I am noticing the tide shifting.  The early 2000's saw the No Child Left Behind Act, a re-authorization of the ESEA that placed heavy emphasis on testing. This created an environment in which schools felt pressured to perform; efficiency and results on the "important tests." It was important that schools made "AYP."  Compliance was more vital.  Arts classes were asked to find ways to better serve the scores of math and language.
In my own unscientific analysis I find schools to be recognizing the dangers of a narrow-minded education.  Of course educators of the arts know that the latest re-authorization of ESEA is the Every Student Succeeds Act.  This act clearly calls for students to receive a more well-rounded education inclusive of the arts (with music mentioned specifically).
In my own school district, school district and building leaders work very hard to balance the needs for student achievement with students' needs for a well-rounded education inclusive of  the arts, sciences, humanities, character, physical education.  In fact, this upcoming school year we look to  go "all-in" on Carol Dweck's research in Growth Mindset, an important concept which helps all persons understand that skills and intelligence can be grown or developed.  We hope that teachers will work to help students develop a meta-cognitive understanding of how they process setbacks and successes.  Growth Mindset is gaining in popularity, and rightfully so - students need to be emotionally available for learning, and strategies to help students become less "fixed" helps with that emotional availability.  Coupled with helping students to develop "grit" we can help students to dig in and reach successes that surprise themselves.  It is exciting that more schools are adopting this "whole-child" approach.

In the video attached to this post, Scott Barry Kaufman briefly shares an important idea that reminds us that students are individuals; they reach success and are motivated differently.  He briefly touches upon the difference between Grit and Creativity.  Gritty students and Creative students will both ultimately progress in their skills - but they will do it in different ways.  

12 Steps to becoming a music major2 RepliesMaking the choice to be a music major is pretty exciting.  There are, however, a lot of things that apply to students intending on majoring music that might not apply to someone pursuing a degree in other liberal arts or sciences.  The most common interest shown from High School students that I’ve found is in a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education.  Of course there are other degree paths, but for the purposes of this post, I’ll stick with Music Ed.  Here’s a list of things to think about and things you might want to do to prepare

