Events
Dr. John Feierabend Calendar on GIAmusic.com
Click here to see Dr. Feierabend’s lecture and teaching circuit.
Below are FAME events planned for the coming year. You may select specific categories to see the different types of courses offered.
FAME Calendar
Jan
9
Wed
MISSY STRONG
2019 Florida Music Educators Association Conference – January 9 – 12, 2019
Developing Notational Literacy with Conversational Solfege
Conversational Solfege, John Feierabend’s engaging, research-based method develops notational literacy by helping children understand music through the use of rhythm and solfege syllables at a conversational level that gradually evolves into traditional notation. In this literature-driven approach, students become independent musical thinkers through a sequential process wherein they learn and joyfully perform music before progressing to the decoding, reading, and writing of musical thought. CS serves as only one part of every general music lesson, allowing teachers flexibility to incorporate other activities into their instruction. Learn why Conversational Solfege has become the gold standard in so many districts in the U.S. and even internationally.
Jan
17
Thu
MISSY STRONG
Just the Facts, Please: Neuroscience and Music Education – Friday January 18th 1:00 PM
It is useful to know about music and the brain, but teachers must be careful when looking at brain research findings. Musical “neuromyths” will be presented and teachers will receive tips on how to avoid common mistakes in attempting to interpret neuroscientific research. Basic brain function will be discussed, and an introduction to the growing field of “Educational Neuroscience” will be given.
Hosting a Family Folk Dance – Saturday January 19th 11:00 AM
Hosting a family folkdance event is a fantastic and fun way to “move the learning” outside the walls of your classroom and into the broader community. These events are a powerful way to engage administration, faculty, parents, and neighbors in a way that brings joy to everyone who takes part and, quite honestly, makes the music teacher look pretty good!
They can be done during the school day, over multiple nights, or on one evening. These family folk dances help highlight the growing musicality of your students resulting in an authentic way to advocate for your broader program. Come and learn the nuts and bolts of planning for an event of this type from promoting it to preparing students, their families and your colleagues ahead of time in a way that will get everyone on board and excited!
Movement Instruction in the Elementary Music Classroom – Saturday January 19th
Movement is integral to true understanding in music. When a child can move, they can better understand expression, form, and myriad other musical concepts in a very powerful way. When they begin to move in the early years, this learning is even more powerful. Formulating a sequential movement program, however, can be challenging to those who work with young children. You will hear a rationale for consistently including movement in the elementary music classroom. This rational is based on the assertion that movement is of equal importance to singing and rhythm, as well as the relationship that exists between movement and development.
Learn how movement is an authentic and fun way to help develop student intuition for beat and meter while also providing meaningful expressive opportunities. Attendees will be given information about proprioceptive sense and learn one way to employ the work of Rudolf Laban in the elementary general music class through movement exploration, movement for form and expression, and beat motion activities.
EMILY MAUREK
First Steps in Music: An Overview — Friday, January 18 11:00 a.m.
Come join this participatory session to learn more about Dr. John Feierabend’s First Steps in Music! The eight-part First Steps curricular framework and corresponding techniques will be outlined and demonstrated. First Steps in Music is a research-based curricular framework combining the development of singing and movement skills in young children. Using high-quality literature, First Steps strives to preserve the rich repertoire of traditional and folk songs that have nurtured wonder and joy in young people for generations. Through joyful activities, First Steps also encourages musical independence, creativity and shared experiences with others in a enriching environment and is a developmentally appropriate music education framework for instruction, giving students a solid foundation for future reading and writing of musical notation.
The Play-Party: A Tuneful, Beatful, and Artful Way to Play! — Friday, January 18 2:30 p.m.
Further explore the musical genre known as the “play-party” and its history while learning some of the most beloved examples for use in your classroom. This practical session traces the history and context of the play-party and demonstrates how to make them enjoyable and attainable for students. Join the merriment and wonder of these joyful examples of our culture’s history! Session objectives include briefly outlining the history of the play-party, the origins and place in history and society, learning and playing several play-parties, and also exploring the pedagogy of effectively teaching play-parties to students.
Contact Information: Emily Maurek: emilymo73@hotmail.com
RACHEL GRIMSBY
Music and the Special Learner – Saturday January 19th 11:00 AM
Contact Emily Maurek: emilymo73@hotmail.com
Jan
19
Sat
Hawai’i MEA Conference
JOHN CREVER
Meeting Music Literacy Standards with Conversational Solfege: Rhythmic
Sunday, January 20th, 11:20 am-12:35 pm
Building on Zoltan Kodaly’s idea of teaching music reading using authentic repertoire, solfege and traditional notation and planning out the preparation, presentation and cumulative practice of each notation element to be experienced over time, John Feierabend’s life’s work, Conversational Solfege, utilizes new research to firm up and validate Kodaly’s earlier framework. This session will unpack Feierabend’s 12-step approach to teaching Rhythm reading in duple and triple meters. Using accessible traditional repertoire to set up an easy to use, informed sequence of musical experiences to model conversational language acquisition through listening and responding, rhythmic reading, dictation, composition and improvisation by an “ear-first” approach.
