The Maine Motif - Winter 2024

The Maine

JANUARY 2024 VOLUME 8, NO. 2

MAINE MUSIC EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION

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From Top : Camden Harbor; Merlin Lightpainting via Pexels: Max Fischer Via Pexels

CONTENTS

6 FROM THE BOARD 4 MMEA Board 2023–2024 5 President’s Desk Thankful

By Andy Forster

FEATURES 6 The View from Midcoast Maine Interview by Sandy Barry

11 Science and Music

By Brandon Duras

11

17 The Topic of Adminstrators

By John Neal

INTO SPECIFICS 9 DEIA

New Year, New ME

By Nate Menifield

17

January 2023 | 3

MMEA Board Executive Board President Andy Forster president@mainemea.org President-Elect Matt Waite presidentelect@mainemea.org Past-President Sandy Barry pastpresident@mainemea.org Executive Director Beth LaBrie execdirector@mainemea.org

Board Officers Secretary Cassie Cooper Treasurer Sarah Bailey G. Music K-5 VP Caitlin Geishaker G. Music 6-12 VP Kayla Peard Orchestra VP Andria Bacon Band VP Sarah Dow Choral VP Dr. Christian Giddings Jazz VP George Redman

District Chairs D1 Chair Eric Halpin-Desmaris D2 Chair Erika Batalla Gates D3 Chair Brandon Duras

MMEA Executive Director Office Hours: Beth LaBrie will be providing Office Hours each week when she will be readily available by phone or email: Email: execdirector@mainemea.org Phone: 207-754-5426 Hours: Monday 8:00-10:00 a.m. & Wednesday 11:00-1:00 p.m. Evening appointments during the week are also available.

Every effort will be made to reply to communications within 24 hours of weekly business hours (Mon–Fri).

4 | The Maine Motif

D4 Chair Kris Vigue D5 Chair Danielle Collins D6 Chair Jamie Calandro D7 Chair Jon Simonoff

Specialty Interest Chairs DEIA Nathaniel Menifield Music Teacher Education Dr. Philip Edelman Tri-M Honors Society Maylinda Boyton Advocacy Heidi Corliss Retired Teachers Nora Krainis MMEA Historian Sam Moore-Young Teacher Mentor Erin Morrison Collegiate Advisory Council Dr. Rebecca Dewan MIOSM Savannah Wright

January 2024 Volume 8, No. 2 The official publication of the

Maine Music Educator’s Association Maine Music Educators Association (MMEA)

Publication Staff Webmaster Adam Metzler Editor Hanna Flewelling Social Media Hanna Flewelling

Conference & Festival Chairs Conference Bill Buzza Conference Registrar Jon Simonoff Jazz Conference Assistant OPEN BOC All-State Festival Kristen Thomas Jazz All-State Festival OPEN All-State Auditions David Morris Instrumental Jazz Jason Priest Vocal Jazz OPEN Solo & Ensemble OPEN

State Festival Managers BOC All-State SSAA Chorus Julia Edwards BOC All-State SATB Chorus Ashley Albert BOC All-State Orchestra Ben David Richmond BOC All-State Band Kyle Smith Jazz All-State Honors Jazz Craig Skeffington Jazz All-State Jazz Band Craig Ouellette Jazz All-State Combo Jason Priest Jazz All-State SSAA Chorus Wendy Northrup Jazz All-State SATB Chorus Ciara Hargrove

235+ members including working music educators, retired teachers, and collegiate students Formally founded in 1917, MMEA is the oldest recognized state music educator association in the USA.

Mission Statement: Mission: To advance, advocate for, and expand access to music education in Maine.

Vision: Advancing music education for all.

All editorial materials should be sent to: Hanna Flewelling, Editor Email: editor@mainemea.org

All advertising information and orders should be sent to: Beth Labrie, Executive Director Email: execdirector@mainemea.org

Thankful

From the President’s Desk

I

t has been a busy fall semester for all of us and I am thankful for the amazing work that is done each day by music teachers across our great state. In spite of the tragedy in Lewiston, the challenge of extended power outages and flooding, music teachers continued to be beacons of light for students. Although our BOC audition plans abruptly changed, MMEA provided multiple opportunities for any student who registered for an audition. Much credit for that success goes to David Morris, our Auditions Chair and Beth LaBrie, our Executive Director.

