How to Start and Maintain a Popular Ensemble at Your School
In this session you will learn how you can start a rock/popular ensemble at your school and ways to integrate aspects of it into your regular band, choir, and general music classrooms. You will be taken through a song to start your groups with in a step-by-step method that has been perfected by the workshop coach. You will leave with a list of fantastic resources and ideas to implement authentic popular music learning into your classrooms. Playing along is highly encouraged. No previous rock music experience required.
Improvisation and Music Creation in Ensembles
The National Core Arts Standards require us as music educators to provide students with experiences in Creating, Performing/Presenting/Producing, Responding, and Connecting. However in many cases, large ensemble music classes focus almost singularly on the performance of music that has already been composed and notated. If taught in the right way, that experience may include 3 of the 4 categories listed above, but what about the Creating segment? What if there were a way for music educators to incorporate creativity into their rehearsals in a way that is efficient, effective, and fun?
This session will examine why it is vital to introduce students to improvisation and provide methods for integrating activities into your already existing curriculum. If the thought of improvisation makes you nervous or scared, this session is for you! If you are already an experienced improviser with no fear of playing over changes, this session is also for you! I will be providing practical tips and tricks for music educators at all stages of improvisation mastery.