Tennessee Musician - Vol. 67 No. 1

More documents

Recommendations

Info

TM Choral Chair |Janet Johnson Change is in the air! Change is good! TMEA is abound with changes in leadership positions. As your State Choral Chair, I’d like to invite you to be an active participant in the process of making our organization stronger and more relevant to our everyday lives as music educators. As I have become more involved in the last few years in leadership positions at the regional and state level, I have become very appreciative of all the work that goes on behind the scenes to make our professional organizations run smoothly and be effective support systems for choral directors. I have been enriched and inspired by all of the professional relationships I’ve made with other members of the boards and councils who are willing to give a tremendous amount of time to plan, implement programs and events, and solve conflicts that arise. Following Jeff Chipman in this position will be no easy task. He brought energy, teaching experience, organizational expertise and a very forward thinking approach to developing standards, board policy and communicating with members. Thank you Jeff, for your service! What I hope to bring to this job is 32 years of experience, from elementary to middle to high school, and a passion for teaching children of all ages to sing. After graduating from MTSU with a music education degree and UTC with a master’s degree, I received the 4 summer Kodaly certificate from KCA in New Bedford, Massachusetts. I taught elementary music in Chattanooga for 12 years, high school music in Knoxville for 12 years and am presently in my 8 th year as the choral director for Signal Mountain Middle/High School in Signal Mountain, Tn., where I teach grades 6-12 vocal music and 2 sections of International Baccalaureate music. I believe this experience will enable me to support and understand the needs of vocal music teachers at all levels and work to make a more seamless connection between grade levels, unifying us and helping us all to support one another as we bring our best practices forward to teach our students. As we begin the implementation of our new national standards, I’d like to offer a word of encouragement to both seasoned and new teachers who might feel overwhelmed or concerned that too much change is expected. As our school has become an IB school and our teachers have spent much time in training, we have immersed ourselves in what we consider “best practices.” Then as Common Core emerged and we began to also implement those standards, we again heard the term “best practices” and they looked very similar to what we were doing as an IB school. As we take a look at the new National Standards, we again can see that what they are recommending is “best teaching practices.” So what does that mean for you? Do you have to totally overhaul your rehearsal practices, your busy performing schedule, and your exciting trip? From sessions I attended at the NAfME conference, I came away encouraged with a positive attitude about what I could do to improve my program, yet try to keep the same quality of music performing. I believe the standards are demanding that we move away from the old model of being mostly director centered and that we work to help our students become independent musicians who have input in the rehearsal process, the literature chosen and that they are made to be accountable for their progress in music literacy and in musicality. One session leader said it might be possible that if we would be willing to give up one concert a year, (perhaps fall or winter) that we could find the time to really work on music skills, forms, creativity, and yet perform well for festivals and major concerts. Do your students really understand the text of their music? I am guilty of sometimes working so hard to get the music learned that I don’t spend enough time on the text. Last spring my middle school choirs were singing an arrangement of the folk song, “Nine Hundred Miles.” After learning the song, I asked them 16 www.tnmea.org TM | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>67</strong> number 1
to write the letter the person might have been reading as they walked along that track. Some of them wrote some very heartfelt letters. They were then able to sing the song with so much more expression. This short activity was a creative way of responding to the music and using their imagination. I’ve had high school singers write an extra verse to a ballad or folk song. I don’t believe we are being told to make any changes in our rehearsal practices. We are just being asked to broaden them, to add to our teaching practices to help our students become more independent musicians and become willing to be musical “risk-takers.” Most of us have always been eclectic music educators, drawing from the many approaches available for teaching music. That’s one of the things I love about teaching music. Even while following a set of national standards, unlike other subject areas, we are not limited to a certain textbook or primary approach to getting the standards taught. We still have so much freedom to choose repertoire and design creative lessons to get it taught. As I look over the websites from our three regions, it is obvious that it is an extremely busy time for us all and we have some exciting events planned for our students. All three groups are auditioning for All Region and All State choirs. Some areas are planning mass elementary and middle school choir events. If you have special events or announcements you would like publicized for your region, please e-mail me. Please look for ways to become more involved with TMEA and let your voice be heard. I look forward to communicating with you and learning more about each region. I wish you and your choirs the best of luck with your busy performing season! - Janet Johnson SCHOOL of MUSIC Bachelor of Arts: Major in Music Bachelor of Music: Majors in Church Music Commercial Music Composition Music Education Music with an Outside Minor Music Theory Music Therapy Musical Theatre Performance Piano Pedagogy Master of Music: Majors in Church Music Composition Music Education Pedagogy Performance www.BELMONT.edu/music 17
Page 1: Volume 67 | 2014 | No.I TM ennessee
Page 4 and 5: T ennessee M USICIAN Tennessee Musi
Page 6 and 7: TM Executive Director’s Greeting
Page 8 and 9: TM the score|news from across the s
Page 10 and 11: TM the score|news from across the s
Page 12 and 13: TM President’s message Jeff Phill
Page 14 and 15: TM General Music Chair |Charlene Co
Page 18 and 19: TM Orchestra Chair |Ben Reagh I rec
Page 20 and 21: TM Band Chair |Debbie Burton Greeti
Page 22 and 23: TM Collegiate NAfME Chair Michael M
Page 24 and 25: TM Higher Education Chair Eric Bran
Page 26 and 27: TM Collegiate NAfME |J.J. Norman At
Page 28 and 29: TM National Core Arts Standards: An
Page 30 and 31: TM A Pilot Study: The Burden of Ass
Page 32 and 33: TM Practice Personalities: What’s
Page 34 and 35: TM Why Music Education? Facts & Ins
Page 36 and 37: TM Why Music Education? Data shows
Page 38 and 39: T M Why Music Education? than face-
Page 40 and 41: TM Why Music Education? Students of
Page 42 and 43: TM Why Music Education? the past, i
Page 44 and 45: TM Why Music Education? cal trainin
Page 46 and 47: TM Why Music Education? between sub
Page 48 and 49: TM Why Music Education? ing and enn
Page 50 and 51: TM 2014-2015 Tennessee Music Educat
Page 52: Tennessee Music Education Associati

Tennessee Musician - Vol. 67 No. 1

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?