You want to be sure to attend this year’s annual Maine Music Educators Association conference on May 16 and 17, 2024 at the University of Maine. Who wouldn’t want to attend with these two silly and fun people?
The conference committee has been working on picking an exciting slate of session presenters. We will soon be announcing who will be presenting, but in the meantime, you can look forward to the following:
Choral reading sessions
Orchestra reading session
Conference-wide Keynote address by Matthew Arau: “Upbeat! The Power Within”
Sessions for every area of music education
Live performances
Networking with friends and colleagues
Getting a selfie with President Andy Forster in front of the MMEA banner
Up to 15 contact hours of high quality professional development
MONDAY, MAY May 1 is the deadline for nominations for the following awards:
The MMEA Longevity and Retire Recognition Awards recognize the service achievement of music educators at the 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 year–and beyond. This award also celebrates educators who are planning to retire in 2023. Nominate a deserving colleague–or yourself!
National Federation of State High School Associations Awardee
In 1989 the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSH) established The Outstanding Music Educator Awards. Waterville High School music educator Susan Barre is an awardee!
CONGRATULATIONS SUE!
Many of us know Sue’s tireless work for music education from her school district in Waterville, Maine to the state level and now at the national level. Sue teaches music to students in grades 5-12. I first met Sue when she became a Teacher Leader during Phase 3 of the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative (MAAI). She was a strong leader as MAAI transitioned to the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) and its latest iteration of the Maine Arts Education Partners in Leadership (MAEPL). Sue is a quiet and effective leader who is there when needed and is willing to take on a responsibility and give it her full attention. She can be trusted to not only to complete the task but, always at the highest level. She is a steady voice for all her students and the music education in her district continuously shines under her guidance. I’ve had the honor of working with Sue on many projects and watch her grow as a teacher, leader, and human being. We co-presented in Providence at the NAfME Eastern Division Conference in 2015 and again in 2017 in Atlantic City. This is certainly a well deserved award and I invite you to join me in CONGRATULATING SUE!
NFSH ASSOCIATION NEWS RELEASE
In addition to earning numerous awards and honors, Susan Barre has transformed Maine’s Waterville school music program to one of the state’s most respected, celebrating music and students of all abilities and interests.
After beginning her education career in 1989 and teaching music at various schools in Maine, Barre joined Waterville Public Schools in 2008 as band director for grades 5-12. In 2014, Barre was named department chair for Visual and Performing Arts at Waterville Senior High School and coordinator of music for grades K-12. During her tenure, Waterville students have consistently been recognized with Outstanding Music Awards.
In 2013, Waterville Ensembles were recognized with the “Spirit of DC” award recognizing responsible and respectful behavior. At the 2018 NYC Heritage Music Festival, the Waterville Music Department won the Sweepstakes Award for outstanding music department, and the concert and jazz band earned Gold Awards.
Barre has worked to revise the music curriculum, seeking consistency in music terms and practices, and coordinated the development and implementation of a portfolio for music students. The portfolio has become a blueprint for many other music programs in the state.
Locally, the Waterville music program has become an integral part of the arts community, recognized for its efficient hosting of local festivals each year. Waterville students regularly perform in the community and are active in the arts programs at nearby Colby College.
At the state level, Barre is a [past] president of the Maine Music Educators, which helped implement a paid executive director position for the organization and moved the state’s jazz programs from a competitive format to a festival format, where ensembles perform for a rating and not against each other. Barre is also president of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Eastern Division and served on the executive committee overseeing the planning and implementation of the 2021 Eastern Division Virtual Festival and Conference.
Sue Barre and Argy Nestor co-presenting, NAfME Eastern Division Conference, Atlantic City, 2017. Session: Leading a Way to Proficiency Through the Arts
If you were able to attend the virtual plenary sessions on February 17 in recognition of Arts Education Advocacy Day you are aware of the outstanding opportunity the 2 hour session provided. If you were not there, you’re in luck. All of the sessions were recorded and embedded below. The day was organized by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE) in collaboration with the leaders of the ABC – Arts Are Basic Coalition.
