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Episode 7: The Summer PD Survival Guide Every Music Teacher Needs
43 Plays2 months ago
In this episode of Play Now, Play For Life, host Aaron Hansen sits down with Judy Pine and Tereasa Evans from West Music’s national events team to talk all things summer professional development. From Orff and Kodály to World Music Drumming and Drums Alive, they walk through the many opportunities available for music educators—plus practical tips for choosing the right fit, navigating time and budget constraints, and even finding scholarships. Whether you’re just starting out or looking for fresh inspiration, this conversation offers guidance, encouragement, and a few laughs to help you feel confident and excited about growing your skills this summer.
Apply for the Jeanna McGlaughlin scholarship (applications close April 15, 2025): https://www.westmusic.com/jeanna-mcglaughlin-scholarship
Here are links to all of the organizations discussed in this episode!
American Orff Schulwerk Association: https://aosa.org/
Organization of American Kodály Educators: https://www.oake.org/
World Music Drumming: https://www.worldmusicdrumming.com/
Drums Alive: https://www.drums-alive.com/
Dalcroze Society of America: https://dalcrozeusa.org/
Learn more about this podcast at https://www.westmusic.com/playnowplayforlife
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Background
00:00:06
Speaker
Hi, everyone. You are listening to Play Now, Play for Life, a podcast for music educators. I'm your host, Aaron Hansen. I'm a former band and general music teacher of 29 years and now a part of the West Music team.
Focus on Professional Development in Music Education
00:00:21
Speaker
And every episode, we sit down and chat with experts in music education to learn about tricks of the trade and talk about topics in music education. And today, we've got a good topic and two great people to talk to about this topic. So we have two people right here from West Music, Judy Pine and Teresa Evans, and they are both very involved with professional development with teachers.
00:00:46
Speaker
And that's what we're going to get to talk about today. So welcome to both of you. Hello. Hi. um Could we maybe just start really quickly?
Roles and Responsibilities of Judy and Teresa
00:00:57
Speaker
ah Each one of you, Judy, maybe you could go first, but just kind of tell us your your current role at West Music and how that plays a little bit into professional development, because you both deal with this quite a bit.
00:01:10
Speaker
We do. um Trace and I, we're are part of what's called the events team, the national events team here at West Music. We focus on summer professional development as well as school year conventions.
00:01:26
Speaker
um I'm the director of national events. And I am the National Events and Program Manager.
Involvement in Music Education and Therapy
00:01:33
Speaker
Judy and I work side by side for music education, music therapy, drum circle facilitation, and wellness facilitation, and summer offerings, which include our ORF workshops, or our ORF levels courses, and then our world music drumming workshops throughout the summer as well.
00:01:49
Speaker
We are very busy. Well, you have both been very busy because Judy just got back from Kansas Music Educators and Teresa and I just got back right before that from Texas Music Educators. So you are out all the time. How many, i mean, if I could just ask, because I don't know, how many things do you think you go to in a year?
00:02:11
Speaker
May I back up a second? Yes, you may. Let's not forget Kodai as well. I didn't say that. Yes. um How many events we go to or how many events we coordinate?
00:02:23
Speaker
Ooh. It's a difference. Yes, it is. How about let's start with how many you actually physically go to? Just a roundabout. hi probably go to 10 year, maybe 12. I physically go to five. Yeah. Okay.
00:02:42
Speaker
Okay. Then let's
Summer Opportunities for Music Educators
00:02:44
Speaker
flip it. Then how many are you somehow involved in in one way, shape or another? Because that's quite a few more.
00:02:52
Speaker
I didn't count up. So for, I can tell you for world music drumming, I plan all of the world music drumming events. And so this summer there's 13.
00:03:03
Speaker
And then for MEAs, music therapy, I have planned eight of them for the school year. Yeah. We do about 15 to 20 conventions for the school year, um including working with percussion sores.
00:03:23
Speaker
and the regional a band department for a couple of events too. And then in the summer, um we supply or work with 80% of the Orff-Schulvrick courses that run in the in the summer and probably about eight or 10 of the Kodai max.
Types of ORF and Drumming Workshops
00:03:45
Speaker
So needless to say, between the two of us, we're very busy. Yes, you are. So let's kind of break that down a little bit more. um What would you say to teachers as far as, let's talk summer for just a minute, but as far as summer opportunities, all the opportunities you can think of, you already said a couple of them and you can say them again, but just what's out there?
00:04:09
Speaker
um Judy, do you want to throw some out first? Sure. Well, we talked about Orff Schulwerk. and the Kodai Levels programs, which are two-week programs. There are also some what they call one-week supplemental courses at some of those same places.
00:04:26
Speaker
And those can be curriculum, ORF curriculum, maybe ukulele, early childhood, additional movement, doll crows, for adapting for all students in your classroom, and as well as ORF-Schlvrik repertoire.
00:04:44
Speaker
And Teresa? There are many World Music Drumming workshops that are offered. So most likely, if you've never taken World Music Drumming workshop, you're going to want to start with level one.
00:04:56
Speaker
They do offer level one, level two, level three. And those are kind of stair steppers as well. So you always want to make sure you have a level one before you entered level two. lover three And then there's also drumming up the fun, which Melissa Bloom, our west be part of our West Museum family teaches.
00:05:12
Speaker
That is a condensed version of level one for for your younger learners. So pre-K through two. There's also another course called Kids Choir and Drum, which Dr. Lynn Brinkmeyer does teach. And so it's a It's a condensed version and of the level one, but it also inquires, well, it incorporates many facets of singing.
