Choral and Instrumental Summer Institutes are returning to the UTC campus to provide participants with opportunities to advance their careers in music education. The workshops are especially helpful to K-12 music educators who seek professional development. Photo by Angela Foster.
Last summer, four internationally recognized conductors came to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to share their expertise as part of the Summer Pedagogy and Conducting Institutes.
Thanks to that successful launch, the institutes are returning.
As part of a redesigned Master of Music in Music Education program, choral and instrumental institutes were brought to the UTC campus to provide participants with opportunities to advance their careers in music education.
The workshops are especially helpful to K-12 music educators who seek professional development, explained College of Arts and Sciences Dean Pam Riggs-Gelasco.
“The workshops are designed to serve both enrolled graduate students in the Music Education program and practicing K-12 teachers,” Riggs-Gelasco said.
A benefit to the workshops, she said, is that you don’t have to directly participate as a conducting fellow to be involved in the experience.
“You can pay to participate as a conducting fellow so that you are getting in front of a performing group and conducting with mentorship from the clinicians,” she said, “or you can audit and play or sing in the ensemble. As an auditor, you’re learning about conducting through watching other people learn.”
Dr. Kenyon Wilson, head of the Department of Music and professor of applied tuba, explained that last summer, some students who did not participate for credit included high school seniors who had enrolled at UTC.
“Several of them said, ‘I never thought my band director went through all this in order to improve themselves,’” Wilson said.
He emphasized the pedagogy aspect of the institutes, explaining that participants are in a classroom with the instructors just as much as they are in the band room.
“We’re bringing rockstar pedagogues to campus,” he said. “I’m not conducting a band anymore in my position, but being in the band, I’m watching my colleagues or former students of mine up there just being transformed.”
Associate Professor Alison Allerton played a significant role in redesigning the master’s program into its current format and structure. She described the Pedagogy and Conducting Institutes as the highlight of the program.
“Each week, we bring in a new, internationally recognized practitioner to be a guest instructor,” Allerton said, “so our students are able to learn from some of the biggest names in conducting and music education without leaving Chattanooga.”
She said the institutes run all day, with morning sessions devoted to special topics and afternoon sessions to “making music together” and receiving feedback on conducting and rehearsal techniques.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to refresh and recharge—to connect and socialize with colleagues while receiving inspiration along with new tricks and tips for the classroom,” she said.
This summer, the institutes run the weeks of June 10-14 and June 17-21.
- Week One will feature Dr. Mary Schneider from Eastern Michigan University for the Instrumental Institute and Dr. Kristina Caswell MacMullen from Baylor University for the Choral Institute.
- Week Two will welcome Dr. Kevin Sedatole from Michigan State University for the Instrumental Institute and Dr. John Dickson, professor emeritus from Louisiana State University, for the Choral Institute.
According to Professor of Music and UTC Director of Bands Randall Coleman, the Master of Music in Music Education program offers the “best of both worlds” for the contemporary music educator.
“As an online program with a two-week summer intensive program that is on campus,” he said, “our students can complete their coursework without giving up their current job and also have the opportunity to work with national and international leaders in our field during the two-week summer program.”
With the conducting workshops, students receive face-to-face instruction as well.
“This summer program includes classes, workshops and extensive time ‘on the podium’ in front of a wind band for commentary and feedback from the faculty,” Coleman said.
Dr. Lee Harris, coordinator of music education, said his current role in the music education program is primarily concerned with the Kodály music education courses offered each summer.
Harris established the Kodály Institute at UTC in 2000, offering a three-week workshop format that trains music teachers in Kodály-based music instruction.
“The coolness factor is evident in the hands-on experiences provided to our participants as they strengthen their musicianship, pedagogy and conducting skills,” Harris said.
UTC alum Molly Epperson, the band director at East Hamilton High School, participated in last summer’s instrumental institute of the conducting workshops with conductors Cynthia Johnston Turner, dean of the faculty of music at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and Lowell Graham, music director for the Greeley (Colorado) Philharmonic Orchestra.
“They offered contrasting conducting styles and experiences while both being encouraging and inspiring in their own ways,” Epperson said. “What I learned from them and the experience I had on the podium with that ensemble will stay with me for the rest of my career. The connections made with the two clinicians as well as with the other members of the ensemble have already been invaluable.”
The cost for this year’s full conducting fellows is $500—and $175 a week for auditors. There is a special discount for Hamilton County Schools educators to audit for $100. Early bird fees are available until May 1 or until spots fill.
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UTC Summer Pedagogy and Conducting Institutes
Master of Music in Music Education
The Summer Pedagogy and Conducting Institute workshops are designed to serve both enrolled graduate students in the Music Education program and practicing K-12 teachers.
