MMEA Conference: Avoiding Music Teacher Burnout

This clinic was with Dr. Kenneth Raessler, Director Emeritus of the Music Department at Texas Christian University. Dr. Raessler gave many ideas on how to cut down on music teacher burnout. Ideas included creating positive relationships with your administration/fellow faculty, learning how to polietely say "No" when asked to do too many thing, and remembering that we are here for the kids and the music.

Dr. Raessler noted that often music teachers are asked to conduct and teach a lot of students all at once. It is important to try and not be the one conducting/teaching everything. Reflecting at Pentucket, it is excellent that David Schumacher is here to give his talent and energy to the jazz program. Zach Field and Paul Dumas do the same with the percussion ensembles. This helps me focus my energy on the concert band, marching band, and musical pit orchestra. Marching Band alone takes up almost 9 straight Saturdays of performances in the fall. If I were to offer some more ensembles, I would like to bring in specialists to start chamber groups through community education.

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Band Room: A New Design

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Let’s Create a Composition Revolution in Massachusetts

Young Composers and Improvisers Workshop www.yciw.net Teaching composition is no easy task as the majority of pedagogical resources available lack the understanding of the typical classroom anatomy. Many teachers feel uncomfortable teaching this subject as we were not taught such concepts in our college pedagogy courses and may have never really delved into composition in our own role of music maker. This really puts us out of our comfort zone, and yet the benefits of a successful composition curriculum can become a catalyst for increased meaningful music making for our students . A music teacher in New York by the name of Matt McLean set out to debunk the common misconceptions we sometimes envision in classroom music composition. Matt created the non-profit organization and curriculum called the Young Composers and Improvisers Workshop (YCIW). He notes that “as a music educator I've seen my students develop their strongest connection to music when...

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