c i a l i z e s i n g r o u p t r a v e l . W e ' v e h e l p e d h u n d r e d s o f s c h o o l g r o u p s t r a v e l d o m e s t i c a n d i n t e r n
i
c o n n e c t i n g , e d u c a t i n g . N e e d h e l p ? N e e d i d e a s ? R e a c h o u t !
i n f o @ i n f i n i t y t o u r s . u s 8 0 1 - 4 7 7 - 8 9 6 3
THANK YOU TO OMEA’S SUSTAINING MEMBERS
OMEA would like to thank our Sustaining Members who have supported Oregon’s music educators with valuable resources including digital and physical products and services, that have allowed our teachers to provide connection, instruction and creativity for their music students. We are delighted to collaborate with our Sustaining Members who OMEA considers industry leaders in music and education.
TITLE
SPONSOR Dutch Bros dutchbros.com
GOLD LEVEL SPONSOR
Portland State University pdx.edu/music-theater
SILVER LEVEL SPONSORS
Beacock Music
Beacockmusic.com
SUPPORTING MEMBERS
Cauble, Furr & Beguin Attorneys at Law thecaublefirm.com
Chamber Music Northwest cmnw.org
Columbians Drum & Bugle Corps columbiansdrumcorps.org
Educational Travel Services, Inc. etsi.ws
Linfield University linfield.edu/music
Eugene Ballet eugeneballet.org
Eugene Concert Choir eugeneconcertchoir.org
JW Pepper & Son, Inc jwpepper.com
Metropolitan Youth Symphony playmys.org
Music-ade, LLC music-ade.com
BRONZE LEVEL SPONSORS
Nova Music International novami.org
Oregon Ambassadors of Music oregonambassadors.com
Oregon Children’s Choir oregonchildrenschoir.org
Oregon Coast Youth Symphony Festival youthsymphonyfestival.org
Peripole Music peripole.com
251 Realty wholeheartrealty.com
Bandworld bandworld.org
Northwest Band Camps nwbandcamps.com Music Camps at Wallowa Lake wlmusiccamps.org Canter Flute Repair canterfluterepair.com
Pacific Lutheran University plu.edu/music/ Oregon Symphony orsymphony.org
Young Musicians & Artists ymaarts.org Portland Orff-Schulwerk Association portlandorff.org
Plank Road Publishing, Inc. musick8.com
Portland Youth Philharmonic portlandyouthphil.org
Quartet Violin Shop quartetviolins.com
Southern Oregon University sou.edu/academics/music
University of Portland college.up.edu/pfa/ music- program
Western Oregon University wou.edu/music
Willamette Valley Music Company wvmc.net
Yamaha Corporation of America usa.yamaha.com
FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR...
JJ Sutton OMEA Executive Director
Welcome to the 2025 fall edition of the Oregon Music Educator
Please enjoy the articles contributed by our colleagues; they serve to share a wealth of knowledge, expertise and inspiration. I also encourage you to patron our advertising partners. This publication would not be possible without the generous contributions of our advertisers and sustaining members. We are grateful for the businesses, universities, and organizations that support OMEA and our members.
Cole-Haole Valenzuela, Elizabeth Soper, and Kristi Stingle are hard at work to deliver a first-class Conference and AllState weekend in January! Please remember to register for the conference by December 31st to take advantage of the PreRegistration rate and banquet access! Visit our website and stay tuned for monthly email updates from Take 5 for OMEA
The OMEA Conference has always been the highlight of the year. So many work so hard to bring professional development, networking, and the state-wide celebration of music education to life! When I first began attending OMEA conferences as a college student, two figures stood out, they embodied everything that a music teacher should be. They were always willing to help, rarely saying “no.” They were admired, they were living monuments. In less than four months, we would lose both of these generational lions.
Jim Howell 1948 - 2025
Jim Howell was born in New York in 1948 and arrived in Salem, Oregon with his family at the age of 2.
“From a young age, Jim showed a deep love for music. He began playing the trombone in elementary school and continued nurturing that passion through his teen years. He graduated from South Salem High School and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in music from the University of Southern California.
In addition to his love of music, Jim was an avid outdoorsman. He found great joy in hiking, mountain climbing, backpacking, and camping. After college, he moved to the Eugene area, where he worked in construction and started a family with Mary Middleton. Together, they raised their son Oscar and had two more children, Emily and Wendell.
Though he stepped away from music for a time, Jim's passion never truly faded. Inspired by a professor at the University of Oregon, he returned to school to earn a master's degree in music education. That decision led to a fulfilling 20-year career as a high school music teacher in La Grande, Oregon. During his time there, he co-founded the Brass Camp at Wallowa Lake, a program that combined his love for teaching and the outdoors.
Jim later married Jane Howell, with whom he shared many years of love and partnership. He played an active role in raising their blended family and found great joy in being a steady, loving presence for his children and grandchildren.
In his later years, as Parkinson's disease gradually slowed him down, Jim became an extremely avid reader. He cherished the quiet rhythm of his mornings — a strong cup of coffee in hand and a good book in his lap. His love of learning and curiosity never faded.” from the East Oregonian, July 9, 2025
Roseburgh High School’s Branden Hansen remembers the Howells fondly- “I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to work with Jim and Jane on the Executive Board. During my time as the All-State Equipment Manager and Conference Chair, Jim was kind and an experienced guiding force for the organization. Together with Jane, he had such a significant impact on so many students and educators across our state and region.”
Serving from 2009 to 2017 as Executive Directors alongside his wife, Jane, the Howells brought a strong sense of stability to OMEA. All of Oregon’s teachers and their students continue to benefit from this strength. Jim Howell passed away on June 30, 2025.
Dave Becker 1949 - 2025
The world lost Dave Becker on the third of October this year. A native Oregonian, born in Corvallis in 1949, his life would have foundational effects on the state of school music in Oregon.
“His musical talents were apparent from an early age. He earned recognition in regional piano competitions and as a talented bassoonist, was routinely selected for All-State and All-Northwest honor bands. He graduated from Corvallis High School in 1967 and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education from the University of Oregon.
He married Kathy Brooks on August 29, 1970. After graduation from college in 1971, they embarked on teaching jobs in Lakeview, Silverton, Salem, and Eugene, where Dave built award winning high school band programs.
In 1982, Dave joined the faculty of Lewis & Clark College, where he worked for nearly 30 years as a music senior lecturer and Director
Jim and Jane Howell
Jim Howell with student
of Bands. In addition to conducting concert and jazz bands, he taught music education, conducting, and jazz appreciation courses, and taught and
supervised student teachers for the Graduate School’s Master of Arts in Teaching program. He also led hundreds of students on Fine Arts Semester Abroad programs in London and served for two years as Conductor In Residence at Oregon State University.
Throughout his career, Dave was a key leader in the Oregon Music Education Association, serving as president, treasurer, and historian.
As an enduring tribute, in 2025, OMEA renamed its annual teaching award the David Becker Outstanding Music Educator Award in Dave’s honor.
In the 1980s, Dave helped create the Oregon School Activities Association State High School Band & Orchestra Championships, which he ran for many years. He also created the Oregon High School Literature List and established the annual Lewis & Clark Workshop in New and Proven Band Literature, which drew scores of music educators from around the state to
network and review new arrangements and compositions each summer.
He was a founder and first president of the Oregon Band Directors Association, a member of the College Band Directors National Association Northwest Division, and the Oregon Alliance for Arts Education.
Dave also adjudicated, managed, or conducted more than 300 music festivals in 21 states and Canadian provinces, including conducting numerous all-state bands.
For 25 years, Dave and Kathy also ran the Oregon Ambassadors of Music program, leading European concert tours for more than 3,000 Oregon high-school band and choir students.
Retirement in 2011 opened a rich chapter of life for Dave as he and Kathy realized a lifetime dream of living full-time at the Oregon Coast. He indulged in his passion for salmon fishing, entertaining family and friends aboard his boat, Major Scales. He continued with his extensive genealogy research; restored and showed his grandparents’ 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan; traveled to Hawaii and Europe; and continued to perform in and attend concerts. Dave conducted the North Coast Symphonic Band from 2011 to 2019 and the Lake Oswego Millenium Concert Band from 2019 to 2021. His biggest joys were his children, Allison Hedgepeth and Andy Becker, both of whom became music educators, and their families.” from obituary provided by the Becker family Family, friends, former students, and colleagues will join at Lewis & Clark College in a celebration of life on November 9th.
Dave Becker
Celebration of Life
February 6, 1949 October 3, 2025
David M. Becker
November 9, 2025 2:00 PM
Agnes Flanagan Chapel Lewis and Clark College 615 S Palatine Hill Rd Portland, OR
Please join us as we celebrate the remarkable life of Dave Becker. Memories will be shared as well as a send off performance of Stars and Stripes Forever conducted by Chuck Bolton.
If you are a colleague or former student and wish to participate in this final performance please email Gene Burton at gburton60@gmail com by Oct. 19th. Gene will send you music and more detailed information.
Reception to follow in Smith Hall
Please RSVP via Google Form or email allisonhedgepeth@comcast.net
In lieu of flowers please consider donating to your favorite public school music program, the Oregon Symphony, or OMEA in honor of Dave’s love of music.
Strengthening our Profession: INTRODUCING THE OMEA MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
Erika Lockwood OMEA President
Welcome back to another school year, and if you are a new teacher or just moved to Oregon, Welcome! OMEA is here to serve you and your students as you lead and inspire young performers. This work is more essential than ever, and we know that often you are the only person in your building or even your district who understands what teaching music requires. We are all committed to your success this year, and to that end, we have launched our Mentorship Program.
In line with NAfME’s “Blueprint for Strengthening the Music Teacher Profession”, and after lots of research and conversations with MEA Presidents from across the country at the National Leadership Assembly, we have compiled resources and systems for implementation beginning Fall of 2025.
If you are an experienced educator, think back to your first years of teaching. Who was there to help you navigate the unique challenges of teaching music? We learn so much in our first few years, including classroom management, pedagogical skills, navigating conversations with administrators, planning field trips, fundraising, and feeling confident in ourselves as educators. Intentional conversations can make a big difference in those first years, and there are new teachers now who can benefit greatly from your expertise.
New and experienced teachers: read the information below, and then sign up for the Mentorship Program today by contacting President Elect and Mentorship Chair Cole HaoleValenzuela at haole-valenzuela_cole@salkeiz.k12.or.us
This is free to members, and we look forward to supporting new teachers in Oregon as they seek confidence and sustainability in this rewarding career.
Why We Need Mentoring Programs
Used with permission from Wisconsin Music Educators Association
• On their first day, first year music teachers are expected to do the same job as experienced teachers.
• Because of the placement of music classrooms and rehearsal spaces, music teachers are frequently isolated from their peers for the majority of the workday, thus preventing the natural induction process.
• Novice teachers are reluctant to ask for help for fear of appearing incompetent. Experienced teachers are reluctant to offer help for fear of appearing to interfere.
• Novice teachers frequently get extremely difficult teaching and directing assignments that would challenge even the best veteran teachers.
• Novice teachers develop coping strategies to help them survive in the classroom, and these strategies may be the very ones that prevent them from becoming effective teachers.
• Novice teachers need someone to listen to their concerns and share their elations.
• It is best practice.
Mentorship Best Practices
Those interested in participating as a mentor are encouraged to read through these helpful research-based guidelines. Used with permission from Wisconsin Music Educators Association. wmeamusic.org/pro-development/mentoring/best-practices/
The Oregon Music Education Association (OMEA) runs a Mentorship Program to support new music educators in Oregon. The program matches new teachers with experienced mentors, providing advice and assistance. This is not an evaluative program, but complements existing local and district mentoring programs.
• The Oregon Music Education Association believes every student should have access to a high quality and comprehensive music education. This should be delivered by licensed music teachers through comprehensive school programs in general, instrumental, and choral music education.
• Mentors can offer help in areas such as teaching pedagogy, classroom management, curriculum/lesson development, program administration, literature selection, and work-life balance.
• New teachers and mentors interested in the program must register on the OMEA website and agree to partner in the program. The State Mentorship Chair will use this registration data to identify new teachers and pair them with mentors.
• To become an OMEA mentor, one must have at least 5 years of successful teaching experience and be willing to devote adequate time to the mentorship relationship. Mentors should be available to their mentees and act as positive role models. They should be prepared to provide information about OMEA to their mentees and be available via phone, text, video call, or in person to answer questions, provide feedback, or offer advice.
• OMEA mentees should be in their first to fifth year of teaching or new to teaching in Oregon. They should be open to new ideas and the guidance of their mentor. After registering on the OMEA website, mentees should respond to their District leadership about the mentorship program and actively engage with their mentors.
• Upon completion of the mentorship program, participants will complete a survey of hours met and receive a PDU certificate from OMEA.
• All resources related to the mentorship program, including the program overview, mentorship resources, and program application, are available at our website, oregonmvea.org
Justification Guide for Attending the OMEA Conference
Justification Guide for Attending the OMEA Conference
For use with administrators, principals, and district-level decision makers
For use with administrators, principals, and district-level decision makers
The Oregon Music Education Association (OMEA) Annual Conference is the leading professional development event for K–12 music educators in the state Attendance at this conference is a vital investment in teacher growth, student success, and program quality.
The Oregon Music Education Association (OMEA) Annual Conference is the leading professional development event for K–12 music educators in the state Attendance at this conference is a vital investment in teacher growth, student success, and program quality.
Why Attend the OMEA Annual Conference?
Why Attend the OMEA Annual Conference?
Highly Specialized Professional Development
Highly Specialized Professional Development
Educators receive content-specific training in band, choir, orchestra, general music, modern band, mariachi, and other areas. Sessions are differentiated by grade level, ensemble type, and teaching focus offering relevant tools and strategies that directly improve classroom instruction
Educators receive content-specific training in band, choir, orchestra, general music, modern band, mariachi, and other areas. Sessions are differentiated by grade level, ensemble type, and teaching focus offering relevant tools and strategies that directly improve classroom instruction
Enhancement of Teacher Effectiveness
Enhancement of Teacher Effectiveness
Workshops are led by exper t clinicians and master teachers from Oregon and across the nation Attendees gain research-informed, classroom-tested practices that align with state and national standards and elevate student learning
Workshops are led by exper t clinicians and master teachers from Oregon and across the nation Attendees gain research-informed, classroom-tested practices that align with state and national standards and elevate student learning
Alignment with District and School Goals
Alignment with District and School Goals
Conference learning suppor ts continuous improvement, equitable access to music education, and culturally responsive teaching goals shared by districts and administrators across Oregon.
Conference learning suppor ts continuous improvement, equitable access to music education, and culturally responsive teaching goals shared by districts and administrators across Oregon.
Concert Hours with Model Ensembles
Concert Hours with Model Ensembles
Daily concer t sessions feature outstanding K–12 ensembles from across Oregon, providing valuable examples of high-level reper toire, musical interpretation, and ensemble pedagogy that educators can bring back to their classrooms
Daily concer t sessions feature outstanding K–12 ensembles from across Oregon, providing valuable examples of high-level reper toire, musical interpretation, and ensemble pedagogy that educators can bring back to their classrooms
Support for All-State Ensemble Participation
Support for All-State Ensemble Participation
Educators with students selected for All-State ensembles are required to attend Teacher presence ensures student safety, suppor t, and continuity throughout rehearsals and performances an essential par t of the All-State experience.
Educators with students selected for All-State ensembles are required to attend Teacher presence ensures student safety, suppor t, and continuity throughout rehearsals and performances an essential par t of the All-State experience.
