy Cash-Cobb & Andy Forster
Registrar: Jon Simonoff
Jazz Conference Assistant: Mike Sakash
State Festival Managers
BOC All-State SSAA Chorus: Colin Graebert& Nora Krainis
BOC All-State SATB Chorus: Ashley Albert
BOC All-State Orchestra: John Lawson
BOC All-State Band: Kyle Smith
Jazz All-State Honors Jazz: Kyle Smith
Jazz All-State Jazz Band: Mike Sakash
Jazz All-State Combo: Pat Michaud
Jazz All-State SSAA Chorus: Pamela Kinsey
Jazz All-State SATB Chorus: Jesse Wakeman
State Festival Chairs
BOC All-State Festival Chair: Kristen Thomas
All-State Auditions Chair: Brian Hutchinson
Instrumental Jazz Chair: Becky Mallory
Publication Staff
Webmaster: Adam Metzler
Editor: Hanna Flewelling
APPLY BY JULY 15
The Advocacy in Action Awards program is designed to collect, recognize, and share effective practices and initiatives that support music education in our schools. We hope that by celebrating these programs, we can inspire others to lead by example and take action in their own programs and communities.
Categories include: Community Involvement Decision-Maker Engagement Innovative Fundraising Pandemic Perseverance Parent/Booster Support Student Recruitment, Engagement, and Retention
