Schedule and Details
Special Education Ins and Outs - Meeting the Needs of All Students in Music With Team Based Support
Course ID GMU587D (4 days)
Michael Hildebrandt
Music Educators - your voice is essential when it comes to developing and executing a plan of meaningful inclusion for diverse learners including students with and without identified disabilities. This workshop will equip teachers with the knowledge and confidence to advocate for all students with a Team Based Approach - empowerng music educators to engage side-by-side with paraprofessionals, co-teachers, IEP liaisons, administrators and families.
Leveraging the unique advantage of a music educator's teaching relationship with students over multiple grade levels, participants will develop and understanding of positive inclusive environments by creating a differentiated instruction framework and designing appropriate modifications, adaptations, and accomodations for individual students.
Sessions will include:
- Analyzing case-study information that reflects a process of collaboration with parents and other teachers and education professionals.
- Contributing to the creation of required documentation for inclusion of students with special needs as protected by federal and state legislation.
- Designing strategies for adaptations to meet the educational needs of children with exceptionalities.
- Analyzing federal, state, and local educational trends in special education law and practice.
- Identifying ways to incorporate universal design for learning into classroom activities in support of a diverse population of learners.
*This course will fulfill the Commonweatlh of MA teacher re-certification requirements for PDPs in special education. Graduate credit earned can be converted to PDPs, See below.
More about Michael Hildebrandt
Program Schedule
July 13–16, 2026
Monday–Thursday, 9 a.m.–3:30 p.m,
Class attendance is required in person on the campus of Gordon College.
No class Friday, July 17, 2026
Registration
$1,275: Three (3) Graduate Credits
$980: Participation Only
Graduate credit registration requirements include mandatory attendance, final project, written assignment or assessment. Participants will be provided with a letter grade and academic transcript upon request.
Participation only registration indicates the participant is not required to submit a final project, written assignment or assessment. No academic transcript provided.
Registration Opens January 19
First Steps in Music
Course ID GMU515 (4 days)
Lillie Feierabend
All people are born with the potential to become musical. With inappropriate or limited musical experiences in the early years, children consistently lose their intuitions for thinking tunes, feeling rhythms and responding to expressiveness in music. This course will provide a bridge from research to practice by demonstrating how a “natural” curriculum rich in the repertoire of traditional children’s songs, rhymes, games and dances can develop young children’s musical aptitude. A model of parents and children playing together in the years from birth to age three will be presented, as well as curriculum for three-to-eight-year-old children in classroom settings. Participants can earn certification in First Steps in Music by the Feierabend Association for Music Education.
Program Schedule
July 13–16, 2026
Monday–Thursday, 8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m,
Class attendance is required in person on the campus of Gordon College.
No class Friday, July 17, 2026
Registration
$1,275: Three (3) Graduate Credits
$980: Participation Only (zero credit)
Graduate credit registration requirements include mandatory attendance, final project, written assignment or assessment. Participants will be provided with a letter grade and academic transcript upon request.
Participation only registration indicates the participant is not required to submit a final project, written assignment or assessment. No academic transcript provided.
Registration Opens January 19
Curriculum Deep Dive - Revisiting, Revising, Re-launching to Breathe Life Into Music Teaching and Learning
Course ID GMU587E (4 days)
Led by Dr. Sandra Doneski
Curriculum lives where content, practice, and people meet. It is more than a document and more than a series of activities. Strong curriculum work breathes life into teaching and learning. Knowledge, skills, and dispositions meet creating, performing and responsing in this music curriculum workshop. Work with a team of curricular innovators, guided by Gordon Graduate Music Education Program Director Dr. Sandra Doneski, who take thinking IN music seriously for all students. Whether you are a beginning or experienced music educator, this is the BEST OPPORTUNITY to make that curriculum progress you have been contemplating.
Teachers are encouraged to bring and share existing curriculum practices and ideas for changes and new adoptions they have been wanting to try or implement. Sessions will be collaborative and guided by a coaching team who will take each individual's teaching practices and circumstances into context.
Come be resourced, stretched and encouraged to make music come to life for students in your school and community.
Program Schedule
July 13–16, 2026
Monday–Thursday, 9 a.m.–3:30 p.m,
Class attendance is required in person on the campus of Gordon College.
No class Friday, July 17, 2026
Registration
$1,275: Three (3) Graduate Credits
$980: Participation Only (zero credit)
Graduate credit registration requirements include mandatory attendance, final project, written assignment or assessment. Participants will be provided with a letter grade and academic transcript upon request.
Participation only registration indicates the participant is not required to submit a final project, written assignment or assessment. No academic transcript provided.
Registration Opens January 19
Think IN Music: Practical Applications for Comprehensive Music Curriculum
Course ID GMU568 (5 days)
Dr. Christopher Azzara
For teachers interested in:
- developmental scaffolded approach to improvisation
- improving reading skills and musical reflection through composition and arranging
For general, instrumental, choral music teachers of every level, Bring your instruments/voice! This is a great workshop to to together with colleagues, using Dr. Azzara's Developing Musicianship Through Improvisationi curriculum materials, Books 1, 1B, 2 and 3.
Participants will:
- develop skills for teaching improvisation, reading, and composing/arranging
- sing and play instruments throughout the week
- experience varied repertoire in many styles, including, folk, popular, jazz, and classical music
Program Schedule
July 13–17, 2025
Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Registration
$1,275: Three (3) Graduate Credits
$980: Participation Only
Graduate credit registration requirements include mandatory attendance, final project, written assignment or assessment. Participants will be provided with a letter grade and academic transcript upon request.
Participation only registration indicates the participant is not required to submit a final project, written assignment or assessment. No academic transcript provided.
Registration Opens January 19
Ready to get started?
We're here to help! We believe you were made to thrive, and we’re here to give you the tools to do just that. Get in touch with our graduate admissions team to guide you through the process.
Kristen Harrington
Program Coordinator