“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” ― Anatole France, poet and novelist
Change means challenge; challenge means growth. This fall, I’ll be teaching a new course at Peabody Conservatory– Stage
An OrchKids Student
Movement for Opera – and classes for children through Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids, an El Sistema model for creating social change through music and movement in underserved Baltimore City schools. Both are new challenges, so I’m looking forward to my own growth in the process.
Peabody/Johns Hopkins has jump-started the learning curve, encouraging faculty to take a course in “Playing Well” (anatomy for musicians), so I’m setting aside my Psychology studies for a while. I’m also discovering the ins and outs of online pedagogy – a separate subject in itself!
Ballerina-friend Virginia Britton will bring her Metropolitan Arts Collaborative to Howard County, where child-centered, skill-oriented dance for young children is needed. Virginia balances conceptual work with dance-specific skills, and introduces classical ballet music and stories. I’ll be teaching a kids’ class in her program, titled “Music, Movement and Story Plays.”
Meanwhile, I continue as “music person” in the UMBC Dance Department – hiring, orienting, and scheduling dance accompanists, filling in when needed; helping students choose and license music for their choreography requirements; and teaching Music for Dance. (Also occasionally taking a barre, wayyy back in the corner.)
I spread myself thin, but MusiKinesis® publishing projects shall carry on!
Local MusiKinesis® workshops:
- October 19 – Maryland Dance Education Association Conference, Towson University
- October 20 – Maryland Council for Dance, Wye Mills, MD
- January 20 – Music Teachers Association of Greater Baltimore, UMBC
Virginia Britton
Metropolitan Arts Collaborative children’s classes – Howard County Center for the Arts
Tuesdays, starting Sept. 11 – Register HERE.
- Age 3: Creative Ballet with Virginia, 3:00-3:50
- Age 4: Creative Ballet with Virginia, 4:00-4:50
- Age 5: Creative Ballet with Virginia, 5:00-6:00
- Ages 5-7: Music, Movement, Story Plays with Monica, 6:00-7:00
MusiKinesis® workshops at UMBC, TBA
- November (3rd or 4th)
- February (10thor 16th)
- April (7th or 13th)
- Late May/early June
Summer 2019: One-week teachers’ courses in Maryland and New York… stay tuned!