Growing Tuneful, Beatful, Artful Children the Feierabend Way, Part 1: Singing
Sunday, January 20th, 1:50 pm-3:05 pm
Based on an extensive survey of research on music and movement development and pedagogy spanning more than 40 years, John Feierabend brings all his research and knowledge together in his work First Steps in Music for Preschool and Beyond. Used as a comprehensive curriculum or a musical workout format for children age three to nine (and beyond), First Steps employs a rich repertoire of age appropriate traditional songs, rhymes, games and dances to build musical independence easily by joyfully making music conversationally before introducing reading and instruments. This session will focus on the Tuneful development in the 8-part lesson format.
University of Hawaii – Music Department
2411 Dole Street, Honolulu, HI 96822.
Michael Lim (contact); miylimviolin@gmail.com
Jan
24
Thu
MISSY STRONG – 2019 Colorado MEA Convention – January 24 – 26, 2019
Making Folk Dancing Fun
Folk dancing in the elementary and middle school classroom allows our students to demonstrate what we’ve been teaching them about moving to beat while also experiencing their own growing musicality. They are able to understand form in music better through movement while experiencing an authentic community music-making activity, which means they can articulate what form in music is more effectively. Additionally, when we lead folk dance instruction we are helping students get what is so often lacking in our culture: opportunities for positive peer interaction. These interactions help our students build etiquette skills while also creating positive community with their peers. But the overarching thing that a student who is folk dancing in a music classroom experiences is…fun! Come learn how to introduce folk dance into your music classroom right away!
Contact Elizabeth Ford for More Information cmea.gmc@gmail.com
Feb
14
Thu
Feb 14 – Feb 16 all-day
JOHN CREVER
From Here to There: Planning Seamless Transitions in the First Steps Workout.
Ever feel like you have the class in the palm of your hand until it falls apart the moment you switch activities? You may be missing great transitions! Transitions between the steps of a First Steps in Music workout enable learning that feels effortless for the children. Transitions are critical to a well-designed lesson plan, and they can be interesting, enjoyable, and Artful in both conception and practice. Join FAME teacher trainer John Crever and The Singing Classroom founder Deborah Skydell Pasternack as they demonstrate how to guide students’ imaginations seamlessly throughout your lesson.
A Tuneful Pathway to Singing in Harmony
Come sing and see how repurposing the traditional folk repertoire in John Feierabend’s music literacy curricula, First Steps in Music and Conversational Solfege, can continue to build musical independence in the upper elementary vocal classroom by exercising child vocal skills with age appropriate repertoire; and establishing an intergenerational repertoire of songs to sing together, in harmony, as a school community.
Contact Information: John Crever at firststepsinmusicpdx@gmail.com Phone: 503 278 5959
Teaching Vocal Development in the Younger Years
During the early learning years, children can acquire musical sensitivities, which will provide them with a lifetime of expressive and accurate movement intuitions. This energetic session will present insights and activities that can foster those intuitions in children from birth to age nine, through the use of folk songs and rhymes as well as through movement experiences with classical recordings.
Using Classical Music to teach Rhythmic and Melodic Literacy
Through carefully sequenced activities this workshop will address the National Standards while demonstrating how to enable students to joyfully assimilate the content and skills necessary to become musically literate including the acquisition of listening, rhythmic reading, dictation, composition, and improvisation in an intuitive manner. Participants will experience a curriculum that grows out of rhythmic elements that exist in the folk song literature of this country. Each rhythmic element will also be explored in patterns, songs and themes from classical literature.
Texas Music Educators Association February 14 – 16, 2019
Gonzalez Convention Center – Sant Antonio, Texas
Contact: Frank Coachman Email: fcoachman@tmea.org
MISSY STRONG
2019 Texas Music Educators Association Convention – February 13 – 16, 2019
Just the Facts, Please: Neuroscience and Music Education
Movement Instruction in the Elementary Music Classroom
It is useful to know about music and the brain, but teachers must be careful when looking at brain research findings. Musical “neuromyths” will be presented and teachers will receive tips on how to avoid common mistakes in attempting to interpret neuroscientific research. Basic brain function will be discussed, and an introduction to the growing field of “Educational Neuroscience” will be given.
