Music Educators Conference comes to BU

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This article was published 15/01/2024 (970 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon University will be the site of a one-day musically-charged conference for current and would-be music educators on Saturday, Jan. 20.

The 18th annual Da Capo conference, organized by the Brandon University Student Music Educators Association (BUSMEA), is a full-day event focusing on professional development opportunities for pre-service or current music educations.

Abby Petersen, president of BUSMEA, said music education is the focus, but the day is open to anyone who is interested, including music students, teachers, or members of the public.

“Current music educators come. We’ve got a bunch of high school students joining us this year who are, possibly interested in becoming music educators themselves,” Petersen said. “It’s totally open to everybody, no prior knowledge is necessarily required. It’s just a great day to learn a little bit more about music education. I would encourage anybody who has an interest to just come on out.”

There will be a number of workshops and speakers and this year’s keynote speaker is Alexis Silver, who has a very long resume as a musical educator. She currently teaches band at École Secondaire Sisler High School in Winnipeg and is a proponent of the arts and music culture.

“Alexis is just a wonderful music educator that we have in our province. A special thing about having her here this year is she was the former band teacher of quite a few people on our council. It’s really exciting to see that come full circle, our association, putting on this conference and then bringing their band teacher who was influential for their own journey becoming music educators themselves. She’s just done so much for music education within our province,” Petersen said.

Other presenters include BU professors Nora Wilson and Wendy Green. Middle school band teacher Graydon Cramer will present as well as elementary band teacher Kelsey Simpson. President of the Manitoba Orff Association Dawn Muir will also present.

Professor Wendy Zander will be running a rehearsal with a collection of high school band students from Neelin, Crocus, Vincent Massey and Lord Selkirk schools and speak on rehearsal strategies.

Also joining Da Capo as round table presenters will be Jeni Taylor and Sean Irvine, who will offer insights into the role of educational assistants in the music classroom. Bringing a choral perspective is Avonlea Armstrong-Green. Kevin Doell, a previous presenter will be back to do his mock interview session for fifth-year music education students.

“It’s one of my favourite days. I come away from it feeling so inspired and just excited about everything, hearing what everybody else does in our province. It’s just pretty inspiring,” Petersen said, who is in her final year of music education at BU.

Session topics for this year’s conference include two Orff education sessions, Extensive Exploration, and Active Augmentations, Creating Gender Inclusive Spaces in Music, Avoiding Rehearsal Paralysis, Percussion: Reaching and Teaching your Back Row Musicians, Conducting FUN-damentals, The Joy of Pop, and the Fundamentals of a Successful Choir Program.

Preregistration is encouraged. The day starts at 8 a.m. with the first speaker at 8:45 a.m. Contact BUSMEA for more information at busmea@brandonu.ca.

» khenderson@brandonsun.com