2024 Bienniel Convention Sessions

Plenary Sessions

Sine musica nulla vita: The constellation at play in early childhood music education

Tiago Madolozzo

This session explores the role of music in children’s cultures, serving as both a means of expressing and reading the sound and musical world around children. By presenting a comprehensive concept of music in early childhood, this session aims to reflect on the constellation of childhoods that define music education, involving an active, creative and inventive participation of children and adults: teachers and caregivers. Specifically, the session examines the relationship between research theory and pedagogical practice, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary and collaborative work to enhance understanding and action in early childhood music education. The future of music education for children is discussed in terms of fostering increased connections centered on the multifaceted characteristic of music play. The implications for future practice and research point to the need to create a significant music learning environment focused on children and their cultures.

Reflecting on a Hispanic Musical Journey: The Making of El Patio De Mi Casa (Virtual Presentation)

Gabriela Montoya-Stier

Gabriela will discuss the events and influences that led to the creation of El Patio De Mi Casa. Participants will also get to sing and play some of the repertoire in her book.

Ballet folklorico workshop

UTRGV BALLET FOLKLORICO

Ballet Folklorico is a collective term used to describe traditional dances from various regions and cultures in Mexico. Ballet Folklorico is a thriving art in Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley. In this plenary session, attendees will learn the traditions of folklorico and how to incorporate these movements with their students

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Simultaneous Sessions

Exploring Ghanaian Children's Play Songs, Movement, and Learning Activities

George Blankson

This study investigated the perceptions and practices of Ghanaian elementary school teachers regarding the use of movement as a pedagogical tool to enhance learning in the classroom.

Moving together with Kodály and Orff

Carrie Cruz

This session will include music and movement from a variety of musical styles, languages, and cultures for the children of today and tomorrow using both Kodaly and Orff approaches.

Utilizing the entire school community to supercharge your teaching

Rob Sayer

This workshop provides guidance on connecting with parents and classroom teachers so they can support music learning throughout the week, greatly enhancing your musical impact on the children. Free 6-month access to a library of take-home music and classroom teacher training is provided to attendees

Connecting Music and Language in Early Childhood Education: Music Aptitude, Phonological Awareness, and Morphological Awareness

Victor Lozada

This sequential explanatory mixed methods study found the relationships among music aptitude, and phonological and morphological awareness in 1st-grade bilinguals, which included evidence that active musicking contributed to higher rates of music aptitude and Spanish phonological awareness.

The Magical World of Sally: Exploring Musical Movement Activities in Kindergarten (Virtual Presentation)

Gabriela Montoya-Stier

Participants will explore self-space and share-space sequenced activities in the magical world of Sally. They will travel to the aquarium and the museum and to see the Nutcracker Musical.

Mamas and Music: Results from A Qualitative Study Of Music’s Impact On A Mother’s Mental Health And The Developing Parent-Child Relationship

Amanda Holiday-Bembridge

A study on the use of music between mothers and their children, the impacts on maternal mental health and the successful development of a parent-child attachment relationship, explored from a Polyvagal Theory perspective.

Our musical neighborhood: Combining the work of Fred Rogers and music in early childhood classrooms

Maria O’Connor and Jason Jones

Fred Rogers had a profound impact on children. The Fred Rogers Institute seeks to continue his legacy in the present and future. In this session, participants will learn how his 6 Fundamentals of Learning and Growing can be combined with music and movement to enhance early childhood education.

Making music with Newborns

Tiger Robinson

Join us for this hands-on session about making music with newborns. A free, digital resource will be available to all participants. Specific strategies include bounces, wiggles, tickles, tapping, clapping, finger plays, and providing a musical environment for your newborn.

Empowering adults: Taking the lead in active music making at home

Amanda Holiday-Bembridge and Jessica Eastrigde

As early childhood music educators, it’s essential to cultivate musical understanding and confidence in caregivers, the child's first teacher. By building the caregiver’s understanding of the “why” behind musical activities, we are able better encourage active music-making in the home.

“Como se dice __?”: Songs & Strategies for Making Cross-Cultural Connections with Spanish-Speaking ELL Students in Music Class

Maria O’Connor

Do you struggle to connect with Spanish-speaking students because of a language barrier? Learn strategies to bridge the communication gap and walk away with activities you can immediately blend into an existing curriculum. This is a session for connecting with students, not teaching English skills.

Let’s Play, Dance, and Sing: Developing a Movement Sequence (Virtual Presentation)

Gabriela Montoya-Stier

After exploring self space and shared space activities with Sally, particpants will continue to explore sequenced line game activities and circles games for the kinder and first grade classroom.

Fueling the STEAM Engine with Music!

Deanna Bucci and Farida Peña

Let’s move, groove, and go full STEAM ahead! Elements within the Arts directly support skills needed within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. From cause and effect to pattern recognition, this workshop focuses on how to implement music and movement-based activities to fuel STEAM education.

