Here we are at the bi-annual All Northwest Music Conference in Portland, OR. We are lucky to have a wonderful friend that is letting us crash at her spot for the next few days. Thanks, Mel!
For the next three days we will be cramming our heads with new ways to inspire, encourage and teach our students. These are long, physically sedentary days, but exciting. It is always refreshing to get new ideas, especially at this time of the year with things are lagging a little and students are tired.
I am always excited to get new ideas to bring back to my classroom. This year I am finding myself yearning for a new way to reach my choir students. Band is my bread and butter, so figuring out ways to get them going is pretty natural. I am instrumental first, and choral second. I am continually searching for ways to establish choral routines while creating new approaches to warm-ups. One thing I always am frustrated with is how to effectively teach choir students to read music. They check out so quickly when I begin to teach them how to read. I need a fun and engaging way to do this.
When at this conference, I always like to discover new approaches to instrumental ed. This is fun because I am just discovering new ways to put the "sugar on top," so to speak. My secondary goal is to discover this.
Teaching choral and instrumental at the same time is tough because I find myself spending much more time trying to develop my choral teaching methods because I feel I am much more inadequate in this department. This takes away from my improvement as a band director. Hopefully, I will be able to really establish an effective choral routine so I can return to a more aggressive approach to my first love, instrumental instruction.
This should be a very busy and tiring weekend, but I am definitely looking foreword to it!
Sam
