2026 MMEA Fall In-Service Conference

Start the school year with repertoire that builds both musicianship and community. This reading session highlights accessible and engaging SAB and SATB selections designed to foster connection, confidence, and artistic growth in developing choirs. Participants will explore music that is pedagogically sound, culturally responsive, and immediately usable in middle school, high school, community, and collegiate settings. Whether rebuilding an ensemble, strengthening vocal independence, or cultivating a sense of belonging, these selections provide meaningful opportunities for singers to grow musically and personally. Discover repertoire that is accessible enough for success and beautiful enough to inspire singers throughout the year.

This session helps early career and veteran music educators strengthen their impact on school culture and community engagement. Participants will explore building a structured band program that fosters collaboration, positive relationships, and alignment with school goals.Attendees will learn to design performances that reflect their school community and support students in feeling connected, valued, and safe, especially post-COVID.Key topics include social-emotional learning, expectations, discipline, parent engagement, classroom setup, and rehearsal routines. The session also highlights aligning program goals with the School Improvement Plan (SIP) and School Performance Plan (SPP) to boost recruitment, retention, and long-term success.

Are you a new choral director or do you have beginner-choral students in need of vocal exercises that are simple yet effective, accessible yet expansive, and usable for elementary, middle and high school choruses? Wherever you may fall, a common question you may have is “Where Do We Start?!?” In this session, we answer that question with a series of warm-ups that address vocal onset, head voice activation, ear training, vowel unification, range extensions high and low, and tongue twisters for diction and articulation. Attendees will be provided with printed descriptions of warm-up exercises and titles of recorded music.

Standard and non-standard accessory percussion instruments will serve as the focus of this interactive session, featuring programming, instruction, and active student participation through a variety of solo, chamber, and concert works. Participants will explore rehearsal and practice strategies designed to engage student musicians of all skill levels, building confidence and performance proficiency on these often-overlooked instruments.

Drawing on the work of Stronge, Danielson and van Manen, and predicated on Dewey’s statement that “learning improves to the degree that it arises out of the process of reflection,” this session provides an overview of the philosophical foundations of reflective practice and facilitates an exploration of a wide variety of reflective practice tools that can be implemented by music teachers at all stages of the professional experience continuum. Once we begin this process, we begin to see and hear what we really do – or don’t do – not just what we think we do. It will lead us to be more reflective and to be comfortable leading our students into reflective activity by example.