wsma accreditation New! WSMA Accreditation:


What’s All the Fanfare? Anne Proescholdt, WSMA Program Associate – Member Services


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Your school’s music program is outstand- ing. You and your colleagues don’t just enroll for Wisconsin School Music As- sociation (WSMA) membership – you go the extra mile. Each year, your students prepare for WSMA Solo & Ensemble Festivals and Concert Group Festivals or Concert Group Clinic Experiences. Maybe it’s not always easy, but your department takes full advantage of its WSMA mem- bership, ensuring that your school’s music students have access to and participate in the wide array of valuable educational opportunities available.


Your school – its students, teachers, mu- sic booster clubs, administration, school board, parents and community members – deserves recognition for this steadfast commitment to excellence in music education. That’s why WSMA is proud to introduce WSMA Accreditation in this 2017-2018 school year and beyond.


With accreditation, WSMA aims to spot- light member schools that exemplify our shared mission, “To ensure that all stu- dents have opportunities which encourage lifelong involvement in music,” through participation in WSMA programs. An elective option, accreditation replaces and transforms the once-mandatory concert group requirement (formerly listed under School Eligibility in WSMA Festival Rules).


Valuing Your Feedback


Though the longstanding concert group requirement was created in good faith to guide best teaching practices, many of today’s school music teachers feel that the threat of denial to Solo & Ensemble Festivals access is ultimately harmful to students. Teachers want to be trusted to know what is appropriate for their students’ unique needs and feel that their thoughtful pedagogical approach, or per- haps circumstances beyond their control,


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should not impede opportunities for stu- dent learning and growth.


After much discussion, the WSMA Festivals Committee determined that the concert group requirement no longer serves its intended purpose and instead places undue pressure on member school music teachers. In an effort to empower and affirm rather than police and penalize, the committee retired the concert group requirement and conceived WSMA Ac- creditation: official recognition of school achievement in WSMA programming participation.


How it Works


Awarded annually, WSMA Accreditation is cost-free and eligibility requires no new paperwork from member school music teachers or other personnel. To receive the honor, many schools will simply continue as before: 1) enroll for current school year WSMA membership, 2) register one or more students for WSMA District Solo & Ensemble Festival, and 3) register one concert group of each available ensemble type for WSMA Concert Group Festivals or Concert Group Clinic Experiences. Once all enrollments and registrations are successfully submitted (by June 1, 2018 for the 2017-2018 school year), WSMA will take care of the rest.


Accessibility for All


For some schools, achieving WSMA Ac- creditation annually may pose an exciting challenge, particularly because register- ing and preparing one concert group of each available ensemble type for Concert Group Festivals or Concert Group Clinic Experiences year after year will be a new, and possibly loftier, undertaking.


To teachers who feel accreditation may be out of reach due to this rigorous concert group component, WSMA recommends reviewing the parameters of Concert Group Clinic Experiences. An alternative to traditional Concert Group Festivals, Concert Group Clinic Experiences of- fer something different, and for some schools, increased accessibility and cost- effectiveness.


In the interest of simplification and mod- ernization, the WSMA Festivals Commit- tee revised concert group clinic offerings last school year to accommodate increased flexibility and creativity. The possibilities are endless: many concert groups already regularly perform on destination trips for panel feedback, work with resident composers and clinicians, and exchange critiqued performances with other concert groups over Internet video feeds. All have the potential to qualify as Concert Group Clinic Experiences.


WSMA Accreditation Criteria Checklist • My school is a WSMA member.


• At least one of my school’s music students participated in WSMA District Solo & Ensemble Festival.


• At least one of my school’s concert groups of each available ensemble type [see explanation below] participated in WSMA Concert Group Festivals or Concert Group Clinic Experiences.


band, one band must participate.


If my school offers at least one... choir, one choir must participate. orchestra, one orchestra must participate.


September 2017


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