00:05:33
Speaker
And then there's also a fun one that's been new for the past couple of years called Festival Brazil. And that is taught by... uh outside ah the u.s so non-western musicians so you're actually getting a full encompassing brazilian music edger to come teach you so you'll have all of those instruments and we support all of those as well and then i'll do a shameless plug for one of our business partners so drums alive will have a drums alive conference it is at the end of june and it is over two to three days and they're also offering
00:06:08
Speaker
Um, their drums alive, basic level one course as
Drums Alive Conference Details
00:06:12
Speaker
well. So if you wanted to start and tiptoe into the drums, live you can come to the drums alive conference and get professional developments and it, it's going to be in Arizona. So bring your fans. It will be. be pretty hot at the end of June, but they're also, it it you'll be able to meet the creator of the Drums Alive program. You'll get to see people and music educators, music therapists, general hobbyists, principals, counselors that use the Drums Alive programming in their schools, in their physical education programs as well. So there are a couple of offerings on the World Music Drumming and the Drums Alive side of things for this summer.
00:06:48
Speaker
Well, Teresa, let me ask you really quickly, and then I got to jump back to Judy. This is like a ping pong. um With Drums Alive, do they offer that every summer? Actually, that's a great question. So this is the second summer. So last year was the inaugural and it was in Ohio.
00:07:06
Speaker
And this year is the second. So each year we're building, building, building. And we will have a West Music pop-up store on site at the conference. And myself and i believe Larissa Perez are going to be able to attend the Drums Alive conference. So that'll be exciting.
00:07:23
Speaker
Oh, very good. um So Judy, what I wanted to ask you, um ah aside from ORF, what about CODI workshops over the summer? What's what's the kind of current status with those nowadays? Well, let's kind of take ah maybe a little step back or we can talk about what we do for all the ORF courses that we work with. Sure. We provide a URL on our website.
00:07:49
Speaker
So a link to our website with all their required and recommended materials, recorders, um maybe some suggested things that they're encouraging their teachers to view.
00:08:01
Speaker
And they can get um free shipping for a certain dollar amount. And that coupon is good through the end of August. um So we provide that for all the ORF courses we work with, whether we have an on-site store or not, as well as for the Kodai courses we work for.
00:08:20
Speaker
um And those work really pretty well. And, you know, it's not that everyone will buy from us. We hope they will. But um there are maybe they'll find their books from a friend or used store or something.
00:08:34
Speaker
But this way, there's a way for Kodai educators to be an Orff-Schulwerk teachers to be able to find the materials that are required for their course because they're similar, but not always all the same.
00:08:49
Speaker
And with one more question, Judy. Are there are theyre currently some Dow Crows courses going in the summers? um There aren't very many at the places that we ah supply materials for. um There have been some up at the University of St. Thomas.
00:09:09
Speaker
um I believe there are other courses around the country. While we consider ourselves that we provide for
Course Durations and Structure
00:09:17
Speaker
the most everything, we don't do it all.
00:09:20
Speaker
I will chime in. the University of Kentucky continually has a Dalcroze. Oh, thanks, Trisa. Oh, okay. And just to clarify, because you both know all this stuff, ORF courses are two weeks.
00:09:34
Speaker
Kodai, I believe, are still two They are two weeks. And Dalcroze, that one? or i think, um I always thought Dalcroze was two weeks.
00:09:45
Speaker
I'll do a quick check. Okay. And then World Music Drumming is one. I know that from taking it. And Drums Alive is? Drums Alive is the conference. So that'll be okay two to three days.
00:09:58
Speaker
Okay, because I know that's always an issue for teachers. It's the time commitment, you know, and it's hard. um Teresa, while she's looking at that, as far as like the, can you talk a little bit about the the world music drumming? Like, what does a week look like? I mean, I have done level one, so I can.
00:10:16
Speaker
talk to you. Absolutely. So the Mecca, the drum camp is actually in West Music's own backyard this year. So last year we started a new ah new launch in partnership with World Music Drumming and Remo to bring in a it more World Museum Drumming faculty members to the site Cedar Rapids location.
00:10:37
Speaker
We had offered level one, level two, and level three. And that way people can pick which level they want to come to. That class actually starts on a Sunday. And we we call that the Mecca because it's kind of an an immersive experience.
00:10:53
Speaker
It starts on a Sunday with a reception and and it begins with gathering community. It begins with meeting people, meeting fellow music educators, meeting fellow musicians out there in their niche of the world.
00:11:08
Speaker
And you get to meet people that do the same exact thing that you do. And so from Monday to Friday, you take many different types of sessions that include pedagogy, include include singing, include movement, but all in all, you're going to incorporate the facets of the curriculum that is world music drumming. So you're going to learn and ah and necessarily a sequential process of how to incorporate those particular rhythms and what they call ensembles into your development. And they'll talk about the practical applications with students, with
00:11:46
Speaker
with what grade level appropriateness that might be applicable to. And from Monday through Friday, you get this full immersive experience. And about by Wednesday, your brain is overloaded, but you continue to learn and you continue to drive through because it's truly a magical thing to be able to sit there amongst your peers and learn at the same time. And then on Friday,
00:12:10
Speaker
You have, and sometimes they call it a share session or they call it an informational session based upon who the faculty member is. But on Friday, you get to play in front of your peers, in front of invited family members, admins, um West Music family will come to the Cedar Rapids location. and And you get to show off what you learned throughout the entire week. And regardless of ah where where that location is, so if you take it in California, in Valencia at the Remo Music Center, which it will be there this year, again, you will get to show off what you learned throughout the week. So it's a fully immersive experience.
00:12:49
Speaker
the The people that you're going to sit alongside with are going to become your family members. And you're going to text them and you're going to ask them what they're going through, how they taught things when they get back to their classroom. And they they have to start teaching these things and they can't yet remember what they did on Tuesday or the rhythms of Ensemble 3. And there you you'll have a community. And I know that faculty members encourage people to join them.
