Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
The Official Publication of the Tennessee Music Education Association<br />
Meet the New<br />
TMEA State Chairs<br />
p. 25<br />
Going Social<br />
by Andy Stewart<br />
& Robert Ward<br />
p. 14<br />
What to Know<br />
Before You Post<br />
by Karen Cross<br />
p. 20<br />
VOLUME <strong>69</strong>, NO. 1
MUSIC
TENNESSEE MUSICIAN EDITORIAL STAFF<br />
Michael W. Chester<br />
Managing Editor and Advertising Manager<br />
Justin T. Scott<br />
Associate Editor<br />
Laura Boucher<br />
Associate Style Editor<br />
Jazmin Jordan<br />
Social Media Director<br />
Allison Segel<br />
Pre-Production Editor<br />
Contributing Editors<br />
Matthew Clark<br />
Susan Mullen<br />
Doug Phillips<br />
Carol King-Chipman<br />
Jerome Souther<br />
TABLE OF CONTENTS | 2016 | VOLUME <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1<br />
Prelude – A Message from the Editor 6<br />
Michael Chester<br />
TMEA Executive Director’s Message 8<br />
Ron Meers<br />
TMEA President’s Message 10<br />
Johnathan Vest, Ed. D.<br />
TMEA - By the Numbers/Verbatim 12<br />
Mathew Clark<br />
PUBLISHED BY SLATE GROUP<br />
6024 45th Street<br />
Lubbock, Texas 79407<br />
(800) 794-5594 office<br />
(806) 794-1305 fax<br />
Director of Creative Services<br />
Rico Vega<br />
Graphic Design<br />
Taylor Sutherland<br />
Account Executive<br />
Ian Spector<br />
All editorial materials should be sent to: Michael Chester, Managing<br />
Editor (615-873-0605) E-mail: editor@tnmea.org.<br />
Submit materials by e-mail in Microsoft Word format.<br />
Advertising: Information requests and ad orders should be<br />
directed to: Michael Chester, Managing Editor (615-<br />
873-0605) e-mail: editor@tnmea.org. All advertising<br />
information is on the TMEA web site, www.tnmea.org.<br />
Deadlines for advertisement orders and editorial materials:<br />
Issue <strong>No</strong>. 1 – Deadline: August 15 (in home delivery<br />
date October 15); Issue <strong>No</strong>. 2 – Deadline: October 15 (in<br />
home delivery date December 15); Issue <strong>No</strong>. 3 – Deadline:<br />
December 15 (in home delivery date March 15);<br />
Issue <strong>No</strong>. 4 – Deadline: February 15 (in home delivery<br />
date May 15)<br />
Tennessee <strong>Musician</strong> is copyrighted. Reproduction in<br />
any form is illegal without the express permission of<br />
the editor.<br />
Postmaster: Send address changes to: Tennessee <strong>Musician</strong>,<br />
c/o National Association for Music Education<br />
(NAfME), 1806 Robert Fulton Drive, Reston, VA<br />
20191-4348.<br />
<strong>No</strong>n-Profit 501(c)(3) Organization U.S. Postage Paid<br />
at Lubbock, Texas. ISSN Number 0400-3332; EIN<br />
number 20-3325550<br />
FEATURED ARTICLES<br />
Going Social 14<br />
Andy Stewart and Robert Ward<br />
What to Know Before you Post 20<br />
Karen Cross<br />
COLUMNS<br />
TMEA State General Music Chair’s Message 25<br />
Linzie Mullins<br />
TMEA State Choral Chair’s Message 26<br />
W. Fitzgerald Patton<br />
TMEA State Orchestra Chair’s Message 28<br />
Michelle Clupper<br />
TMEA State Band Chair’s Message 31<br />
David Chipman<br />
TMEA State Higher Education Chair’s Message 32<br />
Ryan Fisher, Ph. D.<br />
TMEA State Collegiate NAfME Chair’s Message 34<br />
Jennifer Vannatta-Hall, Ed. D.<br />
TMEA State Educational Technology<br />
Chair’s Message 37<br />
Lisa Leopold<br />
STME/TMEA Research Chair’s Message 38<br />
Jamilla McWhirter, Ph. D.<br />
Tennessee <strong>Musician</strong> Advertiser Index 39<br />
TMEA Back Then 40
TMEA BOARD AND COUNCIL<br />
TMEA OFFICERS 2016-2017<br />
TMEA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:<br />
Ron Meers<br />
execdirector@tnmea.org<br />
TMEA PRESIDENT:<br />
Johnathan Vest, Ed. D.<br />
president@tnmea.org<br />
BOARD OF DIRECTORS<br />
TMEA STATE GENERAL MUSIC CHAIR:<br />
Linzie Mullins<br />
genmusicchair@tnmea.org<br />
TMEA STATE CHORAL CHAIR:<br />
Gerald Patton<br />
pattong@rcschools.net<br />
TMEA STATE ORCHESTRA CHAIR:<br />
Michelle Clupper<br />
michelle.clupper@knoxschools.org<br />
TMEA STATE BAND CHAIR:<br />
David Chipman<br />
banddir@bellsouth.net<br />
TMEA STATE HIGHER EDUCATION CHAIR:<br />
Ryan Fisher, Ph. D.<br />
rfisher3@memphis.edu<br />
TMEA COUNCIL<br />
WTGMEA PRESIDENT:<br />
Linzie Mullins<br />
genmusicchair@tnmea.org<br />
WTGMEA PRESIDENT-ELECT:<br />
Information not received<br />
WTVMEA PRESIDENT:<br />
Lalania Vaughn<br />
lvaughn@rebelmail.net<br />
WTVMEA PRESIDENT-ELECT:<br />
Christopher Davis<br />
davischristophert@gmail.com<br />
WTSBOA PRESIDENT:<br />
Stephen Price<br />
prices@gcssd.org<br />
WTSBOA PRESIDENT-ELECT:<br />
Ollie Liddell<br />
ollie_liddell@hotmail.com<br />
MTGMEA PRESIDENT:<br />
Alexis Yatuzis-Derryberry<br />
derryberrya@rcschools.net<br />
MTGMEA PRESIDENT-ELECT:<br />
Information not recived<br />
MTVA PRESIDENT:<br />
Michael Choate<br />
choatem@pcsstn.com<br />
TMEA PRESIDENT-ELECT:<br />
Lafe Cook<br />
pres-elect@tnmea.org<br />
2 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1<br />
TMEA PAST-PRESIDENT:<br />
Jeff Phillips, Ed. D.<br />
jeffrey.phillips@sumnerschools.org<br />
TMEA STATE COLLEGIATE NAFME CHAIR:<br />
Jennifer Vannatta-Hall, Ed. D.<br />
jennifer.vannatta-hall@mtsu.edu<br />
TMEA STATE EDUCATIONAL<br />
TECHNOLOGY CHAIR:<br />
Lisa Leopold<br />
lwleopold@gmail.com<br />
TMEA PUBLICATIONS EDITOR AND<br />
ADVERTISING MANAGER:<br />
Michael Chester<br />
editor@tnmea.org<br />
TMEA PUBLICATIONS ASSOCIATE EDITOR:<br />
Justin Scott<br />
justin.scott@tcsedu.net<br />
MTSBOA PRESIDENT:<br />
David Aydelott<br />
president@mtsboa.org<br />
MTSBOA PRESIDENT-ELECT:<br />
Debbie Burton<br />
dlburton98@gmail.com<br />
ETGMEA PRESIDENT:<br />
Margaret Moore<br />
mamcmoore57@aol.com<br />
ETGMEA PRESIDENT-ELECT<br />
Marcus Smith<br />
marcus.smith@knoxschools.org<br />
ETVA PRESIDENT:<br />
Kenton Deitch<br />
kenton.deitch@knoxschools.org<br />
ETVA PRESIDENT-ELECT:<br />
Stephanie Coker<br />
scoker@acs.ac<br />
ETSBOA PRESIDENT:<br />
Gary Wilkes<br />
gwilkes428@gmail.com<br />
ETSBOA PRESIDENT-ELECT:<br />
Alan Hunt<br />
ahunt@bradleyschools.org<br />
CONFERENCE MANAGEMENT TEAM<br />
TMEA CONFERENCE CO-CHAIR:<br />
Brad Turner<br />
brad.turner@acsk-12.org<br />
TMEA CO-CONFERENCE CHAIR:<br />
Paul Waters<br />
paulwaters.tmea@gmail.com<br />
TMEA CONFERENCE EXHIBITS CHAIR:<br />
Jo Ann Hood<br />
jhood10105@aol.com<br />
ALL-STATE MANAGEMENT TEAM<br />
<strong>TN</strong> ALL-STATE CHORAL GENERAL CHAIR:<br />
Amanda Ragan<br />
aragan@ortn.edu<br />
ENSEMBLE CHAIRS<br />
TREBLE HONOR CHOIR CHAIR:<br />
Tiffany Barton<br />
tntreblechoir@gmail.com<br />
<strong>TN</strong> ALL-STATE SATB ENSEMBLE CHAIR:<br />
Kim McLemore<br />
kimberly.mclemore@mnps.org<br />
<strong>TN</strong> ALL-STATE SSAA CHORALE ENSEMBLE CHAIR:<br />
Amanda Short<br />
amandalovellshort@gmail.com<br />
<strong>TN</strong> ALL-STATE TTBB CHORUS ENSEMBLE CHAIR:<br />
Johnny Kimbrough<br />
johnny.kimbrough@jcseagles.org<br />
<strong>TN</strong> ALL-STATE 9TH - 10TH GRADE STRING<br />
ORCHESTRA CHAIR:<br />
Gary Wilkes<br />
gwilkes428@gmail.com<br />
PROJECT CHAIRS<br />
TMEA MEMBERSHIP CHAIR:<br />
Position unfulfilled at this time<br />
TMEA GUITAR EDUCATION CHAIR:<br />
Chip Henderson<br />
paul.henderson@mtsu.edu<br />
TMEA JAZZ EDUCATION POLICY CHAIR:<br />
Richard Ripani<br />
richard.ripani@mnps.org<br />
TMEA ADVOCACY AND GOVERNMENT<br />
RELATIONS CHAIR:<br />
Chris Dye, Ed. D.<br />
christopher.dye@mtsu.edu<br />
TMEA SOCIETY FOR MUSIC TEACHER<br />
EDUCATION CHAIR:<br />
Jamila L. McWhirter, Ph. D.<br />
jamila.mcwhirter@mtsu.edu<br />
TMEA MUSIC MERCHANTS<br />
INDUSTRY CHAIR:<br />
Rick DeJonge<br />
rick.dejonge@khsmusic.com<br />
TMEA CONFERENCE REGISTRATION CHAIR:<br />
Mark Garey<br />
mgarey86@comcast.net<br />
TMEA CONFERENCE PERFORMANCE<br />
GROUP CHAIR:<br />
John Mears<br />
mearsj@rcschools.net<br />
TMEA CONFERENCE EXHIBITS CHAIR:<br />
Jo Ann Hood<br />
jhood10105@aol.com<br />
<strong>TN</strong> ALL-STATE INSTRUMENTAL<br />
GENERAL CHAIR:<br />
Martin McFarlane<br />
martin.mcfarlane@tcsedu.net<br />
<strong>TN</strong> ALL-STATE 11TH - 12TH GRADE SYMPHONIC<br />
ORCHESTRA CHAIR:<br />
Jessica Peck<br />
peck_j@hcde.org<br />
<strong>TN</strong> ALL-STATE 9TH - 10TH GRADE CONCERT<br />
BAND CHAIR:<br />
J.R. Baker<br />
john.baker@rcstn.net<br />
<strong>TN</strong> ALL-STATE 11TH - 12TH GRADE CONCERT<br />
BAND CHAIR:<br />
Carter <strong>No</strong>blin<br />
noblinc@wcschools.com<br />
<strong>TN</strong> ALL-STATE JAZZ BAND CHAIR:<br />
Cord Martin<br />
corderyl.martin@gmail.com<br />
TMEA WEBMASTER:<br />
Lisa Leopold<br />
lwleopold@gmail.com<br />
TMEA TRI-M CHAIR:<br />
Todd Shipley<br />
todd.shipley@mnps.org<br />
TMEA MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS<br />
MONTH CHAIR:<br />
Tiffany Barton<br />
tntreblechoir@gmail.com<br />
TMEA HISTORY AND ARCHIVES CHAIR:<br />
Position unfulfilled at this time<br />
TMEA RETIRED TEACHERS CHAIR:<br />
Bobby Jean Frost<br />
bjfrost@aol.com
Music Education - General/Vocal/Instrumental k-12<br />
<br />
Keyboard, Instrumental, and Vocal Performance<br />
Music with Electives in an Outside Field<br />
Bachelor of Arts in Music<br />
Carson-Newman offers high academic and performance<br />
standards, low student/faculty ratio, highly qualified,<br />
approachable faculty and quality environment for<br />
learning. Scholarship opportunities available.<br />
Full-Tuition Scholarship Competition is held in late<br />
January. See our website for more details.<br />
Carson-Newman University | Jefferson City, <strong>TN</strong> 37760<br />
(865) 471-3328 | music@cn.edu | cn.edu/music
music AT UNION UNIVERSITY<br />
to exalt<br />
to inspire<br />
Jackson, Tennessee<br />
731.661.5345<br />
uu.edu/music<br />
DEPARTMENT of MUSIC<br />
EXCELLENCE-DRIVEN CHRIST-CENTERED PEOPLE-FOCUSED FUTURE-DIRECTED<br />
4 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
• Competitive<br />
scholarships available<br />
• Music ensembles from<br />
symphony to salsa<br />
• 200+ music<br />
events per year<br />
• Ten undergraduate<br />
music programs<br />
• Eight graduate<br />
music programs<br />
• Music living/learning<br />
community on campus<br />
• 38 full-time and<br />
45 part-time faculty<br />
• University Honors<br />
College courses<br />
AUDITION DATES<br />
Saturday, February 4, 2017<br />
Friday, February 17, 2017<br />
Saturday, February 25, 2017<br />
CAREERS IN MUSIC DAY<br />
Tuesday, <strong>No</strong>vember 1, 2016<br />
SCHOOL OF MUSIC<br />
MTSU Box 47<br />
Murfreesboro, <strong>TN</strong> 37132<br />
615-898-24<strong>69</strong><br />
mtsumusic.com<br />
Middle Tennessee State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or disability. See our full policy at mtsu.edu/titleix.