A very special thank you also to our audition hosts at Greely High School, Sarah Bailey & Kevin Rollins, for accommodating many more students and working longer hours than previously planned. That gratitude also needs to be extended to our slate of judges who pivoted gracefully with our change in plans.

All MMEA award and recognition applications are open for submission Outstanding New Music Educator Award Hall of Fame Award Educator of the Year

MMEA’s financial recovery continues and, as I’m sure you are aware, is not a quick fix. One of our important goals involves increasing our revenue stream through sponsorships. I was hoping at this point in the year to be able to report about a long list of new sponsors but the process has been slower than anticipated and is sometimes interrupted by the fulltime jobs we have. We will update you on our progress this spring.

Outstanding Administrator Award

MMEA is only as strong as its membership. If you have friends and colleagues who are not members of NAfME, please encourage them to join and grow our own organization here in Maine. Growing our membership means increasing opportunities for students and teachers.

Educator Appreciation Award

I hope you all had a restful vacation. I look forward to seeing you at festivals and at our own conference in May.

Musically, Andy

Deadline March 1st January 2023 | 5

The View From

The Midcoast of Maine Interview by Sandy Barry

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6 | The Maine Motif

titions (Poland and Italy), been named the 2022 MMEA New Music Educator, and is also one of the 2023 Yamaha 40 under 40.

2024 shows no signs of slowing down; Brandon will marry his fiance Morgan in June, and in July, he will travel to South Korea to present a session on “Rehearsal Techniques for High School Band” at the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE). Upon his return, you’ll find Brandon tending his bee hives and romping in his yard with his pet corgi, Eggo.

Nate Menifield is originally from Limestone, Maine, and now calls Brunswick his home. Nate has spent his career in education, beginning at Kennebunk High School for nine years, a year at the Department of Education as the Visual and Performing Arts Specialist, and returning to music education in his current position teaching Middle and High School music and chorus in Freeport. MMEA is also grateful

for Nate’s work as the DEI Chair, and he serves as the District 3 Secretary and Librarian.

In addition to teaching and leading, Nate is an active performer.

A classical Baritone soloist, he has been a ChoralArt and the Amethyst Chamber Ensemble member and currently sings with the Maine Gay Men’s Chorus. He looks forward to traveling to Minnesota this July to perform with the group.

Nate actually started as a flutist and recalls sitting in rehearsals of the Northern Maine Chamber Orchestra next to Pamela Kinsey, who had none other than Ben Potvin on her other side. Both Ben and Nate had grown up in District 7, but their paths did not cross again until after college graduation. Now married, they share their home with their 2-year-old daughter, Ava.

How would you describe your District—geography, school makeup, communities...?

NM & BD: District 3 is a sprawling

Wgungi via pixabay

INCE I LIVE in the District 3 town of Freeport, I foolishly thought that this interview would be a cinch to schedule. Coordinating an interview time and place required juggling school, family, pets, children, and travel issues, but it proved well worth the effort. This installment of “The View From….” brings us to the mid-coast of Maine and a fascinating conversation with two great educators.

Brandon Duras, the current District 3 Chair, hails from Nashua, New Hampshire. Although he cannot claim Maine as his home state, he has come to his senses and has just purchased his first home here, in the City of Bath. Brandon is the Brunswick High School Band Director, a position he has held for five years since graduating with his Masters in Conducting from the University of New Hampshire.

In his brief time in the profession, Brandon has already participated in two international conducting compe-

The View From... area encompassing much of coastal Maine from Freeport to Camden Hills. It stretches west to Lisbon Falls and includes Vinylhaven, North Haven, Westport, Matinicus, and Iseleboro islands. While picturesque, this geographic diversity provides many challenges to offering balanced opportunities.

There is a wide variety of socio-economic profiles in the schools, and school sizes range as much as the student profiles. District Three is home to several large town and city school districts, such as Bath, Brunswick, and Augusta.

Most other towns are organized into RSUs, MSADs, Unions, AOSs, and private schools. Music programs reflect this variety, from quite large to very small.

competition for students and their time in music activities, and the competition is moving to younger and younger children. This has impacted my overall involvement and long-term participation in music for some time. The pandemic highlighted this and other issues, so we (started to) pay attention.

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istrict 3 leadership has been wrestling with affordability issues for events and is actively working on longrange solutions to keep fees reasonable and events responsibly funded. By projecting future costs of events over several years, they are making the case to colleagues for the need to slowly increase rates to continue to offer opportunities for students.

