Take Note

Pennsylvania State Senator Carolyn Comitta joins us to talk about music education, her experiences with the arts, and ways to effectively advocate for music and arts education.

Jerome Collins is a Pennsylvania native and a product of PMEA. He's gone on to great things in music, including being a member of the acapella group, Straight No Chaser. He joins us to discuss his PMEA experiences and some behind the scenes information about Straight No Chaser.

We continue to gear up for the 2022 PMEA All-State Festival by talking with the conductors of all six All-State ensembles. Today we talk with Brian McCarthy, All-State Jazz Ensemble Conductor and Elizabeth Radigonda, All-State Vocal Jazz Conductor. Learn about the musical programs and what student participants can expect.

On this special edition of PMEA's Take Note podcast, we talk to Brett Keith and Jason Lerew - the candidates for PMEA President-Elect.

Monica Ellis is a native of Pittsburgh, PA and one of the founding members of the GRAMMY nominated, Imani Winds. She joins us to talk about Imani Winds, chamber ensembles in general, and her scholastic musical journey.

We continue to gear up for the 2022 PMEA All-State Festival by talking with the conductors of all six All-State ensembles. Today we talk with Dr. Paula Crider, All-State Wind Ensemble Conductor and Jason Seber, All-State Orchestra Conductor. Learn about the musical programs and what student participants can expect.

NAMM President and CEO, Joe Lamond, joins us to talk about the free Believe in Music event beginning on January 20th. We discuss the great content available for anyone with a passion for music - especially music educators. We also talk about what NAMM offers for music educators and what we can expect from NAMM in the coming year. We hope you enjoy our chat with one of the most valuable and influen...

We're gearing up for the 2022 PMEA All-State Festival by talking with the conductors of all six All-State ensembles. We start today with Dr. Jonathan Helmick, All-State Concert Band Conductor and Dr. Amelia Garbisch, All-State Chorus Conductor. Learn about the musical programs and what student participants can expect.

Dr. William Behre is the president at Slippery Rock University. He joins us to talk about the value of music programs on a university campus and the future of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

Stanford Thompson is the founder and executive director of Play On Philly. He joins us to talk about Play On Philly but also his thoughts on power shifting in American orchestras.

Dr. Stacy Potter is the policy and advocacy chair for the Pennsylvania Art Education Association. She joins us to talk about the role of all arts programs in schools and talks about the role of Social Emotional Learning in the arts and the entire school community.

Alfred Watkins is the retired band director from Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia. He joins us to talk about his impressive career and the Minority Band Directors National Association which he co-founded. He shares lots of words of wisdom and observations that are valuable for any music teacher to hear.

Laurie Schell from Elevate Arts Ed joins us to talk about things arts educators can be doing now to impact their programs including strategic planning and advocating. She also talks with us about a new project she's working on that will impact arts education and the greater arts community.

We're talking about string education with Dr. Jeffrey Tedford, music department chair at Grove City College and current president of the Pennsylvania Delaware String Teachers Association, and Lynn Tuttle, Executive Director and CEO of the American String Teacher Association. We discuss the state of string education and what educators can look forward to from PADESTA and ASTA.

The fall means marching band and we're talking about the Bands of America season with Tim Hinton from Marching Arts Education. We're also talking with Tim Daniels, Director of Bands at Norwin High School, about Norwin's return to Bands of America Grand Nationals. Join us for a fun look into marching band preparations for national events like Grand Nationals.

Chiho Feindler is the Senior Director of Programs and Policy at the Save The Music Foundation. She joins us to talk about the work of Save The Music and free resources that are available for all music educators.

We're joined by Joel Menchey, President and Owner of Menchey Music Service, and current Chair of NAMM, to talk about Menchey Music, recruitment and retention, his new role at NAMM, and more.

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.