The Case For Contest

March 1st in my Classroom means District Contest is around the corner.  Our organization, the Ohio Music Educators Association, officially calls it an Adjudicated Event.  Competitions and Contests tend to be a polarizing issue in music education.  Much like dance competitions, figure skating, and dog shows, they involve subjective opinions.  This is my 13th year taking all of my choirs to an adjudicated event.  Contest makes me nervous every year, and that is a good thing.   

• Standards-Based Assessment and Quality Literature

The OMEA Adjudicated Event form asks the judges to respond to the following standards:

Tone Quality
Breath Support
Blend
Balance
Intonation
Interpretation
Tempo
Phrasing
Expression
Style
Dynamic Level
Technique
Note Accuracy
Rhythmic Accuracy
Articulation
Diction
Facility
Precision
Posture

A Committee of teachers chooses a list of choral literature for the event each year.  This exposes directors and students to quality literature that stretches their depth of knowledge.

Ensembles have to execute all of the technical and expressive aspects of the music that are on the page and then create things that aren't on the page to show musicality and mastery.     

• Feedback from Master Teachers

One reason that I feel strongly that the contest experience is valuable is that your ensemble receives honest constructive feedback for improvement from master teachers.  The judges are carefully selected, well seasoned, and have proven track records in the same event.

Students need feedback from others than YOU.  So often a judge will share a comment with our students that I have said several times, but hearing it from someone else gives them the "a ha" moment of learning.  If you are teaching well, the judge will simply confirm what you've been saying all along. If there are areas for improvement from a teaching perspective, you will hear that as well.  No matter what the outcome, students will learn.

If you aren't asking professionals for their honest feedback, how do you know where your ensembles are in their development process?  It is easy to become complacent and assume that what you are doing is right.  It takes courage to put your work out there for others to respond to.  Every 4-6 weeks we have a performance and put our class work on display for public consumption.  Twice a year we display it for expert consumption.

The exercise of taking ensembles to contest is professional development for teachers and directors. Asking for peer feedback on the teaching and learning that goes on in your classroom everyday is essential for growth.  

• Contest Defines your Purpose

The Disney Movie The Greatest Game Ever Played contains the line "There is golf, and then there is championship golf." It is one thing to prepare for home concerts where parents will smile and clap regardless of what you do, it is another thing for your performance to be measured against a set of accepted musical standards.

Sight-reading is authentic assessment.  There is a sight-reading component to our competition.  We will perform three selected pieces, some from a required list of approved literature, and then sing a selection that we have never seen.  The process of sight-reading requires a system and practice. Having to sight-read at contest gives us a purpose to begin with the end in mind.  There is an obvious and relevant purpose to what we are working on, none of it driven by an individual grade, but by a team assessment.  "When are we ever going to use this?"...right now. 

• School Representation and Pride 

There is a strong sense of school pride in all of our music programs at Gahanna Lincoln.  The students at Gahanna Lincoln are accustomed to success at contest, which could be challenged this year.  For the last decade, nine performing ensembles have routinely received superior ratings at the State Level competition.  On the other hand, you are only as good as your last concert and you have to strive to achieve more. 

There is no arguing that when students are engaged in activities that are successful, their confidence, academic achievement, and attendance increases.

Contest involves team-building, planning, and common goals.  When students come together with a purpose and a goal, they are ultra-engaged.  This isn't just for Mom and Dad, this is for all the marbles.  All students unequivocally want to feel good about the organization they are in, and universally want to do well.

When a new or veteran teacher is struggling with a new or stagnant music program, my first piece of advice is taking the students to a contest.  The deadline and standards require students to give their all, not ever concerned with what grade they will get in the class but rather with how the team does as a whole.  It is my opinion that all ensembles, from middle school to high school, should go to contest to develop their skills. 

No matter what the rating, significant learning will occur for the teacher and the students by receiving expert feedback.

As my colleague Dawn Fickel says:  Nothing Motivates Like Success

The Case for Conference

I recently attended the Ohio Music Educators Professional Development Conference in Columbus, Ohio.  The conference featured concerts, clinics, and reading sessions within your focus area.  I was able to see 8 choir performances and 3 choral reading sessions and a few teaching clinics. 

I was fortunate to have been in the Ohio All-State Choir twice during high school.  That meant that during the OMEA Conference I was rehearsing and performing with an all-star choir of students from around the state.  It also meant that I attended a few teaching clinics while I was there.

During all four years at Otterbein I attended the conference as an Ohio Collegiate Music Education Association member.

My first 6 years of teaching I attended the conference religiously and learned vigorously.  After 12 years of attending the conference something happened...

In 2006 my first daughter was born and I didn't attend.  "I'll go next year."
In 2007 my wife was studying for the Ohio Bar Exam.  "I'll go next year."
In 2008 I was getting a Master's Degree in Administration.  "I'll go next year."
In 2009 my second daughter was born and I didn't attend.  "I'll go next year."

You get the picture, I didn't go in 2010 or 2011 either.  I stopped going because 'life happened' and it was so difficult to get away and take a weekend to sharpen my skills.  This year I made the decision to go and attend every session that I could.  I struggled with being away from family and my classroom, but it was time to re-dedicate to investigating what is happening in Choral Music Education.  I was so glad that I did. 

"If you're not getting better you're getting worse"

• Choral Concerts

Hearing other Choral Ensembles Perform is a constant study of tone, pitch, diction, approach, literature, technique, and purpose.  I heard a broad range of high school and college choirs that were most impressive.  Many contained aspects of music making that I wanted to apply to my ensembles.  Just hearing choirs that weren't my own was worth the cost of admission.  I learned more in 3 days than I have in years.