New activities and events led to more forward-thinking about how music can look.

NM: District 3 is a microcosm of Maine—a few large towns/schools with robust music programs that enjoy support from many avenues and smaller towns and cities that must work cooperatively to ensure the basics.

Even before the pandemic, Maine was beginning to experience significant changes in education.

What particular changes affected your District the most? (population shift/decline, budget shortfalls, scheduling challenges, rise/ fall in public support for education) How did /does your District address these challenges?

NM: there is a wide range of what support looks like in this area—true arts support and community involvement in the arts. Some areas enjoy proper access to performance venues, studios, and events, compared to rural places where teachers may not remain long, and the communities do not have many arts organizations. We saw increased

BD: One thing we see in some places is an increase in school support from the community after years of decreases and cuts.

Increases can be due to administrative change, community involvement, and new offerings, while in historically strong programs, support is actually decreasing. The view is that the program is “good enough.” This does not promote future growth and advancement.

Speaking of the pandemic, describe how your District weathered this crisis. What was lost?

What lessons were learned?

What is it like today?

BD: during the pandemic, District 3 offered experience in place of festivals, like master classes for high school students. Students auditioned virtually and were awarded comments, and all were invited to attend the master classes. It wasn’t easy to get teacher involvement, and this continues, but there is

improvement. New teachers in the District are offering to host and manage events. All District leadership positions were filled for this year. How schools value music has an impact and can be a barrier to hosting events where flexibility and access to facilities are required.

NM: Since the pandemic, Brunswick has become one of the fastest-growing communities for families in the state.

BD: I’m noticing changes in budget–while we may have lost instructional time, ESSER funding supported increased program spending. As the funding times out, public funds will need to pick up where Federal money was to continue supporting purchased items and new initiatives.

Although this is the first full year out of the pandemic, in some ways, it feels like the most challenging year so far. There seems to be an air of distrust from families, much questioning from students, and challenges to expectations.

During the pandemic, there was a necessary focus on the individual, one’s mental health, and work/life balance. This change in focus filtered to the students. There is now more self-investment, wanting to control their time and set their boundaries, which translates into time and commitment conflicts.

NM: The pandemic allowed teachers to reimagine music education and provided the impetus to think about it differently, beyond “the ensemble”—whether we wanted to or not. Communities had to let go of traditions and old expectations and embrace new offerings. New activities and events led to more forward-thinking about how music can look. There’s a considerable need to reshape the curriculum to harness the interests of the broader population of the school. After being so reactive to circumstances (of pandemic teaching), rethinking how to offer music education January 2023 | 7

The View From...

BD: It’s great to be in a place where you can ask, “Where do you start?” asking each other for help, and that conversation being part of the natural professional process.

So much sharing and commiserating occurred during the pandemic. We need to keep that helping mindset going.

became more proactive and intentional, directed at how to reach the students of 2022 onward.

What would you like your colleagues in the rest of Maine to know about your District that they might not know? What are your hopes for the future of your District? For the future of music education?

BD: It’s the best part of Maine!

NM: District 3 is comprised of welcoming colleagues who are friendly and supportive. Coming out of the pandemic spurred lots of collaborative conversations, lots of rebuilding talks; silos came down– working together to best answer our common questions like “How can we boost our programs?”

“How can we be more efficient with resources?”

BD: The pandemic allowed for a more philosophical view of our practice, more big ideas…it would be nice to bring some of these things to the front. Wanting to connect with other schools and work on common goals that would benefit both programs.

NM: These connections could span the barriers of what D3 sees— the sprawl, the disparity…much like Maine.

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uch like District 3 itself, this conversation covered diverse ground in a collegial, energetic, and positive way. The pandemic had a significant impact on all of us, our way of life, and our communities. Nate Menifield and Brandon Duras are no different.

The lessons they are choosing to take with them are those of imagining what possibilities there can be, how to offer, ask for, and, most importantly, accept help. n

MAKING ADVOCACY ACTIONABLE! Tune in to the NAfME Music Education Advocate Podcast T H E N A f M E M U S I C E D U C AT I O N

#MEAPodcast | bit.ly/MEAPodcast Host: Jazzmone Sutton

A D V O C AT E P O D C A S T

Join host Jazzmone Sutton, NAfME State Advocacy Engagement Manager, and other music education advocates to hear their stories and reflections on how to make advocacy actionable for the music education advocate.