PRELUDE - A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR<br />
Michael Chester<br />
WE HAVE TO KNOW WHERE WE’VE<br />
ALREADY BEEN TO FIGURE OUT<br />
WHERE WE ARE NOW . . . AND<br />
WHERE WE WANT TO GO NEXT.<br />
6 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1<br />
was founded in 1945 with a mission “to promote<br />
and activate a useful and broad program<br />
of music education in the schools.” At that<br />
THE TENNESSEE MUSIC EDUCATION ASSOCIATION<br />
time the newly formed TMEA worked closely<br />
with the Tennessee Department of Education,<br />
college/university music education departments,<br />
and city music supervisors to essentially help lead and<br />
support the advancement of music education at all levels<br />
across Tennessee. Reading about the early years of<br />
the Tennessee Music Education Association, it would<br />
seem that there was a healthy level of collaboration between<br />
leaders, in various levels and agencies, who were<br />
vested in the advancement of music education. I would<br />
encourage many of you to visit the TMEA website and<br />
read past-president T. Earl Hinton’s A Brief History of<br />
the Tennessee Music Education Association. As I am<br />
sure we have all heard before: we have to know where<br />
we’ve already been to figure out where we are now . . .<br />
and where we want to go next.<br />
For many music teachers in Tennessee, the perceptual<br />
norm always seems to center on the notion<br />
that TMEA is merely the agency that organizes the<br />
annual conference and all-state ensemble events and<br />
that it is somehow obligatorily affiliated with NAfME.<br />
While many who have served TMEA in any voluntary<br />
capacity would probably argue that the organization
is much more than event management, perhaps we should take<br />
a look at the bigger picture for a moment and not be so quick to<br />
dismiss this perception.<br />
The landscape of teaching in America has seen lots of changes<br />
since TMEA was founded. Veteran teachers would no doubt say<br />
that many initiatives in education are cyclical. The new wave of<br />
current educational reform is based on the same principles of the<br />
reforms of past decades, only packaged with new buzz words, fancy<br />
marketing, and promotional materials that look good on coffee<br />
tables in the offices of administrators and politicians. While much<br />
of that is grounded in truth, the fact remains that what teachers are<br />
being asked to do today is drastically different then it was in 1945.<br />
Music teachers, in particular, are asked to do more with far less resources<br />
and far less instructional time than that of their predecessors.<br />
Today’s teachers simply do not have enough time to manage all<br />
of the expectations placed upon them. Let us consider the fact the<br />
needs of students have changed and the shifting family dynamic has<br />
placed more responsibility on teachers to act as surrogate parents.<br />
Still, the demands placed upon music teachers, if they really want to<br />
do the job the right way, is more than 40 hours a week. If our current<br />
generation of music teachers were working in the corporate world,<br />
those that excel would be given financial incentives, and the resources<br />
to do their job. In terms of a career, it is a difficult argument<br />
to make that those who major in any field of education will truly see<br />
a return on their investment. We all know that the profession of education<br />
is a calling. However, are we really that surprised that more<br />
teachers leave the profession after three years?<br />
So if this is the current landscape for music teachers in America,<br />
and in particular Tennessee, is it any wonder that it’s hard to<br />
attract volunteers to serve in the regional organizations and in<br />
TMEA? Who really has the time? If the landscape has so drastically<br />
changed, as we have seen, then perhaps it is time to truly change<br />
what TMEA is and does. I believe that the strength of our organization,<br />
which has for so long rested on the bedrock of great leadership<br />
and forward thinking, is about the people it serves. I imagine that<br />
within the next decade, we could see a drastically different TMEA.<br />
Let’s dream big for a moment. In this version of a future TMEA, we<br />
could have a state level organization, with fully paid staff and dedicated<br />
office space. We could have lobbyists who work on behalf of<br />
the interests of music teachers. We could have a state level organization<br />
that could supplant the burdens faced by regional organizations.<br />
We could have an organization that understands the needs of<br />
Tennessee music educators in the volatile wake that is education<br />
reform. We could have a state level organization who seeks to identify,<br />
encourage, and support diversity among emerging leaders. We<br />
could have an organization who has close ties with the Tennessee<br />
Department of Education.<br />
In this version of TMEA, those who place students first are<br />
served by an organization who places music teachers first. We are<br />
very fortunate that the current TMEA executive board and new<br />
TMEA state chairs are already hard at work setting the foundation<br />
for many of the ideas mentioned. Our leadership is working for positive,<br />
transformative change that will strengthen TMEA for future<br />
decades to come.<br />
I would encourage each of you to read The Advantage by New York<br />
Times bestselling author Patrick Lencioni. In this book, Lencioni<br />
examines some of the nations’ leading organizations and argues<br />
that the key competitive advantage in today’s digital age within<br />
any organization rests on its organizational health and well-being.<br />
When an organization’s culture is whole, its operations and<br />
mission are clear and consistent and it creates an environment<br />
with an advantage unlike no other. Since the time of its founding,<br />
TMEA has relied heavily on the volunteerism of its members. For<br />
a time, that was certainly a sustainable model for the organization.<br />
Times however, have changed. Music teachers are more transient.<br />
We have more members than ever before, and the need to support<br />
music teachers (from those in their pre-service years to those who<br />
are about to retire) beyond professional development conferences,<br />
has never been greater than it is now. If TMEA was able to leverage<br />
its own financial resources, perhaps the organization would have<br />
less need to rely on a volunteer staff, and instead it would be able<br />
to hire staff to take care of the needs of the organization, thus allowing<br />
volunteers to focus their energies on their primary job and<br />
responsibilities – the students and community that they serve. I do<br />
want to point out that I am not calling for an end to the numerous<br />
volunteers that serve TMEA in various capacities. What I am saying<br />
is that for those who have served or who are currently serving,<br />
it removes a huge burden. Every volunteer wants to see TMEA become<br />
the model state music education association but not at the<br />
expense of their time served in the classroom. TMEA is no longer a<br />
“ma and pa” organization and in order to truly serve the needs of the<br />
membership beyond the professional development conference, the<br />
organization must change. In order to make that change happen, it<br />
must have support from its members who can truly see the vision<br />
and the bigger picture.<br />
ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE, AND HIGH SCHOOL<br />
BAND, CHOIR, AND ORCHESTRA<br />
2017:<br />
April 21-22<br />
April 28-29<br />
May 5-6<br />
Michael Chester<br />
Managing Editor<br />
2018:<br />
April 20-21<br />
April 27-28<br />
May 4-5<br />
www.SMMFestival.com<br />
or call:1-855-766-3008<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 7
TMEA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE<br />
Ron Meers<br />
I H O P E A L L O F Y O U A R E H AV I N G A<br />
GREAT SCHOOL YEAR! Thank you all for<br />
your continued support of TMEA and music<br />
education in Tennessee!<br />
I would like to once again express my<br />
sincere appreciation to the volunteers who<br />
are so valuable to TMEA and music education<br />
in Tennessee. Without volunteers we<br />
would not be able to offer assessment and<br />
performance opportunities for Tennessee<br />
music programs. Thank you for your<br />
dedicated service!<br />
Speaking of volunteers, TMEA is in<br />
need of a tech savvy person to populate<br />
the information on the mobile application,<br />
EventMobi, used by conference attendees<br />
and All State students. It is a fairly simple<br />
process but is very important resource<br />
for our conference. For more information<br />
please contact me ASAP!<br />
TMEA IS WORKING ON A PLAN<br />
TO PROVIDE INFORMATION<br />
CONCERNING PROPOSED<br />
LEGISLATION THAT COULD<br />
AFFECT MUSIC EDUCATION IN<br />
TENNESSEE TO YOUR PARENT<br />
SUPPORT GROUPS.<br />
To say the least, changing venues for<br />
our In-Service/All State Conference three<br />
times in five years has been challenging. I<br />
believe you will see many changes that will<br />
improve your conference experience in<br />
2017. TMEA is currently in the final stages<br />
of contractual negotiations with Opryland<br />
that should provide our all-state ensembles<br />
with an improved concert venue;<br />
however, to secure the larger area TMEA<br />
will be required to increase our housing<br />
block at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Unlike<br />
Chattanooga and Memphis, Opryland<br />
ties the convention space to the number of<br />
rooms booked at the hotel by the association.<br />
Those of you who chose to room offsite<br />
last year, we need you to help pay for<br />
the space used by the conference by booking<br />
your rooms at Opryland in 2017. If we<br />
do not fill our housing block this year, we<br />
will have to pay a penalty to the hotel based<br />
on the number of rooms we did not fill.<br />
There is an additional issue that we<br />
need to address concerning housing. I will<br />
try to explain this, but if you need more<br />
information, please contact me. All hotels<br />
have a cut-off date for booking housing.<br />
The TMEA Cut-Off date is March 21st. After<br />
the 21st, no rooms can be booked into<br />
the TMEA block of rooms. The problem<br />
is, if a member cancels a room after<br />
the 21st, the room cannot be filled by another<br />
member AND is counted as a room<br />
NOT FILLED according to our contract.<br />
In 2016, we had over 600 rooms booked<br />
for Wed. night of conference. Around forty<br />
members canceled their rooms after<br />
March 21st, which means we did not fill<br />
our contractual obligation for rooms filled<br />
on Wed. night. Luckily, Thursday night we<br />
were able to go over our minimum number<br />
of rooms and the average was enough to<br />
keep us from being penalized (the financial<br />
penalty is substantial). Everything<br />
TMEA does is a team effort. Please help by<br />
booking your housing at Gaylord Opryland<br />
in 2017 and not cancelling any rooms at<br />
Opryland after March 21st. Thank you!<br />
As you know, the passage of ESSA legislation<br />
will impact music education across<br />
the country. TMEA is working on a plan to<br />
provide information concerning proposed<br />
legislation that could affect music education<br />
in Tennessee to your parent support<br />
groups. Please take a moment and register<br />
your parent support group now.<br />
The registration link is under Advocacy on<br />
the WWW.<strong>TN</strong>MEA.org website: http://<br />
www.tnmea.org/booster-registration.html<br />
Thanks again to all of you who “go the<br />
extra mile” to provide all students with<br />
musically enriching activities by volunteering<br />
to chair events or to be candidates<br />
for association offices. Without you, music<br />
education would be at risk and could not<br />
provide so many educational experiences<br />
to so many students in Tennessee! Thank<br />
you! I ask you to please look for and encourage<br />
other talented teachers to volunteer<br />
and be involved. Our music students<br />
deserve our best!<br />
I hope you all have a very successful<br />
school year and enjoy working with the<br />
BEST students in your school! Please do<br />
not hesitate to call on me if I may be of any<br />
assistance to you or your music program!<br />
PLEASE REMEMBER<br />
The TMEA Discount Meal Cards will<br />
be available on the TMEA website<br />
this year<br />
• Beginning Feb. 1st. Please support<br />
this effort. The sale of Meal cards<br />
counts toward our<br />
• $50,000 food and beverage<br />
contract agreement with Opryland<br />
Gaylord Opryland Reservations will<br />
open on February 1st on the TMEA<br />
Website<br />
Gaylord Opryland Reservation Cutoff<br />
date, March 21st, 2017.<br />
(Please make your reservations before March<br />
21st and cancel any rooms not needed BEFORE<br />
March 21st.<br />
Plan to attend the TMEA Professional<br />
Development Conference, April<br />
5th – 8th, 2017, Opryland Hotel and<br />
Convention Center<br />
8 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY<br />
2016-17 NEW FACULTY<br />
Mélisse Brunet<br />
Director of Orchestral Activities<br />
Yo-Jung Han<br />
Music Education<br />
Gennard Lombardozzi<br />
Tenor, Director of Opera<br />
*Saturday, December 3, 2016<br />
(Instrumental Areas)<br />
AUDITION DATES:<br />
Saturday, February 11, 2017<br />
(Instrumental Areas)<br />
*Saturday, January 21, 2017<br />
(Instrumental and Vocal Areas)<br />
*Saturday, January 28, 2017<br />
