Thoughts from #MMC17

In no particular order, some takeaways and reflections from this weekend's Michigan Music Conference:

• These are some of my favorite days of the entire year. Three days of talking kids, music, and education. 
• I love being in a place where there's a women's group warming up in the bathroom, a trumpet player improvising solos in a hallway and students running everywhere trying out new instruments.
• Watching kids work their tails off together and find joy in music making makes me weepy. 
• So many "why didn't I think of that?!?" moments the last few days such as:
• Ask specific sections about things they need to remember before playing through instead of whole class.
• Use more picture aids for my special needs students such as a picture of an instrument in a locker for a student who continually leaves it out.
• Good teaching for special needs students is good teaching for ALL students.
• Also reminders on things I already knew:
• when it comes to conducting, less is more
• nobody likes alto clarinets
• I have to start attending more varied performances. I went to Choral Hour this year for the first time and really enjoyed it!
• Our state music organizations need to find a different venue to hold this conference because it's really self-defeating to be giving our money, directly or indirectly, to any organization related to the DeVos family.
• Sharing ideas with colleagues is something I really enjoy. Having someone tell me that they're excited to try something I was able to assist with is a good feeling. Helping teachers helps kids.
• While I've grown as an educator, my musicianship has gone neglected for a while. I need to start playing my flute again. I'm also thinking I might try some ukelele or even guitar. The music I'm able to do with my students now is more challenging than I've been able to do in a while and it's shown me how rusty I am with my playing and theory training. Seeing strong musicians work with kids was a good kick in the pants to start thinking more about what I'm modeling for my students.
• The people I work with are ridiculously talented. I am so grateful to work with such outstanding educators.
• I'm looking forward to the opportunity to begin working with student teachers. Two will be starting their field placements with us soon for three hours once a week. It's a short amount of time, but I want to do what I can to make their time valuable and take advantage of having fresh ears in the room with us. 
• On a day that brought a lot of concerns and apprehension world wide, I spent my time with with other musicians as we learned, shared, and created. Music brought thousands of teachers and students together at a time when things have never felt more divisive. 

Any big takeaways from MMC or a conference you've attended recently?