79th Midwest Clinic – Shannon Ebeling

It was a real treat attending the Midwest clinic in Chicago for the first time. I was one of over 18,000 attendees who were keen to learn and connect with the very best in music education.

The clinic has a history of being a reading session where new music was performed and could be purchased on site, ready to take to rehearsal on Monday. Beginning with just 120 music educators, the scale of this clinic highlights the depth of the music education community in America. Support was there from new graduates to very experienced published educators who were generous in their sharing of knowledge.

Fine Music and Brolga hosted an Aussie night before the official opening to connect with attendees from down under, a mixture of first timers alongside frequent visitors. Victoria was represented well, particularly with Dr Heaton, Dr Bunn and Michael Jongeblood. Experienced attendees gave suggestions such as bringing snacks to eat on the run and balancing clinic sessions with performances to help get exposure to lots of new concepts and repertoire. Plenty would be tailored towards the American band education system, but you can look for interesting sessions that you wouldn’t normally be able to see in Australia.

Each day was planned out using a digital schedule in clinic app where you also access presenter notes and receive notifications of events throughout the day. The hardest part was making a decision with two excellent sessions on at same time. They were packed days with the sessions running from 8:15am to 8:45pm and over 10,000 steps taken as I hustled from venue to venue in McCormick Place.

I liked how each of the 55 concerts had something for everyone. For every grade 4/5/6 level piece, a 1/2/3 was included with a number of composers guest conducting their own works. Every performance was of an outstanding standard with the full range of levels represented: middle school, high school, chamber groups, jazz ensembles, college, community, armed forces and professional. Headline concerts had extended queues that snaked back and forth, sometimes taking over 20 minutes to get to the entrance door. Incredible to think that this was for people keen to see a wind band, not a famous pop vocalist!

Highlights for me included the PRISM saxophone quartet, United States Army band in chamber formats, the Shadow Ridge Honor Band (where I was a guest back in November), UNT Wind Symphony, the Moanin’ Frogs saxophone sextet and the Northshore Concert Band. The energy of the performers was infectious and the audiences warm and supportive, often giving standing ovations at the concert end. Another neat aspect was the long line of well-wishers who would meet the performers and conductors at the conclusion of the performance which emphasised the support in the music community. Amanda Drinkwater from the Lewisville ISD along with a host of other teachers and parents from Dallas had flown to Chicago to cheer on the Shadow Ridge MS Honor Winds.

I attended 26 of the 110 clinics with a particular focus on culture building, education pedagogy, recruitment and retention, technology and small schools. There were so many take-a-ways and some excellent resources that can be downloaded from the Midwest website.

Makemusic software for practice assignments, self-grading tasks and CRT lessons.
Servant Leadership Association for Music on developing a classroom culture and student leadership in the ensemble.
An updated music software list from Technology Teacher of the Year Gillian Desmarais, focusing on inclusion in the classroom outside of the band method model.
A conversation with Jerry Junkin with Dr Tim Lautzenheiser, two titans of music education, about the importance of making time to build strong relationships and having the philosophy of be prepared, be observant, be kind and be humble.
A panel of middle school band directors sharing their thoughts on what makes an exceptional program. A key quote was “if they don’t sound good, you have to give them a way to fix it”.
Tiered teaching strategies for Concert Bands by Jennifer Hamilton, using scaffolded fundamentals for each group and have systems for checking understanding and maintaining engagement during warm-ups
Recruitment videos for your music program by Doug Conrad and tips for going viral

There were some 30 minute gaps between clinics where I could wander through the exhibitor hall which had over 400 stalls with instruments, publishers, universities, software and many, many more. Exhibitors were very happy to have a chat about their products with plenty of give-aways available. I enjoyed checking out World Pacific Tours, Kjos’ pocket sized maximising student performance series, Custom Batons, the Sightreading Factory and, of course, the Australian Brolga stall complete with wombat mascot and Freddo Frogs.

It was a really positive experience with plenty of concepts to try back home in Australia as well as gaining a wider perspective of band education approaches. I would highly recommend the experience for Australian educators who are keen to extend their professional learning.