The first one below actually took place during the last part of Arts Education Advocacy Day, the ABC Student Advocacy Initiatives. We know at the heart of providing quality arts education programs and access to it are students! I salute all the Maine students who care deeply for the arts and are afforded an excellent curriculum. And, to all the arts educators striving to provide access to these programs, thank you!
ABC Student Advocacy Initiative
Governor Janet T. Mills Arts Ed Advocacy Message
Remarks from Maine Arts Commission Arts Education Director Martha Piscuskas
Conversation with Maine Art Education Association President Lynda Leonas and Argy Nestor
Visual Art Advocacy Video Maine Minds
Conversation with Maine Educational Theatre Association leader Kailey Smith and Beth Lambert
Maine Department of Education – Kellie Bailey, Social/Emotional Learning and Trauma-Informed Practices Specialist, Commissioner Pender Makin, and Jason Anderson, Visual and Performing Arts Specialist
Conversation with Maine Dance Educator representative Thornton Academy Dance Educator Emma Campbell and MaryEllen Schaper
Conversation with Maine Music Educators Association President Sandra Barry and Kaitlin Young
Music Advocacy Video
Thank you to Susan Potters, Executive Director of MAAEand Melissa Birkhold MAAE Advocacy Coordinator for the plenary session for Maine Arts Ed Advocacy Day and making these individual videos available. The videos are also available on the MAAE website at THIS LINK.
Maine Music Educators Association is accepting nominations for their recognition program. Below are the following categories with links to the nomination form. Consider nominating a deserving colleague.
In addition, if you are a music teacher who is retiring or have a milestone last or this year complete the form to be recognized and send the form to the MMEA Executive Director Beth LaBrie at execdirector@mainemea.org. Likewise, if you have questions, please contact Beth.
Please join us May 10-15 for this exciting and informative professional development conference which will include over sixty live and pre-recorded offerings applicable to all areas of music education. Live sessions will take place via Zoom between 6-8PM on weeknights and 9-noon on Saturday. Both the in-person and pre-recorded sessions will be archived on a password protected website and will be available for viewing at a later date. For questions regarding registration, please email Jon Simonoff at conferenceregistrar@mainemea.org.
If you missed the plenary session provided by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education(MAAE) for Arts Education Advocacy Day you are in luck! The session was recorded and available below. A HUGE THANK YOU to the MAAE partners in the ABC Arts are Basic Coalition MAEA – the Maine Art Education Association, MMEA – Maine Music Educators Association, MaineEdTA – Maine Educational Theatre Association, and the Maine dance educators. It is the first time they’ve presented together and they sent a collective message about the importance of quality arts education programming for every Maine student. Along with the leaders of the state professional organizations Governor Mills recorded message was included in the program. Others who spoke in addition to the professional organization leaders were: Commissioner of Education Pender Makin, Martha Piscuskas, Maine Arts Commission Education Director Martha Piscuskas, Maine Department of Education (MDOE) VPA Specialist Jason Anderson, and MDOE Social/Emotional Learning and Trauma Informed Practices Kellie Bailey.
Most importantly students voices were an integral part of the day. Be sure and catch them towards the end of the video. From the MAAE website:
What we may remember most vividly about Advocacy Day this year was the voices of the students – not only the individual students expressing their feelings about the arts in the videos accompanying the ABC reports, but also the live panel of arts students who are forming advocacy teams in their schools, part of a statewide new ABC initiative directed by MAAE. Coming at the end of the program, the students’ rich discussion about local advocacy and what their teams could mean for the arts in their schools not only brought together the separate themes of the four earlier reports, but made it very clear that Maine arts students can and should be a part of any future efforts to advance the cause of arts education in our state.
Argy Nestor
Arts Educator, Blogger, Artist, Connector meartsed@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/view/anestor/
Argy’s Blog
The purpose of this blog is to share stories about people and places; and to celebrate the amazing work (and play) that students, educators, and organizations are doing in and for arts education. In addition, the blog has a plethora of resources and innovative ideas. This forum gives blog readers the opportunity to learn from each other. It is essential that we listen, learn, and collaborate in order to build on teaching practices for the benefit of every learner in Maine and beyond.
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