3/10/2017 0 Comments ACDA Day 2Yesterday was a long, but very fulfilling day. The day began with a reading session of music for children's choir. There are a few pieces that we may do in the next year or two. I ran into a friend of mine from college and she shared with me a group of pieces that will be good for my students. I am going to check those out at the exhibit today. Following the reading session was a forum on children's choirs and creating explicit inclusivity. Creating safe spaces and creating inclusivity is a theme weaving its way throughout the conference this year. Perhaps in 2017, it is more important than ever that we celebrate our differences and learn to bridge cultural divides with music.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first actual learning session of the day. The session was about recruiting and retaining middle school students. Although geared towards grades 6-8, there were many nuggets of wisdom that apply to my current students. One of my biggest takeaways from this session is to find out what the students are thinking. After our final concert the students are going to complete an anonymous survey that will give me insight to their individual choral experience at KMS. By gaining a better understanding of their individual experiences, I can make adjustments/enhancements to our program. Teaching musicianship through repertoire panel discussion left me with some new ideas about how to structure our rehearsals. Simple ideas from changing formation for different pieces to order of music can have a huge impact on rehearsal time and overall performance. The panel participants are co-authors of a book that I purchased for use at KMS. This session's topic flowed into the next session I attended about how a composer thinks during a rehearsal. It is important to me as an educator that my chorus students are as musically trained as instrumentalists. Over the years, I have found that all too often singers have trouble reading rhythms. From these session I gleaned some new strategies that I will implement and see how my students are impacted. Today I also had the opportunity to hear several amazing choirs. Just amazing. The evening ended with Carmina Burana. Wow! What a way to end an evening.
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Ms. FoleyMy thoughts, my ideas and my words on how we can build a strong choral program at KMS. ArchivesCategories |