Summer Workshops

Why Did You Become a Choral Music Educator? -  Reconnecting To Your Vision
Course ID GMU563

Dr. Josh Nannestad

Whether our students are young or old, whether we are new to the profession or a seasoned veteran, we all risk losing sight of our guiding vision in the face of daily details and drudgery. Through workshop sessions that include examining repertoire, pedagogy, conducting technique, literacy, and community building, participants will reconnect with their own philosophy of music education, and the guiding value of the power of music teaching and learning as essential to the human experience.

We will sing, discuss, conduct, watch, listen and share. This workshop is appropriate for teachers who direct choral students from elementary all the way through high school and beyond. Each participant will receive a packet of music that will be explored during singing, score study, and reading sessions.


More about Joshua Nannestad ➔

Program Schedule
July 8–11, 2024
Monday–Thursday,  9 a.m.–3:30 p.m, 
Class attendance is required in person on the campus of Gordon College.
No class Friday, July 12, 2024

Registration
$1,275: Three (3) Graduate Credits
$980: Participation Only

Graduate credit registration requirements include mandatory attendance, final project, written assignment or assessment. Participants will be provided with a letter grade and academic transcript upon request.

Participation only registration indicates the participant is not required to submit a final project, written assignment or assessment. No academic transcript provided.

PDP completion documentation is not provided by Gordon College. Three graduate credits is the equivalent of earning 67.5 PDPs. Participants are encouraged to interface directly with DESE if they wish to convert their graduate credit earnings to PDPs.

First Steps in Music for Preschool & Beyond
Course ID GMU515

Lillie Feierabend

All people are born with the potential to become musical. With inappropriate or limited musical experiences in the early years, children consistently lose their intuitions for thinking tunes, feeling rhythms, and responding to expressiveness in music. This course will provide a bridge from research to practice by demonstrating how a "natural" curriculum rich in repertoire of traditional children's songs, rhymes, games and dances can develop young children's musical aptitude.

The First Steps in Music curriculum is designed to prepare children to become musical in three ways:

1. Tuneful - to have tunes in their heads and learn how to coordinate their voices to those tunes.

2. Beatful - to feel the pulse of music and how that pulse is grouped in either 2s or 3s.

3. Artful - to be moved by music in the many ways music can elicit a feelingful response.

A model of parents and children playing together in the years from birth to age 3 will be presented as well as a curriculum for 3 - 8 year old children in classroom settings. Participants can receive certification in First Steps in Music by the Feierabend Association for Music Education.

More about Lillie Feierabend ➔

Program Schedule
July 8–12, 2024
Monday–Friday,  8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m, 
Class attendance is required in person on the campus of Gordon College.

Registration
$1,275: Three (3) Graduate Credits
$980: Participation Only

Graduate credit registration requirements include mandatory attendance, final project, written assignment or assessment. Participants will be provided with a letter grade and academic transcript upon request.

Participation only registration indicates the participant is not required to submit a final project, written assignment or assessment. No academic transcript provided.

PDP completion documentation is not provided by Gordon College. Three graduate credit is the equivalent of earning 67.5 PDPs. Participants are encouraged to interface directly with DESE if they wish to convert their graduate credit earnings to PDPs.
 

Introduction to Adaptive Music Education
Course ID GMU587

Jessica Corwin and Jennifer Kass

Diversity is our strength and is present in many ways in every classroom. Differences among student neurotypes and abilities means that music teachers need a very full toolkit to meet the needs of all students, especially those with the highest support needs, to ensure that everyone is meaningfully included in joyful music-making and social connection. This course will closely examine topics including the imperative of listening to neurodivergent voices, anti-ableist language, neurodivergence-affirming classroom practices, current research on autism, common learning differences, and corresponding music-specific strategies. Authentic affirmation and celebration of all aspects of students' identities will be emphasized, including the reality that neurodiverse people are 2-3 times more likely than the general population to identify as LGBTQIA+.

Every class meeting will include tried-and-true model general music class activities that will work for students with disabilities in Inclusion and sub-separate Special Education contexts.

*This course will fulfill the Commonweatlh of MA teacher re-certification requirements for PDPs in special education.  Graduate credit earned can be converted to PDPs, See below.

More about Jessica Corwin and Jennifer Kass ➔

Workshop Program Schedule*
July 8–11, 2024
In person class attendance required on the campus of Gordon College.

Monday–Thursday, 9:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m. 
*No class on Friday, July 12

Registration 
$1,275: Three (3) Graduate Credits 
$980: Participation Only

Graduate credit registration requirements include mandatory attendance, final project, written assignment, or assessment. Participants will be provided with a letter grade and academic transcript upon request.

Participation only registration indicates the participant is not required to submit a final project, written assignment or assessment. No academic transcript provided.

PDP completion documentation is not provided by Gordon College. Three graduate credits is the equivalent of earning 67.5 PDPs. Participants are encouraged to coordinate directly with DESE if they wish to convert their graduate credit earnings to PDPs.
 

Integrating Drums, Bass, Guitars & Ukuleles - Next Steps for Maximizing Student Led Music Making in General Music  
Course ID GMU582

Kenneth Trapp

Joyful, meaningful music making is the vision for every general music teacher in a classroom setting - from elementary through middle school.The National Standards for Music Education promote life-long learning that includes instruction on non-traditional instruments, and opportunities for ensemble experiences and improvisation. This workshop will present simple ideas and activities to show how to put all of these together in order to maximize individual and collaborative music making experiences with your students.  Participants will learn to:

• Develop harmonic and rhythm skills
• Differentiate instruction based on the roles of the instruments
• Create opportunities for improvisation
• Help students in decision-making when creating small ensembles
• Learn a wide variety of musical styles

Examples of student work will give participants a view of authentic student experiences. In addition, participants will be given access to instructional materials to get started. Instruments and equipment will be provided for all participants, including guitars, ukuleles, and a variety of auxiliary percussion (hand drums, shakers, rhyhtm sticks, buckets and more.) This workshop is particularly applicable for general music curriculum, grades 2–8.

More about Kenneth Trapp ➔

Program Schedule
July 8–11, 2024
Monday–Thursday,  9 a.m.–3:30 p.m, 
Class attendance is required in person on the campus of Gordon College.
No class Friday, July 12, 2024

Registration
$1,275: Three (3) Graduate Credits
$980: Participation Only

Graduate credit registration requirements include mandatory attendance, final project, written assignment or assessment. Participants will be provided with a letter grade and academic transcript upon request.

Participation only registration indicates the participant is not required to submit a final project, written assignment or assessment. No academic transcript provided.

PDP completion documentation is not provided by Gordon College. Three graduate credit is the equivalent of earning 67.5 PDPs. Participants are encouraged to interface directly with DESE if they wish to convert their graduate credit earnings to PDPs.