Networking and Mentorship
Networking and Mentorship
The conference fosters statewide collaboration, professional networking, and mentorship across experience levels, strengthening Oregon’s music education community This unique professional development event provides music teachers a chance to work with other educators who teach the same classes they do – a rarity in many schools, as music teachers are often the only ones teaching their specialized subject
The conference fosters statewide collaboration, professional networking, and mentorship across experience levels, strengthening Oregon’s music education community This unique professional development event provides music teachers a chance to work with other educators who teach the same classes they do – a rarity in many schools, as music teachers are often the only ones teaching their specialized subject
Sharing Learning Upon Return
Sharing Learning Upon Return
Many attendees provide post-conference reflections or lead mini-sessions for colleagues, extending the impact of the experience beyond the individual attendee
Many attendees provide post-conference reflections or lead mini-sessions for colleagues, extending the impact of the experience beyond the individual attendee
Conference Attendance Supports:
Conference Attendance Supports:
● Professional Growth & License Renewal
● Professional Growth & License Renewal
● Student Achievement & Engagement
● Student Achievement & Engagement
● Program Quality & Visibility
● Program Quality & Visibility
● Statewide Music Education Equity
● Statewide Music Education Equity
For more information, including past conference schedules, visit oregonmea org/conference
For more information, including past conference schedules, visit oregonmea org/conference
Oregon Music Education Association | oregonmea.org
2025 OMEA State Conference
A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
Cole Haole-Valenzuela OMEA President-Elect
We are back at it again, folks! Whether this is your first year teaching or you are seasoned veteran, we know what it is like to be “back at it” within music education. These past weeks have been a compilation of interacting with colleagues and students, adjusting to new school policies, readjusting scope and sequences and exploring ways to grow in your craft. As you continue in your fall, take moments in time to stop, breathe, and reflect on what you have done so far this school year. This can be a reflection of small wins to teachable moments with your students. Whatever the moment brings, know that there are those within our awesome state of Oregon that care and root for you every day.
We are fortunate to have a time of the year where we get to see all of our cheerleaders in one place, once per year—the OMEA State Conference. The theme of A Universal Language encompasses what we know to be true within our profession: music is a way to communicate and connect with people through a multitude of boundaries. Through music, we can talk about complicated subjects while being safe and create a sense of empathy by experiencing someone’s creation and listening to interpretations of pieces.
Our OMEA State Conference, A Universal Language, will continue to bring clinicians in and out of our state to spark inspiration. We are very much looking forward to having composer Reena Esmail
joining us at our conference as our keynote speaker. During the keynote address, Reena will speak on how music can turn zerosum encounters into collaboration and understanding. Drawing on 25 years of bridging cultures, she shares lessons for creating dialogue and connection across differences. This year, we will structure our schedule to allow all disciplines to be able to watch our keynote during the day on Saturday. You will not want to miss getting to know Reena up close and personal!
Also on Saturday is our conference banquet where we enjoy each other’s company and celebrate our honored colleagues receiving awards for their outstanding achievements. This year, we want to keep the banquet as a time for people to visit and reconnect. Food will be served at the same time to ensure that no one eats alone if they were the speedy one through the buffet line. Additionally, there will be background music provided by University of Oregon jazz band students that will take the place of the staged performance, creating a space free conversation can be had before awards are given out. Please join in on the festivities and share with others about your year!
As we continue on with this school year, let this conference be a reminder of why we do what we do: to connect, to inspire, and to build community through music. We can’t wait to see you at OMEA and share in the universal language that unites us all.
ALL-STATE CHAIR UPDATE
Kristi Stingle OMEA All-State Chair
I am honored to again serve as the OMEA All-State Chair for this year's experience in January! The Executive Board, AllState Managers, and Conference Planning Team members have been working hard to bring all the details together for this year's experience.
The All-State managers have put together a terrific line up of conductors to create music with the 1,200+ students that will be participating in January. Each of the conductors will be presenting at the conference, and we'd love to see you attend their sessions throughout the conference. They are looking forward to connecting with you!
You are also invited to attend rehearsals! That was one of my favorite parts of serving as an All-State Manager - being able to watch the rehearsal process and see how the conductor connects with the students in such a short amount of time. These hours also count towards your Professional Development Units. Audience space may be limited in some venues (namely the U of O), but you are welcome to attend. The ensemble managers may have suggestions on where to sit. Locations and rehearsal times will be posted in Guidebook during the conference.
2026 OMEA All-State Ensembles
Elementary School
• Choir - Ron Curtis, Northwest Nazarene University (ID) Middle School
• Band - Robert Herrings, Vista Ridge High School (MO)
• Orchestra - Dr. Robert Gillespie, The Ohio State University
• Tenor-Bass Choir - Daniel Gutierrez, Nixa High School (MO)
• Treble Choir - Dr. Julie Yu, Oklahoma City University
High School
• Jazz Band - Dawn Clement, Metropolitan State University of Denver (CO)
• Wind Ensemble - Julie Giroux, Composer
• Symphonic Band - Dr. Emily Moss, University of New Mexico
• 9th & 10th Grade Choir - Dr. Cari Earnhart, California State University, Fresno
• 11th & 12th Grade Choir - Dr. Mariana Farah, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Orchestra - Dr. Carolyn Watson, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Updates for 2026
Returning for a 3rd year: All-State Scholarship
Lottery
The OMEA Executive Board is continuing the effort to reduce barriers for students and teachers across the state
to participate in educational opportunities. To that end, for this year's conference, we will once again hold a scholarship lottery. One deserving student from every OMEA District will be selected to receive a 50% scholarship toward their All-State registration fee. Students must be accepted into an All-State ensemble, and will have opted-in to the lottery as part of the registration process. Recipients of the lottery will be notified via email and their tuition rate will be reduced in Opus prior to the registration being due.
The All-State Registration window timeline will again be shorter this year, in order to get music into students’ hands earlier and give them more time to practice before arriving at All-State in January.
• October 21: All students, both accepted and unaccepted, should be receiving notification from Opus: no-reply@opusevent.com We recommend checking the Spam folder.
• If an accepted student declines their spot, please notify OMEA as soon as possible to give another student an opportunity to perform.
• Registration information: Students and their parent/ guardian will, in most cases, be filling out the final registration information on Opus. In some cases a school will register students on their behalf. Either way, it is vital that the registration information be correct, namely contact names, phone numbers, and anything else that may be needed in the event of an emergency
October 21 - November 1
All-State registration open. The payment window closes at 11:59pm on November 1. If a student decides to decline their spot, please let us know as soon as possible.
November 2 - November 15
Add/drop/alternates notified and registration and payment completed by all participants.
November 20
Student music and information sent to schools/teachers via email or mail. Please distribute to your All-State students as soon as possible.
January 15 - 18, 2026
All-State event is held in Eugene, Oregon.
All-State Reminders:
• Teachers who have students participating in All-State must register and attend the conference per OMEA policy. More details may be found on the OMEA website under the Policies & Procedures section in the member section.
• Please emphasize with your students and families that there are no refunds for audition fees. Once students have
registered for All-State, that money is immediately earmarked for group expenses that cannot be changed or refunded, with some exceptions. Please review the OMEA Refund Policies on the OMEA website under the “All-State Event Information” tab and click on OMEA Refund Policy.
• Participants in All-State may want to consider purchasing Travel Insurance to protect their investment. Companies such as Allianz, Faye, and Travelex all have reasonable rates based on the cost of the registration and any other expenses you may want to add into your quote.
If you have any questions or suggestions related to the student experience at All-State, please email Kristi at allstatechair@ oregonmea.org
We are looking forward to seeing you at the 2026 OMEA Conference!
WHAT COULD GO RIGHT?
Resources and Ideas to Refresh Your Teaching and Explore New Approaches
Hannah Abercrombie OMEA 2nd Vice President
Trying something new may be the next step to your success. We’ve all heard the quote in one way or another: “A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.” This is something we try to teach our students, but how many of us are actually practicing what we preach? It can be scary to take on a new role, try a completely different teaching strategy, reach out to people you never thought you’d talk to, apply to present at the OMEA Conference, have your ensemble perform for your colleagues at the state or national level, or simply change a habit. Instead of thinking of all the ways and reasons something will go wrong, ask yourself instead, “What could go right?”
This year I have been given the privilege to step outside of my comfort zone by serving on the OMEA Executive Board as your 2nd Vice President for a short 2-year term. I am excited to learn more about the happenings behind the scenes of our organization, primarily with planning of the annual state conference. As someone who has always loved learning, the OMEA Conference has been something I look forward to each year: to attend as many sessions as possible, take copious notes and resources, meet new friends and colleagues, catch up and deepen relationships, and explore the rich knowledge the membership and guests in our field have to share. It means a lot to me to get to observe, assist, create, and grow in this role, and I intend to serve you all to the best of my ability.
Since I am primarily in an observational period, as I am set to help plan the 2027 conference, I don’t have much to report at the moment. However, I wanted to offer some resources and concepts that have helped me grow as an educator and person. If you’d like, consider taking one or a few ideas that may help you grow or push you out of your comfort zone.
BOOKS
Art & Science in the Choral Rehearsal
Dr. Sharon Paul
This bright yellow book has quickly become one of my best resources and a book that I will read every summer before the new school year. The lovely Dr. Sharon Paul (currently serving as the Department Head of Music Performance and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Oregon), shares her knowledge and studies of cognitive neuroscience, how the brain learns, retains, and recalls information, and has applied it to the rehearsal process. “Art & Science in the Choral Rehearsal explores the idea that choral conductors who better understand how the brain learns, how individuals within groups function, can lead more efficient, productive, and enjoyable rehearsals” (Paul, 2020). Although this book is mainly targeted at choral educators, the strategies provided can easily be transferable to any musical medium.
The Horizon Leans Forward Stories of Courage, Strength, and Triumph of Underrepresented Communities in the Wind Band Field
Compiled and Edited by Dr. Erik Kar Jun Leung
This book was published and released at a time when we really needed it, and now diversity, equity, and inclusion are more important than ever. “Compiled by Erik Kar Jun Leung (currently serving as Director of Bands at Oregon State University), and with contributions from a diverse team of distinguished wind band professionals, this book shares the profound insights and firsthand experiences of people of color, women, and LGBTQIA2S+ individuals working in the wind band field. Central to this text is the annotated bibliography showcasing more than 200 gifted composers from underrepresented communities along with more than 400 of their best works for wind band, Grades I–VI. Each entry offers a brief biography of the composer as well as pertinent publication information and descriptions of each work” (Leung, 2021). The contributors to this book, and so many others in our field, have important, deeply moving stories and music to share.
The Choral Conductor's Companion 100 Rehearsal Techniques, Imaginative Ideas, Quotes and Facts
Compiled and Edited by Dr. Brian J. Winnie
This resource, compiled by the brilliant Dr. Brian Winnie (currently serving as Director of Choral Studies Western Illinois University), includes bite-sized tips and tricks from experts in the field. Some sample topics include but are not limited to: Useful Compositional Techniques for Directors (Jeffery L. Ames), Recruit from a Position of Strength (Ethan Sperry), Teaching Traditional South African Music (Michael Joseph Barrett), It’s My First Time Music-Directing a Musical — Now What? (Matt Bean), Honoring Female Changing Voices (Bridget Sweet), Commissioning a New Work 101 (Dominick DiOrio), and so much more! Applying any one of these ideas in your next rehearsal is a great way to try something new without totally uprooting your teaching style and strategies.
This isn’t necessarily a hot, new resource, but it is definitely a good one! Sight Reading Factory is a great place to get fully customizable exercises for 60+ instruments and voice types. If you get the educator/student account, there are also assessment and logging options that may be of use to you. In my classroom, every ensemble sight reads each rehearsal using SRF and has the ability to practice on their own.
Musictheory.net
https://www.musictheory.net/
Again, this may not be new to any of you, but it is a fantastic resource for students to practice music theory concepts with easily customizable exercises. Exercise topics include staff identification, staff construction, keyboard identification, fretboard identification, and ear training (my personal favorite). For each topic there are several exercises that practice identification of notes, intervals, chords, scales, and key signatures. There is even a teacher tool called “Exercise Customizer” where you can create exercises for students to complete and turn in via URL. I recommend playing around with this feature!
Dr. Musik
https://www.doctormusik.com/
This is a new-to-me website that I discovered from a TikTok video. This website has a collection of games and tools that are great for any and all ages. Categories include virtual instruments, composition tools, staff reading games, rhythm games (“Rhythm Galaxy” is the game being played in that TikTok video), and others. These games would be great to use with chromebooks in class, as fun practice tools, or even when you have a sub!
THE SEARCH FOR REPERTOIRE
For much of my earlier career, searching for repertoire consisted of scrolling page after page on JWPepper.com with hopes of finding something fresh, inspiring, and accessible for my ensembles. I probably spend more time listening to rep now than I did then, but in different ways. Here are some I’d like to recommend:
1. Find a group on YouTube you enjoy and listen to their repertoire choices. This could be a community youth ensemble, middle/high school program, college program, small ensemble, professional group, you name it. This tactic is especially helpful when trying to imagine what a high school group might sound like versus an older, professional ensemble. My personal favorite for secondary choral ensembles is the Vancouver Youth Choir, with Carrie Tenant as Founder and Artistic Director. She has also curated the Vancouver Youth Choir Choral Series with Canadian publishing company Cypress Publishing, which leads to my next recommendation.
2. Peruse music on a publishing company’s website to get a more narrow search of what you are looking for. For example, different publishing companies will highlight non-western/DEI pieces and composers, sacred vs. secular, younger or more advanced selections, new composers vs. the “standards,” etc. If you really like a particular piece, start with that publishing company!
One publishing site that every jazz director should know about is Brava Jazz Publishing. The company was founded and launched by composers, arrangers, and musicians, Alan Baylock and Annie Booth in 2023. Brava publishes diverse jazz music for all ability levels composed and arranged by women. When I was teaching jazz band, I discovered some true bangers on this site, including works by local composer and educator, Jessika Smith!
3. Peruse music on a composer’s website to support that composer directly! In addition to directly supporting a composer rather than partially through a publishing company, being able to bring in a local composer to work with your students on a piece that they wrote can be a musically satisfying, meaningful, and unforgettable experience for all parties. If you have the means, it is also an amazing experience to commission music from a local and/or younger composer.
4. Attend a reading session or workshop that provides lists of new works or tried and true repertoire selections. There are reading sessions at the OMEA Conference, but you can try to find some that are happening near you. For example, there are reading sessions provided at the WIBC Conference, workshops put on by the ACDA, or summer events like the Choral Conductors Workshop that have a larger focus on reading selected music. You could even put on your own reading session with colleagues in your area.
When I was working in District 10 (shout out!), teachers in the area came together to put on our own local reading session. Each director brought in and conducted 2-4 pieces to share with their colleagues that were high quality and worked well for their ensembles. Especially in a district with many smaller schools, it was so valuable to learn about music that worked for our unique ensembles.
REACHING OUT
If there is anything you take away from this list of resources, let it be to reach out to your colleagues – those that are currently teaching, that have retired, that are younger than you, that teach a different medium than you, and that you strive to be like one day.
Brainstorm with your close colleagues. Admin like to use the term “Professional Learning Committee” (PLC), but there is absolute value that can come from talking, planning, and setting goals with the music teachers in your building, city, or district. These people are more likely to truly understand your challenges, students, and systems, so utilize their help and support.
Invite a college director, adjudicator, retired educator, or guest into your classroom to work with your students, work with you at the podium, offer wisdom, or simply be another set of ears in a rehearsal. The “clinician effect” is very real –getting someone else to say something in a different way can be the “aha!” moment that clicks with your students. There have been several times in my career that I went out on a limb and emailed an adjudicator to work with my ensemble post-performance, and more often than not, they are happy and excited to visit. For college professors and directors in particular, it can be a recruiting opportunity to work with your high schoolers!
Attend professional development opportunities that put you in the same spaces as the leaders and new faces in your musical area. Not only will professional development benefit you and your students, but it is a prime chance for you to meet and connect with other educators, musicians, composers, music education advocates, etc.
Introduce yourself to people you think they wouldn’t want to talk to you, and even if they are a “big name” – we are all human. Rejection is scary, but remember what I mentioned at the beginning of this article: instead of thinking of all the ways and reasons something will go wrong, ask yourself instead, “What could go right?” You are also an interesting person that other people want to know and learn from!
Works Cited
Leung, E. (2021). The Horizon Leans Forward. com/resource/the-horizon-leans-forward-book-g10369 Paul, S. (2020). Art & Science in the Choral Rehearsal University Press.
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REFLECTIONS ON MY FIRST FIVE YEARS TEACHING
Elizabeth Soper OMEA Conference Chair
When I walked into my first teaching job at Toledo Jr/Sr High School for the first time, I was filled with equal parts excitement and fear. My student teaching had been cut short by the pandemic. The school year was delayed due to fires, and the instrument lockers held history textbooks instead of instruments. There had been no music in the school for several years. My job was to restart a program from scratch in a rural school of 275 students, teaching everything under the umbrella of music—middle and high school band, choir, rock history, and even daily visits to the elementary school to launch the beginning band. I often felt completely unprepared. Looking back now, I see how those early years taught me lessons I couldn’t have learned anywhere else. I discovered that music education is about far more than simply teaching music — it is about building infrastructure, creating community, and giving students a space to grow. We celebrated in Toledo when over 30% of the school participated in a music performance class, when our choir traveled out of the county for the first time, and when we raised enough money to put instruments in every student’s hands. The work was exhausting, but it was also deeply rewarding.
