As a\u00a0small-town\u00a0kid from Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula, I was in complete culture shock coming to Ball State as a music education major in 2000.\u00a0But I always felt at home in the School of Music. You see, before I auditioned on campus, I\u2019d never been to Indiana in my life. But as soon as I walked into the Hargreaves building for the audition, I felt at home. Everyone was so friendly and accommodating that day.\u00a0Current students and professors alike asked me about my goals and what I wanted out of my university education. They cared.\u00a0I knew I\u2019d found my school.<\/p>\n
When I arrived on campus for my freshman year,\u00a0I was particularly impressed by the music education faculty. They pushed us hard! Their courses were demanding, and we were required to do lots of field experiences in local schools. This resulted in a deep understanding of what music education was\u2026 and could be. As a vocal\/general music education major, Dr.\u00a0Don\u00a0Ester was particularly influential in my journey. He always pushed me to be better and taught me so much.\u00a0There was a small cohort of us specializing in choral music education, and we became very close (as peers and with our professors). We supported and pushed each other. I always knew that\u00a0my BSU professors\u00a0cared about me, as a person as well as a student.\u00a0He continued to be a sounding board and resource when I had my first teaching job in California. Many of the materials I created in Dr. Ester\u2019s courses were immediately implemented at Hoover Middle School and Lincoln High School. I am so grateful that what we learned was\u00a0practicable<\/i>\u00a0and usable in K-12 classrooms.\u00a0It is these qualities that I try to replicate in my current position.<\/p>\n
As I completed my Master\u2019s degree in Choral Conducting at Northern Arizona University, I started to think about my future. While I\u00a0love<\/i>\u00a0teaching middle and high school choir (I taught grades 5-8 for two years following my M.M. program), I came to realize that what I was particularly passionate about was music teacher education. Basically, I wanted to be the Dr. Ester for music education majors.\u00a0So, when it came time to choose between a D.M.A. program in choral conducting and a Ph.D. in music education, the decision came down to teacher education.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>After completing my Ph.D. in music education at Michigan State University in 2016 (where I was a classmate of fellow BSU alumnus Dr. Adam Kruse), I was hired in a tenure-track music education position at California State University, Long Beach. At the CSULB Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, I conduct the University Choir (an auditioned mixed ensemble) and teach undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and graduate music\u00a0education courses.\u00a0I am currently in my third year here and I am constantly thinking about and\u00a0referring to course materials and ideas I learned in my music education classes at Ball State.\u00a0Dr. Ester is always in the back of my mind and I hope that one day I will be half as influential for CSULB students as he was for me.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a\u00a0small-town\u00a0kid from Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula, I was in complete culture shock coming to Ball State as a music education major in 2000.\u00a0But I always felt at home in the School of Music. You see, before I auditioned on campus, I\u2019d never been to Indiana in my life. But as soon as I walked into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-alumni"],"yoast_head":"\n