This four day conference brought together educators from Pre-K-college/university levels in all areas of music education, general music, choral, orchestral, and band. It was organized in three main strands.
Core Faculty sessions examined innovations in methodology and pedagogy through a variety of lens: repertoire, teacher agency and artistry, culturally responsive change-making, songwriting, and innovation through play.
Active Music Making Sessions got us involved as a student to stretch and grow, challenging ourselves to try new things. These included breath-work and movement, beat-making, vocal improvisation, Latin-Jazz ensembles, and Arabic orchestra.
We were assigned a group that met several times each day to discuss and digest what we were experiencing.
In addition to the classes and workshops we met daily as an entire ensemble for special presenters chosen to inspire and expand our hearts, encourage and applaud the hard work of music educating, and share their amazing talents. I came away with many specific activities I want to incorporate in my individual classroom as well as bring to classroom projects I know are happening across the Lower School (see these in the first link below)
SMEW 2024 - What I Will Take Away - this link will take you to a set of questions posed by the SMEW
SMEW 2024 FOLDER - this folder contains more information, copies of slidedecks, and more - what I think would be of most interest to other areas: Innovation through Culturally Responsive Change-Making - Slidedeck - the last slide has an amazing list of resources; all the songwriting and beat making materials could be useful for poetry units, makery, US Music, and more.
Final Day Photo - on the 9th floor deck of the Carnegie site. Can you find me? I was one of two longest time teachers there - many young folks spoke to me over the weekend about how inspiring it was to see me there, engaged and learning!
