Summer Upgrades

For many people, summer is a time of relaxation and reinvigoration. Time away from work allows time to reconnect with family and friends. While our faculty are “home” for the summer months, many still trek to their offices regularly throughout the summer to practice, to teach, and to work on research activities. I’m always surprised how many faculty show up daily in the department each summer. Yes, we do have lives outside the Boyd, but summer is often used to catch up on work that can’t be completed during the semester.

This is exactly what has been occupying the Department of Music summer staff – Theresa McCall, Secretary; Lance Jones, student worker; and myself – this year. We have been busy with a number of projects that are focused on improving the learning environment for students, faculty, and staff during the upcoming academic year.

Mini “Face Lift”
Thanks to some timely renovations across campus and the diligence of Theresa and Lance, we have been able to secure “gently used” tables, chairs, desks, and cabinetry for distribution throughout the department. The Music Office now has a fresh, modern appearance and our classrooms all have benefited from new tables, chairs, and desks. Twenty additional Wenger artist chairs also were purchased to insure that each practice room is properly equipped while maintaining an adequate seating capacity in the Rehearsal Hall.

Orff Instruments and Elementary Music Education Materials
Lance devoted a good part of June to cleaning up and clearing out much of the old, outdated music basal series and elementary music education supplies stored in our large classroom. Some of the series were older than me! By reducing the inventory and moving the remaining print materials into the Listening/Resource Lab where they will be more accessible to students, we were able to redefine our storage needs. As a result, 5 new, larger storage cabinets will replace the 8 storage cabinets of various sizes that previously housed all of the Orff instruments and elementary music education equipment. The new cabinetry, along with new storage bins, will allow better utilization and organization of all of the elementary music education materials.

Listening Lab Refresh
As mentioned above, much of the print material was moved from storage space in our large classroom to the Listening/Resource Lab. This influx of material, along with the wealth of existing material, necessitated rethinking the purpose, function, and organization of the space. In short, it is my philosophy that students have as much access as possible to the resources and materials that will allow them to be successful, productive students and music educators.

To this end, furniture within the space and elsewhere in the department was re-purposed to allow the adequate storage and display of a variety of materials and resources, from music education materials to scores to music texts. Many thanks to Lance for the many hours he spent reworking the space and cataloging many of the resources found in the lab. And yes, you can still listen to music at one of the listening workstations in the lab.

New Grand Piano
We are excited to have had the opportunity this summer to acquire a fine Yamaha “Parlor Grand” piano for the department. Late in the spring, I was contacted by the Clarion University Foundation about a piano that the estate of the late Mary Ann Banner (Clarion, PA) wanted to give to the department of music as a gift rather than having it auctioned off as part of the estate disposition. I always am somewhat uncomfortable accepting gifts on behalf of the department sight unseen, and was a bit reticent at first. However, our Professor of Piano, Dr. Paula Amrod, had already played the instrument prior to my being notified of the gift, and she confirmed the instrument is of very high quality and in very good condition. Upon Dr. Amrod’s recommendation, we pursued the acquisition of the instrument and expect its delivery in the coming weeks. It will join the Steinway in the Rehearsal Hall.

Our most sincere thanks go out to the Banner estate executors in considering the Department of Music as the recipient of such a generous gift, and to Carol Roth in the Clarion University Foundation who coordinated the donation.

SmartClassroom Installations
We continue to improve our technology resources in the department. We anticipate the installation of two additional SmartClassrooms in the department during August, making all three of our principal classrooms Smart equipped. SmartClassroom installations include a computer with interactive monitor, wireless keyboard/mouse, ceiling-mounted projector, screen, document camera, CD/DVD player, and premium ceiling-installed sound system. Each system costs between $15,000-$20,000. Our first SmartClassroom installation for the 2008-09 academic year afforded both faculty and students new opportunities for learning and instruction. The technology was well used throughout the year, and we are looking forward to utilizing fully the new Smart resources.

UPDATE (8/21/09): I heard within the last week that due to budget restrictions across campus, our installations will NOT take place this summer. I am hopeful for the funding to be in place for installations to occur over the winter break (fingers crossed!).

