What’s Going on in UW Music Education?

 
  1. In April 2015 the UW School of Music will welcome Dr. Aaron Williamon of the Royal College of Music (London) as the James C. Carlsen Visiting Scholar in Music Cognition and Learning. Prof. Williamon will speak to classes, visit with students and present a public lecture on his latest research. This is the third in an ongoing series of events supported by the Carlsen Endowment for Music Cognition with additional support generously provided through the Bobbette Koon Endowment.
 

  1. During Summer 2014 the UW once again was the site of a one-week intensive course for teachers of music and other subject areas.  The “Smithsonian Folkways Certification Workshop in World Music Pedagogy” featured audio, video, print, electronic, and human resources relevant for teaching cultural understanding through music. Students developed a curricular project and received documentation from the Smithsonian Institution certifying their specialized study in world music pedagogy. Almost 125 teachers are now certified, including those who work in elementary school classrooms and as secondary school teachers of language arts and the social sciences.

 
  1. Prof. Patricia Campbell hosted a special summit in Seattle of the College Music Society May 16-17, 2014. Entitled “Music, Science, and Society," the meeting addressed scientific and sociological perspectives on human musicality. Special guests included Ian Cross, Laurel Trainor and Steven Friedson. Prof. Campbell currently serves as President of CMS!
 
  1. Christopher Roberts, recently named Affiliate Assistant Professor of Music Education here at the UW, was featured elementary clinician at the 2014 Texas Music Educators Association Conference. Dr. Roberts continues his impressive clinical work in the Seattle-based Kodaly certification program as well as in UW’s annual Smithsonian Folkways certification course in World Music Pedagogy. His recent publications include chapters in the Oxford Handbook of Children’s Musical Cultures (2013) and the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Music Education and Social Justice. He continues work as an educational consultant in the shaping of curricular materials for the Alan Lomax recording collection of the Association for Cultural Equity.   
 
Congratulations to our 2014 graduates on their new teaching positions! Elizabeth Anderson (center left) has joined the faculty at Hamlin Robinson School in Seattle. Nicole Harreld (center) is the new elementary music teacher at Brierwood Elementary School in Issaquah. Mandy Berman (right) is teaching elementary music and beginning band in Lake Washington. Margaret Brinkerhoff (center right) has joined the music staff at Gregory Heights Elementary School and Luke Stromberg is the new choir teacher at Mt. Rainier High School, both in Highline.
 
  1. In
    August 2014 MCCL member Alison Farley (left, PhD 2014), PhD candidate Jamey Kelley (right), and doctoral student Cory Meals presented research on rhythm sight-reading, conducting gesture and singing development at the International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition in Seoul, Korea.
 
  1. The marimbas are here! The UW is now the home of a fully instrumented Shona-style Zimarimba ensemble. Build by the fantastic people at Bourne Marimbas, these instruments are a great new addition to the UW Music Education experience.
 
The Laboratory for Music Cognition, Culture and Learning is celebrating its fourth year! The MCCL is a body of faculty, students and affiliates that provides a framework for support and collaboration on research addressing processes of music learning, both formal and informal, and how they are shaped by culture, biology and experience. Members (below) include faculty and student scholars from across the UW campus. Find out more here.
             
 
  1. Matt Swanson, Ph.D. candidate in Music Education, is publishing on a variety of topics: children building their guitars (Unboxed) and the diversification of American music education practices (the Japanese Journal of Music Education and the Journal of Music Teacher Education). He and fellow doctoral student Jamey Kelley were recently engaged by Jubilation Foundation to pursue research on self-reported opinions on music and leisure by attendants of the 2014 Northwest Folklife Festival.
 
UW music educators have contributed their expertise to the new Oxford Handbook of Children's Musical Cultures (2013), a work of 35 chapters addressing children's enculturation and education in music. Included are chapters by Huskies Christopher Roberts, Robert Pitzer, Sarah Bartolome and Andrea Emberly. The volume is co-edited by Patricia Campbell  and Trevor Wiggins.
 
Husky alum Kate Labiak (BA/BM, 1997)  has been honored as the WMEA Middle School Music Educator of the Year. Kate currently teaches band at College Place Middle School in the Edmonds School District. She is also the conductor of the Symphonette Orchestra, one of the ensembles of the outstanding Seattle Youth Symphony program
 
  1. Music Education student Nicole Harreld and MCCL member Amanda Huntleigh have recently published a new text, Concerts: Decoded (Kona Publishing), designed to guide listeners to more active and thoughtful engagement with live music performances.
 
  1. Dr. Karen Howard (Ph.D., 2015) has been appointed Assistant Professor of Music Education at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Howard’s work is in multicultural-global conceptualizations and curricular work in music education, especially within the realms of vocal music and dance for children. Her publications are appearing in the International Journal of Community Music, the Journal of Music Teacher Education, The Kodaly Envoy, and The Orff Echo, on music education and cultural diversity, rhythm in the education of children. Several of her music culture curricular units are available on the website of Smithsonian Folkways.
 
  1. Welcome to Claire Waistell who will be working with UW teacher certification candidates as they prepare for and complete Washington’s new edTPA requirement. Ms. Waistell is a Nationally Board Certified music educator, served for 10 years as an NBPTS facilitator with the UW College of Education, and was named 2014 Outstanding Teacher by the Highline Schools Foundation.
 
  1. New
    research published in the Journal of Research in Music Education by MCCL member Julie Lorah (collaborating with Steven Morrison and College of Education faculty member Elizabeth Sanders) examines school music participation by ELL students. Steven Morrison and Ph.D. student Cory Meals report on the interaction of auditory and visual aspects of ensemble conducting in their new article appearing in Frontiers in Psychology.
 
The UW School of Music is the new home of the Journal of Research in Music Education. Steven Morrison has become the 10th editor of this flagship journal, a publication of the National Association for Music Education. This is the second time the JRME editorial office has been at the UW; Emeritus Professor James Carlsen served as editor in the 1970s.
 
  1. Huskies are teaching around the world! Several recent graduates report that they are sharing UW Pride in classrooms far from Seattle . . . Australia: Darcy Leggett (BM, 2013); Spain: Rachel Duval (BM, 2009) and China: Tyler Smith (BA/BM, 2003, pictured in Beijing with Profs. Tim Salzman and Steven Morrison). Global sounds, indeed!
 
  1. Dr. Patricia Campbell continues her work on the board of Smithsonian Folkways, where she has served as Chair since 2012.  She is spearheading efforts to bring the archive of recordings—now over a half century’s accumulation—into full educational action in school and university courses through short courses and presentations at national and international meetings of musicians and educators.
 
  1. Throughout 2014, music education majors completed certification courses both on the UW campus and partner classrooms across Seattle. Courtney Pelavin
    (left, Director of Choirs at Ballard High School) and Katrina Sibicky (rigth, Seattle Public Schools Elementary Instrumental Music) mentored vocal and instrumental music education students during weekly school visits, discussions and practice teaching sessions.
 
  1. JUST RELEASED! Enjoy the new music video by the Lucy Horton Band, “Movie Star”, featuring Music Education alums Lucy Horton and Gabriella Vizzutti (BM 2014).
 
Patricia Shehan Campbell, past president of the College Music Society, convened a task force to examine the undergraduate music major. Their report, the ground-breaking Transforming Music Study from its Foundations: A Manifesto for Progressive Change in the Undergraduate Preparation of Music Majors has recently been issued and is generating discussion throughout the field. The full report is available here.