& News From Our Division Chairs Early Childhood Music Education Amy M. Burns aburns@thcds.org 973-493-5797
I am thrilled to see the Board of NJMEA have representation from music educators that teach a variety of grades and musical subject areas, such as band, orchestra, chorus, advocacy, corporate, jazz, opera, retirees, conferences, summer workshop, festivals, collegiate, technology, guitar education, and now, early childhood music education. I am honored to chair this position on the board. Currently, I am planning on connecting with numerous NJ early childhood music educators to brainstorm ideas and goals for this division. If you are interested, please contact me at the email listed above.
Guitar Education Thomas Amoriello tom@tomamoriello.com 908-342-7795
As the new chair of Guitar Education on the New Jersey Music Educators Association Board of Directors for the 2013-2014 school year, I am looking forward to sharing ideas, information and becoming a liaison to those schools which offer guitar programs. Ultimately, I would like to unify and create a synergy between guitar programs throughout the state. With your help, I would like for guitar education to benefit as many children and young adults in our public schools as possible. If you currently lead a guitar program or have a guitar ensemble, I would like you to contact me. Your experience regarding curriculum, repertoire, student involvement and the impact your program has made upon your district can benefit others greatly. Please feel free to contact me via either email or phone. Currently, states such as Virginia, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas and Oklahoma have well established guitar curriculums and I would like for New Jersey to follow suit. Furthermore, it is my opinion that New Jersey can not only follow the standard that these states already in place, but even improve upon it. A great place to begin is to create a unified approach to guitar ensemble repertoire and I would recommend using the Guitar Ensembles series available from Class Guitar Resources of Tallahassee, Florida www.classguitar.com or (800)-440-1914. In addition, if you are willing to share arrangements, transcriptions or original compositions which you have created and use as part of your curriculum with other NJ guitar educators please forward them to me. I would like to create a non-profit publication specific to NJ guitar educators and will include these materials as part of the publication, with your permission of course. The idea is to develop a standard guitar ensemble repertoire that can be used in the future at guitar events. Keith Calmes of Wall High School (Monmouth County) hosts an annual festival each spring, the details of which can be obtained by contacting him by email: kcalmes@wall.k12.nj.us or telephone: (732) 556-2077. Another performance and master class opportunity for your ensembles is offered by the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society Festival and will be held on Sunday, April 27, 2014 from 10:00 - 6:00 pm at the Settlement Music School, 416 Queen Street, Philadelphia. More information may be found on their webpage: www.phillyguitar.org. In closing, if you are a music teacher with limited guitar experience and have an interest in establishing a guitar program in your district I invite you to attend my lecture, “Incorporating the Guitar Into Your School Music Program� at the NJEA Convention in Atlantic City on Friday, November 8th, 2013 from 3:00 - 4:30 pm. The guitar has brought great joy to my life and I look forward to helping you and your students elevate the status of this wonderful instrument in our state! continued on page 20
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