00:13:13
Speaker
the World Music Drumming Facebook private page. So that way when you go back and you have questions, you can throw it out there in the group chats and in the group posting. So you have that support along the way as well. Patti Bourne, Melissa Bloom, Paul Corbier, Will earl Ulrich,
00:13:31
Speaker
All of the faculty members are always there as you continue and to incorporate all of the world music drumming into your classroom. So they continually support even after your week with them.
00:13:44
Speaker
Well, it is amazing because I've done world music drumming and ORF, but it is amazing in that timeframe, the amount of material and activity. Like you said, everybody, we always called it when you hit your wall.
00:13:58
Speaker
And your brain is just, you need a moment just to collect yourself and then keep going. We always knew it in the ORF levels as a class, the teacher would say, oh boy, i think they've hit their wall today. Like, okay, let's just bring it down a little bit and then then they'll be ready again.
00:14:14
Speaker
Judy, so same kind of question. um With two weeks with ORF courses, how would you kind of summarize that experience? Well, it's very similar to what Teresa says. There are different courses. You'll have a basic um yeah with with learning about how to use the instruments, how to use...
00:14:34
Speaker
ah body percussion, incorporating speech, singing, um the instruments, you probably won't even use them the first day in level one. um And then learning about how to use how to use this approach to teach music education.
00:14:53
Speaker
There's a recorder class. You're going to learn how to teach beginning recorder. If you're a a ah recorder player, you can be in the advanced recorder.
00:15:04
Speaker
group where then you get to really dig in and play some pieces um versus just BAG. But sometimes teachers come and they've um not really ever, they're not wind players.
00:15:17
Speaker
So they need to learn how to properly teach the recorder. And then there's movement classes too. um Expressive movement. Erin, you're a movement teacher, haven't you taught levels?
00:15:30
Speaker
Yes, I've i' taught one and two. Yeah, you've taught courses. So they come together. There's also then, um there tend to be a um ah course or a class, different days of the week where they all come together, a 2D whatever it'll be called. know all Maybe they'll learn a new piece together as a group, or they'll have some choral music they go through.
00:15:55
Speaker
um And then this happens for nine days, Monday through Friday. And then by day 10, they also will have a sharing or a informant, as Teresa called it, to share some of the things that they learned with their other with their other teachers and groups. And of course, you know, the same camaraderie and ultimate communication continues on through the year.
00:16:25
Speaker
um Back to the Dahlcrows question. At University of Kentucky, it's a four-day workshop this summer. oh um The ORF courses are do have homework, um and most of them you will take credit for.
00:16:41
Speaker
ah at that college or university. Some of them you can apply toward a master's degree, depending on a master's degree at that university or beyond. um There are a few you can audit.
00:16:55
Speaker
There might be more than I'm thinking of have dug into, but there's always that opportunity then to advance yourself up the pay scale and your education too.
00:17:08
Speaker
raise that Same question with world music drumming. Did they offer a graduate credit with that at all? I was thinking they did. Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. Another question.
00:17:20
Speaker
i think I know the answer, but just in case, but for any of these courses, this question always comes up, especially from newer teachers. Do you need any um previous training? They always think, well, I don't know if I could take an ORF levels course because I have i don't have ORF training.
00:17:38
Speaker
And, Or world music drumming training, you know, whoever wants to. Sure. For Orff Schulwerk, you don't need Orff training. That's what you're going to learn at the two weeks. Yes.
00:17:49
Speaker
You need to have basic music skills because you are going to be writing out perhaps a body percussion part, which means you have to understand rhythm.
00:18:01
Speaker
And then you'll have an assignment where you'll do a write and orchestration. Not a complex piece by any means, but something appropriate for a beginner.
00:18:14
Speaker
Level two, it's more advanced than level three. And of course, reading music. um There have been people that have not necessarily been a music teacher that have taken level one.
00:18:26
Speaker
um They don't always tend to go on very far because of the skill, the musical skills that are needed. I concur with Judy on the world music drumming side of things. A basic knowledge of music will help you and it will help your learning throughout the courses or across the workshops. But this program, you don't have homework left.
00:18:51
Speaker
Like you have four or four levels, ah but you will be practicing. You will be playing constantly. But church musicians, community-based musicians, drum circle leaders, music educators, this is this is for you. You can walk in there with a basic knowledge of music and your understanding and your You'll keep filling your brain with how to teach and what to teach and when to teach, but you don't have to have any previous drumming experience because that's what you're going to get on site. You're going to get that, that opportunity to make music in a group of, of people.
00:19:34
Speaker
So you'll be taught. You know, um, and this is the same for Kodai as well. Um, I have not taken a Kodai course. I've been around those courses. We've had other associates who have taken Kodai courses that no longer work at West Music, um former teachers.
00:19:54
Speaker
But similar sorts of trainings. You know, a level one is meant for a beginner. Level two, it gets a little tougher. whether it's world music drumming or for Kodai.
00:20:07
Speaker
um Sight singing and um ear training in Kodai was never my strong suit in college. But um for some people, that is where they want to go. As you've had former podcasts with AOSA people and OAKE,
00:20:28
Speaker
ah People as well talking about the passion of of what they do. And of course, world music drumming too. So, um you know, not everything fits everybody, but people tend to figure out pretty quickly, oh this is what I want to do. And I want to take all three levels of whatever.
00:20:48
Speaker
Or maybe they go, i want to take level one ORF. And now I'm going to take world music drumming. That's what I'm more comfortable in. Or maybe they take world music drumming and the opposite applies.
00:21:03
Speaker
They then decide, I'm a little more formal. Perhaps I'd like to do Kodai or something like that. What's nice is there's such a nice variety of trainings all summer long.