After four years, I moved to South Medford High School, which brought a completely different set of challenges. Instead of being the only music teacher in a small school, I became one of nearly a hundred teachers in a suburban high school of almost 2,000 students. My focus narrowed to choir and a general music class, stepping into a program with strong traditions and a reputation for excellence. Suddenly, I wasn’t responsible for “everything musical” in the school. I was being pushed to grow as a conductor, musician, and leader in a single content area. The rigor of the repertoire was higher, the opportunities broader, and I had to find the balance between honoring what came before me and shaping the program into something authentic under my leadership.
Across both schools, one truth has stayed the same: teaching is hard, but it is worth it. There were moments when I felt like an imposter, moments when I questioned if I was truly cut out for this work. I suspect every new teacher feels this way at some point. What I wish I had known then is that it is normal to feel overwhelmed, and that growth happens in the middle of that discomfort. Each concert that brought me to tears, each student who found their place in music, and each colleague
who believed in me reminded me that I was doing the work I had dreamed of since I was a child.
So, to those just entering this profession: hold on. You don’t have to have it all figured out in your first year—or even your fifth. The program may not look like what you imagined, your students may surprise you with their needs and strengths, and you may feel out of your depth more than once. But don’t let that stop you. The classroom you walk into needs you — your passion, your persistence, and your belief that music matters.
Now, in my sixth year, I know I still have much to learn. But I also know this: I am a music teacher. I belong here. And if you are just beginning your journey, you belong here too. Hold on, trust yourself, press on, and don’t give up the dream.
HEART AND SOUL:
The Emotional Costs and Boundaries of Music Teaching
Ben Lawson OMEA Past President
The Power and Pull of Music Education
To teach music is to give of yourself. It's more than delivering curriculum—it's mentoring, modeling, inspiring, and often healing. Music teachers routinely go beyond their job descriptions, pouring their time, energy, and emotion into performances, individual student growth, and program development.
We are often told to "give it your all" or to "teach with heart and soul." But what does that really mean—and at what cost?
Giving Your Heart: The Healthy Side of Emotional Investment
Giving your heart in the classroom means teaching with empathy, authenticity, and presence. It’s about connecting meaningfully with students, being passionate about your subject, and investing in the long-term growth of both individuals and ensembles.
Benefits of Heart-Centered Teaching:
• Builds trust: Students respond positively to teachers who care.
• Fuels motivation: Passion is contagious—students notice and feed off your energy.
• Enhances artistry: Music requires emotional depth; modeling that creates stronger musicianship.
• Promotes well-being: Teachers who are emotionally engaged often find more meaning and satisfaction in their work.
Heart-centered teaching is emotionally generous but still rooted in boundaries. It is sustainable. It allows teachers to invest deeply while maintaining their identity and energy outside of school.
Giving Your Soul: The Hidden Toll of Over-Identification
Where giving your heart is healthy, giving your soul can become hazardous.
What does it mean to give your soul?
It means tying your self-worth entirely to your students' success. It means saying yes to everything, sacrificing your own needs, and eroding the line between personal and professional life. It often looks like overwork, emotional exhaustion, and chronic stress.
Warning signs of soul-level burnout:
• You feel guilty taking time for yourself.
• You constantly check your email on weekends or vacations.
• Your mood and self-esteem depend on rehearsal outcomes or student feedback.
• You can’t “turn off” your teacher role—even at home.
• You’ve stopped doing things that bring you joy outside of school.
When you give your soul, teaching is no longer something you do—it becomes who you are, completely. And when things go wrong (and they inevitably will), the emotional fallout is enormous.
The Slippery Slope: Why Music Educators Are Especially at Risk
Unlike many other academic subjects, music education is public, performative, and personal.
• Public: Concerts, festivals, competitions—your work is always on display.
• Performative: You’re not just teaching content; you're putting on a show.
• Personal: Students often bring deep emotion to their musicmaking, and they often share that emotion with you.
In addition, music programs often require after-school rehearsals, weekend events, and administrative duties that stretch far beyond the school day. The lines between your professional life and your personal life start to blur until there is no longer a line at all.
Reclaiming Boundaries: Teaching with Heart, Protecting Your Soul
So how do we remain passionate without becoming depleted? How do we give our hearts to students without giving away our souls?
1. Set emotional boundaries: Caring doesn’t mean carrying. Listen to students with empathy, but remember it is not your job to solve every problem.
2. Protect personal time: Block off time that is nonnegotiably your s—even if it’s just 30 minutes a day. Don’t respond to emails late at night or during weekends unless absolutely necessary.
3. Reflect and reset: Regularly ask yourself: “Am I giving my heart or my soul?” Journaling, therapy, or simply talking with trusted colleagues can help you recalibrate.
4. Reconnect with your identity outside of teaching: You are more than your classroom. Make time for hobbies, family, spiritual life, or anything that grounds you.
5. Advocate for sustainable practices: Push back on toxic expectations that normalize overwork. Be an advocate not just for your students, but for yourself and your profession.
Teaching with Heart, Not at the Expense of Soul
Music education is a calling, a privilege, and a profound responsibility. But it is also a job—and jobs require balance to be sustainable. Teaching with heart enhances your effectiveness and makes the profession joyful and rewarding. Giving your soul, however, risks turning your passion into a burden.
You are not selfish for setting boundaries. You are not less dedicated because you take care of yourself. In fact, it is because you care deeply that you must learn to protect your energy, your time, and yes—your soul.
Because when you do, you remain not only a great teacher… but a whole person, too.
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NAFME NORTHWEST DIVISION REPORT
Joe Dyvig NAfME Northwest Division President
Greetings Oregon Music Educators! I am excited to begin my term as your NAfME Northwest Division President. As president-elect for the last two years, I have learned a lot and look forward to serving in this new role.
I enjoyed my first ever visit to Eugene last February for your conference. You put on a wonderful conference; I enjoyed listening to many groups, attending sessions, meeting new people and presenting a session myself. I look forward to the next time I get to visit your state conference.
A little bit about myself; I have been teaching since 1999 and have been teaching orchestra at Olympia High School in Washington State since 2014. Additionally, I teach elementary strings at two neighborhood schools. In the past I have also taught Middle School Band, Middle School Orchestra, and High School Jazz Band. I have been on the conducting staff of the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association since 2022. My main instrument is Double Bass and I also double on Tuba. I enjoy occasionally free lancing on the Double Bass in addition to playing in the Double Bass section of Symphony Tacoma. I live in rural Thurston County—though rural is a relative term compared to parts of Oregon—and enjoy spending my summers on random projects around my property. In various roles, I served three consecutive bienniums on the Washington Music Educators Association’s board.
I would like to thank Dusty Molyneaux for his leadership in the last biennium. Not only in his service and work in creating a great Northwest Conference in Spokane last February, but also his help in getting me up to speed on all that is going on around the Northwest and how to go about the work involved in being on the National Executive Board. Thanks and congratulations to Tom Muller who has completed his term as Northwest Division past president! As a smaller division, population wise, Tom was a fierce advocate for the interests of not only the Northwest Division, but also recognizing the needs of rural schools and their music programs. His work was instrumental in the formation of the NAfME Small Schools Initiative. We welcome your Chad Rose to the Northwest Division leadership as President-Elect. I look forward to working with him as we move forward in leading the Northwest Division and addressing the needs of our constituents.
One of the challenges facing the Northwest Division are changes for future Northwest Conferences and Honor Groups. For many years the Washington Music Educators have taken on the management of the conference and honor groups on odd numbered years. Those events have been cycling between Portland, Bellevue, and Spokane. Due to multiple issues the 2025 Northwest Conference in Spokane experienced an extreme financial shortfall. This shortfall has put the Washington Music Educators in a perilous financial
situation. They have been working, with NAfME’s support, to right the ship, but rough waters are on the horizon for the next several years.
The Washington MEA board has voted to no longer manage the Northwest Division Conference and honor groups. We have heard loud and clear from the state boards of the Northwest Division that we want to still have Northwest Conferences and Honor Groups and how important they are to their constituents. We also heard loud and clear about issues that have impacted participation in the recent past including; travel costs—especially to Spokane—scheduling issues between the teacher and student events, and the length of the event in relation to the costs. At the National Assembly in June we met to discuss a path moving forward and address concerns. Though we are still in the very early planning stages, I am confident that we will be able to offer a robust professional development experience for teachers and an inspiring honor group experience for students in 2027 that addresses issues that have impacted participation.
At the NAfME National Assembly it was inspiring to see the tireless work they do in support of music education. Though it may not be immediately visible they are in constant lobbying efforts for not only music education but education in general. Additionally, they are leveraging their efforts through partnerships with other arts education organizations to maximize our influence in educating federal agencies on the importance of arts education and supporting schools with large populations living in poverty.
There is a lot of talk around professional development at conferences. NAfME recognizes that costs of travel, especially for teachers living in remote regions, and teacher’s busy lives with their families and other commitments makes it hard to always go to conferences. In response, NAfME and the Professional Learning and Partnerships Committee work to provide a variety of webinars and professional development opportunities. The NAfME Academy is a free benefit of membership that has “a robust, online, on-demand catalog in the NAfME Learning Center with 250+ recorded webinars covering a wide range of content areas in music education.” If you are needing music education specific professional development, I urge you to check it out. Did I mention it is a free benefit of NAfME membership?
In closing, I hope each of you has had a restful summer and are excited and energized to tackle the challenges of the school year. It is difficult work, but remind yourself that you are changing lives and improving the world through your efforts! It is often thankless work, so I thank you! Here's to a great 25-26 school year!
POLICY WITH PURPOSE: Building a Stronger Future for Music Education in Oregon
Laura Arthur OMEA Public Policy Chair
This past year marked the beginning of a new era for public policy and advocacy within the Oregon Music Education Association (OMEA). As the first person to serve in this newly established role, my charge has been both simple and immense: ensure that every Oregon student has equitable access to a comprehensive, high-quality music education—and that the educators who serve them are supported, heard, and empowered.
Throughout 2024–2025, OMEA’s advocacy efforts have evolved from reactive responses to proactive systems-building. We’ve formed essential partnerships with state-level organizations including the Oregon Department of Education, Oregon Education Association, and the Oregon Arts Commission, and have built pathways for collaboration with our visual art colleagues in the Oregon Art Education Association. These relationships are essential as we work to unify our voices across disciplines and demonstrate the collective value of arts education to Oregon’s future.
At the local level, OMEA has provided educators with realtime advocacy tools to help navigate school-level program cuts and reallocation of instructional time. Resources have been centralized and refreshed on the OMEA website, and ongoing professional development—including sessions at the 2025 OMEA Conference—has helped demystify the advocacy process for teachers at all stages of their careers.
A major accomplishment this year was the initial creation of the OMEA Policy Playbook, a comprehensive guide that outlines our legislative priorities, advocacy calendar, and longterm goals. This document is built on the strong foundation of OMEA’s updated mission and vision, and reflects our deep belief that music education is not an enrichment — it’s a core part of a well-rounded education.
2025-26 Legislative Priorities: What We’re Asking For
OMEA’s legislative agenda aligns closely with the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and reflects pressing issues in Oregon’s education system. Our current priorities include:
1. Increased Educational Funding to meet Oregon’s Quality Education Model (QEM) goals.
2. A Permanent Arts or Music Specialist at the Oregon Department of Education to ensure content-specific support and advocacy within state leadership.
3. Regular Inclusion of Arts Standards in ODE’s curriculum review cycles—currently reviewed every 10 years, while most other subjects are on a 7-year cycle.
4. System-Level Music Administration in school districts and ESDs (Educational Service Districts) to support standards-aligned and equitable instruction.
5. An Arts-Specific High School Graduation Requirement by 2032, with the funding needed to make it meaningful.
6. Guaranteed Weekly Minutes of Standards-Aligned K–5 Arts Instruction, taught by certified arts educators.
7. Stable Funding for Higher Education Programs, particularly those demonstrating cultural and educational impact.
8. Increased Visibility of K–12 Arts Learning in State Spaces, including performances at the Capitol.
9. Support for the Educator Pipeline and funding for the Educator Advancement Council to address Oregon’s growing shortage of certified arts educators.
10. Inclusion of Arts Education Metrics in School Report Cards, similar to how CTE and counseling are currently reported.
Each of these recommendations is rooted in a belief that every student deserves access to certified music educators, culturally responsive curriculum, and a school experience that reflects their full humanity.
Looking Forward: Events and Opportunities
Our work continues through a year-round cycle of advocacy, aligned with national and state events:
• Arts in Education Week (September 2025)
• OMEA All-State Conference (January 2026)
• Oregon Hill Day (February 2026)
• Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®) (March 2026)
• NAfME Hill Day (June 2026)
Each event represents an opportunity to engage decisionmakers, elevate student voices, and shine a light on the powerful role music plays in Oregon’s schools.
Strengths, Challenges, and What's Next
This work is both energizing and challenging. As a part-time position without long-term funding certainty, the role of Public Policy Chair demands balance, clarity, and strategic focus. But the momentum is real. We’re seeing more music educators stepping into advocacy roles, more collaboration across arts disciplines, and more understanding among decision-makers about the importance of music education.
In 2025–2026, OMEA will expand its grassroots network, create monthly advocacy newsletters, spotlight music educator stories, and build stronger connections with our collegiate and Tri-M chapters to prepare the next generation of advocates. We invite you—our members—to get involved. Whether it’s speaking to a school board member, inviting a legislator to your concert, or attending an advocacy committee meeting, your voice matters. Together, we can make music education more visible, more supported, and more accessible to every student in Oregon. For ongoing updates or to get involved in public policy work, contact Laura Arthur at policy@oregonmusic.org or visit www. oregonmusic.org/advocacy
NAfME Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®) Social Media Toolkit
Happy Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®)! To celebrate, this year’s theme continues as “United Through Music,” representing how music has the power to bring individuals together. MIOSM is a national event to celebrate and raise awareness around the importance of music education for all students—and to remind citizens that school is where all students should have access to music. Music educators from across the country use MIOSM as a platform to bring the attention of students, families, local community ������s� ��� s���� ��� ��c�� ���c��� ��ci��s �� ���i� sc�����s ��sic ������� ��� ��� ������s ���� ��sic provides to students of all ages.
Support MIOSM on social media with these sample messages:
• Join us to say THANK YOU to the dedicated music educators who help our students express their creativity in school! Celebrate Music In Our Schools Month® throughout the month of March. nafme.org/MIOSM #MIOSM #UnitedThroughMusic
• The Arts Ed Data Project found 92% of students in surveyed schools have access to music education, but only 49% participate in music education courses. How can we close the participation gap? nafme.org/MIOSM #MusicEdFunding #MIOSM #UnitedThroughMusic
• I’d like to thank [Governor, School Board, PTA, etc.] for signing an MIOSM Resolution/Proclamation and showing their support for music education in the [locality proclamation/resolution was signed] nafme.org/MIOSM #MIOSM #UnitedThroughMusic
Other ideas for social media sharing:
• Share stories of how you are celebrating MIOSM in your community! Make sure to use the hashtags #MIOSM and #UnitedThroughMusic and tag @NAfME.
• Collect student testimonials (video or written) on why they believe music education is important and share throughout the month of March. Make sure to use the hashtags #MIOSM and #UnitedThroughMusic and tag @NAfME.
ADVOCACY IS JUST MARKETING (AND YOU'RE ALREADY DOING IT)
Stephen Marshall OMEA Advocacy Chair
When we hear the word advocacy, it can sound lofty, formal, maybe even a little intimidating. It brings to mind school board speeches, policy briefs, and headline-worthy efforts to "save the arts." But let’s reframe it.
What if advocacy is just... marketing?
And what if you’re already doing it — every time your students perform, every time you share a success on social media, or every time a parent says, “My kid loves your class”?
Why “Marketing” Makes Sense
At its core, marketing is about telling a compelling story to the right audience. It’s about reminding people why your program matters. In a world full of competing priorities, the music program can’t be a well-kept secret. It has to stay visible, relevant, and valued.