8 | The Maine Motif

New Year, New ME DEIA

Striving for Equity in Maine’s Music Community

Luis Quintero

S

O, WHAT’S YOUR New Year’s resolution?”

Each year, I seem to spend more time and energy preemptively concocting ways to evade this question than simply crafting a resolution in the first place. It isn’t that I don’t want to improve or that I don’t have goals in mind. Rather, it’s that labeling it a “New Year’s resolution” drastically increases the likelihood that I’ll enthusiastically commit for a week; find myself overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of my goal; and gingerly set it in the back of the proverbial closet, only to pull it out, dust it off, and try again next year. Given the choice between falling short of those few extra minutes on the treadmill (again) or faking a phone call to avoid the conversation altogether, I’ll nearly always opt for the latter.

For many of us invested in the work of education, reflecting on the roles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA) in our professional spaces can feel similarly daunting. In our efforts to cultivate inclusive spaces in which every student is welcomed, valued, and heard, the ongoing work of deep self-reflection and confronting often uncomfort-

By Nate Menifield

able realities can be overwhelming.

Considered in the context of the music room, it doesn’t take long for such work to become shrouded by concert deadlines, perpetual meetings, and the countless other daily demands of a music educator, despite our best intentions.

In light of these challenges, how might we strengthen our resolve to be more equity-minded in 2024?

Acknowledge the “wins”

As musicians, we’re trained to be critical. As teachers, it’s what we practice each day: we listen, we tweak, we fix. In the midst of the constant refining, though, it can be easy to lose sight of the successes. In music rooms all over the state, teachers are already building a culture of belonging in which countless students are allowed and encouraged to be their authentic selves each and every day. Improvement is important, but don’t forget to acknowledge the good that’s already happening in the process.

Review the landscape

Take a bird’seye view of your music program. Whose voice is present at the table, and, equally importantly, whose is not? Are some voices more influential than others? Is your program representative of your larger school community? How is success measured in your classroom, and are all stu-

dents provided the necessary support to reach that standard? Consider your own responses to these questions, along with the responses of your students. By making space for as many voices in the conversation as possible, areas in need of deeper attention may reveal themselves organically.

Start manageably

Applying a DEIA lens to the broader landscape of our music programs is an invaluable and worthwhile journey that may naturally lead to thoughts of, “Where and how do I even begin this work?” As when introducing a new piece of music to your students, narrow your focus.

What is one small, manageable shift that you can make in your practice, procedures, or protocols that can lead you closer to your vision of a classroom that is more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and/ or accessible? Whether diversifying your repertoire, proposing a new course, or using a variety of questioning techniques in class discussions, consider what feels manageable to you, and let that be your first step.

Break the bubble

Striving for equity is not meant to be a solo venture! Throughout the state, the experience of being the only music teacher in a school is a common one. Teaching in a bubble can lead to feelings of isolation and insulation. Breaking the bubble and finding a partner with whom to share your equity goals and progress toward fulfilling them can provide much needed connection and accountability as you commit January 2023 | 9

DEIA to moving forward in your journey.

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Use your resources

lthough no single person has all of the answers, please know that there is a broad community of us who are passionate about and actively engaged in this work, and who are here to be a resource for you! Whether you find yourself in need of a thought partner, helpful research, or just want to share your good work, MMEA’s inaugural DEIA Committee looks forward to hearing from you. We are a six-person committee whose members serve as a microcosm of Maine’s diverse music education landscape, and whose mission is “to educate, advocate, engage, and empower the Maine music education community by intentionally fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in every action and branch of our organization in order to cultivate a culture of belonging.”

2023-2024 DEIA Committee

NAfME Online Professional Learning Community Upcoming LIVE Webinar Schedule

Feb . 7 @7pm Praxis Practice: Prepare to Pass!

Come to learn about the Praxis II Music Content/Instruction Assessment, and learn some practical tips and strategies geared toward preparing for and passing it! Both presenters have had exceptional success in supporting students preparing for this test.

Join Collegiate Advisory Council members Dr. Heidi Welch (Eastern Division Representative) and Dr. Tomisha Price-Brock (Member-At-Large) as they present on this heavily requested topic.

Feb. 23 @ 7pm (PT) Town Hall: NAfME Council for Guitar Education Join the members of the NAfME Guitar Council as we personally answer your pedagogical guitar questions. We will have different breakout rooms to specifically address your needs in the classroom!

