Hello MN Music Educators—
About a month ago, I sent out an email (attached) to help explain my focus area as Mid-Secondary Classroom VP as well as provide some ideas for teacher training in this area. I was delighted to hear back from so many of you with other teacher training opportunities under the Mid-Secondary Classroom category. Feel free to keep the emails coming—it’s been a great way for me to get to know other teachers who are passionate about this work. If you are hosting a training or workshop which is connected to secondary general music education, I want to help get the word out!
Aaron Lohmeyer
Mid-Secondary Classroom VP, alohmeyer@mmea.org
List as of 4/24/2022
In-State Training:
Carleton Summer Institute for AP Music Theory
https://www.carleton.edu/summer/ap-summer-institute/workshops/#music
Winona State University Sound Production Teacher Training
https://mnscu.rschooltoday.com/public/costoption/class_id/220530/public/1/sp/
St. Thomas University Summer Courses (elementary-high school related offerings):
https://look.stthomas.edu/view/586098872/4/
In-State Events:
Modern Band Festival (May 16 at Anoka Ramsey, 9am to 6pm)
Contact:
Sam Bergstrom Samuel.bergstrom@anokaramsey.edu or
Eric Songer songere@district112.org
Out-of-State:
Teaching Guitar Workshops
Association for Popular Music Education Conference
https://www.popularmusiceducation.org/the-conference/
Berklee Special Needs (Access or Adaptive music)…many online options
Modern Band Summit (July 13-15 in Colorado)
https://www.littlekidsrock.org/mbsummit/
Finally:
At least three teachers have suggested a virtual study group to meet occasionally through the year related to sound production. If you are interested in being a part of this, please send me an email and I’ll put you on the contact list for this group.
3/23/2022 Email:
Subject: Mid Secondary Classroom Teacher Training Options Summer 2022
Hello MN Music Educators—
My name is Aaron Lohmeyer and I have been recently elected to serve as the MMEA Mid-Secondary Classroom VP. This is a new position created to advocate and promote music education options beyond the large ensemble. These courses may often supplement a band, choir, or orchestra teacher’s responsibilities and can be a great tool to reach new students in a non-ensemble setting. I’m very excited to take on this new role with MMEA as my own experiences teaching class guitar, world drumming, creative composition, AP Theory, Global Music, and special education music (“Access Music”) introduced me to more students, more joy, and more ways of developing musicianship beyond my first love–band. Such courses may be performance-based (such as keyboard or music production), but not necessarily so (such as Global Music or AP Theory). The unifying trait is that they provide space for the independent work possible in a writing or art classroom rather than relying solely on an ensemble to explore music. I believe both ensemble and classroom are valid– they just serve students differently.
I would like to stress that these courses are not proposed replacements for Band, Orchestra, Choir, or Jazz Band. Instead, these courses promise to extend the reach of a school music teacher; possibly creating additional entry points to music study, reaching a more diverse student demographic, and providing a strong advocacy argument for our collective work serving all students. While these courses can help provide a more equitable music education, many of us did not receive training to teach these areas in undergrad. This where I hope MMEA can begin to help teachers adapt to the changing needs we may see in our schools.
I sent out an email a couple weeks ago trying to gather summer professional development options in these areas. I heard back from a few and would like to keep sharing as I hear more. I do not have an exhaustive email list by any means, so if you know someone whose program may benefit from adding a new course, please forward.
Below is what I have as of 3/12/2022. If you know of some teacher training related to Mid-Secondary Classroom Music in MN, please reply and I’ll include it in the next email blast.
Thank you!
Aaron Lohmeyer
MMEA Mid-Secondary Classroom VP
Winona State University Music Ed Coordinator
Teaching Guitar Workshops
Teaching Guitar Workshops have been in operation since 1995. Many robust guitar programs started out as a one class supplement to a band, orchestra, or choir. In these programs, Guitar I turned into Guitar II, III, and IV. NAfME currently offers an All-National Guitar Ensemble and many states also offer a Guitar All-State experience. Minnesota also happens to be the home of some nationally recognized programs, suggesting that Guitar could really take off here. While this training course doesn’t offer a Minnesota option this year, it does offer a couple virtual options.
At approximately $130 for a new beginner guitar, a class set is very affordable for a school and may not be too much of a sticker shock for an administrator committed to more access points into music. Students are attracted to the quick access to playing their preferred music and non-guitarist teachers can still learn the Guitar I material very quickly. When I taught this class in three different settings, I found that the students enrolled in guitar were different than the students enrolled in band, choir, or orchestra. Nationally, the data seems to agree that offering guitar programs does not interfere with large ensemble enrollments.
Carleton Summer Institute for AP Music Theory
https://www.carleton.edu/summer/ap-summer-institute/workshops/#music
While this course traditionally serves students already enrolled in a high school music program, a knowledge of theory can support burgeoning composers (or music majors) as they become confident learning the grammar of music within the Western European Concert tradition. This course is short, making it an easy addition to your summer schedule. As the AP Theory curriculum is designed to prepare students for passing the AP test, this course will prepare a teacher in both effective pedagogy and deepen understanding of course content.
Winona State University Sound Production Teacher Training
https://mnscu.rschooltoday.com/public/costoption/class_id/220530/public/1/sp/
From the website: “Learn how to teach one of the fastest growing courses offered in high schools today from one of the leaders in the field of Popular Music Pedagogy (PMP), Dr. Bryan Powell. Participants will learn how to create original music using a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and how the tools of electronic music production are applied to address state and national standards.”
Disclaimer: My own institution—WSU—is offering this one. I’m personally new to sound production and using a DAW (SoundTrap, GarageBand, Ableton, Logic, etc), but I’m quickly becoming a convert to its potential for meeting many of the current challenges facing music education. Ten years ago, these courses required a music technology lab. Now, they only need an internet connection and a laptop (something that, post-COVID, many schools might already be able to provide). Some very usable DAWs are even free. During COVID, many Band, Choir, and Orchestra teachers found DAWs like SoundTrap provided a valuable extension to their curriculum. If you’ve never used one—it’s not as hard as you might think. Students can create original music from day one, and a teacher can tailor the student work to be appropriate to elementary general all the way to professional producer. Work can be as simple as “click and drag” or as complex as the work of any 21st century composer. Curricular applications could range from large ensemble projects to stand-alone sound production classes.
Here’s an example of some work from a sixth grader extending their violin musicianship with a DAW (gathered from an outreach program in Winona).
Association for Popular Music Education Conference
https://www.popularmusiceducation.org/the-conference/
While perhaps not an official “teacher training,” for the teacher looking to discover a broad range of work being done nationally and internationally in PME, this conference would be a great idea. This conference is taking place June 1-4 in Detroit, but there are also virtual options available. Other MN educators that have attended in the past have spoken of the paradigmatic shift the conference brought to their classrooms. This conference would touch on many ideas connected to mid-secondary general classroom teaching.
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