James Zingara - President, Higher Education Division Dear HED Colleagues,
I greatly enjoyed seeing you at the recent AMEA Conference. I believe that this year’s Higher Education Division offerings were a great success due in
large part to the increased participation from the membership. Our sessions included an eclectic mix across the music education spectrum including technology, teacher education, applied music, music business, and special education. Our presenters (Ellary Draper, Jane Kuehne, Denise Gainey, and Ted Hoffman) represented five institutions of higher education in the State of Alabama including Alabama, Auburn, Montevallo and UAB. I am especially thrilled to say that our colleague Mildred Lanier of Jefferson State Community College presented the first session representing our community college HED members.
I was also pleased with the second HED Panel
Discussion: The Breakdown between the Higher Education Classroom and First Year Teacher Experiences. I believe that our HED panelists Brian Kittredge (UAB), Becky Halliday (University of Montevallo), and Anne Witt (University of Alabama) framed relevant questions and provided common sense solutions to many of the presented issues. Our first and second year teacher panelists Courtney Cooper, Sarah Commer, Russell Greene, and Cara Thomas were outstanding examples of young music educators and voiced their opinions and concerns in a relevant and well-articulated manner.
The HED Student Recital featured seven outstanding chamber groups from five schools from across the state. I would like to thank Lori Ardovino, Kip Franklin, Brenda Luchsinger, Adam Murphy, Michael Pendowski, and Katrina Phillips for showcasing their student ensembles at this recital.
The HED Luncheon was again a great success, and 24 HED colleagues representing
8 universities met to vote on the offices of President-Elect and Secretary-Treasurer of the Division. It is my pleasure to announce that the new President-Elect is Mildred Lanier of Jefferson State Community College, and the new Secretary-Treasurer is Dr. Katrina Phillips of Alabama State University. Both will take office this coming June; I would like to give both of them my heartfelt congratulations on their new leadership role in HED. Also assuming a new role is Dr. Becky Halliday (University of Montevallo), who is the current President-Elect and will become President this summer. HED is in very good hands, and I will look forward to much progress in the future.
Please check this column in upcoming editions and our webpage for announcements concerning the 2017 Conference. The Higher Education Division is growing and your contributions will be most welcome in the coming year. In the meantime, I would like to wish you a very successful and productive Spring semester.
Cliff Huckabee - President, Elementary/General Division
Greetings from the Elementary Division of the Alabama Music Educators Association! We are a few weeks past our very successful 2016 Annual In-service Conference and saw
some great things from our Elementary Division.
First, two of our very own were inducted into the Hall of Fame – Vicki Portis and Teresa McKibben. Both are very well deserving and represent the very best of elementary music education and the impact it can have on our youngest students. They have inspired so many students and teachers with their skillful instruction and quality lessons. They also supported our elementary division with their leadership on our elementary board and through their support of our Elementary Music Festival. But most of all, they are both loving and compassionate people that are a joy to be around and inspire the very best from everyone they meet. I wish them both the very best as they enjoy their retirement and this great honor bestowed upon them.
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Second, we had two great performances - Boaz Intermediate under the direction of Miriam Richey and The Kitty Stone Singers under the direction of Lisa Gillespie and Cheryl Wight. Both groups performed fabulously and showed what quality instruction from a skilled elementary music educator can produce. I loved seeing the excitement and enjoyment from all the kids as they performed. It is an experience that the students will never forget.
Third, we had some wonderful clinicians and sessions. It was my honor to welcome our two featured clinicians, Denise Gagne and Roger Sams. Both of them thoroughly enjoyed being in Alabama and both want to come back to future AMEA conferences. Both had booths in the exhibit hall providing valuable resources for our elementary music teachers. We hope to have Roger’s company back next year in our exhibit hall. It was also great to have several of our own elementary division teachers presenting sessions – Tiffani Stricklin, Kelly Hollingsworth, & Jeanette Shorey provided valuable sessions on topics that are affecting elementary music teachers here in Alabama. We also had Gail Kopetz from Mississippi present a session on Orff
integration on Saturday morning and had sessions from Quaver Music and ChordBuddy.
Overall, our 2016 In-service was one of our best ever! We look forward to one more year in Montgomery in 2017 and then we will move to Birmingham for the 2018 In-service.
There are several events coming up in the spring and summer that we would love to keep you informed about. We maintain an email list of our elementary music teachers and would love to have you on this list. If you have not received emails from us before, please send an email to:
elementaryamea@gmail.com
We will gladly add you to our email list for future notifications. Our elementary board is here to serve you and your needs. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any need you may have. I wish you all the very best as you finish out the 2015-2016 school year.
Respectfully Submitted, Cliff Huckabee
February/March 2016
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