Mr. B's Blog

In 2005, I was proud to serve at the President of the UMass Lowell Collegiate Chapter of MENC (National Association for Music Education) along with being President of the State Chapter of Collegiate MENC . Four years ago I was the only college student to present at the MENC All-Eastern Conference in Hartford, CT with the clinic titled in the this blog post. I was invited today to give this clinic again, making changes to cater to our Massachusetts audience. Around 30 music education majors from Ana Maria College, Berklee College of Music, Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Gordon College, and UMass Lowell filled the UML Fisher Recital Hall for my presentation. Topics included chapter building, sustainability, fundraising, holding clinics, and advocacy. I was most impressed during the chapter sharing part of the meeting where each collegiate MENC chapter informed us what they were doing this year for activities. It sounds like this is a great year for MCMENC and I give...

"Keeping Music Programs Strong in Challenging Economic Times and Addressing 21st Century Skills in the Music Classroom" On Friday, October 16 th , 2009, I traveled to Westborough High School for the 2009 Massachusetts Administrators in Music Education Symposium. The conference was focused on relating 21st Century Skills with what we do in the music classroom as well as ways of having our music programs survive the current economic crisis. The 21st Century Skills we discussed included: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, decision making, solving complex/open-ended questions, creative problem solving ( Metacognition ), creativity, entrepreneurial thinking, literacy, making innovative use of knowledge, and taking charge of financial, health, and civic responsibilities. A long discussion took place and it was agreed that in our music classrooms, we are creating new and innovative ways to address these 21st Century Skills. At Pentucket , we are engulfing the 5 Comm...