Unlike traditional advocacy, marketing isn’t necessarily about confronting or convincing. It’s about connection, storytelling, and consistency. It can be joyful. It can be light. And it works
The Good News: You’re Already Doing This
You don’t need to add “professional lobbyist” to your resume. You just need to reframe your everyday interactions as opportunities to keep your program thriving.
Here are a few low-effort, high-impact ways to “market” your program—right now, right where you are:
1. Show, Don’t Tell
• Record a quick video clip of rehearsal and post it to your school’s newsletter or social media.
• Snap a photo of your students working hard and share it with a simple caption: “These kids are learning how to listen, lead, and collaborate. Music class = life skills.”
• Invite admin to sit in on class — not just concerts. Let them see learning in process.
Why it works: People believe what they see. Instead of saying, “This program is important,” you’re showing it.
2. Share Your Students' Stories
• Ask a student to talk about what music means to them and share it (with permission).
• Put quotes from students or parents in your concert programs.
• Highlight alumni success — music majors, yes, but also engineers, nurses, or electricians who learned grit and teamwork in your class.
Why it works: Personal stories are more powerful than stats. They connect emotionally and make your program memorable.
3. Make It Easy for Others to Brag About You
• Email a short monthly “music moment” to your principal with a win or highlight. Pro-tip: put a recurring monthly reminder
on your calendar so you won’t let this easy step get lost in the shuffle.
• Send thank-you notes to supportive administrators and include photos or data. Better still, have your students do it!
• Give your concert programs a professional look with clear language about learning goals, not just song titles.
Why it works: Your supporters (even quietly supportive ones) want to help—but they need talking points. Give them the language they need.
4. Celebrate the Little Things
• Did your students sight-read better this week? Did you try a new activity that got everyone engaged? Snap a photo. Reflect. Share.
• Highlight process and product—especially when it’s not “perfect.”
Why it works: Not every marketing moment has to be a final concert. Small, authentic wins add up and build trust.
5. Let People In
• Post rehearsal sneak peeks.
• Include a QR code on your concert program linking to a behind-the-scenes video or student interviews.
• Use bulletin boards or display cases to highlight music vocabulary, unit goals, or “composer of the month.”
Why it works: When people understand what’s happening behind the curtain, they value the outcome even more.
Reframing Advocacy for the Next Generation
For future music educators reading this: You don’t have to be an expert to advocate for your program. You just have to believe in what you’re doing and share that belief in ways that feel natural to you. Start small. Stay consistent. And don’t wait until your program is in danger to start “marketing” it.
Final Thoughts
You’re not just teaching music — you’re building community, confidence, and culture. That’s a story worth sharing. And whether you call it advocacy, marketing, or just telling the truth, it’s how we keep music education strong.
Let’s stop thinking of advocacy as a chore and start seeing it as what it really is: an extension of the incredible work you already do every day.
Want to take the next step? Pick one of the ideas above and try it this month. That’s it. No big campaign, no extra hours — just one authentic share. You’re already doing the work. Let’s make sure people know it.
Have your own low-effort advocacy (marketing) tip? Tag @OregonMEA or email us and we might share it in the next journal!
This year, Clear Creek Middle School welcomed its first cohort of students from our Spanish Dual Language Immersion Program, and we are also now housing the Newcomer Program for Spanish-speaking students. In order to celebrate and center bilingualism, I have been tasked with translating many of our back-to-school advisory lessons. I hadn’t realized just HOW MANY of our materials were inaccessible to students and families. It really got me thinking — how much of MY curriculum and information is accessible to Spanish-speaking families?
One of the easiest ways to engage a larger part of your community is through translation. Translating all of the documents we send home can take a family from feeling lost and unwelcome to making them feel truly seen. I have always been very passionate about advocating for access to folks in my community — the Latino community. I was the kid who grew up with a mom who didn’t speak English and wanted SO BADLY to support me in my schooling. She would only come volunteer at school if I could assure her that there would be other parents who spoke both English and Spanish. I grew up interpreting teacher meetings when my dad wasn’t available. I wanted to show my mom where and what I was learning, and she wanted to be there. We have parents like this all over our state. They often get labeled as not being invested in their students’ education, when really, language is what is holding them back.
Ok Cynthia. We get it. Translating is important. Where’s the part of this article that helps me? Ah yes! Allow me to share some tips for incorporating translation into your classroom!
1. Use your school or district’s translator/liaison! Many schools and districts already have someone whose job it is to help translate documents. If you have the time, use your resources. They’re there to help you! Some districts even have folks on staff to help translate curriculum -- I recommend reaching out to your Emerging Multilingual Learner (EML) department. They know what’s up.
2. If time is not on your side (because, let’s be honest, the concert is next week and you just really need to send that reminder home) — translation apps are your friend! Technology has come SUCH a long way! My two favorites are Google Translate and Canva. Google Docs has a feature under the “Tools” menu that allows you to translate a document into many different languages. It will make a copy of the translated document for you. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than the Google Translate of a decade ago? YES. Making an effort will make such a huge difference. Canva’s feature uses AI to aid in the translation. You can even upload a PDF and use the translation tool on it! As educators, we get free access to a Canva Pro account! Both tools are pretty accurate in Spanish, needing only minor contextual edits.
3. If reaching out to a bilingual peer or colleague of color for help, make sure to ask if they have the capacity first! Many times, folks of color/bilingual folks are asked to shoulder the weight of translating or interpreting for others. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, just make sure you ask about capacity first. It goes a long way!
4. Translate everything that goes home. Even if you think your students might not need it. If it is a paper copy, make one side in English and the other in Spanish (or whichever non-English language is most prominent in your community). Providing documents in both languages as a default option serves to not exclude other students who may not want to be identified as having a Spanish-speaking household.
5. If sending e-mails in 2 languages, I highly recommend putting the Spanish first, and English second. I find that the majority of my Spanish-speaking families will not scroll down since emails have a history of being English only.
6. Bonus Interpreting Tip! If you are a conversational Spanish speaker, use it! Our language skills don’t have to be perfect to be used. When we convene with families of color, there is already a power imbalance due to race and authority. Now let’s add a language barrier to it…Families hearing us struggle or attempt to communicate in their native tongue helps even the playing field.
7. General Tip for working with EMLs: Avoid idioms if at all possible. Growing up as a kid whose native tongue was not English AND being undiagnosed Autistic…this was the worst part of school. I would literally come home crying because I was so confused at school. If you are asking someone in your building to help with translating, idioms make the work SO HARD. They do not translate well. I never realized how many phrases we use in the English language until I had to translate “Get Schooled!” Conseguir Escuela-ed just doesn’t have quite the same ring (or meaning) to it.
Below, you will find a table of commonly mistranslated music terms. One of the things that can hold folks back from translating is that there is so much nuance and context to our subject area. Things literally get lost in translation. Like “play” turning into jugar. Please use the list as you embark on your translating adventures!
Lastly, Do YOU have a translating or interpreting tool that you like? Please, scan the QR code above and fill out the Google Form! I’d like to compile a list of tools to push out to folks in one of our Take 5 for OMEA newsletters so that we can share and connect as a state! I’d especially love some tools that are accurate in other languages. I can only really help with Spanish, but I bet if we work together, we can get quite a few languages covered!
Commonly Mistranslated Terms
Band Banda Bar, measure compás beat pulso, tiempo conductor director/a/e key signature armadura key, as in piano key tecla key, as in the key of a piece tonalidad play, as in to play an instrument tocar sheet music, score partitura
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CHOOSING MUSIC FOR A MIDDLE SCHOOL BAND
Jennifer Bell OMEA Band Chair
Each school year, I am faced with the daunting task of choosing music. As we all know, the ensemble you had last year will never happen again, and no matter how well you trained your group, your instrumentation and personnel will always change. Once my class lists are set and I have spent some time with my new ensembles, the push to find music begins.
Before I can begin to look at music, there are several factors that must be considered to determine the best concert set. I begin by evaluating their rhythm reading skills. As I am testing their current knowledge, I also start to teach rhythms that are beyond what they learned last year. This allows me to evaluate the ensembles’ comprehension of new concepts as well as their ability to perform new skills. For example, if they learned and performed whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes and rest last year, I will start the year off by teaching sixteenth notes and combination patterns as well as dotted rhythms. Their ability to count and perform these new rhythms on a single pitch tells me what goals I can set rhythmically for the year. I also evaluate their knowledge of key signatures, note recognition, and their current playing range. I begin by teaching and evaluating their reading skills on six major scales. I use C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, and Db major scales. I quickly move to a 2 -3 octave chromatic scale. Once I have taught and practiced these scales with my ensemble, I will be clear on their ability to read key signatures, learn new notes, and will have a very clear understanding of their performance range.
Finally, I begin to evaluate their ensemble skills. I use a set of warmups from my technique books to direct their listening skills. As they are performing, I listen to their ability to balance, perform different dynamics, tune while playing unison and easy chorales, and assess their ability as an ensemble to adjust while I conduct different tempi and styles.
Once I have a good understanding of my ensemble’s current skills and their potential abilities, I look at my ensemble's instrumentation. The instrumentation can change throughout the year, so I also look at the current strengths and weaknesses of the individual musicians. I may need to work my magic and convince a student to learn a second instrument. If you don’t have these options or if your ensemble is small or unbalanced, you may need to look at flex band compositions.
It is time to look at music! After all that teaching and evaluating, I now have a good understanding of what the ensemble is capable of and what my goals are. I want to make sure I pick music that will be relevant to the students and audience. My priority is choosing music that the students will love and practice. I am also very aware of my target audience. I look for different styles of music during festival season than what I would choose for my fall concert or my very last concert of the year. I always choose a variety of styles and difficulties. I also look for music that will target specific concepts to help my ensemble grow. I always include a lyrical section or song to develop phrasing and tone, and a song that focuses on new or challenging rhythm and articulations to continue to develop their technical skills.
Once I find several options, I let my band listen to each selection. I take note of what they like best and combine that with my goals and knowledge about their skills to make my final selections. Finding music that fits my ensemble and that encourages them to practice takes hours of listening and research. Selecting music is never easy, but with a solid curricular approach, you will begin to choose music that fits your ensemble and encourages practice and improvement. I wish you the best this year in finding the right music for your ensemble.
Have a great year!
LEADERSHIP IS A CONCEPT THAT OFTEN DEFIES A SINGLE DEFINITION
Kathy Briggs OMEA Choir Chair
If I asked you to name the great or even good leaders in your life, your answers would likely be as diverse as your experiences. You might recall a choir conductor who inspired you with grace and precision, or a high school basketball coach who believed in you when you didn’t yet believe in yourself. Perhaps a political figure comes to mind—someone whose vision, kindness, and integrity left a lasting impression. But leadership isn’t confined to titles or positions of authority. It can be quiet, compassionate, and deeply collaborative. True leadership often reveals itself in those who listen well, follow thoughtfully, and lead by example. It’s cultivated in moments of shared purpose—when a group of peers works together toward a common goal, navigating differing opinions with respect and resilience. In our music ensembles, whether a choir of 16 or 120, we offer students countless opportunities to grow as leaders. These experiences go far beyond the notes on the page. Our choir classrooms teach empathy, accountability, and the art of working together. This article explores how the lessons we teach in choir intersect with the broader development of character—preparing our students not just to be good leaders, but good people. When we have our toughest days, when the world feels like it has gone mad, and when we feel helpless to make a difference, know that as music teachers we ARE making a difference though our work with our young people. Young people who will one day be our future leaders.
Leadership lessons from singing in a choir
Sandra M. Jones, Journalist
Leadership is a performance art. To understand it, you have to experience it, and to improve, you have to practice.
That is the philosophy at the Harry L. Davis Center for Leadership at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Always on the lookout to explore the parallels between art and the business world, the center gathered 40 students, faculty, and staff with little or no singing experience to form a Chicago Booth pop-up choir.
After three hours of rehearsal one Saturday afternoon, the one-time pop-up choir performed in front of a live audience and walked away with a new perspective on leadership.
The choir was the brainchild of Harry L. Davis , the Roger L. and Rachel M. Goetz Distinguished Service Professor of Creative Management at Chicago Booth, who decades ago laid the groundwork for Booth’s experiential learning curriculum. As head of the namesake center, Davis is deeply committed to experimentation and collaboration, especially with artists, to help students gain insights into how to lead.
Watch the documentary, Learning Leadership: Lessons from a Pop-Up Choir here.
“It struck me that singing in a choral setting might have a great deal of connections to people dealing with a lot of issues in business about leadership, followership and listening,” said
Davis. “Wouldn’t it be terrific to put together a workshop so that instead of just talking about it, we could experience it?”
Davis reached out to Mollie Stone, choral director and lecturer at the University of Chicago, and the two worked with Patty Cuyler of Village Harmony to a one-time workshop for students to learn about leadership by singing together.
There were no auditions. Instead, since most of the students had no prior musical training, the pair invited several professional singers to serve as ringers. That was a lesson in itself, said Linda Ginzel, Clinical Professor of Managerial Psychology at Booth, who participated in the pop-up choir. “I like to sit next to someone who is better than me. They bring me up.”
The students learned three songs: a Corsican Kyrie, an American hymn, and a South African call-and-response song in Zulu. In between notes, they talked about how what they were experiencing could be applied to their business and personal lives, including how to listen to one another.
At the end of the class, the pop-up choir held a performance at the Gleacher Center’s Midway Club attended by students in Booth’s weekend MBA program.
“The major takeaway I had was about the importance of trust,” said recent Booth graduate Purva Joshi. “When you’re singing, you can’t be too involved in evaluating how the other people in the group are doing or it will throw off your rhythm. You have to do your part and trust that everyone else is doing their parts. I realized how beautiful it sounds when people trust each other.”
Here are four leadership lessons they learned:
Lesson No. 1: Learning leadership through followership
When singing in a choir, you have to learn when to lead and when to take a step back and listen. In the South African song Asimbonanga, the students learned through the call-andresponse structure how to dynamically lead and follow at the same time.
The students discovered that the song was nothing like the traditional call from the pulpit and response from the congregation, but rather a cyclical movement of energy, said Stone. They were always leading and following at the same time, listening in the moment and responding to what their fellow singers were doing.
“The melody passed from one part to another and allowed for a certain amount of improvisation, so you could not just be in your silo doing your specialty,” said Davis.
Sandra M. Jones
“I’m a tenor, but I couldn’t just care about my part. I had to care about the group and be fully present for them. And that’s a good metaphor for organizations.”
Every choir member was leading as much as following.
Lesson No. 2: Learning leadership through failure
Gather people together with limited singing experience, and it is inevitable that they are going to hit some sour notes. That is ok. In fact, that is the point.
“I spend a lot of time in teaching leadership getting people to experiment,” said Davis. “And people often say, ‘What happens if it doesn’t work out? What if it’s a failure? I say, that is often the best way to learn.”
Through choral singing, the students discovered that they have to keep singing even when they make a mistake, otherwise the song stops. They also experienced a sense of power when they used their voice in a completely new way.
“We are all afraid of failure,” said Stone. “Until you try all sorts of different approaches, you can’t succeed, because you have to know what not to do often times before you know what to do.”
Lesson No. 3: Learning leadership through respect and humility
There are often subtle and powerful differences that leaders overlook when working with other people from other cultures.
If leaders can let go of their predispositions and open themselves up to differences and appreciate them, they can better understand how to engage people from other cultures in ways that are productive.
There is magic in learning how to learn the music of other cultures, said Stone. “It takes the attention off of yourself, because you’re so busy paying attention to such intricate detail.”
Lesson No. 4. Learning leadership through vulnerability
Leadership training often touches on the need for leaders to be vulnerable. It is a frightening prospect for most leaders, said Davis.
Yet, when a leader practices vulnerability, it can embolden followers to respond in a more active way.
Singing in the pop-up choir, the students experienced first-hand how much they could learn when they allowed themselves
the freedom to take risks. By singing three challenging songs as novices, the students had an opportunity to feel unsure of themselves and still make it through the performance by relying on one another.
“I realized that even when you’re in a leadership position there are times when you don’t feel completely confident,” said Booth student Julianna Suarez, “and you have to lean in and allow the team to give you the energy to move forward.”
—This story first appeared on the Chicago Booth website.
