The Beth and Kelly Show: Music Teaching (and Life)

We had the BEST chat with orchestra educator Jonathan Glawe and members of the Pioneer High School Symphonic Strings Orchestra from Ann Arbor, Michigan (Eli Braunschneider --12th Grade, Soledad beck --10th Grade, Hyunsung Woo --11th Grade, and Luke Hayden --12th Grade). They are "on tour" and just had an amazing, ground-breaking performance at the National Orchestra Festival in Atlanta as a part of the ASTA Conference. This deeply inspiring and deeply honest conversation should be required listening for all secondary music educators as we continue our journey through "festival season." These students have real thoughts and ideas for helping ensure lifelong musicianship and artistic expression and opportunities for everyone are the REAL goals of "festivals" and music ed in general. I'm telling you --you NEED TO LISTEN TO THIS!

We had the BEST convo with Dr. Julie Yu, Director of Choral Activities at Oklahoma City University and Conductor of the Oklahoma City Canterbury Voices Chorale. We go deep into how it feels as women in music education and leadership in this moment in time and the tiny slivers of hope — of light shining through the barriers. There is cause to be worried, yes, but also cause for hope and optimism.

In this episode, we celebrate 5 years of this podcast — a true labor of love; AND we talk at length about a mentor of ours — a consummate music educator who was the very essence of cool — the late Robert E Knatt.

In this epic conversation with Molly Redfield, we talk about Molly’s musical upbringing, and the challenges encountered as a woman pro performer and music educator. What became evident is that words matter — even offhanded comments from an adjudicator at a middle school jazz band festival. Words (even seemingly simple ones) can affect the trajectory of one’s beliefs about themselves and one’s very future. We need to be conscious of our words, and the words of those we have speak to our students. After this conversation, what we can tell you is that we are SO GLAD Molly is out there in the music ed realm — Molly — keep doing your super power — building warm welcoming communities for music participants and learners!

This episode is a conversation between 3 women who are relentlessly working to help our music and music education worlds be more equitable and representative of all genders. Listen to the creative approaches our great Erica von Kleist is employing to get important messages across. Yes yes yes! The work continues!

This interview with the movers and shakers of the Yamaha Education Division, Heather Mansell and Natalie Morrison, goes into the REAL ways that Yamaha is working to help us as a music education world usher in needed change. This is a great convo about serving both our current students AND "the other 70%" of students that don't engage in school music programs in the US (shocking data, I know)!! Yamaha is actively working to help that percentage shift. Yamaha is a gem in our community!

Beth and Kelly Show Season 4 "Live From ASTA" Series: Composer Katie LaBrie! We already knew that Katie LaBrie's awesome orchestra compositions are being played all across this land (to our students' delight) -- but in this conversation we get into her life, not just as a composer -- but also a music educator, conductor, and mom. Listen to this story of living through HUGE challenges -- and leaning into composing (and bringing joy to students everywhere) as a way to heal!

In this rare in-person opportunity, we sit down with 2024 Elizabeth Green Award recipient Jonathan Glawe, the Director of Orchestras at Ann Arbor's storied Pioneer HS. We get right to the heart of the matter on why and how Jonathan has decided to center the HUMANS that make up his program over PRESTIGE. This one will pull on your heart strings!

We had such fun reminiscing with former colleagues Blake Saunders & Jared Sessink, both former Washington Middle School and current Garfield High School music educators. We start to unpack some complexities of these schools, the pipeline, and making big moves in the name of equity.

We talk with Chris Thomas, band director at Bainbridge Island HS, and we dig into his jazz combo curriculum and innovative small ensemble jazz festival. We talk about how “chamber technique” applies across the board for all levels and how it truly is a key tool for making music with anyone anywhere!

This show with music educator, performer,  and creativity coach Steve Treseler is still spinning around in our brains. We talk about how imperative it is to teach our students that it is ok and healthy to be creative, and we confront what stops us from doing this as we maneuver within the rigid structures of music education in the US that never really did leave much room for creative decision-making . Unleash your / your students’ inner-artist!

Today’s episode features one of our fave music educators — choral pedagogue and general music specialist , Carol Burton.  So many uplifting words of wisdom, stories, and GEMS to be found in Carol’s narrative. You GOTTA listen! You’re not going to regret it.

We were joined by Orlando G Morales, the Associate Artistic Director and Community Engagement Officer at Seattle’s storied Fifth Avenue Theater! We talk about his remarkable life (as a Filipino American, a pro improvising musician, an arts non-profit community change-maker, certified educator, and arts learning standards expert)! LISTEN TO THIS SHOW! There are some amazing ideas and thoughts unearthed about moving the needle in Music Ed. It is TIME TO ACT! It is time to COLLABORATE!

