Every July, the college town of Fort Collins, Colorado is invaded by educators from across the country to play music, have fun, and most importantly, learn new skills, pedagogy, and ways to make music with their students. This summer will be the 14th annual Modern Band Summit, a conference held for teachers, professors, pre-service students, arts admin, and music education partners from July 22nd-25th (with pre-conference workshops on July 21st), and for the first time, this year will have no registration costs. The conference offers professional development, largely lead by teachers currently in the classroom, with a focus on student-centered culturally responsive modern band techniques.
What makes this conference unique is its focus on music-making, from morning through late night. The theme this year is to “Level Up”, taking the skills you have up a notch, no matter where your current comfort zone with modern band is. There will be over 80 breakout sessions to choose from, and each room has a complete backline of popular music instruments, as well as the option to check-out guitars and ukuleles throughout the conference. But sessions aren’t limited to instruction on guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, ukulele, and vocals. There will be sessions on a variety of topics and interests, from incorporating Orff and movement into the general education classroom, to learning technology such as DJing and Beat-making. Genre-specific sessions on hip hop, regional Mexican music, Reggaeton, and adding in diverse instruments such as strings, horns, recorders, boomwhackers, and turntables.
Perhaps the largest difference between this and other conferences is the music-making opportunities at night. Each evening there is a live concert, but the participants are the teachers themselves. This year, the welcome night event is a takeover of the popular New Belgium Brewery and their outdoor stage, where all teachers can jump onstage to perform. The popular second night concert at Washington’s FoCo features regional bands, comprised of teachers from different geographical parts of the country who can sign up after registering and collectively choose songs to play on-stage. The final two nights also have multiple opportunities for every participant to show what they have learned throughout the conference and experience the joy of music performance. The Thursday night hang is at the Lyric, an iconic art/movie theater with multiple stages for performance. Teachers can jump on the outdoor drive-in stage or perform in one of the theaters that is set up for smaller, acoustic singer-songwriter shows. Or those still not-super comfortable playing on-stage can join the karaoke room and sing-along. The conference aims to be an inclusive space where everyone can play at their comfort zone or just enjoy the music and community of their peers.
If you are looking for something new to super-charge your teaching, to help reach students that may not currently be in your program, or just want to have fun and make music with your peers, come join us at this year’s Modern Band Summit. For more information and to register, you can visit musicwill.org/modern-band-summit.
Dr. Scott Burstein is the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the non-profit Music Will.