(Instrumental and Vocal Areas)<br />
Saturday, March 4, 2017<br />
(Instrumental and Vocal Areas;<br />
for admission only, no scholarship<br />
consideration)<br />
*To be eligible for the Hayes Young Artist Competition<br />
($7,500 annual renewable scholarship), prospective<br />
students must audition on these dates.<br />
music.appstate.edu/prospective-students • 828-262-3020<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 9
TMEA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE<br />
Johnathan Vest, Ed. D.<br />
LET ME BEGIN by mentioning how<br />
honored I am to help lead such an<br />
incredible group of educators. Your<br />
commitment to our field and our students<br />
is unmatched, and I hope that TMEA<br />
can grow in its support of what you do every<br />
day. Serving as President-Elect for the<br />
past two years, I have had the opportunity<br />
to watch and learn from two amazing<br />
Past-Presidents, Dian Eddleman and Jeff<br />
Phillips. They have worked tirelessly to increase<br />
the effectiveness of our organization.<br />
I am excited to help continue their work.<br />
I would like to thank our Executive Director,<br />
Ron Meers, for all of his hard work<br />
for our organization and especially for being<br />
patient with all of my questions.<br />
First, a brief report on the work of the<br />
board this summer. The Executive Board,<br />
along with Michael Chester: our State Editor,<br />
Mike Mann: our previous Collegiate<br />
Chair, and 3 college students, attended the<br />
National Assembly in Washington D.C. in<br />
June. We were able to meet with the offices<br />
of our two senators and three representatives<br />
to thank them for their support of<br />
ESSA and its mention of music as a core<br />
academic subject and to encourage them<br />
to vote to fully fund the various provisions<br />
of the bill.<br />
I am pleased to say that we have an extremely<br />
talented, hard-working, and organized<br />
group of people on the board this year.<br />
We met in June to discuss several items.<br />
THIS IS AN EXCITING TIME FOR OUR<br />
ORGANIZATION. IT IS NOT WITHOUT ITS<br />
CHALLENGES, BUT I AM CONFIDENT<br />
THAT TOGETHER, WE CAN MEET THESE<br />
CHALLENGES HEAD ON.<br />
Beyond improving the conference, I have<br />
three main agenda items for this year:<br />
1. First, I want to increase the support<br />
TMEA gives to our general music teachers.<br />
I taught general music for 12 years,<br />
and I know how vital these teachers and<br />
programs are to the success of all of our<br />
programs. We MUST have a strong membership<br />
at the general music level to be an<br />
effective organization in the future. Linzie<br />
Mullins, our General Music Chair, and<br />
Charlene Cook, who previously held this<br />
position, are working hard to find ways<br />
to accomplish this goal. We are hoping to<br />
host workshops throughout the year in<br />
each region, as well as having a 4-hour session<br />
on the Saturday of TMEA conference<br />
for those teachers that may have difficulty<br />
getting time off during the week to attend.<br />
2. Second, I would like to see TMEA become<br />
a powerful advocacy organization<br />
at the state level. While NAfME has done<br />
great work at the national level, it is up to<br />
TMEA to advocate for music right here in<br />
Tennessee. Chris Dye from MTSU is now<br />
serving as our advocacy chair, and he has<br />
begun plans for our first TMEA Hill Day in<br />
March of 2017. The primary goal this year<br />
will be to build relationships with our lawmakers,<br />
and build awareness about music<br />
education. We will be in touch with more<br />
details as we go forward. In addition, Stephen<br />
Coleman, former TMEA President<br />
and current President of the Tennessee<br />
Arts Commission, is working with us and<br />
our regional associations to hire a lobbyist<br />
that will keep us informed of any legislation<br />
that impacts music education.<br />
3. Finally, the recent changes at NAfME<br />
have highlighted the need for us to identify<br />
diversity in the leadership of TMEA.<br />
This is a complicated issue and there are<br />
no easy solutions, but I believe that identifying<br />
and mentoring a slate of young and<br />
diverse leaders is paramount to this effort.<br />
10 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
My plan is to have a “Leadership Academy” next summer that will<br />
involve some of our up–and-coming teachers that may not have<br />
had the opportunity to be in a leadership position. I will be asking<br />
some of you to be involved in this effort.<br />
Conference planning, and the improvement of conference, always<br />
looms large when the board meets. While overall successful,<br />
I know there were problems with our rehearsal and performance<br />
venues the past year. We are taking steps to remedy this and I<br />
think we have come to a solution. It looks like we have secured<br />
the Presidential Ballroom as the venue for our All-State concerts.<br />
This is the largest ballroom in the hotel, with a stage large<br />
enough to accommodate all of our performing groups. There is a<br />
catch, of course: To secure<br />
this ballroom, we must book<br />
800 hotel rooms on our peak<br />
nights during the conference.<br />
If we don’t do this, we will<br />
be penalized financially beyond<br />
what we can manage. I<br />
implore you to please stay at<br />
the conference hotel. I know<br />
that many of you and your<br />
students have been staying<br />
at a cheaper hotel during the<br />
conference. I understand that<br />
the cost involved with bringing<br />
students (and yourself )<br />
to the conference is high, and<br />
we want to be respectful of<br />
that fact; however, if we do<br />
not book the required number<br />
of rooms, then we will be<br />
forced to return to holding<br />
our all-state concerts in a<br />
barn-like environment with<br />
birds flying around. Booking<br />
these rooms will also ensure<br />
that we have adequate rehearsal<br />
space for our all-state<br />
ensembles, which was also a<br />
problem last year.<br />
To assist with making<br />
the hotel more affordable,<br />
we have created a form that<br />
you can complete to find<br />
roommates for you or your<br />
students. Go to http://www.<br />
tnmea.org/all-state-roommates.html<br />
to enter your information.<br />
For instance, if<br />
you have 2 boys in the TTBB<br />
choir, you put in that you<br />
would like to pair those students<br />
up with 2 other boys<br />
from another school. Once<br />
you enter your information,<br />
you can click on “View the<br />
form entries” to connect with<br />
other directors who have the<br />
same needs as you. You will<br />
Strategies and Ideas<br />
for Music Educators…<br />
PARTICIPATE IN<br />
RECREATIONAL<br />
MUSIC MAKING<br />
be responsible for contacting the other directors to coordinate<br />
your room and payment situations. I know that ETSBOA has done<br />
this in the past and it has worked well for them.<br />
Of course there are many other items we are working on, and I<br />
will keep you informed as things progress and new issues arise.<br />
This is an exciting time for our organization. It is not without its<br />
challenges, but I am confident that together, we can meet these<br />
challenges head on. If you have any questions, concerns or ideas<br />
please email me at president@tnmea.org.<br />
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORT AND INVOLVEMENT IN TMEA. I’M LOOKING FORWARD<br />
TO A GREAT YEAR!<br />
Explore music products and materials that expand learning opportunities<br />
in your music education classroom.<br />
CATCH<br />
LIVE<br />
MUSIC<br />
NETWORK<br />
OPPORTUNITIES FOR<br />
MUSIC EDUCATORS<br />
To learn more and purchase your Music Industry Day tickets,<br />
visit namm.org/musicindustryday.<br />
JOIN THE CONVERSATION #NAMM<br />
CONNECT WITH<br />
INDUSTRY<br />
INSIDERS<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 11
BY THE NUMBERS<br />
by Matthew Clark<br />
On the 2012 SAT, students who participated in music<br />
scored an average of 31 points above average in reading, 23<br />
points above average in math, and 31 points above average<br />
in writing.<br />
College Board SAT, 2012 College-Bound Seniors: Total Group Profile<br />
Report. (See table 18.)<br />
Schools that have music programs have significantly<br />
higher graduation rates than do those without music programs<br />
(90.2 percent as compared to 72.9 percent). In addition,<br />
those that rate their programs as “excellent or very<br />
good” have an even higher graduation rate (90.9 percent).<br />
Harris Interactive Inc. (2006). Understanding the Linkages Between<br />
Music Education and Educational Outcomes.<br />
Schools that have music programs have significantly<br />
higher attendance rates than do those without programs<br />
(93.3 percent as compared to 84.9 percent).<br />
Harris Interactive Inc. (2006). Understanding the Linkages Between<br />
Music Education and Educational Outcomes.<br />
In spite of this public support and documented benefits,<br />
“only one in four eighth graders reported being asked to<br />
sing or play a music instrument at least once a week.”<br />
-1998 NAEP Assessment<br />
https://www.musicforall.org/who-we-are/advocacy/quick-facts<br />
12 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
A two-year Swiss study involving 1,200 children in 50<br />
schools showed that students involved in the music<br />
program were better at languages, learned to read more<br />
easily, showed an improved social climate, showed more<br />
enjoyment in school, and had a lower level of stress than<br />
non-music students.<br />
-Weber, E.W., Spychiger, M. & Patry, J.L. (1993)<br />
https://www.musicforall.org/who-we-are/advocacy/quick-facts<br />
State-level arts spending dropped from $409 million in<br />
fiscal year 2002 to 354.5 in fiscal year 2003 and declined<br />
again to $272.4 million in 2004.<br />
- National Assembly of State Arts Agencies https://www.musicforall.<br />
org/who-we-are/advocacy/quick-facts<br />
70% of those who were involved in music say that it was<br />
at least somewhat influential in contributing to their current<br />
level of personal fulfillment.<br />
Harris Interactive Inc. (2008). MENC Executive Omnibus Results<br />
Summary.<br />
Federal funding for the arts and humanities rolls in<br />
around $250 million a year, while the National Science<br />
Foundation is funded around the $5 billion mark.<br />
https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-arts-education<br />
VERBATIM<br />
The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling—<br />
training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at<br />
once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff for lifelong attention skills, intelligence,<br />
and an ability for self-knowledge and expression.<br />
From A User’s Guide to the Brain, May 31, 2003; Ratey, John J., MD<br />
What is important is not how well a student plays but rather the simultaneous engagement of senses, muscles,<br />
and intellect. … Can you think of better exercise for the mind/brain?<br />
From “The Music in Our Minds,” Educational Leadership, <strong>Vol</strong>. 56, #3; <strong>No</strong>rman M. Weinberger<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 13
GOING SOCIAL<br />
by Andy Stewart & Robert Ward<br />
Today’s students are<br />
no longer the people<br />
our educational system<br />
was designed to teach.<br />
—Mark Prensky,<br />
author of Teaching Digital Natives<br />
14 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume 68, <strong>No</strong>. 4
WHILE MARK PRENSKY’S<br />
observation is certainly disturbing,<br />
it’s equally difficult to deny.<br />
The digital world our students<br />
occupy is quite different from anything<br />
most of us have experienced. All they have<br />
known is instant access to information,<br />
communication, and constant stimuli—a<br />
reality that isn’t always reached by traditional<br />
teaching methods. This is not, however,<br />
meant to discount those methods. In<br />
fact, they remain necessary for developing<br />
well-rounded students. Yet, to ignore the<br />
possibilities inherent in the digital space<br />
is to deny an extra measure of success in<br />
the classroom.<br />
Students now have access to more<br />
knowledge than most of us could have<br />
imagined when we were in school. What<br />
is more fascinating is that they regularly<br />
make use of these resources. Whether they<br />
learn how to do something via YouTube or<br />
engage in a conversation via social media,<br />
today’s students will make use of anything<br />
available to them. Therefore, it is necessary<br />
for teachers to develop a digital presence.<br />
It may be as simple as a social media<br />
connection or instituting online lessons.<br />
In each, the teacher’s presence is felt. It<br />
is important to remember that this is not<br />
a personal connection but an extension of<br />
the classroom and should be maintained<br />
as such. While students should not have<br />
access to a teacher’s vacation photos, by<br />
sharing images from a class trip or recent<br />
concert, you can infuse positive energy<br />
into the program.<br />
Some might write off the rise of connected<br />
devices as nothing more than an<br />
added distraction in the classroom, yet the<br />
rapid ascent of mobile, always-on technology<br />
is not devoid of usefulness. In fact, the<br />
very reasons this technology can become<br />
a source of conflict during instruction are<br />
also what make it an incredibly efficient<br />
means of connecting with students. There<br />
are tools and possibilities available to all of<br />
us if we are willing to embrace them.
