State College Friends School Peace Choir
During my junior year, I accepted a position as Assistant Director of Peace Choir at the State College Friends School. Along with Penn State professor Dr. Ann Clements and a fellow music education major, we worked with the students each Friday afternoon. The students range from grades 4-8 and have varied previous musical experience. It was a pleasure working with these students, and a great preparation for student teaching. With this position, I was able to lead warm-ups, choose repertoire, and conduct the ensemble! Here is a clip from one of their holiday concerts!
After a year and a half with these students, I have learned so much about instruction and rehearsal techniques. I have enjoyed my time with these children very much, and I will miss them terribly! Here is a clip of Siyahamba, a Zulu song. The previous clip is from December 2010 and the following is from December 2011. The children have made great strides in the past year!
Musical Theater
For two summers, I was the musical director for a group called Lil' Bits of Broadway. This group is from the Pottsville, PA area, and is for children ages 5-18. I enjoyed this opportunity very much. I learned so much about children and how to manage crowd control as well as got to lead an outstanding group of youngsters on a musical journey! In addition to this, I ran a musical theater camp through the same program. I designed lessons for this week long camp and had approximately 10 students. Here are some photos from my experiences!
Bennett Center Teaching
In the Spring of 2011, I had the opportunity to teach an infant and toddler music class at the Bennett Center, a daycare and preschool on campus. With two of my colleagues, I co-taught this class once a week for a half hour. Our class had eight to ten children between the ages of nine months and three years. It was a fantastic experience, and we learned so much about musical development.We created a weekly lesson plan which included songs, chants, rhythm and tonal patterns, and improvisatory dance music. Click here to view the repertoire sheet that I have compiled for early childhood!
Arranging
As honors projects I have arranged two pieces for horn quartet. In the fall of 2010 I used William Byrd's Ave Verum Corpus as inspiration for my own arrangement. My quartet performed this during a common hour. In the spring of 2011 I arranged By Yon Bonnie Banks (Loch Lomond), a traditional Scottish folk song. I used the aid of a piano score to create this four-part arrangement.
St. Paul's Preschool and Childcare Center
In 2011, I took a position as a music teacher and teacher aide at a preschool and childcare center in downtown State College. I taught a weekly music class for the preschool students, which I continued through December of that year. I also was an aide in infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms. It was a great experience, as I learned a lot about classroom management and the nature of young children!
Advocacy
At the 2011 Pennsylvania Music Educators Conference, many members of the organization gathered one morning to create the following video. The song's message is powerful and emotional and reminds us of the importance of music and music education! I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to participate in this event. Enjoy!