Y’ALL MEANS ALL: DEI IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Brigid Mayer OMEA Orchestra Chair
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has become a hot-button issue in the realm of professional orchestras. Recently, it has also become an important issue for student orchestras. Creating a safe and inclusive rehearsal environment while programming repertoire by historically underrepresented composers can feel overwhelming. This article will discuss practical ways of integrating DEI into student orchestra programs, specifically names and pronouns; gender-inclusive language; gender-inclusive concert attire; DEI committees and safe zone training; publishers and online resources; and composers and repertoire.
In Act II, Scene 2 of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet asks, “What’s in a name?” As it turns out, a lot! Addressing a student by their preferred name and pronouns is an act of respect and validation. While it may not seem like much at first, it is a way for the teacher to say, “I respect you for who you are,” and “I do not want to cause you harm.” Introductions at the start of the year are a great way for teachers and students to let everyone know how they wish to be called and what their pronouns are. For example, “Hello! My name is Thomas, and my pronouns are he/him.” If this feels like too big and bold a step, another option is to have each musician fill out a student information sheet that is kept confidential between teacher and student. Another easy and subtle step is to include your pronouns in an email signature either directly behind your name (Dr. Thomas Dickey [he/him]) or as its own line.
In rehearsals, avoid gender-specific language. While it might seem rather formal and more appropriate to address the musicians as “ladies and gentlemen,” remember that not every student identifies in such binary ways. Strive for gender-inclusive language and encourage everyone to use gender-inclusive terms. The Southern second-person plural word “y’all” is perhaps the most inclusive word in the English language. Those conductors from the northern side of the Mason-Dixon Line might feel a bit silly telling their students that “Y’all sounded great at the concert!” In that case, words such as “friends” and “folks” are more than adequate substitutions. For example: “Friends, at rehearsal A…” or “May I have woodwind folks at the allegro?”
Orchestras are notorious for wearing concert attire that is perceived as stuffy and outdated. If musicians wear all-black attire so that the audience can focus entirely on the music, then it begs the question as to why gender should be distinguished. In your orchestra syllabus or handbook, avoid concert attire policies stating that “Gentlemen shall wear…” and “Ladies shall wear…” Consider having Option 1 and Option 2 so that those students who feel more comfortable in tuxedos can wear them, and those students who do not have another option. When in doubt, have everyone wear artist black.
Does your school already have a committee devoted to DEI? If not, then start one. In the ideal world, a DEI committee has both faculty and student representatives. In meetings, this allows the opportunity to discuss DEI-related matters that affect the faculty and staff, and those matters that affect the
students. Students often have their finger on the proverbial pulse and can provide perspectives unseen by teachers. If you feel comfortable doing so, invite one or two parent representatives to join the committee.
Also, investigate if your school offers Safe Zone training workshops. These workshops are typically designed to identify and educate allies of the LGBTQ+ community. At the end of the workshop, Safe Zone allies receive a sticker of completion that can be posted on an office door, bulletin board, or any other highly visible location. This is another simple yet effective way to let your students know that you believe that all sexual orientations and gender identities/ expressions should be acknowledged and supported. If your school is unable to provide such learning opportunities, then consider participating in an online LGBTQ+ awareness and ally training workshop, such as The Safe Zone Project.
One of the greatest hurdles when it comes to selecting repertoire by historically underrepresented composers is knowing where to go to find music. For those teachers who enjoy scrolling through online catalogs, taking a look at perusal scores, and listening to sample recordings, I strongly recommend TUX People’s Music Publishing Company, C. Alan Publications, Lauren Keiser Music Publishing/Kaiser Southern Music, and Theodore Presser. These publishers make available to school orchestra programs music by women composers and composers of color that is within both the technical capabilities and financial restraints of most student orchestras. There are also a good number of online resources devoted to composers of color, women composers, etc. Take a look at Christian Michael Folk’s Graded Orchestral Repertoire; the ADORE Project (Accessible, Diverse, Orchestral Repertoire, Equity); Rachel Barton Pine’s Music by Black Composers: Classical Music from Africa and the African Diaspora and String Orchestra Music by Black Composers series; the Institute for Composer Diversity ; the Composers Diversity Collective; the Composers Equity Project ; Latin Orchestral Music ; and the African Diaspora Music Project
For those teachers who do not have a lot of time to comb through online databases, then I recommend the following composers from marginalized communities whose compositions are within the technical capabilities of student orchestras: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912); Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799); Florence Price (1887-1953); George Walker (1922-2018); Adolphus Hailstork (b.1941); William Grant Still (1895-1978); Ulysses Kay (1917-1995); Yukiko Nishimura (b.1967); and Stella Sung (b.1955). Be sure to take a look at the original compositions and orchestral arrangements by Clara Schumann (1819-1896); Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805-1847); Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (1858-1944); Emma Lou Diemer (b.1927); and Gwyneth Walker (b.1947).
When it comes to music by LGBTQ+ composers, there is no shortage of famous queer composers, including Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Camille Saint-Saëns, and George Frideric Handel, all of whom wrote
wonderfully accessible music for strings and full orchestra. Depending on the political climate of your community, you might have to get creative in the ways that the repertoire is presented to both students and audience alike.
The quest for a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive student orchestra program is never-ending. Remember that diversity is what we have, inclusivity is what we do with it, and equality is how we do it. If we think of orchestra as a four-year course, rather than taking things one semester at a time, we can better balance the repertoire that students need to be exposed to (e.g., Beethoven and Mozart, Bach, Corelli, and Vivaldi, etc.), the repertoire that students want to play (e.g., pops music, music from film and TV, etc.), and repertoire by historically underrepresented composers. Perhaps a more realistic goal is to start out by programming one piece per concert by a marginalized composer, and then work towards a goal of one piece for every four or one piece for every three. Orchestral repertoire is a lot like a Thanksgiving meal: there will always be turkey, mashed potatoes, and dressing (i.e., our favorites from the Classical and Romantic Eras). All we need to do is move things around a bit on the table to make room for the many dishes that our friends and family have brought to share with us.
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Abstract
GOING OFF BOOK: A DIFFERENT WAY OF PLANNING
Mary Evans Music Teacher, St. Anne's-Bellfield School
Victoria Redfearn Cave Founder, Mosaic Children's Choir
As educators seek to balance modernstresses, the responsive, improvisational nature of “off-book” teaching at the core of the Orff Schulwerk approach allows space for educators and students to thrive. In this article, the authors draw on their experience to share the benefits of improvisational teaching and offer early-career teachers advice on the skills and knowledge necessary to form a more sustainable way to plan and realize a more responsive relationship with students.
Educators must continually address the zigging and zagging of school culture, performances, daily schedules, pressures to deliver objectives in a multimedia format, and helping students who have little self-regulation, to name a few. Responding to all of this can be overwhelming. In 1995, Carol Erion opened the George Mason Orff Schulwerk Teacher Education Levels Course by telling participants there was something about Orff Schulwerk, something “of the heart that has brought you here today” (personal communication, July 17, 1995). Like other recently deceased, wise AOSA leaders, such as Danai Gagné and Barbara Grenoble, she remained focused on the true goal of Orff Schulwerk-inspired teaching: to empower students by providing them skills and opportunities for their music and movement creations. As Orff Schulwerk teachers a generation removed from these leaders, we now teach and mentor younger educators. One Saturday as we walked together into our local chapter share workshop, we fretted about details for ensuring it would run smoothly. Suddenly, we were stopped by the sight of wire sculptures lining the hallway of the school. The shapes were whimsical, colorful, playful, and alive with movement. We were struck by the possibilities for creative work with students they kindled, the promise of which brought us back to our shared “of the heart” reasons for being here. “Wow!” we agreed, “I would love to have those in my school and see where that can go.”
Reflecting further on the drive home, we wondered what could give teachers agency to not over-complicate lesson planning. Rather than spending energy making endless Google slides, scrolling through blog posts, and frantically planning for the week ahead, what can actually ease the load and enable teachers and their students to embrace the magical potential of wire sculptures, or whatever beautiful creative invitation presents itself? We concluded that focusing on the fundamental skills necessary for Orff Schulwerk teaching positions us to seize opportunities for “off-book teaching.” Taken a step further, this approach can help teachers reclaim their agency, lighten their planning load, and allow creative magic to unfold in their classrooms like a strong, perpetual aurora borealis.
Why Aim for Teaching with Flexibility?
As Orff (1978) noted, “Improvisation is the starting point for elemental music-making” (p. 22). Off-book teaching is responsive and in the spirit of the original roots of Orff Schulwerk. In theater, actors are “off book” once they are able to rehearse without a script in hand. This frees them to immerse themselves in the story, enabling them to respond to other actors in the moment. Achieving this requires a great expenditure of time to prepare. Similarly, Orff Schulwerk teachers who have put in the time to develop certain skills are able to recognize and respond in ways that nurture their students’ creativity and artistry. This has significant implications for students navigating today’s world. Developing skills and the comfort to teach with flexibility can also help teachers manage their workload and sustain them in their careers.
The Orff Schulwerk approach models teaching in a way that follows creative ideas and inspirations in the moment; this allows educators to empower students as creative agents. Consider, as an example, a session in which Steve Calantropio led attendees in composing a rondo from the pattern of the Exit signs in the room. Such professional development experiences are not about accumulating repertoire; they are about taking in processes that can be emulated in the classroom. Liz Gilpatrick (2009) noted,
When we teach children to invent little introductions, interludes, or codas, and to change them as they see fit, we let them know the world is a fluid place, and that yesterday’s mistake can be today’s learning.... When we ask, “Is there anything you would like to change about your dance or are you happy with it the way it is now?” we help them trust their perceptions. (p. 26)
Carol Erion (1996), reflecting on the creative “ride” teachers can facilitate, argued, “Ensuring that each student has that moment of recognition is ultimately more important than the development of musical skills and knowledge, for it is nothing less than the realization of one’s creative spirit” (p. 14). More recently, Jane Frazee (2012) pointed out that developing students’ creativity and flexibility is widely recognized as an essential skill in this century’s fast-paced world. Off-book teaching allows teachers to respond to students’ ideas, interests, and situations, keeping them, the creators, at the core (see Figures 1 & 2).
Although looking at planning with a new lens might be important for facilitating student creativity, off- book teaching can also support teacher sustainability. At some point, it is just not possible to plan detailed lessons for eight to ten classes a day without severe burnout. In addition, how can teachers avoid sliding into “we always do this in second grade,” ignoring the student creative process altogether? Every teacher strives for that moment when their “lift” in the classroom becomes just a bit easier. With the right skills and an openness to the process, the typed and studied lesson plans necessary at the start of a teaching career can transform into a list of starting
points for sessions with children, a sticky note with some ideas, or simply a reaction to fascinating artwork observed when walking into the school that day. This openness allows a more relaxed agenda and provides time and space to breathe as professionals and humans. In her article in The Orff Echo, Judith ThomasSolomon (2022) described a number of such lessons with her students, including one inspired by a saying on a student’s T-shirt. In a similar vein, Carley (1983a) wrote, “Nothing genuinely creative can emerge from an atmosphere that is tense, critical, or impatient” (p. 73). When educators develop their flexibility and skills over time, it allows students to experience the empowerment that comes from the creative process while it nurtures intuitive and artistic teaching.
Laying the Foundation for Improvisational Teaching
Careful planning is important for beginning teachers. Now, as seasoned teachers, we discussed how there came a time when we no longer designed lesson plans the same way we did when we started—yet, our teaching had improved. Seeking to guide teachers new to Orff Schulwerk, we considered the following questions:
• What skills do we have that we perhaps take for granted?
• What critical skills are necessary for teaching with the Orff Schulwerk approach?
Developing these skills can help alleviate the pressures of the education system, encouraging more educators to continue their efforts through Orff Schulwerk. As a result, we developed a letter to our new teacher selves with the intention of someday being able to set it aside (see Figure 3).
Recognizing and Overcoming Barriers to Off-Book Teaching
Despite the clear benefits of teaching in the responsive, improvisational style of Orff Schulwerk, some genuine obstacles and pressures that teachers experience daily can make this work challenging. One obstacle is the fear of failure and /pressure always to achieve with students. Nevertheless, as Carley (1983c) pointed out, “A class period which disappoints
you may be, for some child, the most important of all his days in school” (p. 75). Laughter, failure—just hearing those words can sometimes make a teacher feel uncomfortable. Yet, those can be the most valuable moments, aesthetically, in children’s journeys of finding themselves. Educators need to be generous with themselves and vulnerable with their students, recognizing that the thousands of intuitive calls, offbook moments, and daily responses to children can be what shapes their futures.
The trend to take away power from the educator is another obstacle. Teachers are navigating divisive concept laws and increased surveillance in which, according to Bylica et al. (2024),
The presumed harmful influence of educators and the assumption that teachers must be told what to teach has the potential to de-professionalize educators and influence their perception of their own agency in the classroom as policy actors and curriculum creators. (p. 2)
If teachers hear day after day that their expertise and voice do not matter, they begin to feel a sense of disempowerment—a lack of control over what happens in their classroom, process, or product. Connecting with a professional development community and tapping into their own artistic skillset allows teachers to feel less isolated and acquire the expertise needed to respond to their students’ creative needs. Ultimately, teaching off-book provides the means for teachers to reclaim their agency.
Finally, pressures to perform and to produce at rapid rates are genuine and enormous. Isabel Carley (1983c) argued,
It is much too easy to succumb to public pressure for too frequent performance, or to our own professional ambition and vanity by using our selected groups to build our own reputations. This is a travesty of Schulwerk, a complete denial of its underlying philosophy. (p. 75)
If we are honest, not all schools and districts can handle the responsibility of supporting teachers as they seek to facilitate student voice and choice. Nevertheless, Carley (1983b) challenged Orff Schulwerk educators to keep process at the core:
Figure 1. Children with scarves
Figure 2. Children with drum and light
Dear New Teacher,
Skills for successful implementation of off-book teaching will not be attained immediately or within one, two, or even three years. These skills include musicianship, movement abilities, pedagogical knowledge, and personal health to work on for years to come.
Students begin learning their music and movement skills from your models. Although keeping in touch with your primary instrument is never a bad thing, what are your skills on classroom instruments?
Remember how you invested time in practice when you were in school? Invest time in practicing the skills you need in elemental music and movement. Consider a yoga class after hours instead of scrolling through YouTube videos. Take home a tubano and play around in different meters instead of preparing a perfectly-crafted Google slide show that will have students sitting and looking instead of moving and creating. If you find yourself spending more time at a computer than with an actual instrument, you might rethink some things. Specifically, practice so you are able to:
• Sing in tune consistently and keep your voice healthy.
• Demonstrate the rhythm or beat in your body or on other instruments.
• Teach a song by rote.
• Play the recorder.
• Play basic classroom instruments (barred and unpitched).
• Play basic keyboard and/or guitar/ukulele to accompany your students.
• Move comfortably in an artistic way.
• Model body percussion in an artistic way.
• Lead a folk dance.
• Lead creative movement through vocabulary and modeling.
• Scaffold and sequence skills, aiming for this to become intuitive.
• Improvise at a basic level on various media.
We keep saying that process is more important than performance, but do we teach that way? Do we leave room for ideas to be contributed as we go along? Or do we stifle the very creativity we pretend to foster by sticking strictly to our own preconceived plans and our own preconceived goals? Do we dare give demonstrations where something new is allowed to grow? Where is the process truly demonstrated? Where do our students do something they’ve never done before? Or do we play it safe and do the old things in the old way, performing what’s in print without stopping to consider what isn’t in print that only we and our particular class can do? (pp. 77–78)
Orff Schulwerk teachers can, bit by bit, dare to change their school’s performance culture by using their students’ ideas
Developing these skills is essential for successful teaching and the ability to respond and follow creative leads. Beyond this, grow your ability to select materials appropriate for different developmental levels and change course when needed. You can develop these habits by reading, observing and noticing patterns of mentor teachers, collecting favorite “beginnings” in an idea bank for yourself (e.g., repertoire from primary sources, songs, dances, and other inspirations), and seeking out help and training. Finally, find a way to attend professional development sessions.
The years spent cultivating the skills on this list—which is not comprehensive—can save you hours in the long run. If you know how to do these things, then eventually you can literally have a sticky note for your plans. You will know how to take sculpture from the glass display case and turn it into a unit, multiple lessons with multiple grades, or maybe even a performance. And although this might be a controversial statement, all you would need to implement all of this is your body, your mind, and a few tricks—no excessive plans, no technology, and, literally, no large instrumentarium. Ultimately, you should be facilitating. The goal is for students to be working harder during class time, eventually, than you are. Map out a curricular arc and be familiar with different parts of a lesson for various ages. If the students are not working harder than you are after years in a program, something needs examining.