ENHANCING NOTIFICATIONS<br />
Gone are the days of typing, printing,<br />
copying, and sending home a paper note.<br />
The frequency with which our students<br />
turn their eyes to their smartphones or<br />
tablets overshadows any thought they<br />
would give to a note you send home with<br />
them. Social media not only replaces those<br />
traditional ways of communication, but it<br />
can serve to improve the consistency, effectiveness,<br />
and scope of what you share.<br />
It is important to stress that all social<br />
media communication should be through<br />
accounts or pages created specifically for<br />
your organization and not personal accounts.<br />
Organization-specific accounts<br />
protect you and your students and allow for<br />
administrative oversight, if set up correctly.<br />
The most obvious use of social media is<br />
the replication of a traditional announcement<br />
or note. “Don’t forget to bring $5<br />
for lunch tomorrow,” “Concert is 1 week<br />
away—do you know where your uniform<br />
is?” “Full orchestra rehearsals are Tuesday<br />
and Thursday this week.” <strong>No</strong>tifications like<br />
these can be shared and viewed instantly<br />
on services such as Remind, Twitter and<br />
Facebook. The message is immediately<br />
available, visible to anyone following your<br />
account (parent, student, administrator,<br />
etc.), and is persistent, remaining in that<br />
space for reference at any time.<br />
Since many of the widely used platforms<br />
work best with frequent but shorter messages,<br />
they are also effective for conveying<br />
notes of affirmation to an ensemble or<br />
group. “Great rehearsal today!” “Excited<br />
about your progress!” “Congrats solo and<br />
ensemble participants!” Through traditional<br />
means, these short notes might not<br />
seem worth the effort. With social media, a<br />
few seconds can translate into a wealth of<br />
positive rapport.<br />
The instant nature of social media (especially<br />
in conjunction with mobile devices)<br />
allows for spontaneous sharing with<br />
your students. Great quotes, beautiful performances,<br />
and inspiring images are all<br />
around us. Facebook and Twitter are great<br />
for broadcasting quick messages through<br />
text, but they can also be used to share a<br />
photo, video, or audio clip that you find<br />
or create yourself. Likewise, services like<br />
Flickr and Instagram can be used to curate<br />
and share photos you take of your organization,<br />
inspirational images, concert posters,<br />
or fun Internet images related to your area.<br />
Lengthy articles or media are not necessarily<br />
the forte of many of these services.<br />
However, they can still be used to redirect<br />
followers to that information. Alongside<br />
a school or organization website, social<br />
media can be used to alert users to information<br />
they need. Share a link to the trip<br />
itinerary on your website, a poll or form to<br />
complete, or a video on YouTube of your<br />
group performing.<br />
ENGAGING STUDENTS<br />
Communication is a two-way street,<br />
and social media can offer a friction-free<br />
conversation between multiple parties. By<br />
requiring students to submit a reply, you<br />
have instant assurance that your message<br />
has been received. If there is confusion,<br />
most platforms offer ways for people to<br />
comment or respond to a post. A student<br />
or parent can ask a follow-up question<br />
immediately, thus reducing the potential<br />
of the message or question getting lost in<br />
translation or time by waiting to address it<br />
in class the next day.<br />
Educators are often searching for ways<br />
to empower their students and help them<br />
take ownership in a program. Posting discussion<br />
questions can go a long way toward<br />
students having input into your organization.<br />
“What would you like to see happen at<br />
the choir retreat?” “How can we get more<br />
people involved in our Spring Concert?”<br />
The nature of these commenting systems<br />
can lead to positive discussion among your<br />
students about a given topic as well.<br />
Social media is also a great way to collect<br />
student responses. “Share your favorite<br />
memory from orchestra this year.” “Who<br />
is available to play holiday music at the<br />
senior center next Saturday?” Some services<br />
like Twitter employ hashtags (#) to<br />
curate and track these posts. By creating a<br />
unique hashtag, members can post using<br />
that hashtag or search for it to see what<br />
others are posting on the same subject.<br />
Create a tag to use for class discussion or a<br />
tag to use on a group trip. <strong>No</strong>t only are you<br />
creating a means of gathering perspective<br />
and information, you are also empowering<br />
all of your students.<br />
Public Twitter profiles or Facebook Fan<br />
Pages allow for community and parent involvement<br />
as well. <strong>No</strong>t only can you promote<br />
upcoming events, but you can receive<br />
feedback from the community or interact<br />
with other local organizations. There are<br />
also other professional organizations and<br />
people on social media with whom to interact.<br />
By opening up dialogue with them, you<br />
open the door to networking, promoting,<br />
and enhancing your organization.<br />
EXTENDING THE CLASSROOM<br />
One of the major advantages of our<br />
connectivity is the ability to extend the<br />
classroom. You may be familiar with Khan<br />
Academy, an online resource of math and<br />
science instructional videos. These videos<br />
are short and simple lessons that allow the<br />
viewer to take in the information at their<br />
own pace. In class, you might have to cover<br />
a topic three times as you begin feeling<br />
pressured to move on. If for any reason a<br />
student misses what you said, they don’t<br />
have the chance to receive that instruction.<br />
The idea of a flipped classroom can<br />
address that limitation.<br />
In a flipped classroom, you assign the<br />
instruction as homework and then do the<br />
application in class. This allows the student<br />
to spend as much time taking in the<br />
instruction as they need and gives the<br />
student access to the teacher during the<br />
application portion of the instruction. Social<br />
media has made it easy to share these<br />
lessons and provide a medium where students<br />
can network with each other and<br />
with the instructor outside the classroom.<br />
A simple implementation could be sharing<br />
a link to a website where they can learn<br />
the treble and bass clef notes. Assign it as<br />
homework and the next day in class, dive<br />
straight into application. If there is any<br />
confusion, students can comment on the<br />
post the instructor has made on the social<br />
media network.<br />
More complex lessons might need to be<br />
created by the instructor, and while this<br />
can be time consuming, the benefit is a library<br />
of lessons ready for years to come.<br />
By sharing them through your organization<br />
website, lessons of all kinds that are<br />
delivered via YouTube and other educational<br />
sites like ShowMe can be viewed by<br />
students outside of class as many times as<br />
is necessary.<br />
Instead of burning part CDs for every<br />
student, host them on the school website<br />
and share the links via social media. Create<br />
a pronunciation and translation guide<br />
for a piece and share the image on Facebook,<br />
Twitter, or Instagram. Students can<br />
practice it on their own and go back to it if<br />
needed at a later time.<br />
A YouTube or ShowMe video describing<br />
the phrase and dynamic structure of<br />
a piece and how to notate it in the score<br />
could save 20–30 minutes of valuable rehearsal<br />
time. Assigning it as homework, inclass<br />
discussion of these elements can be<br />
more meaningful and less tedious, saving<br />
time for more in-depth discussion.<br />
16 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
Using social media to enhance and augment class discussion<br />
may also encourage more passive students to contribute. A Twitter<br />
or Facebook discussion of the poetry in a piece might open the<br />
door to someone who would otherwise be nervous about contributing<br />
in front of a group and could lead to a greater appreciation<br />
for the work by all of your students.<br />
Though the idea of using technology to enhance, augment, and<br />
even replace in-class instruction may seem daunting, most of<br />
these tools are readily accessible and easy to learn. Accept that<br />
your online lessons ( just like those in class) won’t be perfect.<br />
What you will find, however, is that most lessons that take 30<br />
minutes to teach in class can be taught in 3–5 minutes through an<br />
online resource or other video, image, or audio you create. Social<br />
media allows you to put that lesson directly in front of your students<br />
in a space they already occupy and leaves more time in class<br />
for the deeper connections to the music and each other that we all<br />
want our students to experience.<br />
EXERCISING CAUTION<br />
You must take time to set up your online instructor presence<br />
correctly. If you take the time to implement them as you should,<br />
most social media platforms offer robust ways of protecting your<br />
privacy and that of your students.<br />
For more guidance on following best practices and establishing<br />
your own policies for responsible use of social media, read “What<br />
You Should Know Before You Post.”<br />
One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known<br />
coming to an end. —Jiddu Krishnamurti<br />
Like the students we teach, communication has evolved from<br />
the traditional means with which most educators are comfortable.<br />
Today’s students are riding the front edge of this sea of change.<br />
Educators, too, should consider embracing this culture. Though it<br />
is not reasonable to abandon traditional teaching methods, utilizing<br />
the digital space that exists can help transform and enhance<br />
your curriculum for the digital age and, in doing so, help you connect<br />
with your students in a more authentic way.<br />
Andy Stewart is Director of Choirs at The Oakridge School in Arlington, Texas.<br />
Robert Ward is a music education graduate student and teaching assistant at<br />
Southern Methodist University. He has spent the past decade teaching middle and<br />
high school choir at Rowlett HS and at The Oakridge School.<br />
Reprinted from the Southwestern <strong>Musician</strong> with permission from Texas Music<br />
Educators Association.
Some are born with<br />
in their souls<br />
Heather Klossner, music education<br />
If authenticity had<br />
a soul, you would<br />
find it in the new<br />
faculty joining us<br />
this fall. Creativity<br />
flows through their<br />
veins. They were born<br />
with music in their<br />
blood. Like you, they<br />
belong at the UofM.<br />
DEGREES OFFERED<br />
B.M., M.M., D.M.A., Ph.D.<br />
AUDITION DATES<br />
Dec. 3, 2016<br />
Feb. 4, 2017<br />
Feb. 18, 2017<br />
Feb. 25, 2017<br />
memphis.edu/music<br />
William Shaltis, percussion<br />
Kimberly Patterson, cello<br />
Artina McCain, piano<br />
Marcin Arendt, violin<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 19
WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE YOU POST<br />
by Karen Cross
TRYING TO KEEP UP with the rapid evolution in mobile technology and social media<br />
platforms can be overwhelming; yet the reality is that they offer undeniably effective<br />
and efficient means of communicating. As detailed in “Going Social” by Andy<br />
Stewart and Robert Ward, these technologies can help you keep students and parents<br />
informed, build a greater sense of community, and even extend the effectiveness of your<br />
instruction. While the technologies are quite easily accessible, using them effectively and<br />
responsibly isn’t always as simple as pressing send.<br />
Without face-to-face interaction, we<br />
lack the immediate opportunity to observe<br />
whether our communication was understood.<br />
And while this would suggest we<br />
should try to be clearer and more cautious<br />
in our electronic communications, the reality<br />
quite often seems the opposite—our<br />
hurried texts, social network updates, and<br />
emails at times reflect carelessness. And<br />
for educators, this can have significant and<br />
long-lasting consequences.<br />
In the April 2013 issue of School Band &<br />
Orchestra, an attorney specializing in education<br />
law reported on several legal issues<br />
facing music educators. He remarked:<br />
Given the potentially significant consequences,<br />
music educators who work<br />
so closely with students would do well<br />
to consider what department policies<br />
and/or personal professional practices<br />
should be put in place to protect themselves<br />
from facing the kinds of scenarios<br />
that people normally think would never<br />
happen to them . . . What would prevent<br />
a student from making any sort of false<br />
allegation? If the allegations can pass<br />
the initial “smell test,” what effect could<br />
it have on career, family, and reputation,<br />
even if eventually exonerated?” 1<br />
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?<br />
Considering the effectiveness as well as<br />
the potential pitfalls inherent in communicating<br />
electronically, it seems a bit confusing<br />
to know what’s best.<br />
To help answer this question, we surveyed<br />
fine arts administrators across Texas<br />
to learn about their educators’ use of social<br />
media, their district policies, and their advice<br />
about communicating electronically<br />
with students and parents. Responses by<br />
over 60 administrators demonstrated a<br />
consistent overall view about the benefits<br />
and concerns of teachers communicating<br />
electronically with students and parents.<br />
Over 85% said their teachers use social<br />
media to communicate with students and<br />
parents; almost all use email; 67% use a<br />
program Facebook page; and 58% text. Of<br />
the districts responding, 72% have electronic<br />
communications policies.<br />
DISTRICT POLICIES<br />
While the information shared here was<br />
common across the state, always begin by<br />
using your district’s policies as the guide<br />
for communicating with your students and<br />
their parents. If your district doesn’t have<br />
a policy about electronic communication,<br />
start by creating at least a program-level<br />
policy, or work with administrators to establish<br />
one for the district. As you create a<br />
policy or review the one you have, consider<br />
the following common statements found in<br />
policies found in Texas:<br />
• Employees are held to the same professional<br />
standards in their public use of<br />
electronic media as they are for any other<br />
public conduct.<br />
• Employees will not share their personal<br />
networking sites with students or<br />
include students as members or friends.<br />
• Employees using text messaging<br />
must limit communications to matters<br />
within the scope of their professional<br />
responsibilities.<br />
• Employees have the right to participate<br />
in social networking sites; however, they<br />
should not post anything that would violate<br />
student confidentiality rights or that<br />
would negatively affect the perception of<br />
the employee’s ability to be effective in<br />
their job.<br />
• The district believes use of electronic<br />
media can be beneficial to students and<br />
parents in the educational process and in<br />
the communication of information.<br />
• The employee must maintain and is responsible<br />
for all communication within<br />
the program’s social network and cannot<br />
turn the responsibility over to a student<br />
