On the Upbeat Volume 13 No. 1

Supervisor's Message

Greetings!

Our programs would not run without the help of the music council. Not only does the leadership team serve as coordinators for a variety of co-sponsored projects and events, but the council at large funds many of our programs. The Fine Arts Festival and Young Songwriters thrive due to the partnership we have, and the funds made available. There's not a week that goes by that a colleague asks me "How are you able to do that?". Ten out of ten times I'm able to respond..."with the help of the music council."

Thank you to all of you who have joined.

Your dues help sustain us.

Your participation lifts us up.

Your dedication inspires us.

Gratefully,

Tracy

HCEMEC Grant Recipients

HCEMEC is proud to be able to provide grants to our hard-working teachers! Teachers are able to submit proposals for professional development or items to enhance their teaching. Take a moment and read about some of the ways our teachers have been impacted by HCEMEC grants last year!

Courtney Santiago- Gibsonton

When I arrived at Gibsonton Elementary a year and a half ago I was greeted by a sound system that was purchased when I myself was in elementary school! The wires were taped together with black electrical tape and if you moved the speaker the wrong way there would be no sound. With the grant provided by HCEMC the school now has a brand-new portable sound system with Bluetooth connectivity and phantom power that is strong enough to support the choir mics that I brought with me. It has made teaching much easier as the kids can now hear the music while playing instruments and I am not messing with the cables every 5 minutes to make the speakers happy!

Sophavy Vann- Ruskin

The items I received from the HCEMEC Grant has gone to support the students. With the addition of these items, we have been able to increase the number of students that have been able to perform at the same time. It also helped cut down the number of times needed to transition between instruments or equipment. The bass amp has provided us with another speaker to use with our bass instruments. The microphones have gone to replace many of our broken equipment. All of these will be used throughout the year in the general music classroom, after school with the different ensembles, and during our performances throughout the year. Thank you to HCEMEC for providing this grant to Ruskin Elementary!

Fiorella Tangherlini- Tinker K-8

I was awarded a grant from the Hillsborough Music Council to attend the Orff Schulwerk Level 1 training. The training was two weeks of learning how to apply the Orff Schulwerk method in the classroom. Every day we followed a similar schedule where we spent the morning learning pedagogy that included vocal warmups, rhythm games and movement games.

Later, we learned the process of teaching recorder so that our students will be successful. We learned the order in which notes should be taught first and we were taught how to earn belts. My favorite part of the recorder was getting to perform with my classmates. We learned a challenging trio and I got to play on the tenor recorder.

My favorite part was movement because not only did we learn fun folk dances, but we also got to move our bodies any way we wanted when we worked on arioso. I learned that it’s okay to have your students express themselves with their own movements.

This training was fun packed and a great learning experience. I grew so much as a teacher, and it gave me the spark back for teaching that I was slowly losing. I think every music teacher should be Orff trained because the process is very important for student success.

Sam Snow-Mitchell

This summer, I had the privilege of attending the World Music Drumming Level 1 training held at Roland Park K-8. Although I have been active in the world drumming community locally and used the World Music Drumming curriculum, I had yet to experience the training. During the training, I enjoyed learning from master teachers and taking ideas in scaffolding from them with activities and pieces I have already used with students. I also learned more about the instruments that are most frequently used and the proper techniques for playing them. One other big take away from the training was movement activities and dances that students can perform alongside the drumming ensembles from the curriculum. I am really excited to utilize the new information with my students this school year and years to come! I am thankful to the teachers in the county who were able to help get the training here in Tampa and to the Council for offering grants to many of our teachers to attend.

Jon Casanas- Lanier

Last spring, I was honored to be awarded with a professional development grant by the Hillsborough County Elementary Music Educator’s Council (HCEMEC). Prior to receiving this grant, I had attended a World Music Drumming workshop and earned my Level 1 World Music Drumming certification. Level 1 had such an impact on my ability to teach world drumming effectively at Lanier Elementary that when I learned that Level 2 would be offered over the summer, I was very eager to attend and sought a grant from HCEMEC. With the help of HCEMEC I was able to attend this summer’s workshop and earn my Level 2 certification. This level 2 World Music Drumming workshop provided me with greater insight into the culture surrounding west African drumming, music as a second language, and the positive impact that this curriculum can have on a classroom or school’s culture. The workshop opened my eyes to many of the similarities and differences in how various cultures approach music making. This perspective has led me to reflect on my own classroom’s culture around music making and how it is perceived by my students. After taking this training, I hope to not only improve my quality of instruction, but also, the quality of my music classroom culture!

Stacie Emory- Stowers Elementary

The World Drumming workshop I was able attend this past summer was one of the most rewarding and educational experiences I’ve ever had. This wouldn’t have been possible without being awarded a professional development grant from the Hillsborough County Elementary Music Educator’s Council (HCEMEC). I spent four days learning new teaching strategies, songs and dances to take back to my students at Stowers Elementary. We took on the role of the student and experienced the vulnerability and joy of creating music with our peers. I also gained a new respect for West African culture as we explored and discovered how valued music is in their everyday life. I’m excited to use all that I learned in my own classroom this year and in years to come. I’m forever grateful that HCEMEC made this experience possible.

Professional Study Day 2022

On August 3rd Elementary Music held its annual professional study day at Plant High School! Teachers were greeted with bagels and coffee provided by HCEMEC social committee. We kicked things off with an awesome presentation from Kenrick Wagner and Project Gametime where he taught us that "All music is good music to somebody." Later, teachers were given the choice of several awesome books and we divided into groups to collaborate on a lesson to perform at the end of the session. During lunch new teachers had the opportunity to meet with council members and get to know more about how HCEMEC helps support music teachers as well as ask questions about teaching in our district. PSD culminated with several entertaining book performances by our teacher groups. It's amazing what we can come up with in just a short amount of time and limited resources. Just another example of how our Hillsborough County elementary music teachers are the best in the biz!

Way to Go!

These schools will be representing our district during the FMEA conference with students in the All-State Chorus or Orff ensembles.

All State Chorus: Bryant, Carrollwood, Claywell, Lowry, Maniscalco, Roosevelt, Tampa Palms, TBK8

All State Orff: Carrollwood and Tampa Palms

Also, two of our own, Jon Casanas and Sam Snow will be representing Hillsborough County as presenters at the FMEA conference in January right here in Tampa!

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, November 9th- Young Songwriter's Symposium Recording Session

Thursday, November 10th- Young Songwriter's Symposium Concert @ Sparkman's Wharf 6pm.

Wednesday, March 1st- Fine Arts Festival 6:30pm at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts

HCEMEC Leadership