March is Music In Our Schools Month®! Our friends at the National Association for Music Education are back to celebrate the 36th year of MIOSM®. It’s the perfect opportunity to celebrate the very best of what’s happening in music classrooms across America. The team at NAfME has worked hard to make sure everyone can get involved in celebrating music education, including pandemic-safe ways to be involved from the comfort of your own home.
For this year, the theme of MIOSM® is “Music. The Sound of My Heart.” Step one? Start here to learn more about Music In Our Schools Month® and all the ways you can participate.
Are you an educator? Check out these lesson plans! Or for fun, try this “Sound of My Heart” Song Bracket.
Are you a music education advocate, parent, or booster? Throw your support behind this Virtual Hill Month, and don’t miss this virtual congressional briefing with U.S. Senator Jon Tester (MT) on the social-emotional benefits of music and arts education. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.: March 24 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.
Are you a student? Join the World’s Largest Children’s Choir!
Still stumped? There are lots of ideas here!
And of course, everyone can participate safely on social media! NAfME is encouraging teachers and music education advocates to share on social media how their schools are celebrating music education, using the hashtags #MusicTheSoundOfMyHeart and #MIOSM and tagging “@NAfME.” Change your profile picture on social media to let everyone know where your heart lies this month. Download their graphics, and find sample posts to get you started.
And what would Music In Our Schools Month® be without performances? On March 4 starting at 7:00 p.m. EST, the more than 550 students of the National Association for Music Education 2020 All-National Honor Ensembles will perform in six virtual concerts, one for each honor ensemble: Concert Band, Mixed Choir, Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, Guitar Ensemble, and Modern Band. Free registration is available. And on March 29 at 7:00 p.m. EDT, the Young Composers Concert will take place online, featuring the Akropolis Reed Quintet performing the work of winning student composers from the NAfME 2020 competition. Free registration is now available.
However you choose to get involved, music education in our schools is worth celebrating more than ever this year. Even though a pandemic has kept us apart, music and the arts are one of the few things that has pulled us together and kept our spirits up. Quality music education in every school is worth fighting for. Thank the music educators in your life. And thanks to our friends at NAfME for rallying us around Music In Our Schools Month® the entire month of March. Together or apart, wouldn’t you agree that Music is the Sound of my Heart?