or parent.<br />
• Parents must grant written permission<br />
for the director to send text messages<br />
about the program to their child and must<br />
further permit the director to copy the parent<br />
on all text messages sent their child.<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 21
• Text messaging must be limited to between<br />
the hours of 6 A.M. and 9 P.M. unless<br />
addressing matters of immediate concern<br />
(e.g., late arrival home from an event).<br />
• The employee continues to be subject<br />
to applicable state and federal laws, local<br />
policies, administrative regulations, and<br />
the Code of Ethics and Standard Practices<br />
for Texas Educators, even when<br />
communicating regarding personal and<br />
private matters, regardless of whether<br />
the employee is using private or public<br />
equipment, on or off campus.<br />
WHAT’S ON YOUR WALL?<br />
If you researched this topic of educators’<br />
use of social media, you would find<br />
two common directives—not to friend<br />
students on your personal social network<br />
page and to set up a page specifically for<br />
your program communications. Even if<br />
you take these advised steps, understand<br />
that educators are held to the same standard<br />
in their personal social media updates<br />
that they are for their behavior in any other<br />
public venue. Just because you can limit<br />
whom you invite to your personal page,<br />
this offers no guarantee that the information<br />
you communicate will not find its way<br />
beyond your set of online friends.<br />
In 2010, the National Education Association<br />
reported that there had been three<br />
court cases in which teachers claimed that<br />
their First Amendment rights were violated<br />
when they were punished because of<br />
their postings on social networking sites.<br />
In all cases, the teachers lost. 4<br />
Even with concerns about using social<br />
media, administrators surveyed still view<br />
it as too beneficial not to use. With that in<br />
mind, we asked them what kind of guidance<br />
they would offer their teachers about<br />
the use of social media. Some common replies<br />
included:<br />
• Learn and follow your district’s policies.<br />
• Don’t use a personal Facebook page for<br />
your program.<br />
• Create a program Facebook page or<br />
Facebook group (research the differences<br />
to see what best fits your needs and<br />
policies).<br />
• Don’t friend students on your personal<br />
page.<br />
• Exercise caution when updating your<br />
personal page. It must continue to be a<br />
positive reflection on you as an educator.<br />
• Encourage parents to join the program’s<br />
Facebook page to help establish<br />
transparency.<br />
• If you allow students to post, create<br />
strict guidelines about that content, and<br />
monitor it.<br />
• Remove any posts that are questionable<br />
or that don’t pertain to the program.<br />
• Check your spelling and grammar—your<br />
writing should reflect positively your role<br />
as an educator, even in social media.<br />
TO TEXT OR NOT TO TEXT<br />
Anyone who pays attention to the news is<br />
aware of instances in which inappropriate<br />
student-teacher relationships have been<br />
exposed through their text records. Even<br />
when no such relationship exists, the frequency<br />
or timing of texts can give districts<br />
the obligation to investigate. In a report<br />
about the changes to the Texas Educators’<br />
Code of Ethics in 2010, the Association of<br />
Texas Professional Educators explained<br />
that during the revision process, Texas Education<br />
Agency staff argued that texting is<br />
often evidence of “grooming” a student for<br />
a future inappropriate relationship.<br />
The State Board for Educator Certification<br />
(SBEC) accepted that a change was<br />
necessary—specifically providing that the<br />
nature, subject, purpose, timing or amount<br />
of communication could lead to a finding<br />
that the communication was inappropriate<br />
and warranted sanction. 5<br />
Some districts have reacted to concerns<br />
about texting by completely banning its<br />
use between teachers and students. In<br />
other districts, the only teachers allowed to<br />
text are those with extracurricular responsibilities.<br />
As mentioned above, 58% of the<br />
Texas music teachers represented by our<br />
survey results use texting to communicate<br />
with students and parents.<br />
When 78% of teens have a cell phone<br />
and 63% text regularly, it’s difficult to ignore<br />
the effectiveness of this medium, so<br />
we asked administrators to offer advice<br />
on texting. Of course, first follow your district’s<br />
guidelines. If your district doesn’t<br />
have a policy, create one and review it with<br />
your school administrators to gain their<br />
approval before implementing it.<br />
The following are suggestions offered by<br />
administrators about responsible texting:<br />
• Get administrator approval on the type<br />
of content that will be texted and stick to<br />
that.<br />
• Text students only if you have their parental<br />
permission (some require parents<br />
to be copied on all texts as well).<br />
• Text only groups (if you must text an<br />
individual, include their parent).<br />
• Copy a coworker or fine arts administrator<br />
on texts.<br />
• Text about program information only.<br />
• Do not text anything personal, ever.<br />
• Instead of your personal cell phone,<br />
use a web application to send group texts<br />
(e.g., Remind, Charms).<br />
• Don’t overuse texting.<br />
• Immediately report to a supervisor any<br />
questionable texts<br />
received from a student.<br />
• Reread every text before sending.<br />
• Do not text in the late evening hours.<br />
• Don’t respond to any text that isn’t<br />
about the program<br />
information.<br />
TEACH STUDENTS RESPONSIBLE USE<br />
The use of social media raises several<br />
concerns, but it also raises opportunity—<br />
the opportunity to teach students about<br />
responsible use. For example, in each of their<br />
music program handbooks, Leander ISD includes<br />
a section on Digital Citizenship. The<br />
following is an excerpt from this policy:<br />
Members are responsible for their personal<br />
websites and postings, as well as<br />
posting from or on other students’ websites.<br />
The areas of appropriateness will<br />
include but are not limited to profane, foul,<br />
or disrespectful language (abbreviated<br />
or alluding to), pictures, suggestive poses,<br />
clothing, references to alcohol, drugs,<br />
and/or tobacco, and postings (either text<br />
or photos) that could be interpreted as being<br />
negative or threatening toward other<br />
LISD teaching staff or band members, or<br />
that demonstrate poor sportsmanship or a<br />
22 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
disrespectful attitude toward other bands. Any such incident will<br />
result in review by the principal (or designee) and may lead to probation<br />
or dismissal from the band.<br />
The policy includes consequences for sequential violations, the<br />
third of which results in the student’s removal from the program.<br />
With the rapid evolution in technology, the tools discussed here<br />
will quickly become obsolete. However, the guiding principles behind<br />
the suggestions and policies will always transcend the technology<br />
being used and underscore the privilege and responsibility<br />
that comes with this most important profession.<br />
GO WHERE<br />
THE MUSIC<br />
TAKES YOU<br />
References<br />
1. Kevin McNamara. “Music Law: Crimes, Cash, and Copyright.” School Band &<br />
Orchestra, April 4, 2013. (www.tmea.org/smlink/SBO2013)<br />
2. “Teens and Technology 2013.” Pew Research Center, Pew Internet and<br />
American Life Project. March 13, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013 (www.tmea.<br />
org/smlink/TeensTech2013)<br />
3. “Teens 2012: Truth, Trends, and Myths about Teen Online Behavior.” Pew<br />
Research Center, Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved May<br />
20, 2013 (www.tmea.org/smlink/Teens2012)<br />
4. Mike Simpson. “Social Networking Nightmares.” Tomorrow’s Teachers,<br />
2010. National Education Association.<br />
(www.tmea.org/smlink/NEA2010)<br />
5. Paul Tapp. “A prescription for educator behavior.” ATPE News. Spring 2011.<br />
(www.tmea.org/smlink/ATPE2011)<br />
Other Resources<br />
Texas Educator Code of Ethics in Texas Administrative Code, Rule 247.2.<br />
Retrieved May 20, 2013 (www.tmea.org/smlink/CodeofEthics)<br />
Lori Jaross. “Is Facebook an educator’s friend or foe?” ATPE News. Spring<br />
2010. (www.tmea.org/smlink/ATPE2010)<br />
TASB Legal Services. “School District Employees and Electronic Media.”<br />
Retrieved May 20, 2013 (www.tmea.org/smlink/TASB2010)<br />
Karen Cross is Communications Manager with Texas Music Educators Association.<br />
Belmont’s School of Music provides training and mentorship<br />
to aspiring musicians from across the country so that they can<br />
use their gifts to engage and transform the world. Learn how<br />
you can join the next class of rising stars and see our event<br />
calendar at belmont.edu/music.<br />
UNDERGRADUATE AUDITION DATES:<br />
11.12.16 • 1.14.17 • 1.28.17 • 2.11.17 • 3.18.17<br />
(Admission Only)<br />
Reprinted from the Southwestern <strong>Musician</strong> with permission from Texas Music<br />
Educators Association.<br />
GRADUATE AUDITION DATES:<br />
11.12.16 • 1.20.17 • 2.17.17 • 2.24.17<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 23
24 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
TMEA STATE GENERAL MUSIC CHAIR’S MESSAGE<br />
by Linzie Mullins<br />
We are pleased to announce that there will be a<br />
Saturday session geared toward general music<br />
education, and we hope that you will attend.<br />
GREETINGS! My name is Linzie<br />
Mullins, and I am honored to serve<br />
as the TMEA General Music State<br />
Chair. Humbled by this opportunity,<br />
I would like to thank our President, Dr.<br />
Johnathan Vest, for trusting me to hold<br />
this position. I currently reside in Memphis,<br />
and also serve as the WTGMEA president.<br />
My husband and I are both music<br />
teachers, we actually met at Orff Level 1<br />
here in Memphis!<br />
As I write this article, I am reflecting<br />
on my past years of teaching. I know with<br />
absolute certainty that I would not be<br />
the educator I am without the wonderful<br />
resources given to me by attending conferences<br />
such as the TMEA Conference.<br />
We have heard responses from general<br />
music educators that the conference falls<br />
too close to testing week or it is asking<br />
you to take off too many days of work. We<br />
hear you! And this year, we are pleased to<br />
announce that there will be a Saturday<br />
session geared toward general music education,<br />
and we hope that you will attend. I<br />
challenge you to come and attend the conference,<br />
and if you cannot attend the whole<br />
conference, attend on Friday and Saturday,<br />
the two days we are really working on gearing<br />
towards your needs. Have any ideas you<br />
would like to share? I strongly encourage<br />
you to present a session and share your<br />
ideas with other teachers in Tennessee.<br />
As I stated before, professional development<br />
opportunities have really shaped me<br />
into the educator that I am. I would love to<br />
share the workshops you have in your area<br />
with other teachers across the state. Please<br />
share any professional developments you<br />
have scheduled with me, and I will post<br />
them to our Tennessee General Music Education<br />
Association Facebook page.<br />
Lastly, I would like to share with you an<br />
idea you may want to incorporate you’re<br />
your music classroom this year. Over the<br />
past couple of years I have tried to incorporate<br />
more technology in my classroom, and<br />
by talking with colleagues and researching,<br />
I stumbled upon augmented reality. For<br />
those who do not know what augmented<br />
reality, or AR is, it is a computer-generated<br />
image superimposed on an object while being<br />
viewed through a tablet, smartphone,<br />
laptop, etc. There are many apps that can<br />
generate AR videos or graphics for you,<br />
but the one that I use is Aurasma. When<br />
you have the application open and scan a<br />
picture, document, or object that has an<br />
AR tag, a new graphic will appear. You can<br />
upload videos of your students dancing,<br />
singing, playing, or even presenting a project.<br />
You can even then show other students<br />
their peers’ performances in a new and exciting<br />
way.<br />
When I learned about augmented reality<br />
I immediately had to find a way to implement<br />
it in my classroom. I wanted parents<br />
to be able to see what their students were<br />
doing in my classroom, so I would post pictures<br />
in the hallway with instructions on<br />
how to download the app and get the link<br />
to my private Aurasma videos. They would<br />
then be able to use the camera on the app,<br />
place the camera over the picture, and a<br />
video would appear. I would put videos<br />
of the students performing dances, singing<br />
songs, or playing instruments on each<br />
of the items hanging on the wall. When I<br />
showed the students for the first time, they<br />
were so excited that they invited their parents<br />
to the “Hall of Fame” to watch the videos<br />
of the students’ performances. This not<br />
only gave my classroom more attention, it<br />
gave the students a chance to show their<br />
parents, friends, relatives, etc. what they<br />
had learned in my classroom without having<br />
a physical music program.<br />
I also found a great way to use AR with<br />
the older students when I did a composer<br />
study unit. The students were in groups of<br />
two or three and created online posters of<br />
a composer. We printed these posters, and<br />
the students presented it to the class. I videoed<br />
their presentation, and used AR to put<br />
the video on their poster. So, in the hallway,<br />
the posters looked amazing! But, the most<br />
amazing part was giving other students<br />
the opportunity to watch their peers present<br />
the material using this technology. The<br />
students now ask if their performances can<br />
be put in the Hall of Fame, and I am able to<br />
say, “Yes!” and have it there by the end of<br />
the school day.<br />
I hope that you are able to find a way to<br />
use augmented reality in your classroom.<br />
And, I am looking forward to meeting you<br />
all at the TMEA Professional Development<br />
Conference, and also learning from you in<br />
your sessions.<br />
Resources:<br />
• Link to “Teaching with Aurasma” Video https://<br />
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHIxYpBW7sc<br />
• Link to TED Talk by Matt Mills on Augmented<br />
Reality Video<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frrZbq2LpwI<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 25
TMEA STATE CHORAL CHAIR’S MESSAGE<br />
by W. Fitzgerald Patton<br />
I<br />
BELIEVE THAT MUSIC EDUCATORS HAVE A GREAT CALLING<br />
to change and inspire the lives of our students each and every<br />
day we are in the classroom. As state choral chair, my job is to<br />
keep you informed on issues relevant to choral music education<br />
so that teachers across this great state can continue fulfilling their<br />
purpose. I am privileged to help strengthen music education in<br />
our state through serving choral directors across the regions.<br />
Having a unified audition process<br />
will make the process throughout the<br />
state more fair. In addition this uniform<br />
approach will better ensure that the<br />
top students are placed in each choir<br />
because the process a student would<br />
go through to get in a mid-state or allstate<br />