Finally, you do no one favors by working so hard that you end your career after three grueling years. Pace yourself. Look at this list and come back to it periodically. Save time for reflection. Keep a journal of what worked. Set boundaries, while being a team player. Get sleep, hydrate, stay physically and mentally healthy. You will never lose if you are focusing on artistry and finding ways to facilitate student voice. The moment students start to “take over” will be the moment you know you are starting to get it. There will be a fantastic dance of your inspirations, their creations, your responses, and their responses.
Sincerely, Mary and Victoria
and imaginations to create a community culture of music- and movement-based processes and performances (see Figures 4 & 5, p. 48).
All obstacles aside, when educators include students, when they respond to their students’ needs instead of sticking perpetually to orchestrated lessons, beautifully prepared slide decks, or scripted performances, something begins tohappen. Students become advocates and classroom management becomes easier. It is most noticeable when students:
• Start repeating things created in the classroom on the playground.
• Come to class asking in a hopeful tone, “Are we going to work on that ‘thing’ again?”
Figure 3. Letter to our new teacher selves
Conclusion
Developing the skills necessary to implement the Orff Schulwerk approach by going off-book is as relevant as ever. Shamrock (2017) argued:
Not all teachers want or are able to handle the responsibility that accompanies this much flexibility.... The Schulwerk teacher ideally is willing to recede more and more, as the students gain in confidence and ability, from a leadership role to that of facilitator. (p. 25)
The reasons to develop the skills, get a little uncomfortable, and give it a try are compelling, and the path is navigable. Ultimately, what might sustain teachers is organic and “of the heart”— continuing dialogue with a close friend, reading, continuing professional development, or visiting a friend’s classroom and troubleshooting together. Educators must build the skills and pace themselves. Creativity and flexibility cannot happen when people are stressed. It is important to consider changing roles or environments, when needed, and daring to teach with only recorder or a drum.
Take an idea from the school art display case and “go with it.” Most importantly, always listen to your students, and then ... respond!
References
Bylica, K., Hawley, D., & Lewis, S. (2024). “Walking on eggshells”: Music educator perceptions of agency in times of surveillance and divisive concept laws. Arts Education Policy Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/10632913.2024.2357289
Carley, I. M. (1983a). The atmosphere in the classroom. In I.M. Carley (Ed.). Orff Re-Echoes Book 1 (2nd ed.), (pp. 73–74). American Orff-Schulwerk Association.
Carley, I. M. (1983b). On being simple-minded. In I.M. Carley (Ed.), Orff Re-Echoes Book 1 (2nd ed.), (pp. 75–76). American Orff-Schulwerk Association.
• Start hanging out in the classroom, just working on things.
• Give their teacher a nod in the hallway (not rock star nods, just subtle ones, as if to say, “I see you.”)
• Share suggestions in the hallways, “Oh, I was working on the thing we did yesterday—I have some ideas.”
• Are dismayed when an occasional lesson does not include asking for their input—and they try to insert their ideas anyway!
• Never tire rehearsing for performances because they have created much of the material.
When Orff Schulwerk educators observe these things happening in their school culture, they know they are seeing the results of off-book teaching, or, in reality, the rewards of teaching with the Orff Schulwerk approach. It is worth persevering.
Carley, I. M. (1983c). On creativity. In I.M. Carley (Ed.), Orff Re-Echoes Book 1 (2nd ed.), (pp. 77–78). American OrffSchulwerk Association.
Erion, C. (1996). Creativity: Reflections on a conundrum: A teacher’s thoughts. The Orff Echo, 28(4), 12-14.
Frazee, J. (2012). Artful-playful-mindful. A new Orff-Schulwerk curriculum for music making and music thinking. Schott. Gilpatrick, L. (2009). Orff Schulwerk: Process, not method. The Orff Echo, 41(4), 24–26.
Orff, C. (1978). The Schulwerk. (M. Murray, Trans.). Schott. Shamrock, M. E. (2017). Orff Schulwerk brief history, description, and issues in global dispersal. American Orff-Schulwerk Association. (Original work published 1995).
Thomas-Solomon, J. (2022). A living compass for Orff Schulwerk teachers. The Orff Echo 54(2), 28-33. American Orff-Schulwerk Association.
Figure 4. Students exploring haiku
Figure 5. Students working in small groups
SINGING PHONES:
A DIY project for Elementary Music Teachers
Jennifer Hibbard Founder, Little Brick Road Music
Do-it-yourself projects are often a necessity in elementary music classrooms, where limited budgets must serve an entire student population. Sometimes this means making enough items for 500 or more students on a budget of $50 or less. Perhaps this explains why blog posts featuring DIY projects, such as Old Mister Rabbit and Puffball Rhythm Monsters , are so popular among elementary music teachers. When a project is both budget-friendly and fun, it’s sure to be a hit with music teachers and students alike.
Whisper phones are one example of a budget-friendly and fun classroom tool. They are used in elementary Englishlanguage classes to help students improve sentence fluency, enunciation, and volume. Made from PVC pipe, they are extremely durable and easy to sanitize. Given that music is a language, it is unsurprising that music teachers have adapted these tools for their own classrooms. Whisper phones, or singing phones, can be used to help with pitch matching, dynamic control, and diction.
What You’ll Need
• 3/4 inch PVC Pipe cut into 3 1/2 inch sections (10 ft. will make about 30 phones)
• 3/4 inch PVC 90° Elbows S x S (2 for each phone)
• PVC Pipe Cutter
• Ruler
• Marker
You can try asking your local hardware store or your school’s shop class teacher to cut the PVC pipe into 3 and ½ inch sections for you. If they agree to do this, you won’t need the pipe cutter or ruler.
Assembling Your Phones
1. Use the ruler to mark your PVC pipe into 3 and ½ inch sections.
2. Cut the pipe using your pipe cutter. PVC pipe can be extremely difficult to cut depending on the quality of your cutters, so be sure to have a strong helper nearby if necessary.
3. Attach an elbow to each end of the pipe, and you’re finished!
Additional Note: When attaching the elbows, ensure the smooth end is facing outward. Some elbows have plastic snags that a student could easily catch on their ear or hands.
Phone Cleaning & Maintenance
For a quick clean between uses, you can use sterisol just as you would any instrument. For a deep clean, you can run the singing phones through the school’s dishwasher, like you would plastic recorders. Other than keeping the phones clean, there’s no other maintenance required.
Using Your Phones
As mentioned earlier, these phones can be used to help students match pitch, improve diction, and control dynamics. Here are a few more ideas to consider:
• Have students use the phones while singing partner songs. Try pairing Frère Jacques with Three Blind Mice for a fun and easy partner song.
• Practice singing rounds with the phones. Scotland’s Burning and Music Alone Shall Live are two good options.
• Use the phones to practice inner hearing. To do this, have students cover up or underline one word on a song sheet. They will sing through the song as usual, but will sing the covered word in “their mind’s ear only”.
• Try using the phones as an extra incentive during whole-class instruction. For example, you could start by passing phones out to students who are displaying good singing posture. This is an easy and quick way to encourage other students to follow suit.
WHAT TO DO WITH THE “OTHER” 65%
Andrew Thompson Music Studio Director, Aloha High School
According to a study conducted by Kenneth Elpus & Carlos Abril, approximately 34% of high school students in the United States were enrolled in a music class at some point in their high school careers during the years 2009-2023 (Elpus & Abril, 2019). My personal teaching experience of 16 years in three different states, as well as conversations with many colleagues over the years, seem to indicate that this percentage hasn’t changed much in the last 12 years. If anything, it seems to me that the number of secondary school students accessing music classes might have become smaller in that time. Regardless, this leaves us with the stunning fact that approximately 65% of secondary school students don’t take advantage of the music education options in our schools. This begs the question: What can we do to help connect that 65% of kids with music?
The popular music program that I direct at Aloha High School in the Beaverton School District is one answer to that question. Our program, which is called the Music Studio program, is my full-time job. I teach a full load of high school classes to students who play instruments like guitar, bass guitar, drum set, piano, and ukulele. Our program is an “and” to our amazing traditional band and choir programs that bring music to more students, not an “or.” In this article, I will give you a glimpse into my program, provide realistic and practical options for introducing Modern Band options to your schools, offer solutions for what to do about instruments and gear, share a list of free resources that you can use with your students tomorrow, and more.
Traditional Programs in Harmony with Modern Band
I am a proud alumnus of Aloha High School, and being a band student was basically my whole identity in high school. I thrived in high school band, developed a love for classical music and jazz, started a life-long study of music, and found my people—all thanks to the Aloha band program.
This was also the launchpad that led me to become a music teacher. Before finding my unique position back at Aloha, I spent 10 amazing years as a band director in Tucson and suburban Chicago. Band was my life for many years, and those experiences shaped who I am today. However, I believe that it’s important for all of us steeped in band, choir, or orchestra to recognize a crucial truth: our traditional band, choir, and orchestra programs just do not speak to every student. This is why almost all of the students who take my Modern Band and music production classes are not involved in our traditional music programs. They just didn’t find their place there like I did…and that’s okay!
The students signing up for my classes are not band and choir kids—they are from the other 65% of our students and are now benefitting from the joys of making music in school. My experience working with other Modern Band teachers around the country is that this is nearly always the case. While many traditional band and choir directors might fear that a popular music program will pull students away from their programs, our experience at Aloha has been exactly the opposite. I have
actually added students to our band and choir programs; once they find a place to make music, it only grows from there. In the five years since we started this program at Aloha, we have already had a remarkable group of students graduating with music as a central part of their lives, even if it isn’t always on the college track. Recent graduate Emanuel Garcia signed a record deal with Del Records in 2023 and is making a career writing, performing, and touring with his own original music in the Corridos style. 2024 graduate Dax Tackett was my TA during his senior year and developed a love for fixing, maintaining, and building string instruments. He is now pursuing training and work as a luthier. But just as important to me are the hundreds of students who are going out into the world and keeping music as a hobby, playing alone in their rooms, along with recordings of their favorite artists, or playing with friends. It is a privilege to help inspire students to continue to keep music in their lives after high school, and our Modern Band program has given many students the tools to do just that.
Adding Modern Band to Your School
Okay, now that I’ve convinced you that you should start a Modern Band program at your school or at least include some elements of popular music into your traditional programs, I want to be clear that I do not have all of the answers. Not even close. What I do have are some things I’d like to share with you here that work for me, in the hope that they can give you some useful ideas. If you have questions about anything or would like a thought partner for ways that you can include Modern Band into what you’re doing, I would be absolutely delighted to hear from you at andrew_thompson@beaverton.k12.or.us. Seriously!
The first thing to note is that you do not have to be an expert to teach guitar, bass guitar, drum set, ukulele, piano, songwriting, and Modern Band ensembles. I certainly wasn’t when I started. I have been learning along with my students since this program started, and there are loads of great resources available to help you and your students get started. In fact, that is a common tenet with Modern Band programs around the country: my role as a teacher has evolved from that of a director to that of a producer, learning partner, and guide.
Some popular co-curricular options include starting a standalone guitar/ukulele class, working with a single pop music ensemble, or including Modern Band elements and instruments into a general music class. A few extra-curricular options include an after-school or lunch club, involving preexisting student pop bands to your concerts, and a “20% Time” model where students get one day a week to work on self-directed music projects that are separate from standard band, choir, or general music class work. There are amazing examples of students creating and learning amazing music with all of these models all around the country—too many to go into detail here. If you’d like ideas or inspiration, please reach out, and I’d be happy to help connect you with people doing this great work.
How My Modern Band Program Works
What I have found most beneficial for my students is a focus on student choice and autonomy. Students choose their own projects with support from me as needed. These projects include students learning songs from tabs, tutorials, and each other; writing original music; working together in self-formed bands; practicing fundamentals or songs alone; recording and writing music with a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation); and anything else they can dream up. I was initially terrified by the amount of autonomy and control I was giving my students, but I am happy to report that it has worked incredibly well. The students recognize the responsibility and opportunity, and generally rise to the occasion with maturity. A brief sampling of music heard being played in my classroom right now includes Junior H, Nirvana, Imagine Dragons, The Smiths, The Eagles, Peso Pluma, Laufey, Metallica, The Beatles, and everything in between.
I have become very interested in a well-researched idea in modern psychology called Self-Determination Theory. A great deal of research into this theory proves what many of us already know anecdotally, which is that all humans thrive when we have a greater deal of autonomy in our lives. The more my students feel that they have control of their own learning, the more bought-in they are (Ryan & Deci, 2017). This is the primary driver behind giving students options, and it has been completely transformational to their learning and my teaching. This pedagogical approach is commonly championed in Modern Band circles. David Wish, the founder of the Modern Band non-profit MusicWill has promoted his “Music as a Second Language” approach for decades, and the research of British music education researcher Lucy Green that focuses on what she calls “informal music learning” (Wish et. al., 2020, p.3; Green, 2008, p.4). The influences of these ideas and pedagogies have been transformational in my teaching.
The autonomy I give my students is balanced with activities that we do together each day, including starting every class with a group warm up and a short activity or lesson on relevant topics that help students with their general understanding of how music works, playing at least one easy song together as a class, and ending each class by listening to and analyzing a piece of student-select music. A few examples of topics of these activities and lessons are improvisation, song writing, how to read tab and traditional notation, music theory, form, creating song charts, music business tips, how to get a gig, and anything else that they are curious about or that I find myself explaining to more than one student any given day.
Other Models
Like everything I’m telling you here, this is just one way to teach Modern Band. Here are some different models used with great success in large and small ways by schools across the country. Starting with extracurricular options typically means less planning time and stress on your part. Here are a few options that might work in your school:
• Start an after-school club where interested students can play together, play alone, or both.
• If you know of pre-existing student bands, rappers, DJs, etc., then invite them to your space. You could have a student group play as folks find their seats for your concert. Or they could play during intermission during the school play. Just bringing these already music-loving students closer to your program could yield some awesome shows and maybe bring a few more students to your traditional programs.
Some co-curricular options that might work for you include:
• Turning all or part of your general music class into a Modern Band class. If you can make it happen, put the whole music class into one band—there are many incredible programs across the country that follow this model. Or you could try something like what I do at Aloha and let students choose their own adventure.
• Start with just a guitar or ukulele class. There are loads of amazing curricula and resources to get you started on this, even if you don’t yet know how to play either instrument.
What to Do About Gear
As far as gear is concerned, I feel like Charlie Bucket who found a Golden Ticket. Thanks to a perfect storm of circumstances, post-COVID ESSER Fund grants, a willing, forward-thinking admin team, and a few key players who spent 20+ years in Beaverton School District pushing to get something like this going, we were able to score a crazy amount of gear for the Music Studio program at Aloha when it began 5 years ago. We have 70+ guitars, 30+ bass guitars, 20 electronic drum sets, ukuleles, keyboards, and 18 DAW setups with MacBooks and digital audio interfaces. My students and I are the extraordinarily lucky beneficiaries of this once-in-a-lifetime situation we find ourselves in. But what should you do if you’d like to get started and don’t have an amazing story like that? Start small! A beginner ukulele is only $60, and a decent Yamaha acoustic guitar is $200. Just one instrument can hook a whole group of students.
You might also be surprised by how many folks in your community have instruments to donate. As soon as word started to get around that a “guitar” program started at Aloha, I got a significant number of alumni and community members who magically appeared to donate instruments and other gear. Just one social media post soliciting donations could get you some great instruments for your students to play.
Another option to consider is that some of your students and their families might already have gear, in which case you can add a “Bring Your Own Instrument” option to the mix.
Grading in my class is simple. Students record a one-minute clip of whatever they’re working on every 2–3 weeks and fill out a brief written reflection on how their projects are progressing that includes realistic goals for the next recording. My constant formative assessment and ongoing input are given as I walk around class day-to-day, giving students many opportunities for individualized feedback. Additionally, I encourage them to perform and give them many opportunities to do so. My students play for our monthly lunch concerts, in-class Open Mic Fridays, our YouTube series called the Aloha Living Room Concerts, at intermission for theatre performances, and more. I don’t put on traditional concerts, and I don’t require students to perform. There are many amateur musicians who love to play by themselves, meaningfully connecting with music without performing out in the world. My own father is a perfect example of this.
