Jazzmone Sutton, now the State Advocacy Engagement Manager for National Association for Music Education, was teaching elementary music when her school shifted to virtual teaching. Due to concerns about screen time, there weren’t formal music classes, so she provided music resources for students. Pre-COVID, she implemented “Technology Fridays,” which proved to be helpful for online […]
Stories of Newness: Healing and Reimagining with Alan
*Alan had just finished rehearsing one of his choirs on a piece of music they were going to be presenting at an upcoming concert when he received the email: School was closing. They were projected to be out until April. “We’ll do [the concert] when we come back,” he thought. Within a week, though, it […]
Stories of Newness: Healing and Reimagining with Mari Ésabel Valverde
Mari Ésabel Valverde, composer, educator, and overall incredible human being, said that after COVID halted her projects, 2020 became a year in which she was scrambling to find her way. Mari had always kept a small teaching load as a source of income, but they weren’t able to adapt. The commission she was working on […]
Stories of Newness: Healing and Reimagining with Stephanie Gravelle
This was such a fun conversation with me. Stephanie is a fantastic musician and passionate music educator. She’s also my sister-in-law, and I love learning from her. I wasn’t able to include everything from our conversation. Stephanie is an incredibly engaging and thoughtful programmer, and I highly recommend just reaching out to her and asking […]
Stories of Newness: Healing and Reimagining with Remel Derrick
Like many music educators, Remel Derrick (high school choir teacher at Abilene High School and choral composer– find his music here) found out about his school closing the week of spring break in March 2020. They were given a week to adjust and then made the switch to virtual. During remote teaching, his students recorded […]
Stories of Newness: Healing and Reimagining with Amanda Stevenson (Omaha Children’s Choir)
This week’s blog is sharing highlights from a conversation with Amanda Stevenson, founder and artistic director of Omaha Children’s Choir (OCC), an organization focused on making choral music education accessible to all children. OCC just wrapped up their 6th season (2020-21). You can read more about OCC and their amazing work here. In late January […]