ADVANCING MUSIC EDUCATION IN & BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

To address the ongoing impacts of the pandemic on the mental and emotional well-being of students and teachers, ETM partnered this year with the New York City Children's Theater on a year-long professional development series focused on trauma-informed practices.

Workshops explored strategies for peer support, self-care, building resiliency, and modeling healthy relationships with colleagues, as well as tools for students to express themselves and manage their emotions through music.

At our intensive two-week ETM Academy in August and at trainings throughout the year, ETM staff and guest educators led immersive workshops on a range of topics, including: teaching to students with special needs, bucket drumming, anti-racist practices, music technology, best practices for early education, social-emotional learning, culturally responsive teaching, and much more In total, ETM provided over 100 hours of professional development for ETM teachers to propel their careers and deliver our model of high-quality music education.

Our comprehensive, sequential, and culturally relevant curriculum is a product of incredible expertise and compassionate understanding.

This year, ETM created two curriculum initiatives: Activity of the Week and Monthly Repertoire Units. Through our Activity of the Week units, ETM staff demonstrated how to scaffold musical experiences for grade PreK-2, 3-5, and 6-8, while involving all four categories of music education: creating, performing, responding, and connecting.

In the Monthly Repertoire Units, ETM programs staff highlighted diverse styles, composers, and types of music, and modeled how to teach benchmarks while preparing a piece of music for performance. The team also expanded ETM's repertoire units into grades 7-12.

This year, ETM created 30 Activity of the Week Guides and 23 Repertoire Units with linked and ready-to-use resources for ETM teachers to adapt to their school, students, and teaching style.

This year, ETM launched two podcasts led by Instructional Supervisor Noah Teachey.

In the monthly Education Through Music: The Podcast, Noah explores with guest educators the practice and importance of music education in our schools, covering topics from the use of technology in the music classroom, to ways educators can advocate for music at their schools, to the role that music education plays in teaching trust and care among students.

In the series Notables, Noah speaks with leaders in the music, technology, finance, and related industries to learn about the influential role that music has played in their lives Guests share formative experiences about being exposed to music at an earlier age, the ongoing impact of music on their careers, and their perspectives on the importance of ensuring all students have access to high quality music education at school.

This school year, guests have included fashion industry leader Andy Hilfiger, music industry executives Chris Atlas and Andreea Gleeson, music and technology leader Waleed Diab, and Anthony McGill, the principal clarinetist for the New York Philharmonic.

This spring, ETM was thrilled to partner again with The WNET Group on its Let's Learn program, an instructional learning series for children ages 3 to 7.

ETM Teachers created a series of video lessons to guide children in fun and interactive music making at home and in the classroom. Episodes aired on public television and were also released online for viewing. From games about pitch, rhythm, and melody, to lessons introducing students to the ukulele, guitar, and piano, this partnership advanced ETM's mission of making music education accessible for all students, in and outside of the classroom.