Learn more at: https://nafme.org/ professional-learning-events/event-calendar/

10 | The Maine Motif

Nate Menifield, Chair - Freeport MS/HS, Freeport Sarah Cousins - James F. Doughty School, Bangor Dr. Rebecca DeWan - University of Maine, Orono Catherine Newell - Eight Corners Primary School, Scarborough Ben Richmond - John Bapst Memorial HS, Bangor Marisa Weinstein - Warsaw MS, Pittsfield

As we collectively reflect on the past year and prepare to embrace the work of the next, I invite us to aim for the deceptively simple command of the sixth principle of Kwanzaa, Kuumba: to leave our community better than we inherited it. Let us leave our classrooms better than we found them. Let us send our students away more loved, encouraged, and valued than when they came to us. Let us commit to supporting each other on the journey.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s about time I dust off this year’s resolution. n

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Science Music Consider collaborating with a colleague and coming up with an interdisciplinary lesson plan or course to show students the breadth and depth of music.

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REMEMBER PICKING my classes for my senior year of high school. I knew I wanted to go into music, so I packed my schedule with every music class and extracurricular I could take: band, jazz band, AP music theory, jazz literature and improvisation, and guitar. More than half my schedule was music classes!

To make room for these classes, I dropped science because I had already fulfilled my science requirement for graduation. Many of my friends took physics during our senior year, but I didn’t. Fast forward to today: I am a music teacher teaching a physics class!

“Why on earth would they let a music teacher teach a science

by Brandon Duras

course?” Well, it all started when I was a new teacher thinking of how to expand the course offerings at Brunswick High School in Maine. After collaborating with a colleague, Kait Ostrov, who was part of my new-teacher mentorship program, we decided to present a new course to the school board: The Physics of Music. The idea came from a brainstorming session that I had to increase course offerings at our school. I knew a lot of my students had an interest in science, so this seemed like a no-brainer. This would be the first class that could fulfill either a science or performing arts credit, and it would be the first class taught interdisciplinarily by two teachers.

The process for presenting the course had to begin early enough to fit into budget season and course selections. We worked together to give a justification of the course as well as a course overview and needs. We presented that to our curriculum coordinator for the school district and she took it over from there presenting it to the school board coming back to us with any questions. The school board approved it and it went into the course book! However, this course has been in the course book for three years, we never had enough students to justify running the course—until now.

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “STEAM not STEM,” which January 2023 | 11

seems small after I said we never had enough signed up to run it in the past! We have more next semester) in front of us, it was my turn to explain parts of the lab that they would be doing.

The idea of assigning labs to students is so foreign to me. Frankly, it sounds like the plot of a bad sitcom about a music teacher who lost his job due to budget cuts but is lucky to be offered the open science teacher position. (Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up!)

What I realized in that moment is that although it’s a different environment, teaching in music classrooms happens the same way as other classrooms.

It was so fun to walk around to different workstations answering questions and guiding the students in their first day of learning in a completely new course. Maybe I was just excited to show off my knowledge of science, but in hindsight, I was really just showing off my impeccable technique playing the whirly tube and wine glasses!

What made this experience so natural and comforting was knowing that there was another teacher there to answer the questions that I couldn’t and vice versa. Yes, we are helping share our knowledge in our respective fields, but at a deeper level, the students recognize that they might not always have the answers, and it’s okay to ask for help.

We knew that we truly could not do this without each other.

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First-Day-of-School Jitters

wrote this on the first day of our interdisciplinary class: Everyone gets those first-dayof-school jitters that comes with the nervousness and excitement of the unknown. I certainly did as I entered a classroom filled with test tubes and beakers to teach music. All those nerves went away when class started. With a great group of 6 students (I know, it 12 | The Maine Motif

Learning the Basics

As I mentioned earlier, I never took

physics in high school or college.

I was completely out of my element (haha, get it—elements?).

I had a lot of catching up to do, but I was excited to do it. Cracking open a book about physical properties of acoustics is not something most people look forward to, but once I started, I was excited to keep going. Maybe that’s just my lifelong-learner side talking. I read, reread and took notes to grasp all the stuff I missed out on, and boy, did I feel like I should have taken physics back in high school!

My purpose in the class (and that of my co-teacher’s) became clear.

My role was to understand the scientific properties we are teaching and how to relate those to the physical things that happen when you play an instrument. For example, why does a clarinet play lower than a flute? How do sound waves get amplified from a vibrating string? What physical features of an instrument affect the frequency?

