Hartt Summerterm Course Descriptions

Instructor: Ben Toth

Dates: July 28 - August 1, MTWRF

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: This hands-on workshop is appropriate for elementary through high school music educators (instrumental and vocal) who work with percussionists. There is no pre-requisite for this course. Participants will study percussion instruments and playing techniques as used in concert band, orchestral, and percussion ensemble settings, including marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone, chimes, snare drum, timpani, and the various concert percussion “accessories” (tambourine, triangle, bass drum, cymbals, etc.), and will play in a band/orchestra percussion section and percussion ensemble (we will rehearse an array of pieces for grade school through high school percussion ensemble). The course is designed to help you better instruct and motivate your percussionists in private or group lessons, in a percussion ensemble setting, or from the podium. Percussion instrument maintenance, tuning, and repair issues will also be addressed. Please bring one pair of concert snare drum sticks (Innovative Percussion “IP-CL-1” model is recommended). Students are invited to also take MEW 601 World Percussion for Instrumental and Vocal Music Educators (31013) during the same week.

Instructor: Ben Toth

Dates: July 28 - August 1, MTWRF

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: This hands-on workshop is appropriate for instrumental and vocal music educators who teach at the elementary, middle school, or high school level. There is no pre-requisite for this course. Explore the folkloric percussion instruments and traditions of Cuba, Brazil, West Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean, including drums (congas, bongos, timbales, djembe, dumbek, frame drums, etc.), bells, shakers, scrapers, and steel drums. The course will prepare you to start your own folkloric percussion ensembles, to add percussion accompaniment to your choral or instrumental repertoire, to enhance your general music classes, and to better educate and motivate your percussion students. Students are invited to also take MEW 601 Concert Percussion for Music Educators (31012) during the same week.

Instructor: Andrew Studenski

Dates: July 14 - 18, MTWRF

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: Are you a music educator seeking to hone your woodwind diagnostic and performance skills? A Woodwind Refresher provides a comprehensive review of performance and pedagogical practices for flute, clarinet, and saxophone. Learn to teach concepts of tone, technique, and style more effectively by enriching your own performance ability through varied instructional methods. While performing on each instrument daily, you will enhance your knowledge of woodwind fundamentals, learn to apply advanced techniques unique to each instrument, and improve your ability to impart refined skills through standards-based instruction. Combined with discussions about instruments, accessories, method books, repertoire, repair, and notable artists, you will identify resources and acquire confidence to deliver highly effective instruction. This course is open to students of all backgrounds and levels of woodwind experience!

Instructor: Chris Powers

Dates: 7/14/2025 - 7/18/2025, MTWRF

Time: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Credits: 3

Course Description: Get ready to amp up the energy in your classroom with music games and activities that captivate and energize students! In this course, you'll dive into a treasure trove of exciting, interactive activities that not only challenge students, but also bring FUN to the heart of every lesson. We will seamlessly connect these activities to key literacy objectives, making learning both engaging and effective! A system for organizing your activities will also be explored.  Let’s turn your classroom into a place where music and fun go hand in hand!

Instructor: John Koenig

Dates: July 28 - August 1, MTWRF

Time: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: This course addresses teaching composition and conducting in the music classroom. Through exploration of simple graphic notation methods developed by Glen Adsit and Michael Colgrass, participants will learn to create, read, and perform original compositions using graphic notation. They will be coached on learning how to conduct these scores, and they will learn how to incorporate these pedagogical techniques in their classrooms. Incorporating these techniques into a music curriculum makes your students active participants in the creation and performance of their very own music, increases their sense of ownership in the program, and encourages deeper collaboration in the classroom between teachers and students. This class directly relates to meeting standards 3, 4, and 5 of the NAfME National Standards for Music. Participants should bring their primary instruments as they will be performing their own and each other's compositions. Batons are not required, but participants may bring one if they wish.

Instructor: Andrey Stolyarov

Dates: July 7 - 11, MTWRF

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: The Choral & A Cappella Arranging Workshop is a half-day workshop that will help aspiring arrangers hone their skills. The week involves analysis of choral & a cappella music, individual & group composition exercises, and discussion of vocal technique. Each participant will be asked to start a new arrangement from scratch as their project for the week, or to bring in a work in the early stages of the development process. The workshop culminates in a Friday session with four professional singers who will sight-read, react to, and record the arrangements that each participant creates over the course of the week.

