06/20/13

Session Recap: Empowering Students for Productive Practice

This is a recap of a session that was presented at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, IL on December 17, 2009. The session was live-blogged on MusicEdMajor.net, and you can view a replay of the live-blog by visiting the Midwest landing page.

As music education students, we spend a large number of hours of our life practicing our instruments. However, we also recognize that this will likely not be the case for our future students, may of whom will not be planning on pursuing music as a career. This, however, does not mean that their practice habits should be ignored; these students are just as capable of performing great music as those who want to pursue music as a career. This presentation focused on strategies for increasing the productivity of student practice time. [Read more...]

REMINDER: Updates From Midwest

Hey all, don’t forget that I’ll be updating from the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic tomorrow and Friday as often as I can! Unfortunately, Midwest doesn’t offer wireless internet in all areas of McCormick Place, so I may not be able to update as often as I want, but I’ll do my best.

You can find the live-stream at the special Midwest landing page that I created here on the site. If you have any comments/questions, feel free to post them, as well; I’ll do my best to bring you answers!

Guide to Networking: Part 1-Social Networking

As Music Education Majors, one way we can help prepare for the teaching world during our studies is by networking. Meeting the people who will eventually be our colleagues and administrators will help prepare us for the job search, increase our knowledge in the field, and leave us better-equipped to find the job we’re looking for. This 3-part series looks at three different ways we can use networking to our advantage.

Before diving into this very broad topic, think about these questions:

  • How many hours do you spend on the computer?
  • Of those hours, how many of them are on Facebook?
  • When you’re on the computer, how would you rank the ways in which you use it? (think: schoolwork, talking to friends, listening to music)

The term social networking is one that tends to scare a lot of people. In reality, many of us already engage in social networking on a daily basis! We just network with our firends and family, instead of professionals in our field. Regardless of how we go about it (this post will outline just a few of your many options), any means of meeting current music educators online can be considered social networking, and will help you create relationships that will help you as you prepare for your job search. [Read more...]

Conference Season

It’s been quiet here at MusicEdMajor.net since the school year got into full-swing! I have a good amount of posts that I would love to write, and am just struggling to find the time to get them up! However, that does not mean that this website is going to turn out to be a flop; there’s plenty left to talk about, and what better a time/place to start than in everyone’s favorite season, conference season!

That’s right, with a few major Music Educator’s conferences coming up in the next month or so, I am back to bring you all the information I possibly can (which may not be much, depending on my ability to get a wireless signal in the conference centers!). I will be attending the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic from December 17th through the 19th in Chicago, and the Florida Music Educators’ Association (FMEA) conference from January 6th-9th in Tampa. Both of these events look to be great experiences, and I look forward to sharing the wealth of information I come across with all of you!

I have created special landing pages here on the website for Midwest and FMEA, where I will have a live-blog going. For now, the live-blogs are both open and live, and are pulling in data from the Twitter hashtags associated with the events. Comments are moderated, but I’ll check back frequently to publish anything you have to add, and I will be checking by the minute once the events begin!

Additinally, stay tuned for updates on the collegiate component of MENC’s Anaheim Conference in March; more details on this should be available in the near future!

It’s an exciting time of year! Will you be attending Midwest or FMEA? Leave a comment in this post or in the appropriate live-blog, and we can organize a meet-up!

Front Page Photo Credit: JoshC