How and why do we quantify frequency into pitch? My co-teacher’s role was to understand the science at a deeper level to be able to explain those properties and the calculations behind them. Our specific roles helped us work together.

Learning from Each Other

Early on in developing this course, we struggled to find the best path to present it to the school board.

Would it be a science class or a music class? How would we convince them to let two teachers teach one class? We knew that we truly could not do this without each other. Maybe we could each learn everything we needed to know

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

is how many schools attempt to promote art as an integral part of education that has increasingly become more focused on science, technology, engineering and math as future career fields for students.

Here I am doing it, folks!

Music teachers often get defensive trying to prove our worth in comparison to core subject educators, and we have argued that “none of your favorite things would exist without music and art.” Luckily for me, my school looks at electives (in our case, music) as being of equal or similar value to core classes. So, at this rare moment of unity, this interdisciplinary course seemed perfect. Besides, what student wouldn’t want to take a class taught by two of their favorite teachers at the same time?!

While I believe that my students are learning a lot from this class, here are some things I have learned myself.

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about music and science to teach the course alone, but we were lucky to be given the opportunity to coteach the class. I get to learn every day from my fantastic co-teacher, not only things about science, but about classroom management, differentiated instruction, varied teaching methods, etc. These are skills and techniques that I can bring back to my music classes.

They say two heads are better than one—and this is a perfect example.

Christina Morillo via Pexels

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Co-teaching is something that may feel a little unnatural at first, but it gets easier. Sometimes it feels like I have no clue what is going on and can’t be of any help explaining a topic, but I’m sure (I hope) that she feels the same way at times. It is fun and feels organic (another science pun) to riff (music pun) off each other. And I believe that helps deliver the material to the students in an effective way — we have a lot of chemistry (okay, I’m sorry, I’m done). Some questions come to me, and others go to her. The students know each of our strengths, and they also know that there are two teachers there

to help them.

The Value

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, my co-teacher and I recognized early on how much value our respective subjects have, and how much value we have as science and music educators. That is why we knew we could be successful offering this interdisciplinary course. It has also been nice to hear from others how awesome they think this course is. And they’re not wrong, it is pretty cool. My colleagues see the value in music classes — and I’m one of the lucky ones, I know — but it means a lot to hear from others how much they see the impact of your work.

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You Can Do This, Too!

ome up with your own ideas for interdisciplinary courses or steal ours! I’m sure there are plenty of others that you could come up with that may best serve your student population.

Our students excel in both science and music (no surprise that the music kids are excelling, right?), which led us to the course we developed. So far we feel like it has been successful and hope to contin-

ue running it so long as students continue to sign up for it. Getting it started was the hard part, but keeping it going should be easy with students sharing how much they enjoyed the class! We may have more ideas in the future, and hope we can inspire others to offer true interdisciplinary courses.

Every school is different, and the process of adding a new course is different, so talk with your principal or department chair about what that looks like for you.

I realize that staffing at other schools might not allow for two teachers to teach a course, but I would encourage you to collaborate with another teacher on a unit or even a lesson in some of your classes. Invite a teacher to work with you on something you’re teaching or offer your expertise to help enhance another teacher’s class. Music’s place in other disciplines is endless. I guarantee that you’ll learn a lot from those other teachers — I’m lucky to get that experience every day.

Additionally, you’ll get a chance to collaborate and maybe even see the sun beyond your concrete rehearsal room walls.

Not to sing my own praises (and trust me you don’t want me to sing), but if this course was taught when I was in high school, I definitely would have taken it because it was relatable to the world I was about to dive into. Co-teaching an interdisciplinary course like this has been extremely valuable for me. It pushed me to grow as a teacher and as a learner. It forced me to leave the windowless rooms of the music wing and go see other people and watch how they teach.

It encouraged me to collaborate more—something I preach in my rehearsal room frequently. And it made me put my money where my mouth was and make STEM into STEAM. n This article originally appeared on the Yamaha Educator Suite blog site: hub.yamaha.com/ musiceducators.

January 2023 | 13

Learn more at nafme.org/MIOSM #MIOSM | #MusicIsMe

Thoughts from the Downside

The Topic of

Administrators

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OTED MUSIC EDUCATOR and speaker Tim Lautzenheiser has a great joke— Q: what are the minimum requirements to be an administrator? A: A masters degree and two losing seasons! Which, of course, speaks to the cliché that most principals are jocks—and that is often the case. To me, this means that an administrator is to us just another student, one who needs instruction in order to appreciate what we need and what we do.