chorus would be the same.<br />
Before I introduce myself, let me take a moment to thank Jan<br />
Johnson, our previous state choral chair, for all of her hard work.<br />
Her dedication to serving choral directors is most appreciated. I<br />
am Gerald Patton, choral director and fine arts chair at Blackman<br />
High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I have taught elementary<br />
general music, high school chorus, general music and music<br />
theory. I have nearly 20 years of experience in music education. I<br />
have served on the MTVA board for eight years as freshman honor<br />
choir chair. I am the founding organizer of the Rutherford County<br />
High School Choral Festival which has been in existence since<br />
2006. I am also the artistic director for the Wilson County Civic<br />
League Summer Arts Academy, a non-profit organization, located<br />
in my hometown of Lebanon, Tennessee. Finally, I am a church<br />
musician and worship leader at the Lebanon Cumberland Presbyterian<br />
Church.<br />
This is my first year on the state board, and I am honored to<br />
serve in this capacity. The board met in early June to discuss many<br />
issues for the upcoming school year. Most of our discussion centered<br />
on our next TMEA conference in Nashville, Tennessee April<br />
5 - 8, 2017. There were several hot topics, but the one that I believe<br />
most of you are concerned about is this year’s all-state choral performance<br />
venue. I can assure you, a lot of work has been devoted<br />
to making sure our students have the best experience at all-state.<br />
With that being said, we will not be at “the barn” again. Ron Meers,<br />
TMEA executive director, is working tirelessly to ensure that we<br />
have the performances at the presidential ballroom. But in order<br />
for TMEA to acquire this space, we need ALL music directors<br />
(band, orchestra, and choral) to stay at the Opryland Hotel. More<br />
specifically, if we can book 800 rooms, then we are almost guaranteed<br />
the ability to have the presidential ballroom for our all-state<br />
performances. Directors, please help us and encourage your colleagues<br />
to stay at the Opryland Hotel for our 2017 conference.<br />
Other issues that were discussed included uniform audition<br />
standards across the regions, transgender equality, diversity in<br />
the NAfME and TMEA leadership, general assembly, conference<br />
rooming coordinator, and new state music standards. Some of<br />
these topics generated a great deal of discussion. With others<br />
there was less discussion because of the need to do more research<br />
and follow up.<br />
Regarding, the transgender policy, the TMEA board will have<br />
much more discussion before we elect to give an official recommendation,<br />
but our main point is that students who are transgender<br />
are not excluded in participating in music performances.<br />
There is still a lot of dialogue that needs to happen, and I welcome<br />
your feedback. But the bottom line is this; make sure all students<br />
are included in your performances and make necessary accommodations<br />
within reason so these students are not singled out.<br />
Being African American, I am very fortunate to have attained<br />
the successes I have had in my career, but I owe my success to the<br />
teachers who inspired me and to my parents. I am on the state<br />
board because I had a fellow colleague in my county recommend<br />
me because she believed in me and knew that I possessed leadership<br />
skills that would help further music education in our state.<br />
Both NAfME and TMEA desire to have more African American<br />
26 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
directors in leadership positions on both<br />
the state and national level. One of the<br />
things I would like to see occur is a mentoring<br />
program for minority teachers in each<br />
region. I will talk with the regional presidents<br />
to advocate for a mentoring program<br />
that can be put into place to help us have a<br />
more diversified state and national board.<br />
Each year at the TMEA conference we<br />
have our opening general assembly. You are<br />
probably aware that the format of our general<br />
assembly changes from year to year.<br />
We want all music teachers to come to this<br />
assembly, but there has been discussion on<br />
moving the assembly to Saturday morning.<br />
The rationale is that professional development<br />
sessions could be offered that are<br />
geared toward middle school general music<br />
and choral directors. Also, moving the<br />
general assembly to Saturday would solve<br />
transportation issues for the <strong>TN</strong> Treble<br />
Choir that performs during the session.<br />
There are three more important topics<br />
to address before I close. The first is a uniform<br />
audition process for mid-state and<br />
all-state chorus. Right now, each region<br />
in Tennessee (West, Middle, East) has its<br />
own process for judging, scoring, and having<br />
auditions. For instance, some regions<br />
have blind auditions, and other regions<br />
do not. Having a unified audition process<br />
will make the process throughout the state<br />
more fair. In addition this uniform approach<br />
will better ensure that the top students<br />
are placed in each choir because the<br />
process a student would go through to get<br />
in a mid-state or all-state chorus would be<br />
the same. This possibility of uniformity is<br />
in the early stages. I have more research to<br />
do, and I need to have numerous conversations<br />
with each region before any new procedures<br />
go into place.<br />
Once students have auditioned, many<br />
directors book their hotel rooms. I just<br />
want to remind you that the hotel block<br />
will not open until February 1st. Also, I<br />
strongly encourage directors to stay at the<br />
Opryland Hotel so that our association can<br />
get the presidential ballroom. One way we<br />
would like to encourage directors to stay at<br />
Opryland is to have a rooming coordinator<br />
for each region. A lot of times many schools<br />
only have one or two in all-state. If this is<br />
the case, the hotel room is much higher. If<br />
we can match directors in the same region<br />
with other directors, then we could room<br />
share and cut down on cost. Let’s be honest,<br />
the directors that do not stay at the<br />
conference hotel don’t because of expense.<br />
I want to help with this. More information<br />
will be coming to directors about this later.<br />
Finally, our music standards have not<br />
been revised in many, many years. A revision<br />
is being done. The standards that most<br />
of us know and have taught for quite a while<br />
-- sing, play, listen, improvise, etc. will be<br />
complimented with new foundations like<br />
relate, select, develop, interpret. This is all<br />
in an effort to clean up our standards and<br />
give music educators more specifics in<br />
teaching the standards to our children.<br />
Thank you for reading my column. I want<br />
you to know that I am available to you if<br />
you have questions, concerns, suggestions,<br />
and comments. I have a lot to learn in transitioning<br />
to this position, but I can assure<br />
you that I will do my very best to keep you<br />
informed and help in any way. Let me know<br />
things you’d like to see at our conference.<br />
Also, know it’s not too early to be thinking<br />
about applying to present a session at our<br />
conference. Again, the date of the 2017<br />
TMEA Conference is April 5 – 8. Other important<br />
dates include the National ACDA<br />
Conference is March 8 -11, 2017 in Minneapolis,<br />
MN. Mark these dates on your calendar.<br />
Thank you for your time, and I wish<br />
you a very successful school year!<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 27
TMEA STATE ORCHESTRA CHAIR’S MESSAGE<br />
by Michelle Clupper<br />
One of things that I truly believe will<br />
have a benefit statewide is to ensure<br />
that all of our orchestra directors have<br />
a mentor, whether they are new to the<br />
profession or just the region.<br />
“CAN YOU TEACH ORCHESTRA?”<br />
Those are the words that changed my<br />
teaching career and one could say, my life.<br />
In the spring of 2010, I was asked by my<br />
then principal if I could teach orchestra<br />
due to a series of unfortunate staff reductions<br />
at our school. My response? “Am I<br />
certified, or can I?” He told me that he had<br />
complete faith in my ability to actually<br />
teach the class. Truthfully, I wasn’t so sure.<br />
So many questions swirled around in my<br />
head. Would the kids dismiss me because<br />
I’m a wind player? Would I shortchange<br />
them due to the fact that I’m a band person?<br />
The answer to both of those questions<br />
of course turned out to be no. My orchestra<br />
students were kind, helpful and funny. I<br />
learned as they learned and I even stopped<br />
saying things like “get your horns up”!<br />
So much has changed for me over the<br />
years but one thing has stayed the same: I<br />
love to go into the classroom every day and<br />
work with young people. I am privileged<br />
to be in my seventeenth year of teaching,<br />
fourteen of which have been at Farragut<br />
High School in Knoxville. At Farragut, I<br />
currently serve as the orchestra director,<br />
the assistant band director and also teach<br />
AP music theory and history of rock.<br />
I have come to truly understand the importance<br />
of having a mentor as an educator.<br />
I was lucky enough as a young teacher<br />
to start my career under the guidance of<br />
veteran teachers, like Mark Connell and<br />
Ron Rogers that cared about my success or<br />
failure as a band director. They wanted my<br />
students to have a good experience in band and they knew that meant that I needed to<br />
know my craft. By 2010, people had stopped referring to me as a new teacher. I began to<br />
think that I no longer need a mentor, and then suddenly found myself as a “new” teacher<br />
once again. When I found out that I would be teaching orchestra, I quickly called on<br />
veteran teachers around me and found an educational support system in the directors<br />
in my region. Katie Middleton, Peggy Jones, Gary Wilkes and many others have been my<br />
sounding board for concert literature and answered more questions than you can possibly<br />
imagine. Without their willingness to help a “new” teacher, where would I be? <strong>No</strong>w that<br />
I am a few years down the road, I feel much more comfortable choosing literature and<br />
discussing technique with my students but that is due in large part to the mentorship of<br />
the teachers around me.<br />
As a veteran music educator, I feel like it is so easy to get wrapped up in our day-to-day<br />
tasks and forget that newer directors might be floundering and need guidance in those same<br />
tasks. I also once believed that if someone needed my help or expertise, they would contact<br />
me and ask. I now know that is not always the case. Sometimes you either don’t know whom<br />
to call or you are afraid that someone might see your questions as a sign of incompetence.<br />
One of things that I truly believe will have a benefit statewide is to ensure that all of our<br />
orchestra directors have a mentor, whether they are new to the profession or just the region.<br />
One of my favorite moments of the 2016 TMEA Conference was attending the orchestra<br />
caucus where I had the pleasure of meeting many of the other directors from across<br />
the state. There was so much wonderful advice given, positive ideas shared and encouragement<br />
offered that I suddenly felt like part of a much larger community. The most interesting<br />
concept that I took away from the meeting was the idea of strengthening our<br />
connections across the state. We decided to look into assembling a state-wide directory<br />
of orchestra teachers that would be compiled from the regional association membership<br />
lists. In my opinion, this is a very exciting prospect and something that I would find extremely<br />
beneficial.<br />
In closing, I would encourage each and every one of you to be an active voice in your<br />
school, district, region and state. We are so lucky to have incredible teachers with a diverse<br />
set of skills and strengths and we should be our own best advocate. If you have a<br />
successful teaching strategy that you would like to share, please apply to present a session<br />
at TMEA and share your knowledge for the benefit of your colleagues around the state.<br />
I would also encourage all of you who are on Facebook to visit the group “Tennessee Orchestra<br />
Directors” which is a forum for topics related to orchestra programs across the<br />
state. If you have ideas that you would like to share or ways that I can help you or your<br />
program, please do not hesitate to contact me.<br />
28 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
NEW<br />
Marching<br />
Percussion<br />
30 years of marching percussion<br />
history and leadership in<br />
design is now coming to life.<br />
Yamaha proudly introduces a new<br />
lineup of marching percussion featuring<br />
maple shells. Years of industry-leading<br />
research with the world’s top drum and<br />
bugle corps have led to the development<br />
of marching percussion instruments<br />
with improved hardware performance,<br />
increased tone projection, and<br />
exemplary articulation, demonstrating why<br />
Yamaha is the number one<br />
brand of marching percussion in<br />
the United States.<br />
9300 Series<br />
Marching Snare Drums<br />
Available in Blue Forest, Black Forest,<br />
Red Forest and White wrap.<br />
YamahaCorpUS<br />
Visit 4wrd.it/MS93TM for complete details<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 29
TENNESSEE<br />
U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E N N E S S E E<br />
2017 MARCHING BAND AUDITION DATES<br />
Music Majors and Music Minors<br />
(Woodwind, Brass & Percussion) - February 11 and February 18<br />
<strong>No</strong>n Music Majors<br />
(Woodwind, Brass, Percussion, & Color Guard) - February 25 and March 4<br />
For more information on how to join The Pride of the Southland Band visit<br />
our website www.utbands.com or call us at 865-974-5031.<br />
30 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1<br />
Connect with UT Bands
TMEA STATE BAND CHAIR’S MESSAGE<br />
by David Chipman<br />
HELLO COLLEAGUES! I hope your<br />
school year continues to be a meaningful<br />
time of learning and achievement<br />
for your students. To our<br />
teachers in their first year or new to our<br />
state: At any time during the year, please<br />
do not hesitate to contact an experienced<br />
director for help. Our state is blessed with<br />
some of the finest music educators in the<br />
country who would be willing to assist.<br />
Please remember that the best teachers are<br />
those who keep an open mind and always<br />
continue to learn.<br />
On a personal note, I would like to thank<br />
Dr. Jonathan Vest for asking me to serve as<br />
your <strong>TN</strong> State Band Chair. Special thanks<br />
to Debbie Burton for her exceptional service<br />
and dedication to our band programs<br />
and students across Tennessee. I sincerely<br />
appreciate the support, help and encouragement<br />
she has given me over the past<br />
few months.<br />
The 2016 State Concert Festival was a<br />
great success! Thirty bands were scheduled<br />
to perform. Thank you to Greg Wolynec,<br />
John Schnettler, Eric Branscome, and the<br />
students at Austin Peay State University for<br />
being such wonderful hosts.<br />
The 2017 State Concert Festival will be<br />
hosted again by Austin Peay State University.<br />
The confirmed dates are April 27 and 28.<br />
Two motions were passed at the TMEA<br />
Jazz Caucus in April 2016.<br />
1. In the event that a student with a visual<br />
