School of Music has strong representation at music educators' symposium

The Penn State School of Music was represented by eight scholars at this year's Symposium on Music Teacher Education held last week in Greensboro, North Carolina. The symposium is offered annually by The National Association for Music Education's Society for Music Teacher Education as a way for leaders in music pedagogy from around the country to convene for a three-day event that highlights research and common practices within the field. This year's theme was "cultivating perspectives and practices," which focused on historical perspectives as well as promising practices in music education, according to Bryan Nichols, assistant professor of music. Penn State's leadership was front and center as the conference began with remarks from SMTE chair and Penn State professor of music education, Linda Thornton, whose message called upon society members to "consider our roots and growth as a professional association as well as both the common and unique experiences as music teacher educators." "The conference was successful in attending to issues of music education, such as curriculum, policy and inclusion as they relate to music students in elementary and secondary schools and college students studying to be teachers," Nichols, who gave two presentations said. "Throughout the conference, Penn State was shown as a leader in varying topics and sub-specialties within the field." In addition to Thornton's role as SMTE chair and Nichols' presentations, Penn State was represented at the symposium by presenters Ann Clements, associate professor and graduate program chair for music education; Darrin Thornton, associate professor and assistant director of the School of Music; and Ph.D. candidates Scott Atchison, Le Zhang, Michquelena Potlunas Ferguson, Christiana Usenza and Douglas McCall.