00:21:17
Speaker
And West Music does our very best to be involved and every everyone we can be. And I do want to piggyback on that. Judy, you brought up ah something. I've been asked multiple times it if people can take multiple levels within a summer.
00:21:35
Speaker
And my answer specifically for world music drumming is if you've never taken world music drumming at all, start with the level one, then go back and teach and have those applications and have those aha moments and have those questions down.
00:21:51
Speaker
And if you're ready to move on the next summer, take the level two. And then go back and marinate on it more and then come back for level t three. Because for me as a as a go-getter, as someone one who always has the gas pedal down, I need that time to have my brain relax and dissect everything that I just learned, especially coming off of World Music Drumming Level 1.
Scholarships and Financial Support
00:22:16
Speaker
It's a lot of information. So... Yes, they can take level one, level two, and level three in the summertime, but give your yourself so give your brain some time. yeah come back it's It's really not, it's not the best because as I agree with Teresa totally there.
00:22:33
Speaker
um And actually, I think it's discouraged for Orph and Kodai. Partly, number one, they're two-week courses. And there may not be one close to where you live.
00:22:47
Speaker
As well as two weeks is going to be more expensive than one week, especially if you take it for credit. So financially, you might want to spread it out a little bit too. um but or you could be crazy like I was.
00:23:01
Speaker
I took level one or if in one summer, and the next summer I took level two twice. It was great. I had two different sets of faculty. I was at two different locations.
00:23:13
Speaker
I was young and crazy and had a great time and learned so much in that summer. But, and then I was ready for level three the next year.
00:23:24
Speaker
um I've also, and I know Teresa has too, um here at West Music, we've had the opportunity to take level one more than once or level two more than once or even level three.
00:23:36
Speaker
And, It's that's a great opportunity for us because then we can talk about all those levels with people and our experiences and encourage them to take it at your own pace.
00:23:47
Speaker
Don't think you have to do everything in one summer. Well, I think both of you, 100% agree very well said by both of you, because i think you could be the best musician and the best teacher, but nobody should try to get all these levels in the summer. It's like you need, as Tracy said, you need that time to explore and really get into what you've learned before you move on and then be ready.
00:24:15
Speaker
So, but I didn't know Judy that you took two level twos in the summer. That's, that's an impressive. like but I was young and I was excited and I,
00:24:27
Speaker
Had saved my money. So I went. It seems like whenever you talk to teachers about, you know, maybe they took level one and you say, why did Did you never go on to level two?
00:24:38
Speaker
No. And they either they got married or they had children. And it was life. you know Life happens. but Life does happen. Yeah. And especially, I think more than ever, life happens.
00:24:51
Speaker
um Or maybe they are have taught for 20, 30 years and now they finally decide to take a course. in any of these fields.
00:25:04
Speaker
And then they're like, why did I wait so long? So, you know, your find your passion and go for it. And for me, it was always money.
00:25:16
Speaker
I got my level one in 2008 with Sandy and Gretchen. And then i was a brand new teacher and that pay scale for brand new teacher is pretty low, even coming in with a master's degree.
00:25:28
Speaker
But it was always how how can I pay for something? And i got my level too in two in 2011 only because I was one of the recipients for the Cape Mon scholarship.
00:25:40
Speaker
through AOSA. So that was the way I was able to pay to go to the University of Kentucky to get my level two with Cindy Hall. And then and then i got my level three with the wonderful Jay Broker at the University of Kentucky as well. So money a lot of the time. So there are resources out there through AOSA, maybe through your ORF chapters as well, that they might have scholarships for those type of professional development opportunities as well.
00:26:07
Speaker
Well, and we have a brand new scholarship here through West Music. I wanted to be sure to bring that up. was waiting for it. was waiting for it. Yeah. Go ahead.
00:26:17
Speaker
It's a new scholarship. It was just on a recent e-blast and i I'm not exactly sure where the landing page is on our website quite yet. But Gina McLaughlin, she was a dear friend and ah a colleague that we worked with for, I worked with for 37 years.
00:26:35
Speaker
And um a scholarship when she passed away last June quite suddenly developed. um She wanted one. She left it in her will to have a scholarship here at West Music, as well as she left money, wanted money funded for a local Ukrainian support group.
00:26:56
Speaker
And both are quite wonderful. So this is a new scholarship in Gina's honor. um Three educators may apply for ah up to $500 towards an ORF workshop.
00:27:10
Speaker
Gina primarily worked with ORF courses through her career the most. And so it will be something that they can apply by April 15th.
00:27:22
Speaker
And then once the course is over, they will receive the $500. There's some stipulations, of course, and i and I'm sure there'll be a link here that'll be added at some point.
00:27:33
Speaker
Well, that'll be amazing. And you know, that's something I always plug to people as far as our organizations. you know They always want to know what are what are perks to be part of whatever organization. And with AOSA, I said, well, if you're a member for a full year, and they may have even changed that policy by now, but I said, then you're you could get a scholarship, which I got, Teresa, to speak to your point, that was my level three paid because it is expensive when you do the graduate credit three summers in a row, but...
00:28:03
Speaker
That was really helpful for me. um Okay, so let's talk a little bit, little history. So whoever wants to start with this Let's back up a moment. i There are also scholarships, of course, through the OAKE fund. These organizations do their best to support their educators and encouraging people to find the funds.
00:28:27
Speaker
Well, and I know in my interviews, we did three interviews with OAKE leadership, and they also have a scholarship just to attend their conference, their national conference. And that was really cool.
00:28:39
Speaker
um So yeah, all these organizations are doing everything they can to help get our teachers there. um Can we talk for a little while about West Music's connections to all these whether it's conferences or levels courses, kind of, when did that all start?
