Monday, April 13, 2020

PMC Video Professional Development Sessions

Our PMC team consists of over 20 former directors with more than 480 years of teaching experience. We are excited to provide some outstanding learning and collaboration opportunities. Please join us online for these upcoming events.
Click: zoom.us/join
April 14, 3:00pm
Charlie Bartrug
Charlie's All-Important Band Director Movie Trivia
Meeting ID: 870 391 3301Password: 8hYxs
April 15, 8:00am
Mike Steffen
Unit/Lesson Demonstration Lab
Click HERE to pre-register.
April 15, 12:00pm
Broken Arrow staff
Director's Lounge
Meeting ID: 718 043 6299Password: 048695
April 15, 1:00pm
Matt Carmichael, Melissia Goff
School's Closed. What Now?
Click HERE to pre-register.
April 15, 1:00pm
OKC staff
OKC Post-lunch Soiree #2
Meeting ID: 870 391 3301Password: 1f8MsK
April 16, 10:00am
Amy Hinkson
Marching Band from a Judge's Viewpoint, with Chris Church
Meeting ID: 707 632 229Password: 6aeZrb
April 17, 8:00am
Mike Steffen
String Methods Refresher: Double Bass
Click HERE to pre-register.
April 17, 9:00am
Bridgett Randolph
Using TikTok and Instagram to Connect with your Kids
Click HERE to pre-register.
April 20, 10:00am
Amy Hinkson
Creating and Organizing a Virtual Band Concert, with Tim Hendrix
Meeting ID: 483 661 180Password: 8tdpvD

Sharing Band Kids with Orchestra: Food for Thought
by Susan Clothier
Education Representative, PMC Oklahoma City

I was told early in my teaching career that you needed to befriend your school secretary (she's really the one running the building), custodian, football field maintenance guy, and the list goes on and on! But what about your colleagues? In many cases, you are all vying for the same kids even to the point of sharing several students. So being able to communicate with the choir director, drama director, stagecraft director, and orchestra director is huge. You don't have to like them, but you must be able to work with them.

When I arrived at my final-destination school, I found that I would be sharing a space with the orchestra director! Oh my, that was a whole new and different experience! We shared space, students, and many other things. I learned a lot in the 19 years with 3 orchestra directors, that I think may be helpful for some of you who have wind and percussionists that play in the school's full orchestra.

With the world so topsy-turvy, now might be a good time to re-evaluate what you do to help with your student involvement in school orchestra.

Things we did that seemed to work:

Early in the sharing process, I learned that my students felt incredibly important playing in the school orchestra, but that importance didn't always transfer to them playing well. I found that when I held them accountable for playing well in the orchestra and encouraged them to "do no harm", the performance level of all our instrumental groups just morphed to a higher level. Remember, it's all about communication and relationships.

Susan Clothier PhotoSusan Clothier is a native Oklahoman. She attended Oklahoma City University where upon graduation, she immediately started her teaching career. Susan taught in Oklahoma Public schools for 37 years. She took two years off to complete her Masters degree at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX. Susan spent her entire career in Oklahoma, teaching at Western Heights, Washington, Tuttle, and Tecumseh before returning to OKC to serve as Director of Bands at Putnam City North High School for 19 years until retiring in 2018. During her time at Putnam City, Susan also served at the District Coordinator of Bands and was the Fine Arts Department Chair at PC North. Susan was named Oklahoma's Band Director of the Year and has been inducted into the Oklahoma Bandmasters Hall of Fame.

Mapex & Majestic Marching Present: The Focus Friday Interview Series! An in-depth interview each week with a featured Mapex/Majestic artist!

Focus Friday

Contact Your Local Palen Music Center Representative
Can we assist you with anything? Please contact your local Palen Music Center school road representative for all of your music education needs.
(417) 882-7000 (573) 256-5555 (816) 792-8301
OKC
(417) 781-3100 (405) 896-8111 (479) 464-8877
(918) 286-1555 (636) 229-1904 (417) 882-7000

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