jazz education A Shared Perspective on Support Systems
for Music Education Douglas W. Syme, WMEA State Chair, Jazz Education
Support systems for teachers vary a great deal depending on the subject, grade level, school system and various socio- economic factors. I thought it would be interesting – for the purposes of this ar-
ticle – to engage the help of some friends/ colleagues from different schools in the Milwaukee area to offer perspectives on support systems in their workplace. Together, we offer opinions and insight as to the support systems that exist at our respective schools. Here is some back- ground on each of us, followed by topics that we address:
Doug Syme: Director of Jazz Studies at Milwaukee High School of the Arts (MHSA) since fall of 2001. Band Direc- tor / Dept. Chair at Vincent High School from fall of ’98 until the spring of 2001. BM from Northern Ill. (1988) / MME from UW-Stevens Point (1996) / Teacher Li- censure at Alverno College (2001) / DMA from Boston University (2014).
Raymond Roberts: Director of Choral Music at MHSA since 1991. BM-Music
Education from Northwestern University (1991) / MEL – Educational Leadership – Cardinal Stritch (2011).
Gina Jensen: Director of Music at North Division High School (NDHS) since fall of 2014. Handbell and Orchestra Director at Young Musicians of Virginia from fall of 2012 to spring of 2014. Private Strings Teacher, 2008 to 2014. Bachelors of Sci- ence degree in Music Education from Marian College 2007. Teacher licensure in General, Choral and Instrumental Music.
Britney Freeman-Farr: Director of Milwaukee Montessori School Music Department since fall of 2012. BM from Lincoln University, PA (2010) / MME and Certification from VanderCook College of Music Chicago, IL (2012) / Graduate of Milwaukee High School of the Arts (2006).
Parents
Doug: The parent support system in the jazz department at MHSA is – for lack of a better term – very hit and miss. There are those parents who will chaperone, bake for a bake sale, and help in any way they can. Then there are those whom I have never met. I recall a student once telling me
Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras presents
Eugenie Mayer Bolz Family Spring Concerts
Saturday, May 19, 2018
1:00 pm – Harp Ensemble, Sinfonietta, Concert Orchestra 4:00 pm – Percussion Ensemble & Philharmonia Orchestra
Sunday, May 20, 2018 2:00 pm – Opus One & Youth Orchestra Mills Concert Hall
“Parental involvement is considerably the largest form of
support for our school.” ~Britney Freeman-Farr
during their senior year “My mom has never seen me play.” I replied, “That can’t be true, I have met your mother many times.” They replied, “You have met my mother at conferences, she has never been to a concert.” This disturbed me a great deal and made me think about how many of my students had similar, or worse, home circumstances. I am always encouraging increased parental involvement because it is so important in so many ways. I would love to see 100 percent of my parents at conferences and our performances.
Ray: Although parents are verbally very supportive of my efforts with their chil- dren during their time in the program at MHSA, the amount of physical support (hands-on volunteering and assistance) falls short of my desired goal. The resourc- es to which the parents of my students have access are quite limited. There are a small number of parents who do chaperone for performances off campus. For that, I am grateful.
Mills Concert Hall UW Humanities Building 455 N. Park St. Madison
wysomusic.org 608-236-3320
wyso@wysomusic.org WSM ad_Spring 2018_4.75 x
2.375.indd 1 38 2/27/18 12:03 PM April 2018
Gina: The parent involvement at NDHS is pretty slim unfortunately. We take a trip in the summer to participate in a few parades in Southern Wisconsin so we set up parent information nights and often have no one show up. We have only had one parent offer to come with us for that trip. We have had a couple of parents meet us at local parade events, but that still is a very low minority of parents compared
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