Music Education Week 2010 Session Recap – Milt Allen

Andrew Ritenour — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:05:26 +0000

To kick off the Collegiate MENC and New Teachers academy, Milt Allen gave the opening session”You’re Finally Here: We’ve Been Waiting Your Whole Life”, and a following session entitled,”Hero Training: How to Harness Your Superpowers”.

“You’re Finally Here: We’ve Been Waiting Your Whole Life”

In the opening session, Milt Allen addressed new teachers and collegiate MENC members with multiple facts and bits of information about our generation. He began by giving some facts about the history of music education. He stated that music essentially started as a club in most public schools, and eventually evolved into classes and for-credit ensembles. But then when Title IX was introduced, funding for music programs began to be cut back. This caused competition and sponsorship in music to be very important to validate music education. Dr. Allen was sure to clarify that competition has its benefits and certainly has its drawbacks. He stated, “The value of competition lies in the ethics of the person in front.” Because funding for music education seems to be getting worse as years go on, Dr. Allen believes that,” We are on the verge of Artistic Genocide.” All of this being said, he also thinks that our generation is completely suited and able to deal with the challenges set forth for music education. Some of the reasons he gave for this thought included that our generation: loves being in groups and being collaborative, is very technology-literate, values structure and leadership, we are racially and ethnically diverse, and are great at multitasking. In addition, research on the brain has exploded in the past five years, much of which supports the positive effects of music on the brain. He ended the opening session with very great rhetorical questions for music educators to think about: What does music mean to you? How will you convey this?

Hero Training – How to Harness Your Superpowers

“You’re training the next generation of Artist Heroes”

In his second session, Dr. Allen built upon the foundation he laid in the first session – this time dealing with how beginning music educators and students can begin to hone their skills in teaching music. Dr. Allen put forth alot of great advice in this session.

He began by discussing whether or not we as teachers or future teachers were mature musicians. Some criteria he put forth to self-assess were, Do you: “Teach with the heart of a child and soul of a musician”, accept responsibility and exercise discipline, listen to music of all types, continue to learn about music no matter what your age?

He continued to give advice about your surroundings. He suggested to make sure your “hideout” (office, professional space) is conducive to being a hero, reflecting your passion and ideals. Along with this, Dr. Allen suggested to always dress professionally, and to spend money on your tools such as batons and music. He also suggested to be wary of your “sidekicks” and reminded the attendees to “Surround yourselves with greatness.”

Next, Dr. Allen explained how to Discover Your Superpowers. One piece of advice he gave was to tape yourself teaching. He stressed the importance of assessing this tape well. First, he said to watch it twice. The first time you assess the tape, note what you did well. On the second viewing, he recommended recording gestures or techniques that you used that you may have gotten from another source. When evaluating these, make note of : What did work, what could work, what could work if you modified it, and what just didn’t work. Dr. Allen said to be sure to build on what worked, modify what needs altered, and drop what just won’t work. In addition to effective assessment, he cautioned to never be afraid to try something new, and suggested to have a more-experienced teacher view your tape and ask for suggestions.

In his last portion of this session, Dr. Allen discussed “Your Musical Mission”. First he discussed something he called “Pure You”. In this, he challenged the attendees to think back to the passion of the moment when we realized that music was “it” for us. He challenged us to remember that moment in our teaching. He also told the session that we will learn much from our students.

Dr. Allen then covered some basic “Hero Rules” where he covered some thoughts that we should be thinking about. First, he stated that if the job were easy, everybody would be doing it. He also suggested having HAT (How Are Things) talks with students, where you as the teacher just check up on students and try to get to know them on a personal level. Also, he stated that teachers are on duty 24/7 – it becomes a way of life. Along with this, Dr. Allen warned that there are no shortcuts, and recommending doing things right the first time.

Dr. Allen left the session with some last closing thoughts:

“Don’t restrict your adult self”
“Dont define yourself by what others will let you do.”
“Don’t define yourself by what you have, how you got it, what you can’t get, and what others won’t give you.”

We were lucky enough to snag an interview with Dr. Milt Allen following his sessions. Dr. Allen was kind enough to expand some thoughts for us for better understanding, and delve in to some other topics in our interview. Check it out here!

Special Thanks to Dr. Milt Allen for his inspiring sessions and willingness to talk to have an interview with us!

Dr. Milton Allen is the Visiting Associate Director of Bands at The Ohio State University. He is currently taking a leave of absence from the Eastern Illinois University as the Director of Bands and Instrumental Division Director. Here, he conducts the Wind Symphony, Collegiate Band, University Band, teaches undergraduate conducting, guides the graduate conducting program, and oversees all aspects of Eastern’s band program.

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Happy Birthday Andy!

Andrew Ritenour — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:16:04 +0000

Just a short post to wish Andy Z. a very happy 22nd birthday!

I’ve gotten to know Andy over the past four or five months through blogging and this site. He is a great guy and a great teacher whose contributions to music education as an undergrad are truly astonishing. In just the past year, his contributions were many including the startup of #MusEdChat and the development of MusicEdMajor.Net. In addition he has been on the launch team of Dr. Pisano’s MusicPLN.Org. All of these projects serve to help the common music educator (or music education major) to be better at what they do.

Happy Birthday Andy, and thanks for all you do for music education!

Feel free to leave Andy your own birthday wish with a comment!

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Year in Review: 2009-2010

Andy Zweibel — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 19:08:13 +0000

MusicEdMajor.net just celebrated its first birthday, so I thought I would take some time to highlight some of the top posts since the site began:

In Guide to Networking: Part 1-Social Networking, I take a look at ways Music Education Majors can use social networking to their advantage
5 Low-Stress Ways to Stay Musically Active Over the Summer investigates ways to keep your “chops” up even when school is out
At the beginning of May, I hosted the May 2010 Music Education Blog Carnival, highlighting top blog posts from around the Music Ed world in the month of April
Our top guest post, Should I or Shouldn’t I? Things to Think About for Graduate School (by Kelly Nelson) explores important considerations regarding graduate degrees
The day I launched the site, I also announced that I would be live-blogging MENC’s Music Education Week
Josh Palmer, another guest poster, explained why CMENC membership is beneficial in CMENC: Why is it for Me?
Thomas West shares, in Practicing 101 for Music Ed Majors, some of his tips for practicing on a tight schedule.
As part of a series on productivity, How to Stay Productive: Part 2-Keep a Calendar discusses tips on keeping your schedule in order
My post on low-stress ways to stay musically active in the summer (see #2) was so well-received that I followed it up with 4 MORE Ways to Stay Active Over the Summer
In the new i-Age, Top Apps for Music Ed Majors discusses what iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch apps are must-haves for the future music educator

What was your favorite post this year?