Engaging our Youth

The face of our student population continues to evolve across the nation. This is often witnessed by an increasing number of diverse ethnic and cultural groups in our school systems. Marcia Neel, veteran public school music educator, challenged participants of the 2014 ISW to work to capture these students' musical attention and engage them in our school music offerings. Marcia states there are literally millions of students in our hallways nationwide who just love music yet they haven't made their way into our classrooms-yet. (2014 ISW Schedule)

Marcia encouraged music educators to consider alternate music offerings that appeal to these young musicians and meet their musical interests. Suggestions offered included mandolin orchestras, Mariachi ensembles, guitar ensembles, gospel choirs, percussion ensembles, bluegrass bands, and electronic technology offerings. These types of relevant musical organizations should be standards-based explorations of the rich musical traditions. Ms. Neel provided examples of what INNOVATIVE music educators are doing to involve MORE students by pushing the edge of THEIR "traditional" envelope. (2014 ISW Schedule)

YouTube provides a wealth of video examples of many of these types of school music organizations:

Cleveland High Mandolin Ensemble


Alvarez High School Guitar Ensemble


Myers Park High School Bluegrass Band


Crestwood High School Gospel Choir


East Meadow High School Percussion Ensemble


Monaco Middle School Mariachi Ensemble


Marcia Neel also encourages students to experiment with music technology. She provided the following video:

Isn't She Lovely - Jacob Collier


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