impairment auditions for TMEA all state<br />
jazz band: All students will sight read,<br />
however sight reading scores will be disregarded<br />
from the final tally of that specific<br />
instrument.<br />
2. BOTH Blues in F (2 choruses) and<br />
Rhythm changes in Bb (1 chorus) will<br />
be used for improvisation during the<br />
TMEA all state jazz audition.<br />
The specific rhythm section recordings<br />
used for the improvisation will be:<br />
a. Blues in F, Jamey Aebersold, vol. 42,<br />
track 6<br />
b. Rhythm changes in Bb, Jamey Aebersold,<br />
vol. 47, track 1<br />
Our 2017 All State Band Conductors will be:<br />
• Paula Crider, University of Texas Director<br />
of Bands Emeritus, will conduct<br />
the 11-12 All State Band.<br />
• Richard Saucedo, retired Director of<br />
Bands from Carmel High School in Indiana,<br />
will conduct the 9-10 All State Band.<br />
The best teachers<br />
are those who<br />
keep an open<br />
mind and always<br />
continue to learn.<br />
My best hopes to you, your students and<br />
parents for continued success through the<br />
school year. Please feel free to contact me<br />
at any time if you have questions or concerns.<br />
It is my honor to serve TMEA.<br />
I’ll close with a favorite quote from Helen<br />
Keller: “One can never consent to creep<br />
when one feels an impulse to soar”. That’s<br />
why we teach, so our students can soar!<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 31
TMEA STATE HIGHER EDUCATION CHAIR’S MESSAGE<br />
by Ryan Fisher, Ph. D.<br />
University departments<br />
of music will need to be<br />
prepared for a possible influx<br />
of transferring students from<br />
community colleges in fall<br />
2017. Partnerships with local<br />
community college music<br />
programs may be warranted<br />
to ensure a smoother<br />
transition into four-year<br />
university music programs.<br />
THERE IS REALLY SOMETHING QUITE SPECIAL about walking around<br />
a university campus on the first week of classes. The new<br />
freshmen have a look of amazement as they wander around<br />
the campus seeking the location of their next class. Even the returning<br />
students have budgeted time in their morning routine to<br />
groom and actually show up to class on time. As the new TMEA<br />
State Higher Education Chair, I feel a bit like our incoming freshmen<br />
as I “learn the ropes” of this new job. Unlike our returning<br />
students who eventually reduce the time spent grooming and return<br />
to their evil ways of skipping class, I promise to approach this<br />
job properly groomed and dedicated to “showing up” every day in<br />
order to serve this incredible organization. I would like to congratulate<br />
and applaud our past higher education chair, Dr. Eric<br />
Branscome, for his distinguished service over the past two years.<br />
He expertly organized and executed the highly successful 2016<br />
TMEA Intercollegiate Band at last year’s state conference, and<br />
provided a thorough blueprint for me to follow during my tenure<br />
in this position.<br />
The 2017 TMEA conference will feature the Intercollegiate<br />
Orchestra. We are excited that Jeffrey Grogan, Education and<br />
Community Engagement Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony<br />
Orchestra, has agreed to serve as our guest conductor this year. I<br />
would like to invite all university programs with string students to<br />
make plans (February 5-6, 2017) to submit your talented students<br />
in order to ensure the ensemble is successful this year.<br />
I would also like to encourage directors of small ensembles or<br />
chamber ensembles to consider applying to perform at the 2017<br />
TMEA Professional Development Conference, February 6-8. Various<br />
groups will be selected to perform in the exhibit hall or at other<br />
locations throughout the conference hall. This is a wonderful<br />
opportunity for non-traditional ensembles and chamber groups<br />
to feature their school’s music program to fellow music educators<br />
from across the state. The application for these conference performance<br />
opportunities will be available on our website very soon.<br />
32 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
In addition to coordinating various events for the TMEA conference,<br />
I also hope to keep our higher education colleagues<br />
abreast of current trends in music teacher training that directly<br />
impact our Tennessee students. One issue that was discussed at<br />
the last TMEA Higher Education Caucus was the possible impact<br />
of the Tennessee Promise. As most of you are aware, <strong>TN</strong> Promise<br />
provides Tennessee students with a scholarship to cover tuition<br />
and fees not covered by Pell grants, HOPE scholarship, or other<br />
state student assistance funds if they attend a <strong>TN</strong> community college<br />
or applied technology college. Because some students may<br />
wish to complete two years of college for free and then transfer to<br />
a four-year college/university, university music programs will be<br />
forced to develop a plan for these transferring students seeking<br />
a music education degree. Few community colleges in Tennessee<br />
offer rigorous music programs, so it is not clear how students<br />
transferring from community colleges will be able to complete licensure<br />
requirements in two years, especially since most Teacher<br />
Education Programs in <strong>TN</strong> require a one-year residency (student<br />
teaching). University departments of music will need to be prepared<br />
for a possible influx of transferring students from community<br />
colleges in fall 2017. Partnerships with local community<br />
college music programs may be warranted to ensure a smoother<br />
transition into four-year university music programs.<br />
Music teacher training programs are also becoming better acquainted<br />
with the edTPA, a subject-specific assessment in which<br />
teacher candidates must demonstrate their teacher effectiveness<br />
through three tasks: planning, instruction, and assessment.<br />
The edTPA is scored by external reviewers within the discipline<br />
through Pearson. Currently, ten Tennessee universities use the<br />
edTPA to meet the state performance assessment requirement;<br />
however, Tennessee does not require the edTPA for licensure and<br />
has not established a passing score. Because of this, each university<br />
education program is establishing its own passing score and<br />
some are not allowing teacher candidates who do not meet the<br />
passing score to graduate or process their licensure application<br />
to the state. Though rumor has it the state will soon add the edT-<br />
PA as a licensure requirement, a recent search of their website<br />
produced no mention of edTPA. As a side note, the edTPA costs<br />
each teacher candidate $300, is completed in their final semester<br />
of residency, and requires students to devote well over 60 hours to<br />
develop their materials for a successful submission.<br />
Music teacher trainers and music education students may also be<br />
delighted to discover the <strong>TN</strong> Department of Education recently adjusted<br />
the qualifying score on the ACT required for acceptance into<br />
a teacher education program. They now accept a composite ACT<br />
score of 21 or above (SAT 1020), or students would need to pass the<br />
Praxis I Core Academic Skills for Educators exam. To date, no plans<br />
have been made to lower the passing score on the Praxis II: Music<br />
Content and Instruction exam despite low pass rates.<br />
Despite the many challenges related to music teacher licensure,<br />
I am still inspired and encouraged by our music education students.<br />
Their passion for music and children reassure me that the<br />
future of music education in Tennessee is in good hands. I wish<br />
you all a wonderful semester as you impart knowledge and confidence<br />
into our future music teachers.<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 33
TMEA STATE COLLEGIATE NAfME CHAIR’S MESSAGE<br />
by Jennifer Vannatta-Hall, Ed. D.<br />
THERE IS EXCITEMENT IN THE AIR! Whether you are a<br />
first-semester freshman or a fifth- or sixth-year senior, I<br />
welcome you to become involved with TMEA. I am enthusiastically<br />
stepping into the roll as your TMEA Collegiate<br />
Chair, a position I am slated to hold for the next two years.<br />
I have had the pleasure of teaching college students since 2004.<br />
Reflecting back on my own college experience and advising countless<br />
pre-service music educators, I would like to offer some advice<br />
on finding balance and getting the most from your college years.<br />
College provides a sustained opportunity for independence, and<br />
with that independence brings challenges to time management.<br />
Strive to balance your time so that you can excel academically,<br />
maintain your personal and work responsibilities, and experience<br />
what college life can offer.<br />
Manage your time.<br />
The life of a music education student is super busy! Time management<br />
plays a key role in maintaining life balance and avoiding<br />
stress. Proactively develop a system for scheduling your time and<br />
avoiding procrastination. Schedule time for eating, attending<br />
class, working, studying, practicing and socializing – as well as<br />
planning time just for you. Then be sure to have a system for keeping<br />
up with your schedule and appointments to stay organized.<br />
All of your courses are<br />
designed to prepare you<br />
to be a competent and<br />
confident music teacher.<br />
In the state of <strong>TN</strong>, you are<br />
required to take and pass<br />
the Praxis Music Content<br />
Knowledge test to become<br />
a licensed music teacher.<br />
Know your degree requirements.<br />
Become familiar with your course requirements for graduating<br />
with the music education degree. Often, the course requirements<br />
are specified by semester or year. This helps keep you on track to<br />
graduate in four years. Students sometimes get to their senior year<br />
and realize they have missed a graduation requirement. Following<br />
your degree plan and meeting regularly with your advisor can help<br />
you avoid problems.<br />
Meet with your advisor.<br />
Music education is a demanding degree and sometimes involves<br />
complicated intricacies with course requirements, ensembles<br />
and education courses. To stay abreast of degree requirements<br />
and schedule and policy changes, it is so important for you to<br />
meet with your advisor at least once per semester. Be proactive in<br />
knowing who your academic advisor is, and be sure to introduce<br />
yourself early in your college career.<br />
Study smart.<br />
Determine a productive area to study. Your dorm room or apartment<br />
may not be the best place to study. Check out campus spaces<br />
that are dedicated to studying. Most campuses have a variety<br />
of student lounges and designated quiet areas. Develop efficient<br />
study habits, and then adjust your schedule accordingly to allow<br />
sufficient time to complete homework and prepare for exams.<br />
Keep your course materials.<br />
All of your courses are designed to prepare you to be a competent<br />
and confident music teacher. In the state of <strong>TN</strong>, you are<br />
required to take and pass the Praxis Music Content Knowledge<br />
34 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
test to become a licensed music teacher. This test assesses your<br />
knowledge of music history, theory, technology, and instrumental<br />
and choral methods. You never know what your first teaching<br />
job will be. Therefore, it’s wise to save your course materials<br />
and music-related textbooks. Take notes in each of your classes<br />
and save them for future reference. Reviewing course materials<br />
are extremely helpful when preparing for the Praxis and provide<br />
a wealth of ideas and information for your first year as a music<br />
teacher.<br />
Let things roll off.<br />
To quote author Richard Carlson (1997), “Don’t sweat the small<br />
stuff.” It’s easier said than done, but learn to let things go once in<br />
a while. Insults, criticisms, setbacks – let them all go. So what if<br />
your clothes do not get cleaned every week or that you miss a social<br />
event. Learn to recognize the things that are not absolute necessities,<br />
then don’t beat yourself up for letting them go.<br />
Ask for help.<br />
College provides access to countless resources. You can consult<br />
professors, advisors, tutoring centers, health clinic, counseling<br />
center, and more for assistance. Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to<br />
ask for help. We all need help at times, and that’s why colleges have<br />
these resources available to you.<br />
Set priorities.<br />
There is lots of research regarding the benefits of goal setting.<br />
We sometimes allow ourselves to feel overwhelmed rather than<br />
taking charge and developing a prioritized list of things that need<br />
to get done. Set goals and develop a to-do list. There is satisfaction<br />
in crossing things off your list.<br />
College is an exciting time in your life, but it can also be challenging<br />
and overwhelming. College requires independence, passion,<br />
organization and dedication. Make the most of your college<br />
experience by striving for and achieving balance.<br />
Carlson, R. (1997) Don’t sweat the small stuff and it’s all small<br />
stuff: Simple ways to keep the little things from taking over your<br />
life. New York: Hyperion.<br />
PROPOSED <strong>TN</strong> BOARD OF EDUCATION POLICY<br />
TO CHANGE LICENSURE REQUIREMENTS<br />
In addition to fulfilling degree requirements for graduation,<br />
music teacher candidates must also currently take and pass two<br />
Praxis assessments: (a) Principles of Learning and Teaching; and<br />
(b) Music Content Knowledge to become K-12 licensed music<br />
teachers in <strong>TN</strong>. There is a proposed policy going before the <strong>TN</strong><br />
State Board of Education on October 14, 2016 in which licensure<br />
requirements could change.<br />
The <strong>TN</strong> State Board of Education met on July 22, 2016 for a<br />
first reading of “Professional Assessments Policy 5.105.” This<br />
item recommends the adoption of a new required assessment of<br />
pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge—the edTPA—for all<br />
initial licensure candidates by January 2019. The proposed policy<br />
requires all candidates for licensure to submit qualifying scores<br />
on the edTPA. The Department of Education recommended acceptance<br />
of this item on first reading. The <strong>TN</strong> State Board of Education<br />
staff concurred with this recommendation.<br />
The Education Teacher Performance Assessment, or edTPA, is<br />
a nationally-available, subject-specific performance assessment<br />
that focuses on student learning and principles from research<br />
and theory. The edTPA is designed to be educative for candidates,<br />
preparation programs and policy makers. Eight Educator Preparation<br />
Providers have implemented the edTPA, including Austin<br />
Peay State University, East <strong>TN</strong> State University, Middle <strong>TN</strong> State<br />
University, <strong>TN</strong> State University, <strong>TN</strong> Tech University, the University<br />
of Memphis, the University of <strong>TN</strong>, Knoxville, and Vanderbilt<br />
University.<br />
The Teacher Preparation and Licensure Subcommittee of the<br />
State Board of Education met on August 12, 2016 for a second<br />
reading of “Professional Assessments Policy 5.105.” Much of<br />
the discussion centered on some challenges to implementation,<br />
such as the timeline for implementation, the significant time required<br />
for teacher candidates to complete the assessment, the cost<br />
($300), and faculty training.