Free and Awesome Resources to Get You Started
Here is a short list of amazing resources that have helped me a ton. I’ve listed the URLs, but you can also just Google the titles of the websites, and you should have no trouble finding them.
MusicWill Jamzone https://jamzone.musicwill.org/
My students and I use this site almost every day. Some highlights include high quality instructional videos on all Modern Band instruments, beautiful song charts, and “song jams” to get kids playing quickly. MusicWill is the non-profit organization who coined the term “Modern Band.” Their mission is to support teachers and students in bringing more Modern Band to students around the country. Every summer they host an amazing conference called the Modern Band Summit in Fort Collins, CO. Please consider joining me there next year!
Musical Wonders https://musicalwonders.substack.com/ Musical Wonders was thoughtfully created by 2022 Grammy Teacher of the Year Stephen Cox for the Willis Wonderland Foundation. This site has an extensive songwriting curriculum with super easy-to-use lessons and handouts, easy tools to make fret board and drum notation diagrams, a weekly blog where Stephen posts whatever he’s working on, and links to other great resources.
ChordPlayer https://www.onemotion.com/chord-player/ This is a simple and fun way for students to experiment with chord progressions. Students use this easy tool to create their own practice tracks, write songs, and improvise.
Ableton Learning https://learningmusic.ableton.com/ Ableton’s easy-to-navigate, browser-based education platform is a great way for any student to dig deeper into understanding, rhythm, form, scales, melodies, and more. This is a side-project for Ableton, who make an amazing DAW that’s used by amateur and professional music producers around the world.
Suno: AI Song Writing https://suno.com/ Anyone can quickly and easily create a new song in almost any style. You can provide lyrics or just a rough idea, and you’ll get an AI-generated recording of your song in moments. This amazing new tool is a great way to kickstart student interest in songwriting and composition.
Moises: AI practice tool https://moises.ai/ Moises is extremely helpful for those who want to go deeper into their practice on any instrument. Students can import songs and isolate drum, bass, chord, and melody tracks. This enables students to play along with their favorite recording with only their part taken out. Although this one isn’t free, it is amazing and definitely worth checking out.
Coda
As I said before, I don’t have all of the answers, but I would love to be a thought partner with you if you’re interested in bringing more musical diversity to your music program. I belong to a group of educators from around the Northwest called the Northwest Modern Band Teachers Association (www.bit.ly/ NWMBTA), and we would love to partner with you in bringing
Modern Band to more students in Oregon and beyond. Please consider joining one of our quarterly Zoom hangouts. Every student should have access to a music education that speaks to them. While our traditional programs will continue to serve many thousands of students into the future, I hope that you’ll join me in considering options like modern band to help us reach the other 65% of the students in our schools. The more students who are involved in music, the better.
Elpus, K., & Abril, C. R. (2019). Who enrolls in high school music? A national profile of U.S. students, 2009–2013. Journal of Research in Music Education, 67(3), 323–338.
Green: Green, L. (2008). Music, informal learning and the school: A new classroom pedagogy. Ashgate.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness (1st ed., p. 308). The Guilford Press.
Wish, D., Heimbauer, G., Speicher, C., Flora, J., DiMasso, A., Zellner, R., & Danielsson, S. (2020). Teacher manual (Version 4.2). MusicWill.
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
MUSIC
Scholarship
+ Monday, February 16, 2026 strings/brass/woodwinds/percussion only
+ Saturday, February 21, 2026
+ Sunday, February 22, 2026
Degrees and Areas of Study
Bachelor of Music
+ Instrumental Performance
+ Vocal Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature
+ Music Education
+ Piano Performance
+ Piano Performance and Pedagogy
Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science
+ Music
+ Music Technology and Production
+ Contemporary Music Industry (Ecampus online)
Music Minor
Empowering
the
Next Generation of Jazz Leaders:
EQUITY, ACCESS, AND COMMUNITY
Dawn Clement Jazz & American Improvised Music Area Coordinator, Metropolitan State, University of Denver
As I prepare to direct the Oregon All-State high school jazz band this January, I am reminded of the unique opportunity we have as educators to shape not only the musical abilities of young artists but also their understanding of leadership, collaboration, and equity. Jazz, as a Black American art form, is inherently democratic—it thrives on the interplay of individual voices working together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. This dynamic makes the jazz ensemble a powerful model for teaching students how to lead, support, and advocate for one another.
Throughout my career as an educator, performer, and advocate, I have sought to create spaces where all voices are valued and where students feel empowered to take creative risks. This philosophy is deeply rooted in the themes of my “Women as Leaders” sessions, where I explore how we can foster environments that are inclusive, equitable, and supportive of diverse perspectives. Central to this work is the concept of allyship, which I define through roles such as the Sponsor, the Champion, the Amplifier, and the Advocate.
Each of these roles offers a unique way to support and uplift others:
• The Sponsor uses their position to open doors for others, creating opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach.
• The Champion actively promotes and celebrates the achievements of others, ensuring their contributions are recognized.
• The Amplifier ensures that every voice is heard, particularly those that might be overlooked, by echoing and reinforcing their ideas.
• The Advocate works to create systemic change, challenging inequities and building more inclusive structures.
These roles are not limited to boardrooms or leadership positions—they are just as relevant within the context of a jazz ensemble. In fact, the ensemble itself is a microcosm of these principles in action. Each musician has a role to play, whether it’s stepping forward to take a solo, comping to support another player, or listening deeply to the group to ensure the music stays cohesive. The best ensembles are those where every member understands the importance of both leading and supporting, of finding their voice while making space for others.
For the students in the All-State jazz band, this experience is an opportunity to engage with jazz not only as a musical tradition but as a living, breathing art form that embodies these values. My goal as their director is to create an environment where they feel empowered to take creative risks, support one another, and connect deeply with the music and its history. This includes honoring jazz’s roots as a Black American art form and understanding its role in advancing social and cultural equity.
The principles of access, equity, and community are not abstract concepts—they are actionable goals that we, as
educators, can model and implement in our classrooms and rehearsal spaces. Access means ensuring that every student has the opportunity to participate fully, regardless of their background or resources. Equity requires us to actively create spaces where all voices are included and valued, particularly those of women and people of color who have historically been underrepresented in jazz. Community, meanwhile, is about fostering connections at both the micro level—within our classrooms and ensembles—and the macro level, through conferences, festivals, and global networks.
As educators, we have a responsibility to model these values for our students. By encouraging them to embrace roles like the Sponsor, the Champion, the Amplifier, and the Advocate, we can help them see how they can contribute to a more inclusive and collaborative musical community. For example, a student might act as a Sponsor by inviting a peer to take a solo they might not have claimed for themselves. They might be a Champion by celebrating a section mate’s hard work or an Amplifier by ensuring that quieter voices in the group are heard. These small acts of leadership and allyship can have a profound impact, both within the ensemble and beyond.
Jazz teaches us to listen deeply, to embrace vulnerability, and to find strength in collaboration. These are lessons that extend far beyond the bandstand and into every aspect of our lives.
As we approach this year’s All-State experience, I encourage my fellow educators to reflect on their own “why.” Why do we teach? Why do we champion jazz? For me, the answer lies in the transformative power of this music to connect, inspire, and build bridges.
I am honored to join the talented students and educators of Oregon this January. Together, we will celebrate the power of jazz to not only create beautiful music but also to shape a more inclusive and equitable future.
ONE THING
Melissa Jmaeff OMEA Small Schools Chair
As generalists, very often small schools music educators need to be everything to everybody. Bus driver, instrument repair tech, vocal coach, shoe-tying-expert, band director—we wear so many hats that sometimes we forget to take one off before putting another one on, or worse, before leaving to go home from work. For small and rural school music teachers, taking initiative to wear those hats and get things done is how we roll and many of us take pride in a long and busy day at work in which we feel we have accomplished the many things on our to-do lists. Many of us love the challenge that generalist teaching provides; our jobs are certainly never boring. Among other things, these jobs require both an eye for detail and an eye on the big picture all while navigating various ages, levels, and content areas. Some days it can be a wild ride. Most days it is extremely rewarding. So, when I make this suggestion, I make it with the utmost respect and understanding as I know that this is perhaps the most challenging suggestion that anyone could possibly make to people like us: Just do one thing.
Teaching in small and rural schools has its unique challenges, many of which we are all intimately familiar with, from that familiar feeling of isolation to that nagging sense of self-doubt or imposter syndrome, to a serious lack of resources. We’ve all been there and none of these experiences are enjoyable (not to mention that there are often plenty more where they came from!). It’s easy, therefore, for us to see the problems and while it is certainly important to identify them, it is also of equal importance to try to find a feasible solution or at least some effective mitigation strategies for whatever problem is plaguing us. My suggestion is to do one thing. Instead of taking on the world, I encourage you to figure out what aspect of your job you would like to improve and to focus on doing just that.
The elementary music educator in my school district teaches at two different sites. In the years leading up to her tenure, neither school had a music teacher for a year or more and both classrooms had been used as storage space for that time. When my colleague first arrived in our district, she had a very long and often overwhelming todo list. As I watched her go through the paces of developing her program and making her classroom a warm and welcoming place for her students, I observed that she often came back to
one idea: The development of a system. For her, the system is classroom-wide. It is an organizational system that is colorcoordinated and consistent across the various learning stations that she has set up in her room. It extends into how she organizes her resources, how the students know where to sit, and even coordinates with the pitches of the major scale. It is clever and it is aesthetically pleasing. It is simple. It invites joy. The development of this system was one thing—albeit a big thing—and it made all the difference in the teaching and learning that goes on in her music room. As an added bonus, when things got chaotic, her focus on this one aspect of her job seemed to be a grounding yet productive thing for her to revisit throughout the school year.
Moving into the 2025-2026 school year, I will be considering one thing, one aspect of what I do, to really dig into and improve upon. Whether it is creating a more organized classroom, carving out time to invest in my community, or taking a deep dive into my curriculum will depend on what I feel will best serve me and my students at this time. I encourage you to consider doing the same. When our job requires us to be everything to everyone, sometimes investing deeply in just one thing can help all of those other things fall in line—or at least in perspective.
Intention
BROADEN YOUR OFFERINGS TO CHANGE THE FACE OF MUSIC EDUCATION
Mari Schay OMEA SMTE/CNAfME Advisor Chair
Who are your students? Do they tend to come from certain cultural backgrounds? What is their personal experience with music-making? What excites them? How can you tap into their experience to create music classes that engage and excite them? If you aren’t sure, start asking. Can you offer one new class next year to bring new kids into your room? Leave the ulterior motives at the door and enjoy the connections you and your students build together.
Conviction
You don’t have to be an expert at a specific genre, culture, or instrument to be an expert facilitator, though you will have to go through a learning process. This can be scary because we are used to being on the podium, the arbiter of what “good” music is and how to guide our students as they develop and refine their skills. Letting go of that authority takes humility, curiosity, and grace. But if you lean in and ask around, you will find people to help you learn.
There is amazing work being done around our state with programs in mariachi and banda, music production, rock band, songwriting, ukulele, guitar – and probably lots more. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; just learn to steer it in new directions. Put the same energy and conviction into all of your classes as you do with your top ensembles and you will see musicianship of the same caliber.
Enthusiasm
Kids can tell when you don’t care and don’t commit. When you leave your chamber choir rehearsal with a cheesy grin, then go to guitar with a grumble, you are communicating that you do not value the students – or their experiences – equally. Even if you have to fake it a bit at first, once you see the quality of work your students can and will do, your enthusiasm will start to come naturally and you will find yourself with more energy rather than less.
Our Future Colleagues
As your collegiate chair on OMEA, this may seem like a strange topic for me. As I have said so many times, the future of music education is in great hands.
But the next generation of music teachers is also fearless! They can create beats digitally as well as they play them on percussion instruments. They shred on guitar as well as they play clarinet. They sing mariachi on Friday night and perform in the opera on Saturday. They are ready to broaden the scope of school music with passion and confidence. We can learn a lot from them!
But as K-12 music teachers, you have a special role. You are the ones that inspire your students to consider a career in music education. It is a hard job – we all know that. The current funding strains make it less stable than ever. But we also know that music matters. We can not let this generation of kids be the last to experience school music when all the research shows us that music plays an essential role in academic and social growth.
By broadening what you teach, you broaden who you teach –and encourage a new generation of teachers who are ready for the challenge. We can change the face of music education in Oregon by expanding what we teach, who we teach, and how we encourage them to continue past high school.
RELINQUISHING COMMAND:
Michael Burch-Pesses Closes Out Storied Music Career
Blake Trimm Associate Director of Communications, Pacific University
For many people, 33 years is a long enough career in any vocation. But not when you love music as much as Michael Burch-Pesses does.
After retiring from the U.S. Navy in 1995, Burch-Pesses transitioned to a career of teaching and conducting in the Pacific University Music Department
“I was still young. I still had fire in my belly,” Burch-Pesses said. “I had just finished my doctoral degree and I didn’t want that to go to waste. I always knew that I wanted to teach when I retired (from the Navy).”
The Distinguished University Professor of Music and director of bands retired — again — in May 2025 after 30 years at Pacific and an incredible 63-year career as a conductor, teacher and musician.
That career was honored with two farewell concerts featuring the ensembles that Burch-Pesses conducted on the Forest Grove Campus. The Pacific University Jazz Band presented Jazz Nite on April 25. Pacific’s Symphonic Band combined with the Oregon Symphonic Band , which he also leads, for his final concert on April 26.
Burch-Pesses arrived at Pacific with a stellar résumé and a desire to pass his knowledge on to others. A 33-year veteran of the Navy, retiring with the rank of commander, Burch-Pesses rose to become the senior officer of the Music Navy Program, managing 17 bands and more than 700 Navy musicians around the world. Along the way, he served as the assistant director of the Navy Band in Washington, director of the U.S. Naval Academy Band, Navy Band Orlando, the U.S. Seventh Fleet Band, Navy Band San Diego and The Commodores, the Navy’s top jazz band.
Despite growing up in a musical family (his father was a music teacher), Burch-Pesses aspired in high school to become an English teacher until the draft came calling.
“I joined the Navy instead of the Army,” said Burch-Pesses, who enlisted in 1962. “I joined the Navy School of Music and I was surrounded by symphony-caliber players. That made me realize that music was where my heart really was all this time.”
While serving his country through music, Burch-Pesses utilized the resources of the Navy to further his education, earning his Doctor of Musical Arts from the Catholic University of America in 1995.
After the Navy, Burch-Pesses thought he wanted to work at a large university with a large music program. That was until he was impressed by the students he encountered at Pacific.
“The students asked tougher questions than the search committee,” Burch-Pesses said, recalling his job interview. “When I went home, I told my wife that if Pacific offers me the job, I want to take it because these are the kind of students I want to teach. They’ve always been as inquisitive as they were on that first day. And when you have students like that, you want to pass on as much as you possibly can.”
Students have loved him for it. He was named a Distinguished University Professor in 2017 and received the university’s S.S. Johnson Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2006. He received the John C. McNamus Distinguished Teacher Award from the Oregon Music Educators Association in 2018 and the Northwest Division of the National Association for Music Educators’ Distinguished Service Award in 2025.
One of Pacific’s oldest academic programs, dating back to at least 1870, the Music Department has experienced an exciting period of growth in the Music Department thanks to BurchPesses and his colleagues. That includes the development of the Bachelor of Music Education and Bachelor of Music Therapy programs and the reinstatement of the university’s orchestra program, which had gone dormant in the early 1990s.
“Why anyone would want to go anywhere else, I’ll never understand,” Burch-Pesses said. “The choral program is strong. The orchestra has been revived and Pacific is a go-to place for string players. And the band program, I predict, will continue to be strong.”
April’s farewell concerts featured a blend of standards and newer composers, reflecting Burch-Pesses’ longtime preferences for diverse programs. Jazz Nite included jazz
classics such as Josef Zawinul’s “Birdland” and Joe Henderson’s “Mamacita,” along with new charts such as an arrangement of Carole King’s “Natural Woman” by Paul Murtha.
The Symphonic Band Spring Concert included “Stride,” written by 29-year-old Black composer Kevin Day, and will feature the world premiere of “Pacific Spirit,” written in honor of BurchPesses by longtime colleague Robert Buckley.
“This piece captures the essence of Michael’s inspiring energy and boundless passion,” Buckley wrote in notes for the concert program. “Above all, ‘Pacific Spirit’ is a heartfelt thank you to Michael Burch-Pesses, a true champion of music and an inspiration to generations of musicians.”