• Choral Reading Sessions

The choral reading sessions were also valuable.  Each of the three sessions give you a stack of 50-75 choral pieces and the teachers become the choir.  Not only was it a fun exercise in sight-reading, but I got to sing through almost 200 pieces of choral literature; exposing me to new material in a way that perusing it on a shelf doesn't.

• Perspective

I spent Friday attending sessions with fellow Choral Directors Mr. Sribanditmongkol and Mr. Miller.  Both are outstanding young High School Choir Directors.  Mr. S is a graduate of Gahanna Lincoln and Mr. M was our student teacher at GLHS.  It was energizing to talk about what we were hearing and seeing with colleagues who once were students.  Not only was I connecting with other choral teachers, but they were people that I had the opportunity to encourage and develop at one time.  Both of those people contributed to my learning, and continue to do so.    

As music teachers, we are often the only person in our building that teaches our subject.  Spending time deliberating and collaborating with other people in your field is essential to continued growth and renewal.

I was most moved by watching the performances of college choirs that former students of mine were singing in.  I sat in the audience like a proud parent seeing alumni shine in their current choirs, all of which were top notch programs.  The Wittenberg Choir was stunning, The Ohio State Men's Glee Club was stellar and the Wright State University Collegiate Chorale was pure class. 

Re-connecting with colleagues that I had not seen in some time was also valuable.  From professor Brad Rees, I learned about a new Professional Music music degree at Tiffin University that is the only kind in our state.

I connected with a university colleague that asked me to help write a column in our professional trade publication that involved interviewing high school choral directors.

I was given an invitation for our choirs to participate in an "Ensemble-In-Residence" program at Wright State University.  Students spend the day performing with professors, hearing other choirs, and participing in clinics.

I was approached and encouraged to begin judging other choirs for our Ohio Adjudicated Events and learned about other conference opportunities.

For me, it was more about engagement than opportunity. 

• Reflection

It is easy to justify not going to conferences and clinics when everything is going well.  It is just as easy to get into a rhythm and comfort zone in our teaching and be content with what we are doing.  The truth, which is overwhelming, is that we can always do more.  We can always refine what we are doing, even if it simply means staying current on trends and practice.  Complacency is the enemy and taking the time out of our classroom bubble to continue being a lifelong learner is essential to growth and professional development. 

I hope to attend EdCamp Columbus in May and will be attending the Ohio Choral Directors Association(OCDA) Summer Conference at Otterbein University in June.  (OCDA is affiliated with the American Choral Directors Association, ACDA).

If Not You, Then Who?

My Grandfather, Harvey Vernon Egan, was born in August of 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. He was a gifted clarinetist, pianist, and arranger during his high school years and entered New York University in 1936.  By 1941 he had graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Music Education and took an instrumental music teaching job at Islip High School in Long Island, New York.

In the summer of 1942 he met Frances Freshwater.  Frances had just graduated from the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin University and was visiting friends at NYU.  Frances also had a degree in Music Education and was a piano major.  They were married on V-E Day, 1945 and remained married for 62 years until their deaths.

Harvey enrolled back into New York University in 1942 and finished a Master's Degree in Music Education by 1945.  He taught High School Band, Private Lessons, and Church Choir in Islip until his retirement 30 years later.  He had a very distinguished career, many of his pupils became professional orchestral and instrumental musicians.

My earliest memories as a child include Grandpa and I at his Steinway playing and singing jazz and broadway songs.  Most summers we would take on a different instrument in addition to singing, afternoons were dedicated to music theory.  My time as a clarinetist was especially short and I became focused on brass instruments and voice.  He was a lifetime teacher and I was his student.

He loved to teach, loved to make music, was patient and kind.

My high school years nearly paralleled my Grandfather's and I found myself leaning toward a lifetime of music.  I was heavily involved in band, choir, piano and musical theater.  My Father was a high school choir teacher for several years, and my Mother was a career elementary teacher who minored in music.  I grew up thinking that everyone's house sounded like the practice rooms at Carnegie Hall.

My years at Otterbein College were focused on both performance and education.  By my third year of college my advisors in the music department encouraged me to decide on a life of performer or a life of a teacher.  I had been fortunate to have roles in all of the musicals and operas at Otterbein and considered a lifetime of performance.  In addition, I had accepted a contract to sing with Opera Columbus that year.

The summer before my last year at Otterbein I met with my Grandfather and shared with my apprehensions about being a teacher, which included being not very impressed with many of the music classrooms that I had observed.  Teaching seemed like a thankless and unglamorous task.  I also shared that the music making in many of the classrooms I visited was weak, uninspired, and pedestrian at best.  I asked him if I should become a music teacher.

After a quiet moment he looked me in the eye and simply said "If not you, then who?"

If not you, then who?

A lengthy discussion followed, and his passion for teaching and music brought a brightness to his eyes.  He talked about his successes and celebrations with students as if it were yesterday, even though it had been 30 years.  He spoke of James Houlik, a now world-renowned Saxophone player that other teachers couldn't seem to reach, but was a tremendous talent.  He was passionate that students would always need quality teachers, quality music education programs, and quality literature.    

I made my decision to be a teacher after that discussion.  Like hundreds of students before me, I owe much of my musical training, educational concepts, and teaching philosophy to Harvey Egan, 1919-2009.