Instructor: Colleen Casey-Nelson

Dates: July 14 - 18, MTWRF

Time: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Credits: 3

Course Description: Explore Global Soundscapes spanning several continents as you sing, dance, listen, and play instruments representing a variety of cultures from around the world. Examine strategies and resources for thoughtfully engaging students in diverse musics through Creating, Performing, Responding and Connecting. This course would enhance any level of general music curriculum as well as benefit classroom educators who embrace arts integration pedagogy.

Instructor: Richie Barshay

Dates: July 28 - August 1, MTWRF

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: In this course, percussionist and Alexander Technique teacher Richie Barshay will engage students in a psycho-physical exploration of how we make music. We will deepen our somatic awareness and relearn how to approach the human body as the primary instrument, helping students to regain and refine their freedom of movement while playing or singing. Basic human anatomy and movement activities will be a central part of this course, along with some fundamentals of rhythm and body percussion as a tool for opening our focus as musicians. Students will also be invited to perform etudes or small ensemble pieces in class to practice these concepts.

Instructor: Nate Strick

Dates: July 14 - 18, MTWRF

Time: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Credits: 3

Course Description: This one-week intensive course is designed for music educators seeking to strengthen students’ music literacy skills in the instrumental classroom. If you want your students to become more confident readers, listeners, improvisers, and composers, this course is for you! Participants will assess their current approaches to teaching literacy and explore a structured, multi-step method for enhancing music literacy. Through hands-on activities, discussions, and collaborative work, they will develop customized lessons tailored to their classroom needs. These lessons will feature engaging activities, effective assessments, and carefully selected repertoire to systematically improve student literacy. Participants will collaborate, integrate technology, foster creativity, and take risks in their teaching. Please bring a laptop, your instrument, sample lessons, and music repertoire.

Instructor: Heather Wagner

Dates: July 7 - 11, MTWRF

Time: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Credits: 3

Course Description: The multisensory and social nature of music makes it an ideal medium to reach students of many levels of functioning and abilities. Music educators have the privilege and challenge to use such a rich modality to affect growth and change in children. In this course, participants will gain a greater understanding of a range of learners and how to more fully engage them in their music education. The class will explore effective inclusion of students with physical, social, emotional, behavioral and cognitive challenges in a variety of music settings. Additionally, participants will learn to identify resources and to establish collaborative relationships with key school personnel and ultimately increase their comfort level in working with children of all abilities.

Instructor: Dan D'Addio

Dates: July 21 - 25, MTWRF

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: Course description coming soon.

Instructor: Matt Russo

Dates: July 21 - 25, MTWRF

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: Spend a week at Hartt and ‘bone’ up on your trombone, bass trombone, euphonium, and tuba skills in this comprehensive one-week workshop. Through daily performance on each instrument, participants will deepen their understanding of low brass fundamentals, apply advanced techniques, and develop effective teaching strategies. While honing their tone, intonation, and articulation in class, participants will discuss best practices for teaching these concepts to a variety of learners. Participants will also engage in daily discussions on a range of topics—including basic instrument repair and maintenance, content sequencing and teaching methods, equipment, notable artists, and useful online resources—strengthening their confidence in providing impactful and engaging instruction. This course is open to educators with all levels of playing experience.

Instructor: Dee Hansen

Dates: July 21-25, MTWRF

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: Have you ever wondered how music literacy supports language and reading literacy and how that translates into advocacy for your music programs? Around the country, reading scores are floundering. Often the answer is to shorten or eliminate music classes so students have extra reading time. But that approach is often unsuccessful and potentially harmful. Music education not only reinforces critical sound-symbol relationships by sharpening the listening ear but also provides cultural and historical interdisciplinary perspectives. In addition, performing music provides valuable social-emotional growth and develops important 21st century workplace skills. In this workshop you will learn of the extensive research around the world that provides indisputable evidence of the power of music. You will leave with a treasure-trove of advocacy materials and effective teaching approaches.

Instructor: Rob Hugh

Dates: July 28 - August 1, MTWRF

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: Do you ever hear your students hum a tune you don’t recognize? Perhaps they’re composing an original melody. This workshop will help you create those magical musical moments. We will explore the connection of words and melody. We will review song style, lyric writing and melody construction. We will improve our skills at finding the chords in the melodies, vocal arranging and playing accompaniments. We will discuss digital tools that can record, mix and share the music. Perhaps by the end of the week we will discover our inner singer/songwriter that we left outside our classroom doors.

