K-6 Music Department Meeting February 19, 2013 PM Session (1:00pm-3:30pm)

Faculty in Attendance: Tim Bupp, Leasha Folk, Sue Gross, William Robinson Faculty Absent: none Recruitment Discussion was held regarding the format and schedule for recruitment. It was decided, pending transportation and coverage, to use live music groups from SGI to use in place of the pre-recorded demonstrations last year. Tentative dates for each are listed below: String Recruitment Assemblies at all three elementary schools (2nd grade only) April 4th. String Testing Dates: 4/8, 4/11, 4/12 (2nd grade students during PSSAs as was done last year.) Band Recruitment Assemblies at all three elementary schools (3rd grade only) April 22th. Band Testing Dates: 4/29, 5/1, 5/3 Parent Orientation Nights: 5/6 and 5/8 at SGE Tim and Will are requesting any help of department members during the testing days listed above. Having more than one person testing students will lead creating a better instrument match for students and be able to minimize time out of the regular classroom setting. Tim and Will will be discussing assembly dates with building principals and then report to their SGI counterparts for approval of a ensembles to travel to these assemblies. Upon research, budgeted money was found for transportation of the SGI ensembles Retention Discussion was held concerning retention throughout the beginning level ensembles. It appears that students are quitting out of the blue and not providing reasons for exiting the program. Department members identified the following reasons for attrition to be plausible and are presented here by category: Personal: Failure in academic classes (missing lessons to catch up on school work and falling behind) Poor practice habits Laziness Involved in too many other activities

 Home:

Problems transporting larger instruments

Problems transporting larger instruments Poor home environment Lack of suitable practice area Lack of parental support

School: Students not attending enough lessons/rehearsals to sustain progress Frequent interruptions in daily schedule Difficulty in academic subjects

Members realized that many home issues cannot be fixed through the school setting. While the department would like to address and remediate this area, the realization of such is too great and will be handled through the other areas. Below are recommendations to helping retain students through the identified areas of personal, home, and school. Developing personal and group pride Improving communication and education with parents Being creative incorporate audio-visual materials, new music, recording/playback, student conductors, solos and ensembles, clinics and other tools and techniques to keep the experience interesting Evaluating yourself continually Understanding each student as an individual Periodically checking student instruments Honing ones recruitment techniques Teaching instrument care and maintenance Communicating your needs/observations to administrators Being positive and enthusiastic

In addition to this a First Performance Demonstration Concert will be planned with beginning students to be held by building in late October. The goal of this performance is allow for an informal gathering of parents, relatives and friends, to see firsthand the work and progress their children have made since starting instrumental music instruction. A meet and greet with parents is planned following the concert to answer program questions. More concrete details will be provided in March. Sue Gross commented on the need to recruit and retain string bass players for orchestra. The fact that the instrument is so large, poses problems for instrument transportation and student retention. It was

mentioned that a smaller, more compact string bass, stick bass is a viable home practice option. However, the stick bass is quite costly. Sue will be checking with Menchey Music on exact costs so we know how to move forward with securing funding for these instruments (grants, budget line, corporate donations, etc.). Instrumental Music Scheduling in grades 3-6 will be looked at in the coming months and recommendations made for next year. Currently the department is piloting a rotating schedule at New Salem that appears to be going exceptionally well. This idea will be presented to the other elementary schools at the end of the school year. By moving to the rotating schedule, students miss less of the same instructional time throughout the year as with a fixed lesson schedule (missing the same content each cycle). Purging of Surplus Equipment Old round-based Hamilton music stands have been declared surplus and are ready to be purged. These are currently housed at SGE. As numbers grow, there is a surplus of stands at the middle school that can be supplemented to the elementaries should numbers warrant. However, it would be beneficial to use the money from the old stands to purchase, newer, lighter stands for the elementary students. The district has many autoharps that have not been used. An accurate count will be provided by the beginning of March. Additional items deemed surplus or obsolete include a toy drum set, a bell-less baritone, ukulele, and many outdated method books and instrumental publications. A completed list will be generated for early March. New Series/Technology Integration Through the discussion of purging obsolete equipment and supplies it was mentioned about the amount of Share the Music textbooks currently held by the district. The books were purchased when the district operated six elementary schools. Many of the books can be purged. Through this, the topic of textbook upgrading was brought up by Sue Gross. The department was told three years ago that textbook upgrades would be looked at music. Since that time, nothing has been heard. The department acknowledges the downturn in the economy and lack of funding for the delay. It was decided that a new series should be researched. All were in agreement to look at the Silver Burdett series. Tim noted that the new Silver Burdett series is formatted to be 100% electronic. Leasha Folk and Will Robinson viewed online options and deemed these to be great learning towards that could be incorporated through the use of tablets. Tim will contact Silver Burdett for review copies and costs figures as well as grant funding for the technology component through the STEAM and CFTF programs. Additional contacts will be made with our technology department regarding feasibility and other technology funding options.

The department was in agreement that this is only information gathering and that official word/perusal/change would be directed through administration on whether or not to formally proceed with any changes.

Data Analysis It was noted that ensemble directors should check scores from winter assessments to report on the impact music instruction has on benchmark performance. Are department students meeting benchmarks? Meeting available data revealed that 4th grade band students were 98% advanced or proficient coming out of the winter assessments.

Curriculum Assessment and Development Tim Bupp is complete a graduate project on creating a district department assessment model to track student progress from grade 1-12. Information was shared with department members on what content is needed to complete the first task. To date all K-6 teachers of supplied this information. The second step is checking for accuracy in the vertical alignment of content being taught from grade to grade. This will occur by the end of March. The next step will focus on deciding what becomes eligible content at each grade level to show growth from year to year. The discussion of methodologies was raised regarding instrumental instruction. It was articulated that there was a need for a perfect method book. It was concluded that one does not exist. To that end it was determined to continue discussion on this topic and seek to begin work on a district method book created by the district instructors. This would allow students to learn through the established curriculum, actively utilize district best practices (APL) to its fullest extent, and allow instructors to teach research based methodologies in their classes. More information was requested to see if such a possibility could be implemented as an individual action plan for the following year or through more department professional development sessions. Meeting was adjourned at 3:30

Respectfully submitted by, Tim Bupp