Monday Notes

We're off and running into another school year! August can be incredibly busy, so in this edition, we've included a few tips and resources to help make the year a little easier. Have a fantastic week!

Yes, it is super early to register for the All-State Music Festival & In-Service Conference, but if you do it this week it is one more thing off the ever growing to do list! Follow this link to register but please note that teachers in the districts listed below are to register with the music coordinator.

• Aztec Municipal Schools – Register with Warman Hall
• Albuquerque Public Schools (Elementary only) – Register with Joe Gershin
• Clovis Municipal Schools – Register with Corey Pickett
• ENMU Collegiate – Register with Dustin Seifert
• Farmington Municipal Schools – Register with Daniel Fear
• Gadsden Independent Schools – Register with Bruce Beach
• Hobbs Municipal Schools (Elementary Only) – Register with Stephanie Seifert
• Los Lunas Public Schools – Register with Vinnessa Ohle
• Las Cruces Public Schools – Register with Joseph Flores
• Rio Rancho Public Schools (Elementary & Middle School Only) – Register with Kurt Schmidt
• Roswell Independent Schools – Register with Kevin Everitt
• Santa Fe Public Schools – Register with Cristina Gonzales
• School of Dreams – Register with Mike Hinds

Yes - it is time to start thinking about registering students for All-State Auditions! Please see links and reminders below to register students for auditions.

Few Reminders:

• Remember that your membership must be current.
• Do not register students who attend schools without a music program or homeschool students. These students' parents should contact Neil Swapp to register for an audition.
• Get a PO prior to registering students!
• Audition and registration dates.
• Audition Town Hall (September 30th - 6:00 pm)

Links

• Band
• Choir
• Guitar
• Jazz
• Orchestra

Out of small advocacy steps comes great successes! Make this week's challenge happen!

• Send performance calendar to all teachers with an invite to attend.

Effective immediately, NMMEA members will need to use new login credentials to access the website. While your login will still be linked to your NAfME membership, you will no longer access it through the NAfME website. To ensure a smooth transition, please make sure your NAfME credentials are current.

When accessing the website, the following credentials will need to be used:

• Username: Email associated with NAfME membership
• Password: NAfME member number

Once logged in you may change your password.

Middle and high school teachers, consider starting a Tri-M chapter at your school. A Tri-M® Music Honor Society chapter opens up a world of opportunities for students who have already shown themselves to be academically capable and musically gifted. Through performance and community service, they’ll develop confidence, creativity, critical thinking, compassion, and a host of other leadership skills sure to serve them well in school and beyond.

• Details on starting a chapter

With very few exceptions, school districts with outstanding high school music programs have strong elementary music programs providing solid foundations for children to grow their musical interests and abilities. This fall’s spotlight not only showcases an outstanding general music teacher, but also provides a glimpse into the benefits that come with 20 years of service at the same school!

Please give our readers a brief reminder of your career trajectory. Where and what did you teach, and for how long? When did you retire?

I taught Christian pre-school in Rio Rancho to begin with because in the early 1980’s (when I graduated with my BME from UNM) Albuquerque public schools cut ALL elementary music positions! Then in 1987 I began my elementary music ed journey with Los Lunas Public Schools. For 9 years my position was itinerant, teaching at up to 6 schools a year, all elementary. When Valencia Elementary opened in 1996, I was offered a full-time position there, which I held for the remaining 20 years of my career. I retired in 2016 along with The Hubs (Henry).

How do you spend your time now? Tell us what you’ve been up to!

After retirement I was a busy beaver, spent a year babysitting (band director baby of course!), then taught elementary music at SODA (School of Dreams Academy) for a year. Next, I rested and did a bit of traveling (NYC and Vegas), created and taught classes in general music, recorder, and ukulele for J Sharp Music. And now I’m trying to survive cancer! I am a member of the Albuquerque Concert Band flute section, so I try to practice daily. I’d climb the walls if I am not creating something, so I paint (watercolor), quilt, sew, embroider, craft, and garden. I’m a voracious reader; right now, I’m into historical fiction, particularly WWII stories from different perspectives. I’ve got 4 grandchildren to spoil, so I hold ‘Nana Camp’ every summer, where we craft, cook, swim and hang out. This year’s theme was gnomes…. our front door sported a ‘Welcome to GNana Camp Gnomies!’ sign.

What is the most important or most memorable lesson you learned while teaching?