00:29:01
Speaker
Well, let's see. um Before i joined West Music in 1980, actually, West Music was involved at a The course in Des Moines, there was a course at Grandview College, and they had supported the level one there with ORF instruments and a bookstore, as well as they'd been involved up at the university.
00:29:26
Speaker
Hamlin University and the summer I started um so they would ah the person before me had a limited bookstore because there really wasn't as much in print there they provided we provided some orf instruments and percussion tubanos weren't in anybody's dream at that point but ah basic kinds of claves, finger cymbals, shakers, scrapers, frame drums, those sorts of things for use at the course and a course of and sale available at the end of the course too.
00:30:04
Speaker
And that's how we've carried it on through the years for courses. Then when world music drumming came to be about 25 years ago, Tracy says that's not about right. Yeah.
00:30:15
Speaker
um Steve West and I saw Will Schmidt present at an MENC conference down in Arizona. that the spring before. and turns out we had the opportunity. i could go up there and the Remo drums had just kind of come to be.
00:30:32
Speaker
And so I loaded up the minivan and went up to Wisconsin and, um, took drums and sold them all by the end of the course and had a small bookstore there. And that's, that's continued with ORF and drumming.
00:30:47
Speaker
And um the Kodai courses have mostly gone online. um There's a few, we still have onsite bookstores um for, sometimes it's all about the finances, about how much materials cost.
00:31:02
Speaker
And at what point do people have other discretionary monies to buy anything else too? um Teresa, do you want to talk about conventions? I think you did a great job. you know every year we Every year we look at and we evaluate you know the sales from the previous years, our bandwidth of sending associates to attend, because some of the times conventions overlap each week and you know ah many people reach out to us and Beg us to come to the convention, but we have to make those hard decisions of if we have enough people, if we have the bandwidth, if we have all of those things in place, not even just for the people that go on site, but on the back end of things too, because we have a full convention team, Aaron, that preps all of our instruments, supplies, our convention materials to go out. So they work really hard on the back end of things.
00:31:56
Speaker
to set us up for success while we're on site, but then they also have to check all of that back in. So some of the times we can't go everywhere, you know, we can't make all of it happen, but we do try our very best, especially with music education convention. And also we do still go to music therapy conventions. So
West Music's Involvement in Music Therapy
00:32:14
Speaker
next week I'll go to the Great Lakes region region music therapy in Columbus. And then the following week we have the Midwest region music therapy conference. That's actually in our Iowa region. So we have a full,
00:32:26
Speaker
staff of music therapists here at West Music. They are largely connected to everything that is music therapy associations and the University of Iowa is also a great partner in music therapy and for West Music. But that Midwest region music therapy convention is actually in our own backyard here in Iowa City. So that's a one day convention. So we work hard to do those things as well. And then we have, sometimes we have little pop-up that come up like, ah for instance, Larissa, who is our Texas-based sales consultant, she will be doing, in combination with Mario Luna at Forney ISD, they're bringing in David Rau in April, and it is a free workshop. It's ah just professional development. over a Saturday.
00:33:13
Speaker
And we do those types of events along the school year as well. So there's lots of things. Yeah. We also, Erin, as you well remember, being involved in the first Iowa ORF chapter, um we still attend three or maybe four of our local ORF chapters through the year.
00:33:35
Speaker
um First Iowa ORF in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the greater Chicago or if chapter, the Minnesota or if chapter, ah Midwest Kodai sometimes happens smaller event for Kodai, regional event.
00:33:50
Speaker
So we, it all just depends as Trice sends about people. It also kind of comes down how many supplies we have. Do we have enough drapes?
00:34:01
Speaker
Do we have it enough of this? Do we have enough of that? You know, cause, You got to make sure you just don't send somebody in. It's like, oh, we didn't send a table drape. That's very good here.
00:34:13
Speaker
So, you know, it's it's a lot of planning. And it's it's hard to turn people down. But it's kind of the reality. We can only go so many places. And we see more and more um competitors go fewer and fewer places.
00:34:33
Speaker
um And so we try to fill that void the best we can. um at conventions, we also have been asked to provide instruments for a session room or two.
00:34:48
Speaker
Or there is a newer thing that started at Florida a number of years ago and now has continued to Virginia where there's an all-state Orphan Ensemble.
00:35:01
Speaker
And so at times we've provided ORF and percussion for those as well. And, um you know, that adds on to everything else you have in the booth that, oh, by the way, we have to now move these instruments to where they need to go.
00:35:18
Speaker
and then when it's done, we have to pack those up while we may still packing up the booth or whatever. So needless to say, you know, it it takes a lot of ah organization and being able to lift a box now and then.
00:35:35
Speaker
As far as like conventions, workshops, all of that, if you and you don't need to be specific if you don't want to be, but what types of special promotions do you sometimes run when you run a store somewhere?
00:35:48
Speaker
Is there a certain... Conventions... ah Some of this may change considering the climate right now. ah It's not been well defined for next year for convention yet.
00:36:01
Speaker
um We typically have, we've had discounts on percussion and props, um accessories, we call them. books tend to be at their regular price. We do have a free shipping co coupon available for a certain dollar purchase.
00:36:18
Speaker
And um in the past, we've had in the summer, we've had a rebate program. um
Challenges of Summer Event Participation
00:36:27
Speaker
That has to be defined as well with two of our main vendors.
00:36:33
Speaker
And that is yet to be defined as well. So Well, we will have an e-blast that Teresa will craft, a number of e-blasts that will go out about summer.
00:36:43
Speaker
And in that, we'll show that sort of information. So be sure, be sure and sign up for West Music emails and open them up and read them.