Dr. Toney Tenured and Promoted
In an upgrade of sorts, I am pleased to announce the granting of tenure and the promotion of Dr. Hubert Toney, Jr., Director of Bands, from Assistant to Associate Professor. Dr. Toney has worked diligently over the last 5 years to secure an outstanding reputation as a conductor, music educator, and musician both on campus and throughout the region. We look forward to enjoying his fine work for many years to come.

So, if you find yourself in the neighborhood this fall, feel free to stop in and see all of our summer “upgrades” for yourself. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

PMEA 2009

There’s nothing like spring. Everything “feels” clean and fresh. The grass is greening, bird songs erupt in the morning and last into the evening, and the beauty of the flowering trees is unmatched. You can always count on the constancy of spring to end winter’s long stay and brighten your spirits.

Each year spring also brings the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) annual in-service conference. I don’t know how many years Clarion has had a booth at the PMEA conference, probably more than most can recall. Many of our alumni who teach in PA and attend the conference make a point to stop by the Clarion booth and say “hi.” It’s always great to see so many of our friends from the past, and I enjoy hearing what they have been doing since leaving Clarion.

While Clarion has always had an exhibitor’s booth, relatively new is the increased presence of Clarion’s music faculty at the conference as invited presenters and clinicians at the conference. This year 3 music faculty were invited to present.

Dr. Stephen Johnson, Assoc. Professor of Music, was invited to give a poster presentation of his ongoing research into sight-reading. His project, titled “A Descriptive Study of Rural Sixth Grade Instrumental Students’ Thought Processes while Engaged in Sight-Reading,” also will be presented in a research forum at the conference. Dr. Henry Alviani, Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choirs, will offer a session on his vocal manual Voiceworks, published by Alfred Publishing. And, at the end of the week, I will be presenting a session on internet applications for music educators, focusing on getting novice users started on using the web to help manage, enhance, and assess their music programs.

Many other great sessions take place during the conference, not to mention the many, many fine performances presented. So, if you ever have the opportunity to attend the PMEA conference, I think you’ll agree that it is a great experience. You have to promise, though, between sessions and concerts to stop by our Clarion booth to chat for a minute. To make it worth your time, I’ll even give you one of our “world famous” Department of Music pens!

BTW – I’m video blogging about my PMEA experience at the booth just for fun at http://clarionmusicalumni.ning.com/video

Out with the Old

While I’m not much for nostalgia, there are times that being nostalgic is appropriate – wedding, birthdays, first performance during which my mouth didn’t go bone dry. Some people are nostalgic about items that have sentimental value – family photographs, favorite stuffed animal as a child, first Commodore 64 computer. But, the Department of Music is excited to be “letting go” of our old Piano Lab and to see completion of Phase 1 of our new Digital Piano Lab.

The old lab consisted of a mix of old Yamaha Clavinovas and Korg digital pianos in various states of disrepair. Needless to say it was time to explore our options.

Through the generous support of  the students through their contributions to the Clarion University  TechFee, the Department of Music submitted a proposal for $18,000 to purchase 7 new Roland HP207 Digital Pianos.

Members of the University Technology Advisory Council (UTAC), Sam Puleio and the Office of Computing Services, and Dr. Joseph Grunenwald, President of Clarion University, graciously supported funding our proposal which led to the successful bid by western PA’s own Spotts Music Center. The Department of Music is very pleased to continue its long, successful relationship with the fine people at Spott’s. They have been very kind and helpful to us over the years, and we are looking forward to many more years of excellent service.

Last week, Mark Kephart, president/CEO of Spotts Music Center, and his crew delivered and installed the 7 new Roland pianos. These beautiful instruments not only sound fantastic (great sampled sounds!), they have several features that make them uniquely useful in an instructional piano lab environment, including the ability to easily “split” the full-sized, 88-key keyboard into two and have the instructor sit beside the student to model the correct performance behavior WITHOUT having any octave displacement (“Twin Piano Mode”). Also, each instrument has recording/playback capabilities and 2 USB ports so students can record themselves and self-evaluate outside of class, or the instructor can record an example (wav. or MIDI) that students can download and bring to class on a USB drive to play along. We are just beginning to explore the many ways in which these new instruments can improve piano instruction and learning at Clarion.