The most important lesson I learned was how to really enjoy children. I loved getting to know each and every one of them, their view of the world, how their brains work. My favorites were the gifted and high achievers, even though they were many times the most challenging. They never ceased to amaze me (yeah and frustrate me sometimes).

What are you most proud of in your teaching career?

It made me very proud that the majority of my students could read music by the end of their elementary years, rhythms and pitch, and had fun doing it! Because I was at the same school for 20 years, most of the students were in my classes for 6-7 years (preK-6th grade). This allowed them to really progress in their music knowledge and skills. I always said music literacy was my focus.

Ah, another thing I was proud of was getting to be chair of the scheduling committee at my school, where my team created the daily schedule of ALL classes (PE, music, computer, library, all grade level classes, etc.), including lunches and recesses. This gave me the opportunity to maximize instructional time with students, not only for music, but for all areas of curriculum at the school.

I think one of the best things I did in those years was to become an active part of NMMEA District VI, where a tiny team of us created our own unique district elementary music festival, which, I’m proud to say, continues to flourish.

What were the biggest challenges that you faced as a music educator?

Ugh, my biggest challenges were administrators that weren’t knowledgeable about music/arts education (which in my case was all but 1 in 29 years). Because I was in a rather small district (2 high schools, 2 middle schools, 11 elementary) we did not have music admin, so our principals had total say over us. I felt I was constantly fighting for my job, for adequate teaching time with my students, for discerning evaluation for the subject matter I was teaching and the unique knowledge and skills it takes to provide high quality music education. Teaching children was the easy part!

Is there anything you would have done differently?

Loaded question!!!! Sooooooo many things. I wish I had gotten my Orff certifications earlier. Also wish I had pursued studying with Feirerabend earlier. Both of those methods were a game changer in my teaching.

In addition, I wish I would’ve moved sooner to ‘informances’ rather than performances. Note: our ‘informances’ were held IN the music classroom during the instructional day. Parents were invited to their child’s music class for a mini performance. It was more intimate, more indicative of what elementary music class has to offer. Parents got more of a true picture of elementary music, I think, than a stage performance. I liked that each student got to really show his/her skills, dancing, playing instruments, singing, etc. Yes, there’s merit to large group stage performances for showcasing product, however informances capture more accurately the process of music learning.

What do you think are the biggest differences between your time teaching and what current music educators face?

Covid kids! The pandemic had huge effects on our youth. I see it in my grandkids, I hear teachers talking about it still. As things went online, the music staff had huge challenges other disciplines didn’t have. I am thankful I was retired before that!

Do you have any advice for current educators?

I think my biggest challenge with being an educator was that I didn’t have enough exposure during the prep years (college) with elementary children and the classroom setting, so when it came down to student teaching, I was a disaster area. I would recommend that as early as the freshmen year, college level students have ongoing exposure to the classroom setting they are preparing for.

I encourage you to keep building your skills and knowledge as an educator as well as a musician. Participate in your NMMEA district and state events as well as other enriching activities.

Any more thoughts for our readers.

I admire each and every one of you for the complicated job you do every day. Take time to nourish yourself outside of your job to be the teacher you deserve to be.

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Music Educators who get involved in their schools beyond the music classroom have the potential to have a greater impact supporting their students. Cathy is a great example of this impact with her work on scheduling. Just think how thrilling it would be to have a middle school ensemble where all the students knew how to read music on the first day of classes! Her impact went beyond her students, Cathy is the type of teacher always willing to help others. As Pam Towry Church shares:

Having known Cathy for a few DECADES, both as a friend and colleague, when asked by one of my principals to teach a K-1 general music class, I knew she would be my savior! My certification is 6-12 and at that point in my career I had taught high school, college, and was just beginning to grasp what middle-school BAND was all about. I was horrified. The first call I made was to Cathy. She expertly calmed me down, and once I stopped sobbing, she walked me through some key fundamentals to point me in the right direction, shared resources and gave me the strength and encouragement to get the job done. Luckily for all involved, the assignment only lasted one year! Blessed be music friends.

We do not always know the impact our teaching and relationships have on others. Just because we don’t see them does not mean they are not there. Cathy gives us a great reminder that we are always teaching the students, our colleagues, and our administrators.

Greg Fant, professor emeritus

New Mexico State University

Remember to update your NAfME profile with your current email address and while at it remind your fiends to do the same!