00:36:54
Speaker
um There will ultimately be a calendar on our website, too. of all the places we go this summer. And you'll be shocked to see we tend to have as many as 60 events that we're involved in this summer.
00:37:10
Speaker
So if somebody ever asked, Teresa and I, do you take time off in the summer? And we're like, no, no, we're busier than ever in the summer. But that's okay.
00:37:22
Speaker
That's how we get to meet and greet our teachers everywhere too. Wow. Well, you two are busy. there's you have a lot going on, but we're there. um I don't know. We might have covered all this, but are there any other professional development type opportunities throughout the year? We've kind of really focused a lot on summer.
00:37:43
Speaker
What would you throw out to teachers during the school year? I know one that I would say. You know, there's always the ORF chapters. Kodai chapters, you're going to find those on aosa.com and OAKE, or it's probably.org, isn't it? Yeah. SillineMe.org and oake.org.
00:38:04
Speaker
And there are chapters all around the country and for both of those mindsets. And they will have maybe two, maybe five workshops through the years of different things. They'll bring in a drumming person or a movement person.
00:38:20
Speaker
somebody will tell stories and then yeah we'll may use some morph instruments too but it doesn't mean you have to have any levels to take any of those courses those uh to attend those chapter workshops at conventions there are all kinds of uh event sessions that happen um this past week i was at kansas music ed and we there were um Multiple elementary general music sessions, ah focusing both on um things. One session was how you use egg shakers and rhythm sticks in your classroom.
00:38:59
Speaker
Who doesn't have rhythm sticks and egg shakers in that classroom? Probably most everybody has them. And what a nice way to do something that doesn't scare people off to think, oh, I'm supposed to have 20 xylophones.
00:39:14
Speaker
Not at all. Not at all. We all have to start out and you use what you have available to you. What have I forgotten, Teresa? ah So additionally, we, West Music, have partnered with Anne Fennell, a music educator in California. i believe she's a past CMEA president.
00:39:34
Speaker
We have partnered with her to travel to California. We will bring a professional development clinician. We don't know who that is quite yet. And for a week of travel, we will we will stop at multiple locations. We'll bring a
Upcoming Professional Development Events
00:39:49
Speaker
pop-up store. We'll bring instruments and accessories to use in the actual workshop itself.
00:39:55
Speaker
And look for that information via our e-blast, on our online channels, on our social media, because that is coming down the pipeline. But it additionally, we have other type of workshops and development types that are don't that are don't fall in the OR for War Music Drumming umbrella or Music Education umbrella.
00:40:17
Speaker
Remo has a program called Health Rhythms. Health Rhythms is, i didn' the way that I like to summarize it is it's music as a tool for wellness. So this is for people... that um our music educators, music therapists, drum circle facilitators, hobbyists, when I took my health rhythms training course, there was two neurosurgeons in the class, in the actual class itself.
00:40:40
Speaker
And that typically happens over two days. There are various trainers that the The trainer that is coming here sure to Iowa in September, his name is Frank Thompson. And I just recently did a video with Frank promoting all of his work and all of his backstory with Remo and how West Music and Remo and Health Rhythms all came together together.
00:41:03
Speaker
And that particular workshop is September 12th. It's going to be here in the Coralville store. And we're also going to be offering um out more than just a typical health rhythms training. So Frank also does African drumming as well.
00:41:17
Speaker
So he'll have a night session on African drumming. And then additionally, we're getting ready to launch our brand new Drums Alive Master Trainer yeah URL on our West Music website.
00:41:30
Speaker
We are building information that will provide all of our customers to reach out to Drums Alive trainers in their specific area. We have some trainers that are in the Southeast. We have trainers that are in Ohio specifically. If you're looking to bring in a trainer. If you're looking just for a session, like a play party or something like that, you can bring in a Drums a Alive trainer. If you're interested, you can have Drums Alive trainer come and talk to your admin to give you that whole sales pitch and that whole product informational session as well. So we're getting ready to launch that. Look for that on our socials and then through our email channels. And i hope to have that launched before the Drums Alive conference, which is again at the end of June.
00:42:15
Speaker
You know, and the other thing we're not talking about, Teresa and I may not be as well versed, but Percussion Source is another part of the national events team.
00:42:26
Speaker
Percussion Source focuses more on um high school, college percussionists. um And they also exhibit at conventions.
00:42:38
Speaker
They have had been involved in master classes. I'm not sure of what their summer program is. but So it's not just elementary that we work because West Music is really, you know, babies to ah with music therapy with seniors.
Percussion Source's Educational Focus
00:42:55
Speaker
And so we're really about music education for everybody. Well, and I and I think, Teresa, you touched on this already, but it's really exciting to hear things being offered right in the store.
00:43:08
Speaker
and And that doesn't always happen, but we, you know, Frank Thompson is just such an advocate of West music. And he, he pitched me with this idea and I said, why haven't we been doing this?
00:43:20
Speaker
It makes, it makes all the sense. And it's a perfect month. It's in September. I did cross correlate the calendars with the university of Iowa's football. So we're not hitting the weekend for that particular training, but Yeah, so not all the times we can make it happen, but our Coralville location, the managers there, they love the is ah they help us facilitate any way we need to. We've had um drum circle facilitation trainings at the Coralville location before as well.
00:43:51
Speaker
So we have we are active and anytime we can snatch up a good idea, we'll do it. Well, and as Judy said, I mean, we are play now, play for life. But I know at the Cedar Falls store a few months ago, we had a piano person come in and it was geared more towards adult piano teachers.
00:44:09
Speaker
But it was a great professional development for those teachers because that was their skill set and what they do. So it was really great to have that. um Let me ask you this question to both of you.
