2026 MMEA Fall In-Service Conference

This interactive session explores how music educators can foster resilience, sportsmanship, courage, risk-taking, and self-belief through the Orff Schulwerk process. Participants will engage in hands-on lessons for grades 2–5 that integrate children’s literature, singing, movement, speech, improvisation, and instrumental performance. Using books such as The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Jabari Jumps, and I Am Extraordinary, attendees will experience strategies that connect social-emotional learning with music instruction. Through active music-making and reflection, participants will identify key resilience-building skills, explore adaptable lesson models, and develop ideas for creating their own lessons using diverse repertoire and creative processes.

The Maryland Blueprint for Education is expanding access to early childhood education, bringing more PK3 and PK4 students into elementary music programs. This session explores developmentally appropriate practices for teaching our youngest learners, focusing on child development, foundational music skills, and meaningful engagement. Participants will examine key curricular goals and practical strategies that can be immediately applied in the music classroom. Attendees will leave with ideas and resources to support musical growth and create successful learning experiences for PK3 and PK4 students.

As a music teacher, you may teach all the students in your school, including students who do not primarily speak English. Each year, this group of students do a test called the ACCESS test. While this test provides great insight on how these students understand the English language, how can we understand the test results for ourselves and apply it to our classes? Please join me in this session as we learn to understand the ACCESS testing system and how we can apply this new understanding to our music classroom through discussions, strategies, and more!

Music classrooms and ensembles can become powerful spaces for connection, belonging, and community when participation is intentionally designed. This interactive session explores how participatory music structures such as layered rhythm, echoing, collaborative creation, and low-risk entry points can help foster engagement, shared leadership, and meaningful connection among students and school communities.Drawing from classroom practice and a graduate capstone project focused on participatory music-making and belonging, the session will combine brief participatory experiences, reflection, discussion, and practical facilitation strategies that educators can adapt to a variety of musical settings. While examples will draw from collaborative drumming and participatory ensemble experiences, the structures and concepts presented can be applied across elementary general music, choral, instrumental, and community contexts.Participants will leave with practical ideas for creating more connected, inclusive, and participatory musical experiences in their own classrooms and ensembles.

In this energizing, classroom-ready session, Brittany Brandt shares practical strategies for transforming elementary music lessons by removing the biggest thief of instructional time—transitions. Discover how simple musical structures, purposeful rotations, and continuous accompaniment can turn every moment into active music-making, even in short class periods. Say goodbye to “who’s out?” arguments, scattered materials, and off-task chatter; when the music never stops, students stay engaged, focused, and excited to participate.