As stated, the installation of the 7 instruments was only Phase 1 of the project. Phase 2 will involve the installation of 7 additional instruments, bringing our Digital Piano Lab to a complement of  14  new Roland pianos. Like Phase 1, Phase 2 was proposed through the TechFee process, and will undergo a competitive review, judged against other proposals across Clarion’s campus. With any luck, our Phase 2 proposal will be funded, and the 2009-10 academic year will bring our new Digital Piano Lab fully online.

So, if you are an alumnus of the Department of Music, and have lasting, warm recollections of our old Piano Lab, I hope that you will forgive us for moving ahead into the 21st century. Just remember that even though musical instruments don’t last forever, fond memories do.

New Thinking

 

I just returned from the Pennsylvania Education Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C). This conference draws close to 3000 teachers and administrators from Pennsylvania and across the country to share thoughts and approaches on the use and future of educational technology.  I had the good fortune to present at the conference again this year, but what I most enjoy about this conference is hearing and sharing ideas with so many intelligent, forward looking educators who see the integration of technology into our curricula vital to the success of our students in the future. I always bring back new ideas to introduce into my own teaching, and feel re-energized and excited about teaching.

I took a couple of important things from this conference – not directly but inferentially through the many different sessions that I attended:

1) Life-long learning is critical to success as an educator. I shared the session rooms experienced educators who have spent years honing their craft. These professionals could easily have chosen to use the same approaches that their teachers used with them, and as their teachers before, but by their presence at the conference, are looking finding new ways to engage and teach the familiar subjects.  Yes, I think we could agree that we all ended up “OK,” but will “OK be enough for our students to be successful in the jobs of the future; jobs that may not yet even exist? Like me, I expect many of them feel reinvigorated about teaching when they return to the classroom after the conference.

The Clarion music faculty tries to offer our students good models for life-long learning. We are actively engaged in research projects, present and participate in conferences and workshops, and perform in a variety venues throughout the sate and across the globe. We wish to demonstrate how important it is for professionals to remain active in their fields – not only through our words only, but through our actions, as well. Our students have opportunities to begin fostering this concept of professionalism and service to a broader community through active participation in one of our many student service organizations, and through attendance at many of the same conferences in which the faculty participates.

The concept of “student research” is becoming increasingly important across Clarion University. Students in the Department of Music are encouraged to develop research projects of their own. We wish to support students’ research efforts in any way we can. 

2) We must look forward and be creative in our approach to teaching if we want our students to be successful in their careers. I think many teachers would agree with the statement that students change from year to year. The student of today is quite different from the student of 10, 5, or even 1 year ago. They bring to the classroom experiences and skills that are unique to their generation. In short, they are NOT like us, the music faculty. So, we would be making a grave mistake if we attempted to teach these students in the same way we were taught as undergraduate students many years ago. We must find ways to engage these new students in content, pedagogy, and practice that will give them the tools and experiences to meet the changing needs of their own students. With education becoming more collaboration and communication driven, we must give our students the resources and experiences necessary to compete and succeed in their careers

Clarion music students experience  today’s technology throughout their coursework. Three year ago, when I first asked students to complete a wiki assignment, I was met with many quizzical looks and some expressed concern about the usefulness of the assignment. Of course, I explained my rationale (which itself is a valuable exercise for these future educators, as they may need to argue the same with their administrators).  Just last week, however, I was able to give my students an assignment to create a wiki about Art Songs/Lieder, without having to explain “why” or “how.” They now know the answers to these questions.

Whether it is creating interactive wikis, using the Internet for research and email and instant messaging for communication, blogging about concerts or self-reflections, or collaborating on a Google Doc, Clarion music students are “in tune” (sorry about that) with the application of technology in the classroom because it is being used routinely by Clarion music faculty and because our students are asked to use it as an integral part of their academic careers.  Only through good modeling and application of the technology will our students have the tools to function effectively in the classrooms of the future.

The music classroom of the future cannot fully be imagined. Will we be performing in hybrid acoustic and electronic ensembles? Will students rehearse and perform simultaneously online from remote locations?  Will there even be “music classrooms?” I do not know what the future of music education will look or sound like, and neither do our faculty members nor our students. However, I am confident that the variety of experiences Clarion music students have with emergent trends in education will allow them to be open to trying new instructional approaches as they arise, and that will, in turn,  offer them opportunities to grow personally and professionally throughout their careers.