00:44:22
Speaker
So because
Advice for New Teachers
00:44:23
Speaker
you go to a lot of places throughout the years, when you talk to new teachers, who are maybe not sure about what to what to go do for professional development or where do I start? or and i I don't mean to say you're endorsing one particular thing, but just what would you say to them to encourage them to take that step?
00:44:46
Speaker
Because I think sometimes as a newer teacher, you don't think you're ready because you're still, you know, what would you say to them? You know, in college, yeah they have to you need to learn everything in those four years that go for your degree.
00:45:03
Speaker
And they apply to your degree, and it's a good smattering. You know, you learn about history, you learn about You're vocal, you're instrumental, you're jazz musician.
00:45:16
Speaker
you focus on your field. um Maybe you took one or two ah ah music education courses ah during the during the course of the time.
00:45:28
Speaker
And now you're going to teach elementary general music. And you're like, I don't even have any books in my classroom. What do I do? course, now in this day and age, everything's online, um then look for something that's maybe in your area.
00:45:45
Speaker
That'd be a way to look at it. Maybe there's something in your state that, or there's somebody you could go stay with. Find a relative who's willing to let you stay in their spare bedroom for a week or two to get your feet wet, to learn about something, or again, ORF chapter, Kodai chapter.
00:46:06
Speaker
You kind of just have to talk to people and say, you know, well, what did you do in college? What were you exposed to? And then you might be able to find out what they're interested in.
00:46:18
Speaker
Here's a funny story. Last week at Kansas Music Ed, there were a number of high school and college students there. And on Saturday, and they were all over our booth because we had all kinds of things to play.
00:46:35
Speaker
They were quite a number of ensembles. And this happens at every one of our conventions, wherever we go. um But at this, at Kansas Music Ed, our booth was really, really busy.
00:46:46
Speaker
And this professor came up on Saturday and she said, you know, thanks for like letting my kids play all week. She goes, I think there's going to be a few of them interested in general music now, elementary music now.
00:47:00
Speaker
And I went, great. They got exposed to something. That's half of it. You have to be exposed to something to have an understanding of that sounds like fun.
00:47:11
Speaker
I, you know, I have to backpedal a little bit. So I have a master's degree in percussion performance, but my bachelor's degree is in music ed. And my music education for the elementary or the general music levels was a paragraph or was a paragraph in a music ed book. And then we We were required to read the Kodai Method, the Chosky book.
00:47:35
Speaker
And i i was supposed to be a band director. i got my master's in percussion. And when the reality set in, i went to get a job and the only jobs available were elementary music. I started on October 2nd.
00:47:50
Speaker
Right. My predecessor, you know, the That veteran teacher left the Friday before I started. And I walked into the room and I i just, I was like, where are all the instruments?
00:48:03
Speaker
And I remember my heart just kind of dropped out of my feet because I only had a triangle with no meter holder, a broken tambourine, and a pair railroad nails. that was like I don't know what I'm supposed to do with all of this. And as I was cleaning out her materials, I saw this flyer in the desk and it was heart of Florida or workshops for the entire year. And it had the list of, of the dates and the topics and the presenters. And I, I, thought to myself, oh, this isn't the University of Florida because that's where I graduate. I know I can go. feel comfortable. So I went in um early November, I believe it was. and that and So one month after teaching and I met Michael Roberts and Jennifer Steptoe and they were so nice and so lovely. And that was where I was able to connect because when you're new, they really want to support you as the of a ORF checker. And they, you know, they asked me what instruments I had, what I needed, what what type of help I needed mentorship wise. And really that's how it started. And I have, I have one of the rare stories of when I first started back in 2016 with West Music, the catalog, we were
00:49:17
Speaker
Well, the whole year we were celebrating our 75th anniversary at West Music. And one of the stories we were asked to share ah in the catalog is tell your first experience with West Music. Well, my first experience with West Music,
00:49:32
Speaker
this Jennifer Steptoe, the president of the Heart of Florida, she called me lying a Thursday before a Saturday and she said, I have something really exciting, but can you be at the ORF, Florida ORF State Workshop? So Florida's really cool. they You have all your smaller chapters, but then they would have one big ORF workshop with all of the chapters. And so it was like, you know, professional development all over the state.
00:49:57
Speaker
And she said, I have something really exciting. If you can come to the state or workshop. And I had been gigging with a with a percussion section at the time. And I said, well, I'm gigging. What what's this? What is it?
00:50:09
Speaker
What is it? And she said, well, I can't tell you, but I've got to tell you because I need a reason for you to be able to go. And she said, I have a vendor that has donated a full or instrumentarium for three lucky music educators. And you're one of the music educators that was chosen to receive this gift.
00:50:29
Speaker
And this gift was from West Music and Sonar Company. So Judy Pine and Tim Henry, i knew them before I really knew what I was doing. with those instruments. And from there i took it and I was able to put music in the hands of students because of West music and Tim Henry.
00:50:49
Speaker
And i highly concur with Judy's statement of go out there, talk to those chapter workshop people, talk to them, get, get to know all of them, get to know the, all their offerings, the scholarship,
00:51:02
Speaker
If they have an instrument library checkout, one of the chapters in Florida had one of the instrument libraries. And with that, I was able to get my first game plan book. And I got my first grade because kindergarten came after that one. But I got my first grade book and I thought, oh, this is great.
00:51:19
Speaker
And then I needed more. Then took my level one. But Talk to everyone. Talk to all of the music teachers in your district. And as a customer, come up and talk to us when we're on site.
00:51:32
Speaker
A lot of the things that we do is we ask you what you have in your classroom, how much your budget is, what maybe you already have a knowledge base to do. And if you're ready to and willing to spend a summer to go professional development to professional development for yourself or if workshops, little workshops throughout the year, because a lot of the times you have to tiptoe into those things before you really understand what they are. But come and talk to us. We're always here to help you, all of our staff on the phone, in conferences, through chat.