1. Be the best
   ​Be the best you can be on your major instrument.  It’s nice to say you have experience trying out other things, but what really matters is the instrument you will be auditioning with.  My senior year of high school I switched from Tenor Saxophone to Tuba in order to try something new.  I didn’t pay enough attention to my main sax audition, and ultimately had poor auditions only gaining acceptance to my second and third choice school.  Luckily I auditioned on voice as well, and was able to redirect and become a voice major at my first choice school.  Besides, you’ll have your tech classes in college to get acquainted with all of the instruments that you’ll have to teach.
2. Start Early
   Talk to your music teachers about your newly found aspirations.  We can help give you perspective and help you understand all of the things involved in this job.  We can also give you some things that you may need to do throughout high school to make sure that you have a good audition and ultimately a job!
3. Take Private Lessons
   Yes, you might be the “best” singer or instrumentalist in your school.  So will every other person who is applying for music school.  Taking lessons from a reputable teacher will help you to think about your instrument or voice in a more academic way, and really start to improve in significant ways.  Yes, lessons can be expensive, but they can pay off in big dividends.  Taking a few years of lessons and succeeding with them may give you some credibility to teach lessons of your own to younger kids.  What a great way to make a little extra money AND gain experience working with kids.  Additionally, you’ll learn not just what to practice, but how to practice.
4. Learn The Piano.
   You have to learn it.  You will be playing it in college, and it makes EVERYTHING musical easier.  It’s non-negotiable.  Playing by ear is really valuable – develop that skill, but do not skimp on learning to read and play both clefs.  Voice Majors – take this advice and double it.  I mean it.
5. Learn Music Theory and learn to Sight Sing really well
   Be the most intelligent musician you can be.  Of course you might not be “good” at it.  Nobody is born “good” at theory or sight singing.  Here’s evidence to prove that, while “talent” exists, hard work will always be more helpful.
6. Change your mindset.
   You will be changing the role music plays in your life.  Most often, music is something “extra” that we do.  By becoming a music major you are acknowledging that music is an academic field unto itself.  It’s time to start using your talent for good.  Start paying attention more to how hard you work, rather than the results – i.e. process is more important than the product.  Your talent brought you to this point, but it’s the hard work that is going to really help you succeed in college and be a good teacher.
7. Take advice, criticism and failure with grace.
   Practice this now.  Each failure you experience gives you an opportunity to follow-up with improvement or sit and feel sorry about failing.  As a future teacher, you get the added benefit of having a great story to tell your future students about how you [didn't get the part, didn't make all-state, struggled with piano or whatever else] but worked through it and became better because of it.  People are going to tell you that you’re great.  Say “thank you” and smile, even if you don’t believe it.  People are going to tell you that you need to get better.  Say “thank you” and smile, even if you don’t believe it. Then, take each of those experiences and reflect upon them, and keep it all in the mindset of trying to do what you do well better, and improve as much as you can.
8. Work on you
   You are important.  And soon you will be important to the hundreds of kids looking up to you.  It’s not by accident.  You have something positive to offer these kids.  Most of the things I’ve talked about before are centered around continuous improvement.
9. Be prepared for life changes
   Always, every day.  Every day is an audition.  More specifically, however, make sure you know what you need to do to have a successful audition.  Ask your music teacher for some recommendations for colleges that will give you the best experience possible.  Your best choice of college will probably not be local.  Sure, you could go to the local college that has a music ed. degree, but will you get everything you need from that school in order to be the best teacher and job candidate?  Maybe, maybe not.  Go visit your schools, find some alumni and ask questions, find some current students and shadow them for a day – most school will let you do this.  College is a place where you should go to learn how to live, have fun, work hard, become a professional.  It’s an investment that should ultimately prepare you to get a job and be good at that job.
10. Be prepared for the audition
    Singers:  You will likely have to have three pieces memorized, at least two in a foreign language.  Also likely: pop and musical theater are not permitted.  You’ll need to have copies of music for your accompanist (the college has one there, usually).  You should hole punch it, put it in a (clean, black) binder, NOT in plastic sheet protectors, double-sided in a way that facilitates page turns, and clear markings if any.  You should be able to answer the accompanist when they ask you for the tempo or if there are any cuts.  Say “Thank You” to the accompanist and then again to the auditioners.
    Instrumentalists:  You will likely have to play two contrasting selections, one lyrical and one technical.  Pick pieces from varying time periods and ensure you know what makes them a representative work of that time period.  For example: If you play saxophone and are doing a piece by Handel, you should know that it’s a transcription; the saxophone didn’t exist during Handel’s time.  Know the composer, 20th century composers could still be alive.  They could even teach at the college to which you are applying.  You should know that (I didn’t know this and was pretty embarrassed at my college audition)
    Everyone:  A music education audition is about demonstrating your potential.  You may make a mistake.  It might not be perfect.  If you do, what are you going to do about that mistake?  Hopefully you’ll let it go, no funny looks, no excuses, no stops (unless it’s entirely unsalvageable).  Hopefully you won’t tell them about the cold you might have, or the fever, or the stomach ache, or anything else.  Maybe they won’t notice that you have a cold or that something’s not right.  Be healthy for the weeks leading up to the audition.  Don’t share drinks, and wash your hands a lot.  But, walking into an audition saying “Hi, I have a cold, so please forgive me” is like saying “Hey, I’m not going to be very good, so don’t bother to consider me.”  Go in with your A-game.
11. Do mock auditions for friends, and family.
    Do NOT let the first time you perform your audition piece for an audience be for the auditioners.  Get the kinks out.  You’re probably thinking “but it’s awkward to play for my mom.”  Get over it.  Better to feel awkward for a minute than the alternative.
12. In High School find jobs that matter
    Teach private lessons to little kids for $15 an hour, that’s better than most jobs you can get, and helps on the resume.  Work with summer school kids, maybe even for free!  With the money you make from lessons, you can afford it, and if I had the choice of picking between a person who has been working with kids since they were 15 years old, and a person who’s never worked with kids… it’s an easy choice.  Work at a music store.  If you have to get a job, try to get one that will lead toward something you care about.

This job is so rewarding.  The better you are at your craft, the better experience your students will have.  Take it seriously.  Being a music education major is really a double major unto itself:  Being the best musician you can be and being the best teacher you can be.
What do you think?  Did I miss anything?
Here are some links to get you started:
http://www.potsdam.edu/academics/Crane/admissions/general_info.cfm
http://www.fredonia.edu/music/aud_reqs.asp
http://www.hofstra.edu/Academics/Colleges/SOEAHS/TLL/MUSED/MUSED_bsed.html
http://www.liu.edu/CWPost/Academics/Schools/SVPA/Dept/Music/AdmisAudReq
http://www.ithaca.edu/music/admission/undergraduate/
http://harttweb.hartford.edu/admissions/audition/undergraduate.aspx
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/education/auditions

From time to time students bring up the idea of being a professional performer, they generally want to know what it takes, and if they have the stuff to make it on Broadway.  I was a music ed major, and that’s what I know best.  So after a student came to me the other day, I started trying to find ways to help.
It goes without saying that in order to make it on Broadway, or any other professional stage, you need to be the best possible musician/performer you can be.  This is a serious commitment of time and money.  You’ll be taking dance, acting, and voice lessons.  You’ll be auditioning and more often than not, the auditions will not yield parts.  It won’t be enough to be the best in your high school.  You’ll probably need more experience performing than the two or three shows a year that your school does – look into community theater opportunities.  Join an organization like TDF;  really cheap to join, and show tickets can be significantly discounted, usually making up for your membership costs after one ticket.  See lots of shows!
I found this link to be really comprehensive and concise with advice to increase your chances of making it on Broadway.  Check it out.
The thing, however, that most other people fail to explicitly mention is that you can’t neglect being well rounded.  Don’t just say “I’m going to be a performer, I’ll never need this.”  Don’t ever do the minimum to get by, in any area of study, because if the performing thing doesn’t work out (and all statistics point to the fact that it won’t) you’re going to need to have marketable skills to pay the bills!  Additionally, you’re going to need to get into a good college before you get into the theater department.

