CollegiateColumnMichaelBurch-Pesses CollegiateChair

Have you recently visited the OMEA website (www.oregonmusic.org)?

If not, you will be delightfully boggled by all the changes. I logged on just before beginning to write this column to check the schedule for the January 2527 OMEA Conference in Eugene. This wonderfully informative and intuitive website is sure to make you want to attend!

I admit I love to attend music conferences. I try to treat myself to two conferences a year. I love to meet with my fellow music teachers, listen to the music, take notes at the clinics, hear the All-State ensembles, and swap stories with anyone who happens to be within earshot.

I love to do all these things because I’m selfish.

Yes, I’m selfish—selfish because I never want to stop growing, and all the reasons I attend conferences have to do with my personal and professional growth. One of my more cynical friends once told me that growth is greatly overrated, but, because he wasn’t a music teacher, I didn’t try to change his mind. We know that growth and professional development are essential to the success of anyone engaged in the business of teaching. Without them, we grow stale and tired in our work. By engaging in the invigorating activities of conferences and workshops, however, we renew and reinvent ourselves.

This principle applies to college students as well, which is why I’m delighted to know that so many CMENC members are planning to attend and take part in the upcoming conference. The conference is sure to provide new learning experiences for them outside the classroom and provide much worthwhile material for discussion when they return to the routine of their class schedule. The list of presenters includes educators both from Oregon and from prestigious institutions elsewhere in the country. The address by Tim Lautzenheiser, America’s top motivational speaker in music education, is sure to be worth the price of admission.

My own students are excited about attending the conference because they have been invited to perform. They also want to attend as many sessions and clinics as possible and have been pestering me for the complete conference schedule so they can plan their time. I’ve simply referred them to the OMEA website. Actually, I’ve never been so happy to be pestered, because their insistence is a reflection of their enthusiasm about learning and growing while in Eugene. I hope that teachers throughout Oregon are blessed with the same kind of students.

This year, as always, CMENC students will be on hand to help out at the conference. I will be working with CMENC chapter advisors to place college music students at rehearsals, clinics, and concerts that match their academic interests and am confident the great majority of events during the conference will proceed more smoothly because of the presence of a college student from a CMENC chapter.

A note to all the collegiate MENC members: Don’t forget to attend the CMENC breakfast. When you arrive, don’t sit next to someone you know. Instead, sit next to someone from a different school and talk about yourselves, your studies, and your hopes. You’ll find a whole roomful of like-minded people, so why not network?

And a note to everyone else: Plan now to attend. It’ll be good for your growth.