Instructor: Stephanie Schall-Brazee

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWR

Time: 2:10 p.m. - 4:40 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: Methodology I will investigate research, methods, techniques, and materials appropriate for the musical development of children from birth through age 7. Participants will learn about current research findings and the implementation of this research on the development of an early childhood music and movement curriculum; learn and develop teaching skills appropriate for the developmental abilities of children from birth through age 7; learn how to design curriculum appropriate for children from birth through age 7. Since this course is cross-listed with First Steps in Music, participants who successfully complete Methodology I will receive an official certificate of completion for First Steps in Music from the Feierabend Association for Music Education (FAME). Required viewing before first class: First Steps in Music - Lecture 1 - Who Is A Musical Person? - Streaming Video by John Feierabend Required Text: First Steps in Music for Preschool & Beyond by John Feierabend Optional Text: Feierabend Fundamentals edited by John Feierabend & Missy Strong

Instructor: Gabor Viragh

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 10:10 a.m. -12:10 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: This course provides a setting for students to develop competencies related to professional musicianship necessary for excellent classroom music teaching. It not only provides a base for knowledge but also for practical experience in the classroom and performance in any concert setting. The course covers in-depth singing using the moveable “do” solfa system, sight-singing of various folksong and art song melodies, canons, and/or harmonic accompaniments, memorization of folksong and/or art song melodies, melodic and harmonic analysis of music in Major and minor modes, as well as in additional modes, listening to one’s own tuning and singing or playing, as well as to another singer or group, and various part work activities that develop the student’s ability to successfully hear and do more than one thing at a time. The course will serve to expand the student’s knowledge about the formal structure of the folksong literature and art music through the use of solfege and to strengthen the students’ musicianship as an individual and as a member of an ensemble. The course will enable students to reach a standard for singing in tune, with excellent tone quality, for developing the ability for internal hearing, and for being able to understand, listen to, and respond to complex melodies and pieces of music.

Instructor: Megan Ankuda

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: This course is an introduction to folk and traditional music research, analysis, and pedagogic uses. We will explore culturally sustaining practices regarding vernacular musics in school settings. Emphasis on stick-solfa notation, its uses in song analysis, and classification techniques. Required Texts: Step it Down by Hawes & Jones; My Little Rooster and Other Folk Songs, Singing Games & Play Parties: 1 by Jill Trinka

Instructor: Edward Bolkovac

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Credits: 0.5

Course Description: Level 1 students get an introduction in how to teach vowel sounds, improve tone, intonation, vocal technique, and diction as part of the choral experience. Repertoire is chosen from many styles to demonstrate the need for different vocal approaches called for in singing music from different traditions and historical periods. The course will end with a small concert.

Instructor: Chris Powers

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: Participants in Methodology II will learn to develop notational literacy skills with students of elementary age through adults who are tuneful, beatful, and artful. Through carefully sequenced activities, participants will develop an understanding of music through the use of rhythm and solfege syllables by ear, then gradually evolve into reading, writing, improvisation, dictation, and composition skills. Teachers will learn how to enable students to joyfully assimilate the skills and content necessary to be musically literate, as well as learn various techniques to allow the acquisition of these skills. Lesson planning, unit planning, and assessment will be discussed. This course applies to music educators in most music educational settings (classroom, choral, and/or instrumental) from elementary through college. Since this course is cross-listed with Conversational Solfege Lower Levels, participants who successfully complete Methodology II will receive an official certificate of completion for Conversational Solfege Lower Levels from the Feierabend Association for Music Education (FAME). Required viewing before first class: Conversational Solfege Explained - Part 1 - History, Philosophy, and Pedagogy - Streaming Video by John Feierabend Required Text: Conversational Solfege, Level 1 - Teacher’s Edition by John Feierabend Optional Text: Feierabend Fundamentals edited by John Feierabend & Missy Strong

