For the last couple of days we have had the privilege to speak at the European Music Educators Association Conference (EMEA) which is being hosted this year by the USAG Rheinland-Pfalz Kaiserslautern Military Community. To get to the conference we left our hotel in the village and headed to the base. One of the music teachers is from New Bedford and studied with Sarah for her master’s degree (it really is a small world). She was our ride and we experienced one of those famous German Speeding Cameras! Luckily for her we were in her husbands car so she had a good laugh!
On the first day I gave the opening keynote address: 21st Century Arts Integration: Practical, Realistic, and Musically Beneficially Approaches. It was so great to be able to talk to everyone about something I really love doing.
Once the conference broke down into various sessions we all got pretty busy. Sarah had been asked to cover some things that the teachers here are struggling with, so she presented two very popular sessions: 1) Debunking the Myths of ADHD and 2) Using Children’s Literature in the Elementary Classroom. I had been told that a number of teachers reported having to teach choir/voice despite having majored in instrumental education. As a result I presented a session on: Revisiting the Fundamentals of Choral Conducting, Sound/Tone Development, and Ensemble Building. After that I also delivered the concluding session which was essentially the second half of my keynote: Multidisciplinary Programming for Ensembles: It’s more than just finding a Common Theme.
After the conference ended for the day, we went back to the little village where we had dinner together in the larger reception hall. The daughter (toddler aged) of one of the managers/owners followed one of the waiters around and she and I played together a bit. I love little kids!
We returned to the base for the second day of the conference. Michael Brownell, the Eastern Division of NAfME (National Association for Music Education), traveled from New York to deliver the morning keynote. He is from Upstate and we talked a lot about common places and things we both love in the Adirondack region. Sarah later offered a really fun hands-on session: Orff Basics – No Xylophones Needed. After lunch Sarah and I presented a session in conjunction with J.W. Pepper. Pepper printed a beautiful, 150 page, choral music anthology to go along with our session. It was so much fun! In our session we presented a number of choral works that could be used with the very different types of choral programs that teachers in these European DoDEA Schools experience.
And just like that, the conference was over. We headed back to the village for a fun evening, crowding into the pub/restaurant which clearly serves as the entertainment center for the entire village. It was a bit of a late night for many, but Tommy and I were good and climbed into bed only a little bit later than normal!
Speaking of Tommy, what did he do during the conference? Well he had access to a practice room where he did a LOT of school work. But, he also sang in our reading session and demonstrated the boy-soprano sections of Howard Goodall’s The Lord is my Shepherd. We have been so proud of him on this trip so far.
DoDEA Teahers, Sarah and former Grad Students, Ronnie and EMEA President (and friend) Merrillan