The concert closed with the finale to Antonin Dvořák’s “New World Symphony,” returning to a theme that opened BurchPesses’ Pacific career 30 years ago.
“At my first concert, we did the first movement of the ‘New World Symphony.’ I chose it because academia was a new world for me,” he said. “I was coming from the military. It was my first concert at Pacific. Doing the finale to the ‘New World Symphony’ in my final concert is like placing a bookend on my career.”
Upon retirement, Burch-Pesses and his wife, Jane, plan to
travel (a trip to Europe is currently in the plans). He continues to pursue his passion for comic books, immersing himself in the Marvel and D.C. universes.
But don’t call it a coda but rather the next movement BurchPesses’ life story. He continues to conduct the Oregon Symphonic Band and work as a clinician, guest conductor and adjudicator. He also recently became president of the Association of Concert Bands , dedicated to furthering the reach of concert band music through performance, education and advocacy.
Sixty-three years is still not long enough for a love of music. “Music is ephemeral,” Burch-Pesses said. “Each time you do a piece of music, it’s slightly different. It’s always changing. And we have such inventive composers these days. I’m really grateful that I will be able to keep my hand in learning all of these new pieces.”
Blake Timm is the Associate Director of Communications at Pacific University. He and his wife met in the jazz choir that Michael Burch-Pesses directed at Pacific in 1995. Their daughter is now a music education major at Pacific and also had the opportunity to work with Burch-Pesses as a vocalist with the jazz band.
THINKING LIKE ATHLETES IN THE MUSIC EDUCATION SPACE
Changing Our Narrative Around College Recruiting to Keep the Music Alive
Eytan Wurman Founder of CommonTime Pathways and Former Music Administrator
My son, at 3.5 years old, signed up for mini-kickers soccer in our typical suburban American town. The kids were having occasional toddler meltdowns and falling on top of the ball as often as successfully kicking it, yet a pop-up ad was waiting for me when I downloaded the app to communicate with the coach and families about field assignments.
“Want to get a scholarship to play sports in college? Sign up for NCSA today! Click below for more information.”
I was stunned.
I spent twelve years in the classroom trying to convince my students to keep music in their lives when they go to college. I spent those same twelve years trying to convince parents, school counselors, and school principals to help me—only ever with mild success.
We are appropriately proud of our students who commit to being music majors or simply continuing ensembles after high school, but for years and years I’ve watched our cultural narrative expect that merely being an athlete is enough to warrant a college scholarship while for most of us musicians the same narrative sounds like “you’ll never be good enough.” Why the dichotomy?
Messaging
Fourteen years in advance of college applications the athletics narrative was pommeling me with messaging about sending my kid to college with a sports scholarship, and without a doubt these scholarships are getting ridiculous. If you don’t think so you should do a search on the internet for a news story about two high schoolers from the Denver area in 2024 who got full rides to college to play cornhole…no…I’m not joking…cornhole… as if it’s a skill more worthy of recruiting than music.
We have to address our messaging, and I mean hard. We can’t forever live on top of the pedestal proclaiming that music is good for personal and intellectual development. It is! Of course it is! But that message isn’t cutting it anymore. It’s time to take music to the bank—literally.
According to the Massachusetts Cultural Council the arts and culture sector of the US economy is calculated at more than 1.4 trillion dollars. Performing arts college scholarships are expected to top $5 billion dollars this year while according to the NCAA D1 and D2 athletes will only be awarded $3 billion dollars. It’s no mystery to most of us that music can pay for college and provide a path to economic stability as an adult, so it’s time to double down and change our narrative.
Instead of just saying
“You can always join an ensemble for community when you get to college”
you can also say
“But you can also network with a college music director when you’re 14 and 15 years old so that they know who you are. Maybe they’ll earmark scholarships for you and boost your
chance of admission when the time comes.”
Instead of just saying
“Music is something you love so you should stick with it” you can also say
“Music is going to get you more scholarships than financial aid alone, so don’t leave that money on the table”
Instead of just saying
“A career in music is really hard—not a lot of people make it” you can also say
“But it’s just like anything else difficult. If you want to be a doctor you need to spend years in medical school. Being a pro musician is just as doable as being a doctor or a lawyer.”
Convincing Ourselves and our Students
If for one moment we think the student in front of us isn’t worthy of a music scholarship we must remember the story of the two students from Denver who earned full-ride cornhole scholarships. I’m sure they are deserving, but we also need to process the fact that they got it mostly because their parents/ coach/manager believed they could.
Will our students get a scholarship to Harvard for the French Horn? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a full ride from another school in hand if they get waitlisted. Will the third row of clarinets get a music scholarship to study at Juilliard? Of course not, but that doesn’t mean state schools, smaller private institutions, and more specialized colleges and universities won’t give them two, three, or five thousand dollars a year to play in the marching band, the orchestra, or the jazz band. I haven’t met a family that wouldn’t like to have $20,000 over four years put back in their pockets.
As one final piece of persuasion consider that in 1990 everyone knew you had to attend one of seventeen high schools within a hundred miles of Notre Dame to get recruited to their football team. In the coming years athletics programs nationalized their recruiting pipelines and now Notre Dame can recruit football players from Florida, and Duke can recruit basketball players from Texas and California. That pipeline consolidation created March Madness and exploded the Big Ten. Imagine what it could do for the world of music.
Musical Value in the College Admissions Process
There is a tectonic shift coming in college admissions, and it’s the result of what everyone is calling the Enrollment Cliff. If this is a new term for you, allow me to explain. During the market crash of 2007-2008 birth rates dropped significantly and that dip remained in place until 2014. The class that was born in 2007-2008 is this year’s high school seniors, and between 2026 and 2033 there will be three million fewer college students in the US. That’s a lot of programs struggling to stay afloat, and everyone sees it coming. The colleges are
reframing their branding and marketing strategies accordingly, and that usually employs three methods of adaptability— differentiation relative to their peers, student retention and mental health initiatives, and direct admissions.
Music programs are receiving catered scholarship and fellowship money to support specialized programming as part of the differentiation landscape. This year the University of Massachusetts Lowell is aiming to give out twenty new choral fellowships to the incoming class. Other programs across the country are doing the same, and this is all in an effort to make those schools attract students to smaller specialized programs that can give them resources, a community, and a quality education.
With regards to student retention and mental health, we all know music students are made of stronger stuff than their peers. We know they have grit. We know dedication, community, integrity, and empathy are the hallmarks of the music room. We also know that these are qualities that colleges and universities are seeking desperately. Mental health in colleges is a pandemic all on its own, but people with good support systems (musical or otherwise) can cope and heal faster than those without. Perhaps this is why the differentiation tools are targeting our student musicians disproportionately, but all to our advantage as a profession of music educators.
Lastly is the new trend of direct admissions. Students whose families agree to share their data online in protected databases for the purpose of recruiting are receiving offers of admission prior to submitting formal applications. You read that right…students in September and October of senior
year are receiving admissions offers from colleges trying to get ahead of the curve. Students outside of athletics are getting signed as early as freshman and sophomore year for specialized programs that are trying to build program pipelines outside of traditional marketing capabilities. On the Common App alone, direct admissions grew from 70 colleges in 2023 to 117 colleges in 2024 with the number expected to grow even faster this year.
Conclusion
Now is the time to talk about musicians like athletes, and while acknowledging the athleticism of today’s marching bands we can say it has nothing to do with physical prowess. Musicians are worthy of advanced and preferential admissions with attached scholarships specifically because they are musicians and have all of the most valuable skills of their athletic peers and then some. But now I’m preaching to the choir, so before I get off my soapbox please allow me to distill these thoughts one more time: Music can pay for college whether the kid wants to be a music major or not, and all we have to do as music educators is start talking about it that way and showing them how.
Eytan Wurman is the Founder and CEO of CommonTime Pathways (CTPathways.com)—a platform connecting music students and families with college recruiters nationally. Eytan was a middle and high school music teacher in the Boston and Cambridge Public Schools before becoming the Director of Fine Arts in the Dedham Public Schools in Massachusetts.
HARMONIZING THE CLASSROOM:
Building a Positive Music Learning Culture through Collaborative Support, Influence, and Credibility
Bill Humbert Director of Bands, Glendale Community College
Establishing a positive classroom culture in a music education environment demands more than effective lesson planning and classroom management; it requires an intentional, collaborative effort between educators and students. This article explores a model grounded in three essential pillars— Gaining Student Support, Creating Influence, and Building Credibility—to foster a culture of respect, engagement, and artistic growth. Through qualitative insights, real-world strategies, and educator reflections, we examine how music instructors can cultivate a harmonious classroom environment where all voices are valued.
Music classrooms are uniquely positioned to foster creativity, self-expression, and community. Unlike traditional academic settings, music education thrives on interpersonal dynamics, shared experiences, and mutual respect. Therefore, a positive classroom culture is essential not only for student well-being but also for musical growth. This article presents a framework that emphasizes collaboration between students and instructors, anchored by three interdependent pillars: Support, Influence, and Credibility
Pillar 1: Gaining Student Support
Gaining support refers to creating an environment where students feel seen, heard, and valued. It involves building emotional safety, showing empathy, and fostering mutual trust. In a music classroom, where collaboration and vulnerability are central, student support isn't just helpful—it's essential for success.
Strategies
• Create a Culture of Belonging: Treating students like valued members of a family builds a sense of belonging and shared purpose. When students feel that their presence and contributions matter, they take greater ownership of group goals. Simple gestures—such as learning each student's name, asking about their interests, or making time for one-on-one conversations—can help solidify this connection.
• Show Appreciation and Celebrate Success: Recognizing individual and group achievements fosters motivation and morale. Consider hosting a weekly “Section of the Week” award, organizing appreciation days, or publicly acknowledging improvement and effort. Saying “thank you” or offering sincere praise reinforces that each student's contributions are vital.
• Empower Senior Students and Build Mentorship: Respecting the experience of senior members by giving them added responsibility fosters a culture of leadership. Assign senior members as mentors to new students, reinforcing a community model where peer support enhances skill development and group cohesion.
• Understand Student Needs and Provide Emotional Support: Every student desires happiness, friendship, a sense of security, and peace of mind. Leaders must be attuned to these needs and create conditions that nurture
them. By ensuring that students feel safe, valued, and comfortable in the classroom environment, educators pave the way for authentic learning and expression.
• Keep Students Informed and Engaged: Transparency and communication are essential. Keeping students aware of upcoming events, changes, or group goals ensures they feel involved and respected. Boredom and disengagement often stem from a lack of purpose—ensure activities are fun, meaningful, and student-centered.
• Provide Structure and Safety: Build a support system where students never feel isolated or left to “fend for themselves.” This could mean assigning leadership buddies, encouraging collaboration in sectionals, or simply using inclusive language like “we” and “our.” Reinforce a sense of unity with mottos such as “Hold hands and stick together,” underscoring that no student faces the learning journey alone.
• Form a Student Leadership Team: Establishing a leadership team within the ensemble allows students to take initiative, voice concerns, and contribute to decision-making. Representation from all sections ensures inclusivity and equitable ownership in classroom culture-building.
What is the Impact?
Students who feel supported are more likely to take creative risks, contribute authentically, and persist through challenges. This sense of community turns the classroom into a safe haven—one where collaboration thrives, and students are intrinsically motivated to work toward shared musical and interpersonal goals.
Pillar 2: Creating Influence
Influence is the instructor’s ability to inspire, guide, and motivate students without relying solely on authority. It emerges from consistency, vision-sharing, and building relationships both in and out of the rehearsal space. In a music classroom, influence is more powerful when it's earned— not imposed. A teacher’s ability to shape group dynamics, behavior, and enthusiasm hinges on trust and authenticity.
Strategies
• Be a Role Model: Influence begins with personal conduct. As a leader, your students watch everything you do— from how you react to challenges to how you treat others. Modeling professionalism, integrity, and dedication sets a clear standard for students to emulate.
• Demonstrate Good Work Habits and Service-Oriented Behavior: Always show up prepared, meet deadlines, and maintain high expectations for yourself and your students. Offer help generously, treat students with kindness and patience, and demonstrate good “customer service” by handling concerns respectfully and efficiently.
• Respect Policies and Systems: Upholding school or program policies consistently—not selectively—demonstrates that rules are fair, important, and part of a shared community standard. This fosters student respect for procedures and expectations.
• Share the Load: Influence grows when students see their instructor “doing their share of the dirty work.” Whether it's stacking chairs after rehearsal or organizing music folders, your willingness to do humble tasks sends a strong message about humility, teamwork, and shared responsibility.
• Act Professionally and Build Trust: Behave in a way that others can rely on your judgment. A calm, confident, and consistent demeanor encourages students to trust your leadership. Maintaining a positive attitude about the group—even during tough times—reinforces a culture of resilience and optimism.
• Encourage Collaboration and Input: Influence deepens when students feel their voices matter. Seek their input during decision-making, such as choosing concert themes or rehearsal structures. This makes students feel empowered rather than managed.
• Be the “Go-To” Person: Develop your skills and knowledge to the point that students and colleagues view you as a resource. When you're seen as capable and dependable, your influence grows organically. Sharing your expertise freely builds credibility and a spirit of mentorship.
Cautions When Exercising Influence:
• Avoid Manipulation: Influence should never be coercive. If students sense they are being manipulated, trust erodes. Influence must be rooted in honesty, care, and mutual benefit.
• Lead by Example, Not Pressure: Influence others by living your values and expressing genuine emotion about the group’s success. Your passion for the music and the community will resonate more than any directive.
• Personality Matters: A warm, respectful, and approachable personality encourages others to listen and follow. Students are more likely to accept feedback and direction from someone they genuinely like and admire.
• Involve the Group: Shared decision-making doesn’t just distribute responsibility—it also increases commitment and buy-in. When students are part of the process, they are more likely to support and uphold the outcomes.
What is the Impact?
When students view their instructor as a consistent, capable, and emotionally invested leader, they are more inclined to engage, collaborate, and take initiative. Influence is not about power—it’s about connection. And in the music classroom, where expression and trust are paramount, this kind of leadership sets the tone for everything that follows.
Pillar 3: Building Credibility
Credibility stems from professional expertise, consistency, and authenticity. A credible instructor earns respect not just through musical knowledge but through ethical conduct, reliability, and a commitment to student growth. In the music classroom,
where students are constantly observing and interacting with their teacher, credibility is one of the most powerful tools for long-term influence and classroom cohesion.
Core Elements of Credibility as a Leader:
The two most important factors in leadership are integrity and trustworthiness. Students—and people in general—want leaders who are ethical and dependable. Credibility must be built daily through consistent actions and honest behavior.
Strategies:
• Exemplify Ethical Leadership: Uphold group rules and expectations consistently. This includes being safe, courteous, and respectful in all interactions. Avoid abusive or inappropriate language, and treat every student fairly regardless of ability, background, or personality. Ethical leadership also means being honest in communication and transparent in decision-making.
• Demonstrate Reliability and Professionalism: Good attendance, punctuality, and consistent preparation for class send a strong message: this classroom matters. Whether you’re arriving early to tune instruments or preparing detailed rehearsal notes, your behavior communicates your values. Students are more likely to take things seriously when you do.
• Produce Quality in Every Task: Whether it's a concert, a warm-up activity, or an informal rehearsal, strive to deliver high-quality experiences. Show students that excellence is a habit, not a one-time effort.
• Walk the Talk: There must be clear alignment between what you say and what you do. If you promise to listen to feedback, take action on it. If you expect students to be respectful, model that respect in every interaction. One powerful reflective question to use regularly: “If everyone in the band acted like me, what kind of group would this be?”
• Be a Problem Solver, Not a Complainer: Students gain respect for leaders who focus on solutions rather than blame. When challenges arise—missed notes, scheduling conflicts, group disagreements—model calmness, creativity, and collaboration.
• Project an Image of Trust: Your demeanor, tone, and consistency contribute to how trustworthy you appear. Avoid sarcasm that can be misinterpreted, keep sensitive conversations confidential, and show students that you have their best interests at heart. A trustworthy leader builds a trustworthy community.
What is the Impact?
Credibility creates a stable, respectful environment where learning and creativity can thrive. When students believe in their instructor’s integrity and consistency, they are more likely to accept feedback, stay motivated, and hold themselves to higher standards. In music education—where collaboration, critique, and emotional expression are daily norms—credibility is not just important; it’s foundational.
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