RDNE Stock Projec t via Pexels

Creating Bonds

I have found that the best way to do this is to stop calling it “my program” and start calling it “our program”—“our” meaning, “mine AND my administrator’s.” When you talk to your principal, refer to it as “our band,” “our program,” “our choir,” “our orchestra”—and whenever your program gets good publicity, be sure to include your principal in it. Every concert program should include thanks to your principal, and whenever you speak to your school committee, include a way to acknowledge something your principal has done for the music. This way, when things go south (as they inevitably will), you have somebody in your corner.

By John Neal

I have also, over the years, heard many high school band directors wax eloquent about some power play that they pulled on their principal, getting their own way in some regard while making the principal look small. I would submit that such people, while they may have won a battle, are losing the war. But I, myself, was once no different—perhaps you can learn from my experience: Know first that I had the privilege of obtaining a bachelors degree in music education from The Ohio State University, then as now one of the top band schools in the country.

I left OSU believing that I (having obtained my degree) was now one of the lofty, almost deified, beings like those who directed the bands at the University; and that, by virtue of my training and profession, my vision was now unimpeachable and my word was now law.

And so I started my first job, at Van Buren District Secondary School, the band director for grades 5–12. I was responsible for teaching middle school and high school bands, and beginning band in grades 5 and 6—which meant that I had to travel between three schools over the course of my day.

Mirror Image

I therefore duly approached all three principals and laboriously worked out with them a schedule which accommodated the needs of all three constituencies. And so, after all this effort, you can well imagine my irritation when I arrived at one of the elementary schools, excited to begin teaching music, only to be told by one of the classroom teachers that they could not release their kids to me because this was “Fountain Valley” time, a period of school-wide sustained reading instruction. Furious, I rushed unannounced into the principal’s office, steam coming out of my ears, and barked loudly into his face, “Why the hell wasn’t I told about this G*ddamned Fountain Valley?”!

You know, in all the rest of my career, I never again saw a principal leap over his desk. A former collegiate football player, this guy was 6'2", about 220 pounds, and he was not happy. Vaulting his desk, he rushed directly at me and, forcing me back across his office and literally against the wall, he screamed into my face, “WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE BARGING INTO MY OFFICE AND QUESTIONING MY PROGRAMS??!!!”.

This, I was not expecting.

Stop calling it “my program” and start calling it “our program.”

January 2023 | 15

Thoughts from...

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16 | The Maine Motif

Stunned into silence, I could only stand speechless as he then took two steps backwards, assumed his normal professional face, and asked me in a quiet voice, “There—how do you like it? People are mirrors and they will reflect back to you whatever it is that you present to them”.

Jock though he was, he was mature enough to see a teachable moment with a rookie employee, and make the most of it. He then acknowledged that he had indeed overlooked the Fountain Valley program, apologized for creating a problem for me, and worked with me to alter the schedule so that all could be accommodated. After that, I always thought about how I would like to be approached in the resolution of a conflict—before I approached somebody.

Principals, you see, must take the bird’s-eye view, recognizing that every teacher is as passionate about their program as we are about ours, and all the while trying to maximize an insufficient budget for the greater good of all students.

They must often arbitrate between competing interests. In fact, one of the best principals of my career once told me that a good principal could never stay more than seven years in one school, reasoning that if they did the job right, and actually made decisions, they would alienate enough people over seven years’ time that, finally, they would be opposed in whatever they tried to do—because once you tell someone “no”, they resolve that the next time they are asked to do something, they will get even by refusing to do it.

A thankless job, principal—you have to answer to parents, to teachers, to board members, and nobody is on your side. Which is why you want to include them in your success, make them feel that you are on their side, associate them with happy kids doing music for happy parents. Because when things go south, you for sure want them in your corner. n

2024 Biennial NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education Conference The Westin Peachtree Plaza, Atlanta, Georgia September 25–28, 2024 Join us in Atlanta this year!

The Executive Committees of NAfME’s Society for Research in Music Education and Society for Music Teacher Education have an open call for research proposals for the 2024 Biennial Conference, starting January 8, 2024, through February 12, 2024.

For proposal submission and registration information, visit: bit.ly/2024MRTE Society for Research in Music Education

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