We talk about our over-arching philosophy that “the kids can play”  — and how as teachers, we sometimes might inadvertently hold students back from “just playing” because we think we have to go through all kinds of complicated steps and procedures before they “start,” so that they are “ready,” putting learning on a long drawn out (potentially unnecessary) timeline.  Then, we talk about a miraculous camp at Seattle JazzED where kids go from zero to performing in 4 days. 

This is our Season Two “Soft” Closer. We unpack the incredibly inspiring NAfME National Assembly, all of the rich topics we dug into last week in DC, and all of the 5-alarm emergencies that are happening in our world making teaching and learning extremely difficult (all while the devastating SCOTUS ruling overturning Roe v Wade happened). This dovetailed into both of us sharing narrative about why teaching “5 shows a day” for 40 years in the public schools is not sustainable for us (nor for a huge and growing cross-section of current and not-yet music educators nation-wide). 

As we wrap up what many would consider one of the toughest teaching years on record, it is a great time for secondary instrumental; and choral educators to dream big about ways to utilize the understandings and knowledge we’ve gathered over this trying period about our students, and what really matters. It has been a time of reckoning for many of us as we realize that many of our students (and we) have different needs after all that has happened, yet we are still often obliged to engage in many of the same types of adjudicated events that likely needed an overhaul pre-covid, with unadjusted requirements, and unchanged rubrics. This has to be causing some cognitive dissonance for us as we saunter into the summer. Join Beth Fortune and Kelly Clingan (co-hosts of the popular Music Education podcast The Beth and Kelly Show) and string specialists Dr. Kelsey Nussbaum (University of Washington), and Corie Benton (Cobb County School District) in an interactive discussion and idea-gathering NAfME Council for Orchestral Education Town Hall all about putting the FESTIVE back into student festivals!

Today’s guest was Dr. David Myers, chairperson of the Taskforce on the Undergraduate Music Major, and one of the writers of “Transforming Music Study from Its Foundations: A Manifesto for Progressive Change in the Undergraduate Preparation of Music Majors.” We had an EPIC conversation that really started to give us actual hope that the critical transformation of university level music and music education programs — the kind of transformation that then allows k12 music education to ALSO truly evolve — is POSSIBLE! Listen to what David has to say — it’s time for some grand gestures!

Today’s show features “music ed power couple” Ruth Boden (low strings specialist) and Dean Luethi (choral specialist) — 2 amazing music faculty members at Washington State University! We dig in to the life-changing aspects (for our students) of participation in music and the flip-side of the coin: navigating the gauntlet of time-honored structures in music ed that have shown (especially in this era touched by COVID) to sometimes cater to only the super-served, and sometimes even extinguish the deeply personal joy that we as educators KNOW our students can attain.

This episode features an exceptionally inspiring music educator, performer, singer-songwriter, and music education mover/ shaker named  Ailisa Newhall! She is SO aligned with our vision of collectively transforming our practice to focus on the artistic PROCESS and de-emphasize the sports-like mentality of competitive music performance. You will come away with motivation and ideas for making moves of your own — so check it out , and join our coalition!

In this show we talk with thought-leader Kelsey Nussbaum about ways to shift music education to be more about honoring and building skills in the Artistic Process (over competition, and perfection in performance).  And we “go there” by opening up discussion about Texas. Yes. We. Did.

Wobbly internet won't stop a music educator that KNOWS WHERE ITS AT — Liana Green. Empowering kids to love music and giving them the tools to seek it out and make it happen for themselves (even (gasp!) non-trad band or orchestra instruments). If you need a boost of inspiration, check this out. And — be on the lookout for work that Liana is contributing to in our community orgs The Rhapsody Project and Seattle JazzED!

“Part Deux” of our assessment discussion with string and Mariachi educator/ music ed pedagogue Scott Glasser . We talk about strategies for building a culture in the classroom where PROCESS is finally valued more than PRODUCT. He shared some interesting ideas for ensuring the ability to provide feedback to students on a regular basis through low-stakes “rough drafts” for playing tests.

The one. The only. The amazing. Scott Brown. Roosevelt High School is in the house for our first ever public broadcast!

Megan Vinther teaches in Everett, WA and does it ALL. It's concert/contest season and we dig into being a woman with a baton and the hurdles that come with it.