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MPA Dates Announced

District 12 will be sponsoring THREE instrumental MPA’s this year, as well as ONE choral MPA.

These are great opportunities for your large ensemble to be adjudicated and evaluated against a rubric that is consistent across the state.

It is my hope that everyone with a large ensemble at the secondary level considers attending one of these.    For more information, please contact our MPA chair, Kyle Risch.   

(Registration links for these events will be available soon)

District 12 Band, Orchestra, Chorus Audition Registration

Directors:

We are now accepting registrations for your students to audition for the 2020 PMEA District 12 Band, Orchestra, and Chorus Festivals.

Information is posted here.

Auditions will be held on November 23rd at West Chester Rustin HS.

*Students must be registered by the director of the ensemble they are in at their school.   Directors must be current members of PMEA and are expected to attend the audition day to serve as a member of one of the audition panels.*

 

 

PD Webinar Available – Sept 25

“Social Media – Boon or Nemesis” by Paul K. Fox is a PMEA webinar offering “the good, the bad, and the ugly” on using social media with students. We will explore the pros and cons of emerging online technology for veteran music teachers, new or pre-service educators, and even retirees. The presentation will touch-on various legal issues, the ethical framework necessary to guide teacher decision-making and the avoidance of unacceptable “appearances or actions,” and precautions for the use of digital communications and social networks. We will focus on the safety, wellness, and privacy concerns of both student and teacher, cultivation of “best practices” in meeting our fiduciary obligations and moral professionalism, and the enhancement of teacher efficacy, reputations, and the public’s trust and confidence. We will target discussion of these essential questions developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Professional Standards and Practices Commission:

 

  1. What are the professional expectations of teachers with regard to their “electronic” interactions with students?
  2. Why and how should teachers control their public “brand” or persona?
  3. How do teachers’ use of emerging technologies such as social networking, cell phones, etc., present challenges to maintaining appropriate student-teacher boundaries?
  4. What are some of the potential consequences for inappropriate use of technology?

 

Finally, surveying a myriad of resources, several examples of “safe social media” and effective strategies for using emerging technology in the music classroom will be shared.

For more information – visit the PMEA state website.

President’s Message – August 2019

Welcome to the new school year!

I am honored to serve all of you as the District 12 President for the next two years.

For those of you that do not know me, I am the Band Director and Performing Arts Coordinator for the Phoenixville Area School District in Chester County.   Beyond running the band program, I also teach AP Music Theory, Recording Technology, and beginning guitar.  This is my 17th year teaching overall.   I have a master’s degree in Wind Band Conducting from West Chester University, and am one of the lead clinicians for the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy.   Music – and helping grow teachers of music – are two important aspects of my life.    I am a resident in the Owen J Roberts school district, and my wife Sarah is a middle school band director in Berks County.

The life cycle of the president’s role is a 6 year term – 2 as vice president, 2 as current, and 2 as past president.   I had a short turn around with just 1 year as vice president due to some personnel changes.  Dr. Erin Kauppila has done an AMAZING job in helping me prepare for this role – thank you Erin!

I’d also like to take a second and welcome our new vice-president, Dr. Steve Selfridge.  Steve is the band director at Garnet Valley High School, and we are all excited to bring him on board so that he gets his “turn” in two years.

 

DISTRICT AUDITIONS: Save the Date: November 23rd, 2019.  

This year, we are utilizing a set of new excerpts for instrumental auditions.  (Vocal auditions will remain the same as in years past).  We have posted a few updates over the summer to these as there were bound to be a few errors in the engraving process.    Please check these out here:  (The password is PMEAD12).

Teachers: Per the audition guidelines, you must be in attendance and be a part of the audition panels if you have students auditioning.  

D12 Calendar of Events: 

All D12-sponsored events are now available here:    More info will be available as we get closer.

D12 In-Service: Save the Date: November 5th, 2019

Presenters have been notified – thank you to all who applied!   More information on registration and the schedule of events will be published in the coming weeks.  In the meantime – as you are starting your beginning of year inservice days, please connect with your curriculum point person in your school district about attending.  It’s a great day of professional development geared EXACTLY for music teachers!

Renew your PMEA Membership!

You should have received an email from PMEA over the summer with the new system in place.   This is a *NEW* system – and everyone will have to register in it.  You can print invoices out through the system if you need to do so for your district.   You also will no longer be getting ID cards in the mail – it’s all electronic.

New Teachers in your District? Forward this to them!

This is going out to last year’s email list, as well as being published on the website.    If you have new teachers in your district, please forward this onto them – as well as direct them to the PMEA D12 website!

 

Welcome new D12 Board Members

  • Shawn Lee (Phoenixville) will be moving from the Elementary PD chair to co-chairing the HS PD chair with Mike Shoremount (West Chester SD)
  • Dr. Danielle Cullen (Downingtown) will be moving into the Elementary PD chair position.
  • Kyle Risch (West Chester SD) will be moving into the  MPA (Music Performance Assessment) Chair position.

 

PMEA District 12 – both myself and the entire board – are made up of teachers just like you.  We are here to assist and help you out in whatever way we can.    Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions at all!  

 

President’s Message – May 2019

PMEA Members –

I hope this email finds you well and enjoying the end of the school year.  Concert season is upon us and I’m sure there is some incredible music making occurring throughout District 12!  Thank you for what you do to bring music to our children.

I am emailing you with two important pieces of information.  First, the PMEA District 12 Chorus audition music is posted on our PMEA D12 website at this link https://www.pmea12.org/district-12-auditions/2019-20-district-chorus-audition-info.  Instrumental audition excerpts will be posted at the beginning of June.  Thank you to our repertoire committee for working diligently to produce a great list of excerpts for next year’s auditions.

 

Second, District 12 is currently seeking individuals interested in running for the position of President.    This is a 6-year term, with 2 years (beginning in the fall of 2019) as Vice President, 2 years as President (fall of 2021), and 2 years as Past-President (fall of 2023).  The first two years of the position is on the job training and there is a great support system in place.  If you have any questions, or you are interested in running, please email me as soon as possible at president@pmea12.org .

 

As always, if you have any questions, please send me an email.  Enjoy the rest of your school year and thank you again for the work that you do!