Spring '24 FAME Certification Courses w/ Betsy Greene
Sing, Say, Dance, Play ONLINE!
January 23- March 12, 2024
First Steps in Music with Orff Schulwerk: Tuesdays, 6-7pm Eastern
Conversational Solfege with Orff Schulwerk: Tuesdays, 7-8pm Eastern
Six 1-hour online classes: January 23, 30; February 6, 13; March 5, 12
Each course can be taken separately for 1.5 credits each, or taken concurrently for a total of 3 credits.
Registration costs vary:
Single course (1.5 graduate credits) = $890
Single course (PD/Workshop hours) = $675
Both courses (3 graduate credits) = $1,780
Both courses (PD/Workshop hours) = $1,350
"First Steps" Course Description:
Begin by learning classroom-ready activities which follow the 8-part workout from First Steps in Music and integrate the Orff approach while gaining a better understanding of how to integrate these two approaches. Next, learn how to lesson plan using First Steps in Music with Orff Schulwerk and to develop your own integrated activities to use in your teaching. Prior First Steps in Music and/or Orff Schulwerk experience is recommended but not required.
View full syllabus here.
"Conversational Solfege" Course Description:
Discover ways to thoughtfully develop the musicianship of your students with activities that use a high level of engagement with creativity and student input. A close look and experience with the Feierabend Approach (Conversational Solfege) and the Orff Approach, or Orff Schulwerk will be the focus for study, as well as how to integrate them meaningfully into your teaching. This course will help you to reflect on your own teaching in a way that will encourage you to prioritize best practices regardless of the method(s) you use. Prior experience with Conversational Solfege and/or Orff Schulwerk is/are recommended but not required.
View full syllabus here.
Faculty: Betsy Greene
Betsy Greene teaches K-5 general music in Burlington, VT. She also started and managed a First Steps in Music program for birth to 4 year olds and their parents at her school from 2000-2014. Betsy holds a B.M.Ed. from the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam and a M.M.Ed from the Hartt School, University of Hartford. She is both Orff-Schulwerk and Kodaly certified (all three levels).
In addition to teaching children, Betsy is a frequent clinician for general music and music literacy workshops in Vermont School Districts and local music education conferences as well as a teacher of graduate courses for music educators in the summer (Conversational Solfege and First Steps in Music). She is a FAME-endorsed teacher trainer.
In 1998, Betsy was awarded Outstanding Arts Advocate by the Vermont Alliance for Education and the Burlington City Schools. She received the honor of Vermont Music Teacher of the Year by the Vermont Music Educators Association on 2008. Betsy is a member of the Vermont Music Educators Association, the National Association for Music Education, and the American Orff-Schulwerk Association as well as a founding member and is the immediate Past President of FAME.
Graduate Course Info:
Three credits are offered through Castleton University under a professional development contract with Music-COMP. All fees are paid to Music-COMP.
Introduction to Making Electronic Music with Ableton Live
w/ guest artist, Katie Semro
January 27, 2024 Workshop (in-person) in Waterbury, VT: open to all community members ages 16+
Graduate Credit includes the above workshop, plus:
Synchronous online meeting on Monday, February 19th, 2024 and online follow-up period ending on February, 24th, 2024.
Workshop only (5 hours): $80
1 Graduate Credit/ 15 hours: $595
Full syllabus HERE.
Course Description:
When you hear the term "electronic music" do you think of dance music, or ambient music, robot-voice music? Well, using the computer to make music doesn't have to mean those kinds of music. In fact, you can make almost any kind of music on the computer!
Join us for a one-day intensive workshop where you will learn how to make the music you want using the music creation software, Ableton Live.
We will start with the basics of how Live works, and then dive into the many ways to make music with it. We'll cover using built-in loops to put a song together; how to use MIDI to make your own loops; how to arrange a song; and the basics of mixing so you can add polish to your piece. Come along for a fun and full day of making music!
Guest artist and new composer/mentor, Katie Semro, will lead the in-person workshop described above and synchronous online meeting during which participants will learn more about teaching your students using Ableton Live. An asynchronous follow up period includes a required reading, class discussions, a brief recording of your own work, and will allow participants to make a plan for implementation in their own classrooms.
Requirements:
No experience with Ableton Live or making electronic music is necessary!
This course is perfect for people who have never made electronic music, or who do so already, but want to learn how to use LIVE.
All workshop participants will attend the in-person workshop on January 27th, at "The Phoenix" in Waterbury, VT and download the 30 day free trial of Ableton Live before the workshop begins. Participants must provide their own device and charger for the workshop.
Course participants who sign up for one graduate credit must attend the full day workshop and synchronous online meeting on Monday, February, 19th, 2024 from 6:30-8:30pm, as well as complete additional hours of online coursework to total 15 hours of active learning. All online coursework must be completed by February 24th (this timing is crucial to allow for the use of the aforementioned 30 free trial of Ableton Live).
Katie Semro is a music maker, performer, and educator. She recently released an experimental electronic EP, Gone, which uses music, spoken word, and field recordings to capture the many emotions that swirl around our intangible lesses. In June of 2023 she performed 'Ebb & Flow' at Nova Arts in Keene, NH. Her audio art installation 'Trust me, I'm a Doctor' was exhibited at Sound Scene Fest 2022 at the Smithsonian Hirshorn Museum in Washington, D.C. Her audioscapes of the artists accompanied the exhibit What We Make of This World at the Fountain Stree Gallery in Boston in April 2023. She has produced, edited, sound designed, and scored several audio documentaries, and her work has appeared on 41 radio stations across the country. She also creates music for podcasts and videos.
She loves teaching people of all ages how to make music with Ableton Live, and she runs and online group called Women with Live to create positive experiences for women with music technology.