00:52:04
Speaker
We have a wonderful team. Well, and it's so interesting that you talked about going to a workshop and then somebody kind of pulling you in because in doing these podcasts, this has been a theme.
00:52:17
Speaker
I've asked almost every guest, one of my first questions is tell me your musical journey growing up. And every single one of them. at some point said, this person said to me, you need to come to a workshop with me. Or now that you've been coming to a workshop, we need somebody on our executive board and you would be a good person. But everybody has had at least one person that has, I think we mentor ourselves informally so much in the music world because we just take care of
West Music's Support and Commitment
00:52:47
Speaker
each other.
00:52:47
Speaker
And if you're new, we pull you right in because you're not going away. So I love to hear you say that. My West music story was when my school was flooded many years ago and I lost my entire room.
00:53:01
Speaker
And I didn't know what I was going to do because i I love my instruments. I mean, they're my, and I will never forget these, I think three big boxes of stuff showed up at school one day.
00:53:13
Speaker
And I said, where'd these come from? And Judy had sent them from West Music and said, I know you need stuff right now. And it meant the world. It really did. so Oh, you too.
00:53:24
Speaker
We could talk all day long. You are wonderful. um So we always end our podcast,
Conclusion and Light-hearted Q&A
00:53:32
Speaker
Judy knows this. Now, Teresa hasn't been through this with some little silly musical questions right at the end. There are no wrong answers. They're just for fun.
00:53:42
Speaker
Okay. I'll be curious to see if you answer the same or different on some of these. I'll just be curious. It's been a while. All right. So, well, there are new ones. Oh, good.
00:53:52
Speaker
you have a favorite live concert? One that you really, really remember that you went to whether it was a symphony or whatever.
00:54:04
Speaker
Teresa, you're already nodding. Do you have one? Yeah. So my mom and but so my mom is the love of my life. She's my best friend. I had the opportunity to take her to the Jazz Fest in New Orleans in 2000.
00:54:17
Speaker
year it? but what years 2023 and the jazz festival goes over two weeks and there's multiple bands and it's hot it's in new orleans but i had never seen her so happy we saw we saw dead in company we saw mumford and sons but at the end as we were leaving jim jones was playing And that's the music of her time.
00:54:47
Speaker
And we just stopped and we sat down and my mom, I don't know how I got a musical musical rhythm in my body, but my mom is the exact opposite. So anytime she gets up and she attempts to dance, I i don't say anything. I allow her to do her own creation. And I look over and she's just dancing and having the best the time and the smile on her face was was just priceless and I'll always have that in my mind and the fact that I was able to take her to New Orleans to have that type of experience was really really my my best memory and it's it's of my mind that's a good story okay Judy well I've not necessarily been to a lot of live concerts but I remember
00:55:35
Speaker
in high school going to the Dorian Festival or the Meisterklasse Festival in Iowa, those those high school choir and band festivals.
00:55:48
Speaker
um And just being a kid from a teeny weeny, itty bitty, yellow polka dot bikini school in Iowa, that then all of a sudden you were with all these kids who like to sing and play their flute or trumpet as much as you did. And, and just how exciting it was to be a part of all of that.
00:56:16
Speaker
um So I think that's, that's one of my strongest memories. Well, Teresa, I think you'll enjoy my answer. Cause I would have to say one of my favorite live concerts was Cher.
00:56:28
Speaker
Yeah. Except the funny part was because she's been around for so long. I mean, you had people from teenagers to sixty s and 70s at this concert.
00:56:39
Speaker
So she would perform for a while, do a set. And then I think she did a costume change is I'm guessing what happened. And what did we all have to do? Sit down and take a break. ah She's not on the stage. And if she come back out, now we're back up.
00:56:52
Speaker
But then we needed another break. So that was a fun one. Well, keeping on that that kind of theme, one more this or that, Beatles or Rolling Stones?
00:57:04
Speaker
Beatles. Beatles. That's been, okay. I was guessing you were going to say that, but okay. Another this or that. Which one of these instruments do you think is underperformed?
00:57:17
Speaker
Flute or the flexitone? ah flax that's The You know, sometimes it's hard for us to keep them in stock. I will say one of my first pieces in college was Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train. And I got to play the flexitone and it was a big deal, you know, a big deal.
00:57:40
Speaker
I used to be able to play happy birthday on a flexitone. I haven't done it in a while, but, you know, it's quite a technique. Yeah. It's almost like a theremin.
00:57:50
Speaker
Mm-hmm. In a very odd way. Oh, and I'm totally wrong. That was the not a flexitone. Vibroslap. Well, that one, too. That's... Okay. And then one more.
00:58:02
Speaker
Which one do you think is overperformed? The quack stick or the ukulele?
00:58:10
Speaker
I think the quack stick. Like on stage? Or just you? In public, I guess from TMEA, I would definitely say the quack stick because that is a hot note. The quack stick because everybody's got to shake it.
00:58:25
Speaker
Yeah. spend the time with it I will say though, overperformed is us. Any of us at any MEA tuning our ukuleles at the booth.
00:58:35
Speaker
Cause that takes, it takes time. That's true. ah oh you too. This has been fun. I want to thank both Judy and Teresa for joining us and thank everyone for listening. Cause this has been play now play for life podcast with Aaron.
00:58:53
Speaker
And if you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leave a rating and a review. And you can find us at westmusic.com. And that's where the information's not there yet, but summer information will be there. So be a little patient. You can also find this podcast at westmusic.com slash playnowplayforlife. And we are also on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and X. Play Now, Play For Life is the podcast by West Music.