2023 NJMEA Master Music Teacher - Missy Strong

2023 NJMEA MASTER MUSIC TEACHER

Missy Strong Fleetwood Elementary - Mount Laurel

In a career spanning 28 years, Dr. Missy Strong has taught general, choral, and instrumental music at the preschool, elementary, and middle school levels. She currently teaches elementary general and vocal music at Fleetwood Elementary in the Mount Laurel Township school district. Missy is currently the Host and Executive Producer of the Music Ed Amplified podcast and is the former Executive Producer and Host of The Tuneful, Beautiful, Artful Music Teacher podcast from 2018-2020. She is Adjunct Professor at Rowan University, Montclair State University and University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and has also taught courses at Colorado Mesa University and Toccoa Falls College. A frequent clinician, she presents education workshops, webinars, district PD, conference sessions, and courses at the international, national, regional, state, and local levels. In 2003, she earned her Master’s in Music Education from Rowan University, and in 2012, a Doctorate in Music Ed with an emphasis in early childhood development from Rutgers, New Brunswick. Her early research interests centered on infant/toddler music processes and finding ways to help primary caregivers feel more comfortable making music at home with their young children. Her most current work centers on the intersection of neuroscience and music as well as issues of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in Music Education. Missy’s major music education teachers have included John Feierabend, Lili Levinowitz, David Elliott, and Marissa Silverman.

She served as Music Education Consultant and Curriculum Writer for the Rafiki Foundation, helping design music curriculum for schools in several African countries. During her doctoral work, she was the Senior Research Assistant for Music Together, LLC, and later served as Director of Children’s Music Education at the historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia for a decade. Missy was an Endorsed Teacher Trainer for First Steps in Music and Conversational Solfege through the Feierabend Association for Music Education, for which she was also a Founding Member, Vice President, and President.

Dr. Strong is a published author and editor with articles in state and national music education journals. She is a contributing author and co-editor for the book Feierabend Fundamentals from GIA Publications, and is also a contributing author in Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches from Oxford University Press. Missy has recorded webinars for the National Association for Music Education, been a podcast guest, and has written pieces for online music blogs and for the Philadelphia Orchestra School Concert Collaborative Group.

Missy was born and raised in South Florida. She is an avid traveler, loves books and movies, and is a fan of Afternoon Tea, especially if it is taking place in England. She and her composer/pianist/audio engineer husband, Jeremy, live in South New Jersey with their four grown(ish) children, Ethan, Owen, Lorelei, and Jackson.