FMEA PRE CONFERENCE: Should We Work Harder Or Teach Differently

Musical Pedagogy requires teacher decision-making, based on student ability, training, commitment, motivation, and a host of other variables. Student failure can quickly occur when teacher assumptions about prior knowledge and experience ultimately sabotage ensemble success by presuming readiness that does not exist. This session focuses on developmental teaching methods to support high engagement with high achievers while allowing beginning students to have the understand.

Dr. Judy Bowers 

Judy Bowers, is the Biendenharn Chair of Music Education at the Louisiana - Monroe. She is formally the Professor of Choral Music Education at Florida State University, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in choral music and music education, and conducted the Women’s Glee Club. Partnerships she developed to broaden and enrich learning opportunities for choral music education and women’s glee club students included: Adopt-A-Choir, a high school/university connection for one concert; Raa Singers, a before-school choir pairing university students with urban middle school students, and, MTC Glee, connecting women within a correctional facility with FSU students to rehearse weekly and present one concert per semester.

Robert  Clark 

Florida State University
Graduate Student

Robert Clark is a graduate music education student at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. He completed his bachelor and master of Music Education degrees at Florida State University. Prior to returning to graduate school, he taught twelve years of middle and high school band in Florida and Georgia.

The FMEA Professional Development Conference and All-State Ensembles receive support in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.