Music education for the sake of music education is of course our goal! But we need to advocate for it in so much more of terms of the warm and fuzzy “making kids want to go to school.” “Joy” in school is of COURSE important, but we are doing so much more than creating joy and opportunities to be proud of. Music education friends, this argument that we have been using is failing.
Also, it’s not enough to talk about how music helps kids to do better in math and science – it’s a weak, cliched argument that doesn’t talk about how important MUSIC is.
While actively engaged in Musicking (v. actively participating in music. Listening, watching, performing, organizing, analyzing etc. – this term was coined by Christopher Small) our brains are bilaterally engaged – forging connections, creating and strengthening pathways between all of the important memory centers, language centers, the anticipation receptors, pleasure/fear/emotional receptors. NO other activity lights up the brain like music.  Tons of research points to how music actually changes the landscape of the brain. More here and here
It’s dramatic to talk about how a left hemisphere stroke victim with a damaged broca’s or wernicke’s area and how music helped their brain to rewire pathways and enable the right hemisphere to create speech. But then, what of the implications for healthy brains! Strengthening these areas in developing brains will help our kids to become able problem solvers, mathematical, linguistic, scientific, musical, spatial or otherwise.
Really what it’s all about is the manner in which we go about advocating for what we do.  By no stretch of the imagination do I intend to take away from the importance that music has for social development, for providing the family experiences of which students so often speak.  Nor should we take away the pride in having a kid feel good about a performance.  What I am saying, is that we need another prong to the attack.  Schools are constantly being forced to reduce or eliminate the things that make students “feel good,” so my argument here is that music makes kids feel good is not enough.  Music is vital to the neurological development of our students.  Music lays the foundation for increased abilities to solve problems, to be overall more intelligent.  If we approach this from all angles, the only option is to offer our kids more - not less.  Check out the last video link on the page for the science behind these things (Start at about 23:00 for the meat of the study).
I’d love to see/hear what you think; comment below.

NYSSMA is the acronym for the New York State School Music Association. It is perhaps the largest most powerful organization of subject area teachers that is focused on the music education of young people in New York State from ages birth through college. NYSSMA is a comprehensive organization that provides a wealth of professional resources and development to all of us music teachers. NYSSMA is the sponsor of the All-State festival concerts to which the top achieving music students and performing ensembles are accepted (these concerts happen annually in Rochester during the first weekend of December). NYSSMA is also an advocacy powerhouse for arts in education, frequently grabbing the ear of state legislators and school administrators to help them understand why what we do is so important. What the general public knows best about NYSSMA is likely the solo and major ensemble festivals that they send their kids to every year. This post is intended to shed some light on what the big deal is.
My mom would always say “I thought you sounded great, how and why can/should you grade something like music?” (In fact, she still says it). Well in the interest of helping our students to develop an attitude of self improvement and growth in achievement, an objective assessment free of “American Idol” type opinions can be invaluable.
Solo festival: Students, along with their music teacher (or private lesson teacher) pick a song from a preselected list of pieces that have been evaluated and classified into levels ranging from 1-6. Some contributing factors to the level include range, hand positions, harmonic complexity, meter. Students are evaluated using a rubric geared toward their instrument and scored based on best practices of that instrument and overall musicianship. Students also perform scales and then play or sing a melody that they have never seen before without any help from anybody. Music educators who are trained to provide reliable feedback and follow consistent scoring guidelines in order to evaluate students (mostly current or retired music teachers who seek this additional training).
Levels 1-4 are graded on a scale of 0-28 points
Levels 5-6 are graded on a scale of 0-100 points.
Major Ensemble Festival: Pieces of music are also placed into levels based on their overall difficulty in levels 1-6. Pieces are listed in the “NYSSMA manual” that meet both musical and pedagogical standards. Teachers wishing to take their groups to Major Ensemble festival must follow strict guidelines to ensure that students are eligible to be rated at specific difficulty levels. Ensembles perform three selections. Two of which from the Manual and one is a free selection as a “warm-up.” Ensembles are rated by music educators who are certified by NYSSMA to evaluate bands, orchestras and choirs of every level. These are kids who are meeting all of the standards for the solo festival, but with the added complexity as doing it at the same time while communicating musically with about 50-70 other students. Possible ratings include: Bronze: For groups meeting basic technical and musical standards. Some issues detracted from the overall performance Silver: For groups achieving excellent levels of performance with any issues not detracting from the overall performance. Gold: For groups achieving outstanding levels of performance with minimal issues that do not detract from the overall performance. Distinction: For groups achieving a Gold rating with exceptional performance on all three selections. NYSSMA is just one of the tools that we use to assess the musical skill development of our students. We work very hard to provide a meaningful musical experience for our students and are proud to present them for adjudication at the state level. Our students are motivated by “showing off their skills.” Well over 150 students from our district choose to go to solo NYSSMA year after year – a decidedly nerve wracking experience for most – because they know that it is one tool that will help them be a better musician (all the while developing a discipline and strength of character).