Instructor: Gabor Viragh

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWR

Time: 2:10 p.m. - 4:10 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: This course provides a setting for students to develop competencies related to professional musicianship necessary for excellent classroom music teaching. It not only provides a base for knowledge but also for practical experience in the classroom and performance in any concert setting. 4 The course covers in-depth singing using the moveable “do” solfa system, sight-singing of various folksong and carefully selected pieces from the literature of music (renaissance – baroque and contemporary), canons, and/or harmonic accompaniments, memorization of folksong and/or excerpts of various exercises, melodic and harmonic analysis of music in Major and minor modes, as well as in additional modes, listening to one’s own tuning and singing or playing, as well as to another singer or group, and various part work activities that develop the student’s ability to successfully hear in parts (1,2,3,4) and at the same time be able to control pitch and awareness of the other parts; like sing one part play the other 1, 2, 3, parts with changing parts. The course will serve to expand the student’s knowledge about the formal structure of the folksongs and a literature of music and styles through the use of solfege, and to strengthen the students’ musicianship as an individual and as a member of an ensemble. The course will enable students to reach a standard for singing in tune, with excellent tone quality, for developing the ability for internal hearing, and for being able to understand, listen to, and respond to complex melodies and pieces of music.

Instructor: Megan Ankuda

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 10:10 a.m. -12:10 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: As a continuation of Folk Song Research/Materials I, this course will focus on pedagogical analysis. We will expand and deepen our understandings of diverse vernacular musics. Emphasis on abstracted rhythmic and melodic motives for the development of notation literacy, aural skills, and musical creativity in school music settings. Required Texts: Step it Down by Hawes & Jones; My Little Rooster and Other Folk Songs, Singing Games & Play Parties: 1 by Jill Trinka

Instructor: Edward Bolkovac

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Credits: 0.5

Course Description: Level 2 students are encouraged to review and develop more reliable vocal and aural skills in terms of vocal technique, tonal quality, using Kodály handsigns in a choral setting, and tuning a cappella music. Students are expected to show more leadership in the choral experience. The course will end with a small concert.

Instructor: Chris Powers

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 10:10 a.m. - 12:10 p.m.

Credits: 2 

Course Description: Methodology III will continue to investigate methods, techniques, and materials appropriate for continuing the development of music literacy using more advanced rhythm and melodic content in upper elementary, middle, and high school music general music classes, as well as vocal and instrumental ensembles. In addition, the process for teaching harmony and improvisation will be presented in major, minor, aeolian, dorian, and mixolydian. At the competition of the course, participants will be able to apply a sequence of skills to tonal and rhythmic content appropriate for middle school and high school; develop skills for creating logical and varied lesson plans that provide evidence of short and long-range goals; develop skills at understanding harmony and improvisation using solfege; understand modal tonalities and harmonies. Since this course is cross-listed with Conversational Solfege Upper Levels, participants who successfully complete Methodology III will receive an official certificate of completion for Conversational Solfege Upper Levels from the Feierabend Association for Music Education (FAME). Recommended Texts: Conversational Solfege Level III - Teacher’s Manual by John Feierabend; Learning Harmony & Improvisation using Conversational Solfege by John Feierabend

Instructor: Gabor Viragh

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Credits: 2 

Course Description: This course provides a setting for students to develop competencies related to professional musicianship necessary for excellent classroom music teaching. It not only provides a base for knowledge but also for practical experience in the classroom and performance in any concert setting. The course covers in-depth singing using the moveable “do” solfa system, sight-singing of various folksong and art song melodies, canons, and/or harmonic accompaniments, memorization of folksong and/or art song melodies, melodic and harmonic analysis of music in Major and minor modes, as well as in additional modes, and styles (classical-romantic-twentieth century) listening to one’s own tuning and singing or playing, as well as to another singer or group, and various part work activities that develop the student’s ability to successfully hear and do more than one thing at a time. The course will serve to expand the student’s knowledge about the formal structure of the folksong literature and art music through the use of Solfege, and to strengthen the students’ musicianship as an individual and as a member of an ensemble. Through singing, they experience chord structures created by chromaticism in the setting of the classical-romantic area. The course will enable students to reach a standard for singing in tune, with excellent tone quality, for developing the ability for internal hearing, and for being able to understand, listen to, and respond to complex melodies and pieces of music.

Instructor: Edward Bolkovac

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 2:10 p.m. - 3:40 p.m.

Credits: 1.5

Course Description: This class allows teachers to review and analyze their own conducting gestures by looking at and conducting pieces and small excerpts from a variety of styles and traditions. Conducting students learn to brush up their conducting skills to make their gestures more in sync with the pieces they conduct. In addition, the course does a broad overview of phonetics and diction to help improve choral sound, tone, and intonation.