Movement Instruction in the Elementary Music Classroom
Movement is integral to true understanding in music. When a child can move, they can better understand expression, form, and myriad other musical concepts in a very powerful way. When they begin to move in the early years, this learning is even more powerful. Formulating a sequential movement program, however, can be challenging to those who work with young children. You will hear a rationale for consistently including movement in the elementary music classroom. This rational is based on the assertion that movement is of equal importance to singing and rhythm, as well as the relationship that exists between movement and development.
Learn how movement is an authentic and fun way to help develop student intuition for beat and meter while also providing meaningful expressive opportunities. Attendees will be given information about proprioceptive sense and learn one way to employ the work of Rudolf Laban in the elementary general music class through movement exploration, movement for form and expression, and beat motion activities.
Contact: Frank Coachman Email: fcoachman@tmea.org
Feb
28
Thu
JOHN FEIERABEND
FIRST STEPS IN MUSIC: VOCAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE EARLY YEARS
During the early learning years, children can acquire musical sensitivities, which will provide them with a lifetime of expressive and accurate singing intuitions. This lively session will present insights and activities that can foster those intuitions in children from three to age nine, through the use of folk songs and games.
FIRST STEPS IN MUSIC: MOVEMENT DEVELOPMENT IN THE EARLY YEARS
During the early learning years, children can acquire musical sensitivities, which will provide them with a lifetime of expressive and accurate movement intuitions. This energetic session will present insights and activities that can foster those intuitions in children from birth to age nine, through the use of folk songs and rhymes as well as through movement experiences with classical recordings.
12 STEPS TO MUSIC LITERACY USING CONVERSATIONAL SOLFEGE: Part One Rhythmic Development
Through carefully sequenced activities this fun workshop will address the National Standards while demonstrating how to enable students to joyfully assimilate the content and skills necessary to become musically literate including the acquisition of listening, rhythmic and melodic reading, dictation, composition, and improvisation in an intuitive manner. Participants will experience a curriculum that grows out of tonal and rhythmic elements that exist in the folk song literature of this country. Each rhythm or tonal element will be explored in patterns, songs and themes from classical literature.
12 STEPS TO MUSIC LITERACY USING CONVERSATIONAL SOLFEGE: Part Two Melodic Development
Literature using advanced Solfege patterns with a parallel development of rhythm patterns in 2/4 and 6/8 meter will be presented. Opportunities for early experience in part singing are demonstrated with, rhythmic and melodic sight-reading, dictation, composition, and improvisation. Participants will experience a curriculum that grows out of tonal and rhythmic elements found in folk song to classical literature.
Contact Ruth Debrot Email: rdebrot@aol.com
Boston Seaport Hotel/ World Trade Center
LILLIE FEIERABEND
INTENTIONAL MOVEMENT IN THE MUSIC CLASSROOM
Movement is an integral part of being musical; worthy of the same explicit and intentional instruction devoted to the literacy component of our curriculum. This lively session will share strategies and techniques to enhance the movement component while involving students in our rich folk music heritage of songs, dances, and singing games. This course is applicable to elementary music teachers, preschool and elementary teachers, physical education teachers, day care providers, movement specialists and others who work with young students
BRIDGES TO THE COMMUNITY: PLANTING SEEDS FOR A LIFETIME OF MUSICAL GROWTH
Music Educators plant seeds for a lifetime of music making but teachable moments do not always happen in the classroom. The school year provides many opportunities for music educators to make experiences available to students outside of the music classroom. By doing so, we also make them available to our faculty, school, and community. When the community is invited to participate in our music programs, they become invested in the child’s development and the growth of the music program, as well. This session will share a dozen ways to enrich the musical growth and development of your students, your school and your community while providing opportunities that may inspire a lifelong love of music.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL TEACHING
Music educators spend a great deal of time developing, designing and delivering wonderful lessons. Classroom management should also be the product of this type of thoughtful, intelligent, and sequential design. No matter how excellent the lesson, no matter how superb the musical examples, no matter how many content standards we can connect to, if students are not attentive, they are not learning.
Teaching students to be active learners is the product of good design. The effective teacher establishes the management style of the class and guides the students toward becoming active learners. Proactive management guarantees that the teacher has a plan and is not merely reacting to every problem that arises. Music educators are in a unique position to help students develop and strengthen these most important skills. In a well-managed classroom, the focus can be on the content and musical growth and development of each student. More can be accomplished in a classroom where students are actively involved in their own education and the focus is on learning. The teacher will succeed in helping students grow musically and give them the opportunity to develop these important skills. The ability to focus and be a successful learner is the foundation for a lifetime of learning
Contact Information: Ruth Debrot at rdebrot@aol.com.
Subscribe to filtered calendar