Teacher Perceptions and Practices: Using Movement to Enhance Learning in Elementary Education

George Blankson

This study investigated the perceptions and practices of Ghanaian elementary school teachers regarding the use of movement as a pedagogical tool to enhance learning in the classroom.

Exploring creative movement with preschoolers

Samantha Webber

In this session, we will explore how educators can use elements of movement to encourage creativity in preschool music and
movement classes. Using art, poetry, and children's literature, we will explore concepts including space, awareness of body, time, and force.

Music-making in early childhood: proposals for planning and playing during music classes

Vivian Madalozzo and Tiago Madalozzo

Music education engages a constellation of childhoods at play: the children’s and the teacher’s. In this workshop, we will engage in creative music proposals with Brazilian repertoire while discussing music planning and how music-making can be significant to children in different learning settings.

‘CreActive music listening": questions and thoughts on how children listen to music through movement

Tiago Madalozzo

Music-making in early childhood involves various ways in which children interact with music, such as improvising and composing—but also listening. While numerous educational methodologies offer ready-made proposals containing specific gestures and dictating how children should supposedly listen to music in a school context, this session’s main assumption is that by listening to music children signify and understand the world in a creative way, which leads to a point of tension.

Women in Early Childhood and Elementary General Music Education Research: An Analysis of IJMEC

Christina Svec and Kalliopi Katsiris

The purpose of this study was to examine JRME, CRME, IJMEC, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, and JMTE from their beginnings until 2021 for the inclusion of (a) early childhood music scholarship, and (b) elementary general music scholarship contributed by women in the field.

The Benefits of Music for Social-Emotional Development in Young Children

Lili Levinowitz

From this session, music educators and early childhood professionals will gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which music and movement can naturally support children’s developing social and emotional learning during the early childhood years. They will also experience music activities that help young children practice social-
emotional skills.

Problem Solvers: Music and Math Make Magic!

Jennifer S. McDonel and David Rivers

The presenters will outline Zero-To-Three.org’s “Problem Solvers” early mathematics curriculum, discussing appropriate integration of mathematics and music learning and production of high-quality, immersive listening experiences using a variety of styles/tonalities/meters. Free resources shared!

2024 Sponsors

Keynote Presenters

Elaine Bernstorf, PhD, CCC-SLP

Dr. Bernstorf serves as Professor of Music Education at Wichita State University, and co-author of The Music and Literacy Connection published by Rowman and Littlefield. She holds a BME and MME in Special Music Education, PhD in Communicative Disorders and Sciences, and certificate of clinical competence as a speech-language pathologist. Her specializations include elementary vocal music, special music education, early childhood arts education, speech pathology (voice, fluency, and child language), literacy development, and curriculum development.

Dr. Bernstorf will address the roles of caregivers, teachers, and children in developing literacy learning through creativity. Appropriate music and movement activities often become personal anchors with special meaning for individual children or groups of children. We will explore developmentally appropriate activities that lead toward language and literacy anchor standards.

Elizabeth Andang'o, PhD - Kenyatta University

Elizabeth Andang’o is a lecturer in the Department of Music and Dance, Kenyatta University, in Nairobi, Kenya. Her main research interests are on culture and curriculum development in Early Childhood Music Education. She has published articles in several peer reviewed journals and co-authored chapters in several books. Dr. Andang’o is the Associate Editor (Africa) of the International Journal of Music in Early Childhood and a current board member of the International Society for Music Education.

Dr. Andang’o will discuss young children’s musical engagement and how it contributes to the construction of their self-knowledge (their feelings, motivation and character, etc.) and identities in and through music. The discussion will be framed within the Kenyan/African cultural context. Examples will be drawn from school, home and community settings.

Donna Brink Fox, PhD - Eastman School of Music

Dr. Fox, an authority in early childhood (EC) music education, is a founding member of the EC Special Research Interest Group of the National Association for Music Education and has served on ECMMA’s Advisory Board. She co- authored Classroom Music for Little Mozarts, a curriculum for teaching music in EC classrooms.

Dr. Fox will share her experience creating Eastman’s early childhood music program and developing the early childhood music methods course to prepare teachers. She will focus on the importance of understanding the culture and development of children and will consider what has changed and what is needed for the future.

Cynthia Crump Taggart, PhD - Michigan State University (Emeritus)

Cynthia Crump Taggart is Professor Emeritus of Music Education at Michigan State University, where she directed and taught in the Early Childhood Music Program. She is co-author of Jump Right In: The Music Curriculum, Music Play: The Early Childhood Curriculum, Music Play 2, and numerous book chapters and journal articles.

From an early age, children can express themselves musically. Yet, often adults are so focused on getting children to sing, chant, and move correctly that they forget to encourage musical play. This session will focus on how to empower children to express themselves musically using their bodies and voices.