Welcome to Your New Family! Ken Jeffs, MO-NAfME Collegiate Advisor
Welcome back…. I won’t bore you with the usual, “ Hope you had a great summer” comment. With new classes, ensemble requirements, and possibly a student teaching assignment, I am sure you are well past thoughts of summer. Instead I will regale you with a short story about a family reunion. Aren’t you excited now? Here goes!
For as long as I can remember my mother’s side of the family has held a family reunion every other year. As a youth I saw this as a time to have fun with my numerous cousins, endure the teasing by my uncles, and the embarrassing comments from my aunts. It really was no different from most reunions. You would hear talking about important family events, the remembrances of past friends and family, kids having fun, good food and, for this clan, music. Most memorable to me were the Friday and Saturday night jam sessions where, as I got older, my role went from passive listener to active participant. Each reunion had new faces as families grew by birth and marriage. The last day was reserved for a closing remembrance service honoring family faith and foundations concluding with a final meal before everyone packed up, said their tearful good byes and began the long journey home.
I share this with you because as I reflect on our participation in the important professional organizations, NAfME, MMEA, etc., I find the comparison to a family reunion too tempting to resist. When we are new to this extended musical family, we can
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be easily overwhelmed by the presence of respected individuals and their contributions to our music development. As we move from pre- service music educators to our own programs, our viewpoint changes as we now become novice practitioners and find our experiences growing rapidly. As our career progresses, those respected individuals become valued colleagues through which experiences are shared. We soon find ourselves looking back to events that were significant in our development and are frequently asked to share those with a new generation of music educators. Throughout all this, the common elements of interaction and fellowship grow to a point where we realize that being a part of this unique family is something that, if ever lost, would be sorely missed. At that point we discover our gathering together each January is as much about reunion as it is the music that originally and forever binds us.
What does this mean for your NAfME-C experience? Your time as a collegiate member of NAfME is an important stage in your personal and professional growth. It is time for you to look around and discover the wealth of experiences available to you through participation and interaction with your peers. The adventures you share with others as you interact musically, intellectually and personally will shape your perception of music education and the potential role you may one day perform. While your collegiate coursework will help you enter the classroom, you will soon find that your success there
is made possible by the strength, encouragement and mentorship of your professional family. Gathering for NAfME-C meetings is a time to network with others in your clan and share experiences that benefit all involved.
No one has to tell me that they are too busy to gather together. In fact, every active member of this family was at one time just as busy as you. You will find the reasons you create to avoid participation will come back to you in the form of excuses by your future students as to why they can’t be part of your program. I encourage you to make the decision early to become actively involved in your chapter. Be proactive, as this is often sited as a characteristic found in successful people. Encourage and assist your chapter leaders to develop activities that enrich everyone’s experiences and strengthen the foundations that bind this family together. The skills you develop as both an active participant and a possible leader will strengthen your abilities to teach those same skills to your students.
As with most articles starting with a story, getting back to that story in a conclusion is a must. Among the many lessons learned for those reunions, one of the most important is that we are stronger within the family than without. As I was told and have told my students countless times, “It is not all about you.” When we are part of something as important and professionally significant as a NAfME-C family, that lesson is not hard to understand. Hope to see you at the reunion…
MISSOURI SCHOOL MUSIC
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