Old Parish House Instrument Petting Zoo

The Old Parish House is right off of Knox Road in College Park, and it seeks to build community through the promotion of the arts. NAfME is privileged to be able to partner with them each semester by running instrument "petting zoos." Reaching out to children and parents in the surrounding community is a great way to promote, encourage, and inspire arts/music education.

CPAE or the College Park Arts Exchange has a mission to "connect people through arts experiences." They host many of their events at the Old Parish House right off campus. For more information about how to get involved, various programs, and opportunities for donations, visit their website, cpae.org.

Support the arts, and music education!

Event Summary: Secondary Instrument Lab

 
Our first secondary instrument lab was SO MUCH FUN. As this one dealt with Orffestrations and Strings, the next secondary instrument lab will be for band and choir. It will take place shortly after spring break, so keep your eyes peeled for a Facebook event. Meanwhile, sign up for one of our upcoming instrument petting zoos!

If you missed this week's lab, Annemarie Dickerson can tell you what you missed:

 On Wednesday, we had our first successful secondary instrument lab!

Starting off with Orff instruments, we played some awesome tunes with timpani, guitar, recorders, and xylophones (very helpful information for all of your future elementary school students). For the next hour, we all grabbed a string instrument and formed a chamber group, sight-reading some lively songs, including Pirates of the Caribbean, and a Lady Gaga Medley!

It was a whole lot of fun, plus it is a great opportunity to get better at all different instruments so you can become a more well rounded teacher.

So stay tuned for announcements about the next secondary instrument lab, and I think everyone would really enjoy coming! =)

MIOSM

The last issue of the Washington Post magazine was all about school music. Do you have any informative or inspiring articles to share? Let us know in the comments!

MMEA: Mission Accomplished

Look at those pearly whites!

We all learned a lot at the Maryland Music Educator's Conference this weekend. We're going to have a busy March and April, so head on over to the "Calendar" tab to see what's coming up.

MMEA Roundup

This week, I'm sending some highlights from the Friday MMEA schedule your way. Saturday highlights will be coming soon.

Friday Sessions

Prevention and Rehabilitation of Performance Injured Musicians

Presenters: David Fedderly and David Shulman
"We are treating your best musicians due to performance injuries. Each presenter will discuss methods of helping your students elementary through high school prevent, and recover from performance injuries. There will be time for Question & Answer."

Performing with a Classical Period Orchestra in High School

Presenters: The Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Orchestra
"Incorporating wind players for a full orchestra and performing music from the Classical Period and Early Romantic works.  Arranging for the Classical Period Orchestra will also be covered."

Music and Martial Arts

Presenter: Stephanie Mayer-Sattin
American music educator Stephanie Mayer-Sattin (Daoist San Feng Pai name:  Mei Mao Zi Yang), instrumental music director at the Bullis School in Potomac, MD and the first American woman to become a 16^th-generation, San Feng Sect Taoist martial arts disciple of a 600 year Chinese lineage tradition, will not only demonstrate these martial arts forms, but also produce evidence of their
effectiveness in the music classroom and provide examples of how to successfully incorporate elements of Tai Chi and Qigong into the music rehearsal.

First and Second Year Teacher Roundtable

Presenter: Phil Klickman
This session is geared toward an audience of college students.  Participants will have the opportunity to engage in questions with 1st and 2nd year public school music teachers from P-12 levels and various geographical areas, to gain insight into how to handle various challenges and opportunities at the start of their careers.

 See the full Friday schedule here: http://www.mmea-maryland.org/Copied-February-2012-Session-Schedule.php

  

 

Forum Roundup

Forum: General Music

Topic: "Lesson Idea for You," Using Shapes and Geometry in the Music Classroom

Replies: 1

"Hi All! My latest blog post is another bit about using shapes in the music room. Included is a shape song, the process I use and pictures of student artwork. Enjoy! http://www.budomada.blogspot.com/"
http://musiced.nafme.org/topic/lesson-idea-for-you/ 

 Forum: Music Composition

Topic: "Favorite composition teaching experience?"

Replies: 2

"I’ve enjoyed teaching quite a few music composition lessons to middle school and high school bands, but I’ve also had some that have been very rough experiences. I thought it might be fun to share some of our success stories to inspire one another." 
http://musiced.nafme.org/topic/favorite-composition-teaching-experience/ 

Forum: Guitar

Topic: "Buying a Guitar"

Replies: 6

"Buying a guitar kind of reminds me of buying a car. There are economy models and then there are luxury cars. What’s the difference? Both models will get you from point A to point B. You know the difference, the ride might be quite a bit nicer in a luxury vehicle."
http://musiced.nafme.org/topic/buying-a-guitar/ 

Pre-register by February 15th!