Compe<br />
Your Future<br />
Performance, Education,<br />
Jazz Studies<br />
● Bachelor of Music in<br />
Music Education<br />
(Five-year program)<br />
● Bachelor of Music in<br />
Performance<br />
(Four-year program)<br />
● Bachelor of Music in<br />
Jazz Studies<br />
(Four-year program)<br />
Complete information<br />
can be found on the<br />
ETSU Department of<br />
Music website under<br />
“Degree Programs.”<br />
www.etsu.edu/music<br />
Department of Music<br />
Department of Music<br />
PO Box 70661<br />
Johnson City, Tennessee 37614<br />
423-439-4276<br />
36 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
TMEA STATE EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY CHAIR’S MESSAGE<br />
by Lisa Leopold<br />
If teachers can begin to recognize the ubiquitous<br />
nature of technology in the music we listen to, I<br />
think we will begin to teach differently. Especially<br />
considering the musical heritage of our state, there<br />
is no excuse for students leaving our programs with<br />
no basic music technology skills.<br />
JUST FOR FUN, I googled “Tennessee music” to see what<br />
would come up. First, of course, is a Wikipedia entry telling us<br />
the legend of music in Tennessee as three stories: Nashville<br />
becoming Music City USA, Bristol as the birthplace of country<br />
music, and Memphis’ tremendous impact on blues, rock and<br />
roll, and soul. The second site was <strong>TN</strong>.gov and the newly proposed<br />
fine arts standards. I think this matters. I’ll save the specifics of<br />
how I think music technology can be used to help meet the new<br />
music standards for the next column, but for now I’d simply like<br />
to make the point that Tennessee’s rich music history is inextricably<br />
linked to music technology, and we can use this as a lesson<br />
to make our implementation of the new standards relevant to the<br />
real world.<br />
Technology first came into the music world with the development<br />
of recording in the late 1800’s. Before recording technology,<br />
the primary way people listened to music was by private piano<br />
performances, whether or not the music was intended for keyboard.<br />
What a huge cultural shift to be able to listen to music,<br />
as it was intended to be performed, from all over the world! The<br />
earliest settlers of Bristol brought instruments and began playing<br />
music that would eventually shape what we call Country Music,<br />
but it wasn’t until 1927, when Ralph Peer showed up with his<br />
portable electronic recording equipment, that this style of music<br />
became relevant outside of its context. The same story holds true<br />
for Memphis and Nashville. Great music was already happening,<br />
but recording it made it important. The recording industry isn’t<br />
just a passive player in the music game. Music isn’t only recorded,<br />
it is altered before we get to hear it. Every recording, whether a<br />
Symphony Orchestra or a Hip Hop album, has been engineered in<br />
some way, even if only by where the mics are placed and where the<br />
volume is set.<br />
If teachers can begin to recognize the ubiquitous nature of technology<br />
in the music we listen to, I think we will begin to teach differently.<br />
Especially considering the musical heritage of our state,<br />
there is no excuse for students leaving our programs with no basic<br />
music technology skills. So, as we begin another great school year,<br />
I encourage you to try something new. Depending on your context,<br />
that could mean almost anything! Take students to visit a Sun Studio,<br />
or the Country Music Hall of Fame. Bring in a local recording<br />
artist to speak, or visit a radio station. Go to your local music venue<br />
and watch the guy that runs the sound board, or better yet, ask<br />
that guy to come to your school and teach your students how to<br />
run your sound board. Record a band concert using a few different<br />
mics or cameras and see what you like and don’t like about each<br />
one. Then do the same for a choir concert and see if it changes.<br />
Let’s allow students to take a deep dive into what goes into creating<br />
music from beginning to end.<br />
The introduction to the proposed standards says, “Tennessee<br />
has made significant artistic contributions across the national<br />
landscape and Tennessee’s school teachers and leaders will undoubtedly<br />
play an important role in nurturing environments of<br />
creativity and innovation that will lead to even greater contributions.”<br />
We need great performers, and we also need great sound<br />
artists to make sure the performers are heard! Have a great school<br />
year, and as always, please contact me if you would like to talk<br />
about beginning or expanding your music technology offerings.<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 37
SOCIETY FOR MUSIC TEACHER EDUCATION/RESEARCH CHAIR’S MESSAGE<br />
by Jamila L. McWhirter, Ph. D.<br />
YOU MAY NOTICE that I am now<br />
serving in two capacities. Dr. William<br />
Lee has served TMEA as the<br />
Research Chair for many years.<br />
He has decided to no longer serve in that<br />
capacity. I am very grateful for his vision<br />
and service to TMEA. When I arrived in<br />
Tennessee twelve years ago, Bill was one<br />
of the first to make me feel right at home.<br />
We have had numerous discussions about<br />
music education research and how to improve<br />
music education research exposure<br />
in the state of Tennessee. I want to thank<br />
Bill for all he has established through this<br />
position. I am honored to follow his tenure.<br />
By the time you read this, Tennessee will<br />
have held its first <strong>TN</strong> SMTE Symposium<br />
on the campus of MTSU on September 17,<br />
2016. I look forward to sharing the events<br />
of the day with you in the next publication<br />
of the Tennessee <strong>Musician</strong>. At the time of<br />
printing, we are looking forward to a great<br />
day with Dr. Linda Thompson delivering<br />
the Keynote Address.<br />
Also, on the research side, I hope to<br />
have the proposal submission process for<br />
TMEA on the TMEA website in the near<br />
future. My goal is to have this available in<br />
plenty of time for juried proposal submissions<br />
for both those in and out of the state<br />
of Tennessee. In recent years, we have begun<br />
to see those from neighboring states<br />
participate in the TMEA Research Poster<br />
Session. I will do my best to see that this<br />
trend continues. Graduate research is always<br />
welcome. I am also currently investigating<br />
if it is a possibility to include a<br />
session for undergraduate research at the<br />
conference as well. I would like to see the<br />
addition of poster abstracts included both<br />
online, possibly on the TMEA app, and perhaps<br />
in print. My hope is to also see more<br />
research printed in the Tennessee <strong>Musician</strong>.<br />
More information on that process<br />
coming soon.<br />
I have found that many in our membership<br />
do not fully understand the two societies<br />
associated with NAfME. I would like<br />
to take a moment to clarify, so that we may<br />
possibly see more members who wish to<br />
become involved in SMTE and SRME.<br />
SMTE is the Society for Music Teacher<br />
Education. SRME is the Society for Research<br />
in Music Education. They share<br />
several common areas, but the purposes<br />
of each are different. SMTE has a primary<br />
focus of music teacher education. It is<br />
specifically designed for those who are<br />
currently teaching or interested in teaching<br />
future music teachers in other words,<br />
music teacher educators. SMTE is a working<br />
organization that is divided into areas<br />
of interest called Areas for Strategic Planning<br />
and Action (ASPAs), the purpose of<br />
these groups is to develop and implement<br />
action plans related to current critical issues<br />
in music teacher education. SMTE<br />
members identify with one or more ASPAs,<br />
contribute via the web-based discussion<br />
forums, and participate in ASPA projects.<br />
The national symposiums bring together<br />
those in higher education who teach future<br />
teachers, doctoral students who are pursuing<br />
degrees in music education, music<br />
education supervisors of both private and<br />
public school districts, and others who are<br />
concerned about matters concerning music<br />
teacher education.<br />
SRME is the Society for Research in Music<br />
Education. SRME seeks to encourage<br />
and improve the quality of scholarship and<br />
research within the music education profession.<br />
SRME consists of all subscribers<br />
of the Journal of Research in Music Education<br />
(JRME). Members are encouraged to<br />
participate in one or more Special Research<br />
Interest Group (SRIG). These SRIG subsets<br />
consist of numerous areas in music education.<br />
There are those related to music teacher<br />
education, but this is just a small portion<br />
of the research focus within SRME. The research<br />
interests are varied and broad. The<br />
type of research completed is very applicable<br />
to the ins and outs of everyday teaching.<br />
For example, answering the questions of<br />
which choral sight-reading method is the<br />
most successful and how much does conductor<br />
magnitude contribute to ensemble<br />
performance success? So although there is<br />
overlap between the two societies, there is a<br />
difference in focus and mission.<br />
Looking ahead, the next national SMTE<br />
Symposium will be held September 14 –<br />
16, 2017 on the campus of the University<br />
of <strong>No</strong>rth Carolina – Greensboro. I am very<br />
excited that a cherished friend and former<br />
Missouri colleague, Brett <strong>No</strong>lker will be<br />
the host. The call for proposals are due no<br />
later than April 17, 2017. Registration for<br />
the symposium will be available beginning<br />
June 1, 2017, with the early bird registration<br />
deadline of August 1, 2017.<br />
SMTE has also recently released a statement<br />
on high stakes evaluation in pre-service<br />
music teacher education. If you are a<br />
music teacher educator, serve as a mentor<br />
teacher to student teaching candidates or<br />
have concerns regarding pre-service teaching<br />
assessment tests such as the EdTPA<br />
and Praxis II, I encourage you to visit the<br />
SMTE website and read the position statement.<br />
It is located at www.smte.us.<br />
I am looking forward to a great year in<br />
music teacher education and music education<br />
research in the state of Tennessee.<br />
SMTE has also recently released a<br />
statement on high stakes evaluation<br />
in pre-service music teacher<br />
education. If you are a music teacher<br />
educator, serve as a mentor teacher<br />
to student teaching candidates or<br />
have concerns regarding pre-service<br />
teaching assessment tests such as<br />
the EdTPA and Praxis II, I encourage<br />
you to visit the SMTE website and<br />
read the position statement.<br />
38 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
TENNESSEE MUSICIAN ADVERTISER INDEX | VOLUME <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1<br />
A very special<br />
thank you to all<br />
of our advertisers<br />
who support the<br />
work of music<br />
educators at all<br />
levels in the State<br />
of Tennessee.<br />
ADVERTISER<br />
Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music 9<br />
Belmont University 23<br />
Carson Newman College 3<br />
East Tennessee State University 36<br />
Lee University<br />
Inside Front Cover<br />
Middle Tennessee State University 5<br />
NAMM Foundation 11<br />
Slate Group<br />
Back Cover<br />
Smoky Mountain Music Festival 7<br />
Tennessee State University 18<br />
Union University 4<br />
University of Memphis 19<br />
University of Tennessee at Knoxville Bands 30<br />
University of Tennessee at Knoxville School of Music 24<br />
University of Tennessee at Martin<br />
Inside Back Cover<br />
Yamaha Corporation of America 29<br />
Tennessee Music Education Assocation | www.tnmea.org | 39
TMEA BACK THEN<br />
• A proposed amendment to the TMEA<br />
constitution was approved by all six<br />
divisional organizations which would<br />
automatically grant the Tennessee<br />
Department of Education Supervisor<br />
of Fine Arts a position as a voting board<br />
member of TMEA. William Graves was<br />
appointed to the position.<br />
• An article titled “Elementary Music: Its<br />
Implementation” was written by William<br />
Graves, who at the time served as the<br />
supervisor of fine arts for the Tennessee<br />
State Department of Education and was<br />
appointed to the TMEA Board of Directors<br />
in 1962. The article is fascinating, simply<br />
as a historical document that cited<br />
recommendations dating back as early<br />
as 1948 that “every school should have an<br />
organized program of art and music and<br />
should include these as integral parts of<br />
the regular school program.”<br />
• Concert cellist Martha McCrory was<br />
appointed as a director of the six-year<br />
old Sewanee Summer Music Center and<br />
as an assistant professor of music at the<br />
University of the South. McCrory was a<br />
graduate of the University of Michigan and<br />
the Eastman School of Music. McCrory<br />
served in this position until her retirement<br />
in 1998.<br />
• Vanderbilt University reported in a<br />
press release of the expansion of its<br />
band program. It was reported that the<br />
expansion was collaboration between<br />
Vanderbilt University, Peabody College,<br />
and Scarritt College. According to the press<br />
release, the marching band program had<br />
been struggling for years. In the fall of 1962<br />
they received new uniforms, instruments,<br />
and rehearsal facilities. The marching<br />
band was an all-male organization that<br />
numbered sixty members, with the hope<br />
to increase membership to 100 members<br />
in the next year. Henry Romersa was<br />
the newly appointed director of the band<br />
program with William Henry Clarke<br />
serving as the assistant director of bands.<br />
• MTSC Sponsors Marching Contest – On<br />
October 27, 1962 twenty-two high school<br />
bands from Tennessee, Georgia, and<br />
Alabama participated in the First Annual<br />
Open Competition Marching Contest.<br />
The contest was held at Middle Tennessee<br />
State College (now Middle Tennessee<br />
State University) and was sponsored<br />
by the college music department and<br />
directed by Joseph T. Smith, director of<br />
the MTSC “Band of Blue.” This contest<br />
would eventually become the Contest<br />
of Champions now in its 55th year.<br />
Chattanooga City High School Band under<br />
the direction of J.S. Tilson was named<br />
as the first place winner of this inaugural<br />
contest and Melville Kelly, director of<br />
Elizabethton High School Band was named<br />
as the second place winner.<br />
THE TENNESSEE MUSICIAN (DEC. 1962)<br />
<strong>Vol</strong>ume 25, <strong>No</strong>. 4 – 16 pgs.<br />
O’Dell Willis, TMEA President<br />
Carolyn M. Scruggs, Editor<br />
40 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | <strong>Vol</strong>ume <strong>69</strong>, <strong>No</strong>. 1
Department of Music<br />
Learn from a faculty of world-class performers and teachers who truly<br />
care about you, in a state-of-the-art music facility. Our program is<br />
designed to help you create a positive, diverse, and successful life in<br />
music, whether it’s in the classroom or on the stage.<br />
2016-2017 Audition Dates*<br />
Honor Choir Friday, Jan. 20, 4 p.m.<br />
Honor Band Saturday, Jan 28, 8 a.m.<br />
Junior/Senior Day Monday, Feb. 20, All day<br />
Woodwind Day Saturday, Feb. 25, All day<br />
* Additional dates upon request.<br />
Experience<br />
the Music within<br />
Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music<br />
(731)881-7402 • music@utm.edu • utm.edu/music
Tennessee Music Education Association<br />
129 Paschal Drive<br />
Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37128<br />
Slate Group is a proud print partner<br />
of Tennessee <strong>Musician</strong> and other<br />
state Music Education Associations.<br />
CONTACT IAN SPECTOR TODAY<br />
800.794.5594 | ian@slategroup.com<br />
slategroup.com