2022 Colorado Music Educators Association Conference
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
How Vocal and String Pedagogies Can Enhance One Another
Michael Linert
Westminster High School, Performing Arts Department Chair & Director of Orchestras, Mariachi, and GuitarString teachers tell their students to play like a singer, while voice teachers tell their students to sing like a string player. What does it all mean? Join this session to learn and experience some specific techniques and concepts to improve the string and vocal techniques, musicality, and creativity of your students!
Leadership for Creative Impact
How are you creative? We all know that we inherently possess creativity, and often utilize it in our music making; but how can we employ our creativity to address the challenges in our loves? Based on new research Creative Generation has produced a tool for young people to identify and understand the elements of their creativity – as honed through their music education. Check out this hands-on workshop for learning about and employing your creativity in your community, school, and life. Attendees will explore how they are creative, while crafting tangible next steps for their own leadership as a musician.
Sectional Rehearsal
Students will break into Sections and rehearse Grand Finale.
Sectional Rehearsal
Students will break into Sections and rehearse Grand Finale
Colorado Music Adjudication Association Training
This session is for new music teachers who would like to become adjudicators for Large group and Ensembles. We will cover the large groups adjudication forms and policy in the handbook.
Thursday, January 27, 2022
Formation: Getting the Best Sound and Voice from Your Choir!
Claire Hudkins
Western Oregon University, Director of Vocal Studies & NTT Assistant Professor of MusicRegardless of whether we are singing Mozart, Whitacre, or even Adele, the formation of our ensemble has both positive and negative effects on an ensemble’s sound, vocal quality, vocal health and much more. In this session, we will explore the positive effects of ensemble formation on a variety of different areas including intonation, diction, balance, blend, authenticity, and vocal health from the point of view of ensemble director and private voice instructor. We will also discuss many different ways formation can be used both in the rehearsal and performance enhancing your ensemble’s overall sound, vocal health, and musical experience!
Arranging with Your Secondary Ensemble
Understanding the basic elements of art music (melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, texture, etc.) is an essential part of every musician's education. The ability to manipulate these elements in creative ways can help solidify knowledge of these elements in ways that simply encountering them in repertoire cannot. At the secondary level, directors often lack the time or resources to give their students creative license over materials played in the classroom. This session offers classroom-tested strategies for arranging and composing with secondary level ensembles that focus on engaging all students in the creative process while teaching and reinforcing the knowledge of musical elements.
Looking to dive deeper into the content of the session? Check out these supporting materials:
Help Teaching Music Theory/Harmony to Children - contact Dylan Fixmer at [email protected]
Magic In The Middle - Building A Successful Middle School Choir
Roger Emerson will demonstrate choral resources that are specifically designed to meet the challenges of Tenor/Basses in the middle school mixed choir setting. Warmups, Rounds, and literature with the tenor/bass in mind will be presented in a reading session format. Adapting scores to meet the needs of the changing voice will also be demonstrated.
Friday, January 28, 2022
Social Justice Music Education
As the country reckons with injustice, educators, especially arts educators, possess one of the greatest tools to help young people understand and take action towards social justice. Based on two years of pedagogical research on the intersection of social justice and arts education, join Creative Generation for a hands-on session to integrate the National Core Arts Standards for music with the Teaching for Justice’s social justice education standards. The workshop will culminate with music educators crafting their own conception of an integrated music education/social justice lesson plan.
Looking to dive deeper into the content of the session? Check out these supporting materials:
Additional Resources
Overcoming Burnout Through Completing the Stress Response Cycle
Are you currently battling burnout? Or looking to prevent it? In the field of music education, we often wear our stress as a badge of honor, but it is time to take back our mental health and develop habits that bring us fulfillment throughout our careers. In this session you will learn concrete tools to overcome burnout for you and your students based on the research by Dr. Amelia Nagoski, Dr. Emily Nagoski and their book, “Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle.” We cannot change the fact that we face countless stressors every day, but we can control the way we react through mindfulness and community care. You will leave this session prepared to complete your own stress response cycle and leave burnout behind.
Looking to dive deeper into the content of the session? Check out these supporting materials:
Working With Your Administrator
James Weaver
National Federation of High School State Associations, Director of Performing Arts and SportsDr. James Weaver has been an administrator at the school, district, state, and national levels, he will use this experience to provide best practices with working with your administrator. Topics will include participation, budgeting, communication, and relationship building.
Saturday, January 29, 2022
“I Don't Have Time for One More Thing - Supporting and Incorporating Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into the Secondary Music Classroom”
So many of us are tired of having to do ONE MORE THING in the music classroom. Here’s a secret...we already do so many AMAZING things. Let’s renew our faith in our ability to help students grow through SEL. Mental health concerns among students and staff are nothing new in our schools and communities, but the concerns and needs have increased after COVID-19 shutdowns and various learning environments. This session will look at ways to incorporate Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into the music classroom and how it can enhance your rehearsals and strengthen the connections of your students. Specific examples will be provided, as well as access to additional resources that are ready to use.
