North Carolina Music Educator Winter 2023

WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF MUSIC IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE
by Tonya Allison and Lindsay Williams, MIOSM Chairs
For almost 50 years, Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM)
has featured themes that have inspired and motivated music
teachers and their students from all over the United States.
While powerful music performances happen throughout the
school year, our NCMEA president reminds us, “March is a big
month for music education; All-District performances, Choral,
Band and Orchestra MPA’s, and many honors ensembles take
place during this time.”
MIOSM co-chair Tonya Allison says, “Creating and
performing music was the only job she ever wanted, since she was
10 years old.” The complete rawness, healing, and vulnerability
of how music breaks down any barriers humans put up as armor,
floods over her daily, whether it be at church, in the classroom, or
singing in the car. Knowing the impact that MIOSM lessons have
had in her teaching experience is just one way she can continue
to share how music can help to overcome any hurdle that comes
along.
For Lindsay Williams, MIOSM co-chair, music has always
been the center of her life. From singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer” to her family as a child, to musicals, band and chorus all
throughout elementary, middle and high school, where she grew
up in New York, March holds a special place in her heart.
Even across states, MIOSM has always been the month that
music takes the spotlight. She makes it her priority to plan as
many musical events in March as possible. From Dancing Drum
Days to world music grade level concerts, March is always a fun
month at her school. Last year, she even involved her co-workers
in a giant bulletin board. Students loved reading about their
teacher’s musical experiences and interests. “The best part of my
job,” says Williams, “is that music can make connections in all
areas of curriculum, and in their daily life. There’s always a way to
connect with your student in the music classroom.”
Andrea Evans, another North Carolina music educator,
remembers a previous theme, Music Inspires Me, where she asked
former students to share how music inspired them. She recalls one
student shared that, “...when he drove through landmines in Iraq,
he always sang to keep himself calm and focused.” We appreciate
his service, and his story. Soul-stirring accounts like this make
such an impact on the importance of music education.
Music educators and their students have used these past couple
of years to find unique ways to share music with the entire world.
From virtual choir performances to individual YouTube and
TikTok videos, musicians of all ages continue to lead and inspire
unity and community in the arts. This fits in perfectly with the
2023 MIOSM theme, Music is All of Us.
To celebrate this year, along with the tools provided at the
NAfME level, the MIOSM and NCMEA leadership have contacted
several North Carolina composers and musicians to provide
access to original music for all levels and areas of performance. We
do recognize that many of the lessons on the NAfME or MIOSM
website are geared toward our younger students, but we believe
that Music Is All of Us and we want all North Carolina musicians
to have some new music they can add to their portfolios.
We are also asking that music educators flood their social
media venues during the month of March with performance shots
and/or videos using the #MIOSM2023 hashtag.
On behalf of the MIOSM committee, we are extremely
thankful to executive director Susan Heiserman, for sharing
the MIOSM 2023 proclamation with the NC Governor’s Office.
This will be signed in late February, and shared with all music
educators shortly thereafter. We would also like to thank our
lobbyists, Ashley Perkinson and Rachel Beaulieu, for their
continued work with our NCMEA leadership and the Governor’s
Office to bring performances to the Capital Area during the
month of March.
Music in Our Schools Month is the best time of year to share
why music is important to you personally, or how it has affected
you in your life journey. We want you to be open with your
experiences so they help inspire our future students and music
educators. As Steve Wonder said, “Music is a world within itself;
it’s a language we all understand.”
For more information about MIOSM 2023 lessons and ideas,
please visit:
www.nafme.org/programs/miosm/music-in-our-schoolsmonth-lessons
www.ncmea.net/programs/music-in-our-schools-monthmiosm
WCU SCHOOL OF MUSIC AUDITION DATES
JANUARY 21, 2023 • JANUARY 28, 2023
WCU is a University of North Carolina campus and an Equal Opportunity Institution.
DR. JEANANNE
NICHOLS
CAROL GROTNES BELK
DISTINGUISHED
PROFESSOR OF
MUSIC EDUCATION
Dr. Nichols’s research has been published in the Journal of Research
in Music Education, The Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music
Education, Research Studies in Music Education, The Music Educator’s
Journal, The Mountain Lake Reader, and The International Journal of
Education and the Arts. She is a member of the Research Studies in Music
Education editorial board and has served as guest editor for two issues of
the Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education.
Dr. Nichols has presented keynote addresses for Nacional Educación
Artística in Copiapó, Chile, and Kunstfag mot verden, hosted by the
Center for Arts, Communication and Culture at Bergen University College
in Bergen, Norway. She has presented research throughout the United
States and internationally in Canada, China, France, Greece, Norway, and
the United Kingdom. Dr. Nichols maintains an active schedule as guest
conductor, clinician, and adjudicator of bands.
Prior to joining the faculty at Western, she was Associate Professor
of Music Education at the University of Illinois where she taught
undergraduate courses in instrumental methods and graduate courses
in research, current issues in music education, and advanced wind band
pedagogy. Dr. Nichols was Associate Professor of Music and Director of
Instrumental Studies at Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan. Dr. Nichols
also taught middle and high school band in the Tattnall County schools in
Georgia and the Roane County schools in Tennessee.
AUDITION SNOW DAY - SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4
The WCU Catamount Singers will perform
at the NC Music Educator’s Annual conference
in Winston Salem November 7 - 2:30 p.m.
Stevens Center • Downtown Winston Salem
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