Take Note

A product of the PMEA festival system, Adam Brock, details that experience and how it shaped his life in his new book "My Song To Sing." Adam joins us to discuss the book, his experiences in PMEA events, and his advice for students considering participating in PMEA events.

We're talking about a new event for PMEA - a Day of Service. We'll talk about what that is, hear from participants and learn about the Reading Musical Foundation - the group PMEA helped during the Day of Service. We recommend you visit www.pmea.net/takenote to watch this episode of Take Note so you can see video from the Day of Service!

We're talking with newly retired PMEA member, Tina Bennett, about real life advocacy actions she had to take when the program she built over the course of her career was threatened and how she rallied to keep the program going. She shares strategies anyone can use.

We're talking about the 2021 Drum Corps International season and hearing stories from a career in television and drum corps with Drum Corps International icon Steve Rondinaro.

We're talking with Debbie Chrisman from the Perkiomen Valley School District and Sue Basalik from the Methacton School District about the value of professional development and what to expect at the year's PMEA Summer Conference happening virtually July 21-23.

We're talking with Julie Duty, the founder and executive director of United Sound. Learn about the United Sound program and how you can implement it in your school.

We're talking with the organizers of Make Music Philadelphia and Make Music Pittsburgh about the global celebration of making music known as Make Music Day which happens on June 21st!

We're talking with Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Dr. Jason Worzbyt about a wide variety of topics including the list he's collected of Pennsylvania composers.

On this edition of Take Note, we learn about a new book, "A History of Pittsburgh Jazz", co-authored by retired music educator Karen Cole. The book tells the story of jazz in Pittsburgh and about the many notable names in jazz that are Pittsburgh products.

April is the time of year for The PMEA Annual Conference and All-State Festival.  Hear how those two events are happening virtually this year and hear about PMEA's newest program - the Crescendo Student Conference.  PMEA President Phil Stattel and PMEA Professional Development Chair Debbie Chrisman join Take Note to discuss everything to expect during this year's virtual event!

March is Music in Our Schools Month and traditionally the month PMEA visits Harrisburg to advocate for music education. While we can't be in Harrisburg in person this year, we are still able to advocate for music education virtually.  We're joined by PA Representative Eddie Day Pashinski to talk about advocating for music education and we tell you how you can join our advocacy efforts this mo...

Chris Martin is the CEO of Pennsylvania's C.F. Martin & Co. which is known as one of the world's greatest guitar manufacturers. We talk to Chris about the guitar business, his role with NAMM, and music education advocacy.

Becky and Joe Sensor are music educators at Dubois Area Middle School.  We talk to them about teaching during a pandemic and what it's like to be married to another music teacher that works in the same building.

Dr. Marci Major is the Founder and Director of Music Service Learning. She joins Take Note to talk about this new organization and how others can get involved. Learn more at www.musicservicelearning.org

Phil Stattel, PMEA President and Tina Bennett, PMEA Immediate Past President join Take Note to talk about how they've handled the past year in their music classrooms and how PMEA has navigated the pandemic as well.

Byron Stripling was named as the Principal Pops Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in early 2020. We talk to Stripling about his career, his plans for the Pops, music education, and how music and the arts play into our current world.