Instructor: Edward Bolkovac

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 3:40 p.m. - 5:10 p.m.

Credits: 1.5

Course Description: This course helps teachers to incorporate masterworks from various musical traditions (classical, jazz, gospel, ethnic, etc.) into their music classroom teaching. This is done through creating short, simple score reductions that their students can perform in class with singing, clapping, or movement. Teachers are also encouraged to expand the traditional Kodály retrieval system to also include voice types, different types of choirs, different instruments, different genres of music, famous composers, famous singers and instrumentalists, etc. Teachers will also learn to create very simple 2- and 3-part arrangements, based on the elements the children know to open up the world of vertical listening or harmony.

Instructor: Edward Bolkovac

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Credits: 0.5

Course Description: Level 3 students are expected to demonstrate leadership in vocal and aural skills and a solid understanding of vowel quality, basic vocal technique, use of Kodály handsigns, etc. They should be leading through example, and when possible may be asked to conduct the group in rehearsal or at the final concert. The course will end with a small concert.

Instructor: Stephanie Schall-Brazee

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWR

Time: 2:10 p.m. - 4:40 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: First Steps in Music (™) is a research-based, curricular framework combining the development of singing and movement skills to maximize musical aptitude in young children, typically grades PreK-2. The eight-part “workout” is designed to encourage musical independence and creativity through joyful activities and experiences shared with others while developing the prerequisite skills needed for music literacy: singing in tune, keeping a steady beat, and developing sensitivity to the expressive elements of music. First Steps is a developmentally appropriate music education framework for instruction with techniques that provide pathways to meeting students where they are in their musical development, no matter their age or ability. Participants who successfully complete this course will receive an official certificate of completion for First Steps in Music from the Feierabend Association for Music Education (FAME). Required viewing before first class: First Steps in Music - Lecture 1 - Who Is A Musical Person? - Streaming Video by John Feierabend Required Text: First Steps in Music for Preschool & Beyond by John Feierabend Optional Text: Feierabend Fundamentals edited by John Feierabend & Missy Strong

Instructor: Chris Powers

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: Conversational Solfege™ is a pedagogical approach used to intuitively develop notational literacy skills with students of elementary age through adults who are tuneful, beatful, and artful. Through carefully sequenced activities, Conversational Solfege™ first develops an understanding of music through the use of rhythm and solfege syllables at a "conversational" level, then gradually evolves into reading, writing, improvisation, dictation, and composition skills. Teachers will learn how to 8 enable students to joyfully assimilate the skills and content necessary to be musically literate, as well as learn various techniques to allow the acquisition of these skills. This Conversational Solfege™ course will address lesson planning, unit planning, and assessment and applies to music educators in most music educational settings (classroom, choral, and/or instrumental) elementary through college. Participants who successfully complete this course will receive an official certificate of completion for Conversational Solfege Lower Levels from the Feierabend Association for Music Education (FAME). Required viewing before first class: Conversational Solfege Explained - Part 1 - History, Philosophy, and Pedagogy - Streaming Video by John Feierabend Required Text: Conversational Solfege, Level 1 - Teacher’s Edition by John Feierabend Optional Text: Feierabend Fundamentals edited by John Feierabend & Missy Strong

Instructor: Chris Powers

Dates: 7/21/2025 - 8/01/2025, MTWRF

Time: 10:10 a.m. -12:10 p.m.

Credits: 2

Course Description: Conversational Solfege™ Upper Levels will continue to investigate methods, techniques, and materials appropriate for continuing the development of music literacy using more advanced rhythm and melodic content in upper elementary, middle, and high school music general music classes, as well as vocal and instrumental ensembles. In addition, the process for teaching harmony and improvisation will be presented in major, minor, aeolian, dorian, and mixolydian. At the competition of the course, participants will be able to apply a sequence of skills to tonal and rhythmic content appropriate for middle school and high school; develop skills for creating logical and varied lesson plans that provide evidence of short and long-range goals; develop skills at understanding harmony and improvisation using solfege; understand modal tonalities and harmonies. Participants who successfully complete this course will receive an official certificate of completion for Conversational Solfege Upper Levels from the Feierabend Association for Music Education (FAME). Recommended Texts: Conversational Solfege Level III - Teacher’s Manual by John Feierabend; Learning Harmony & Improvisation using Conversational Solfege by John Feierabend