Schedule and Details

Sound, Score & Gesture: A Comprehensive Conducting Workshop for Instrumental Teachers
Course ID GMU562 (4 days)

Dr. Robert Hasty

This immersive workshop is designed for conductors seeking to deepen their musical understanding, elevate their rehearsal craft, and expand their repertoire knowledge across whichever instrumental domain they teach. In addition to hands-on conducting labs, collaborative score study sessions, and focused discussions on repertoire and pedagogy, participants will actively share their own repertoire knowledge and ensemble experiences with one another. Through guided peer discussions, interactive listening exchanges, and collaborative score exploration, participants will build a collective pool of insights - broadening their artistic perspective while strengthening a community of learning that extends beyond the workshop itself.

Participants are encouraged to bring primary and non-primary instruments for paying through repertoire and conducting peers in mock rehearsal settings.  A piano is available in the learning space as well as a variety of percussion options.

More about Robert Hasty 

Program Schedule

July 13–16, 2026
Monday - Thursday, 9:00 am - 3:30 pn
In person class attendance required on the campus of Gordon College.

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.

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.

First Steps in Music
Course ID GMU515 (5 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.

More about Lillie Feierabend

Program Schedule

July 13–17, 2026
Monday–Friday,  8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m, 
Class attendance is required in person on the campus of Gordon College.

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.

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.

More about Sandra Doneski

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.

Choral Artistry: Elements for Success
Course ID GMU563N (4 days)

Dr. Mary Ellen Junda

In this choral workshop we will explore the vital relationship between gesture and sound, emphasizing the intimate connections between conductors and the score, and between conductors and singers. Participants will be offered a framework for examining how their gestures (or lack-there-of) are reflected in the choir's overall sound and interpretation. The workshop will address elements of effective score study, review essential conducting fundamentals, expand pedagogical expertise, invite reflection on cultural traditions, and explore the use of expressive conducting gestures appropriate to a variety of styles. The goal is to foster conductors' confidence in musical analysis and interpretation so that they can inspire singers to perform with artistry, cultural awareness and heart.

Reading packets will be given to each participant for reading sessions and to take home.

More about Mary Ellen Junda

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.

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.

Expanding Your General Music Curriculum with Ukulele, Guitar and Bass  
Course ID GMU582 (4 days)

Kenneth Trapp

The general music class is rich with activities that include singing, dancing, and play. This is how children learn melody, harmony, rhythm, and form. This workshop will introduce ways to augment wonderful songs already used in a music curriculum with ukulele, guitar, and bass.

Participants will learn how to create arrangements that can be used as accompaniment while songs and games are being performed. Many times, students who are reluctant to sing and dance in a traditional way can be motivated to engage with the class by learning simple instrumental parts.

Sessions will include:

• Ideas to create ensembles for students of all ability levels
• Activities for using songs we already sing and move to as a basis for learning to play instruments
• Ways to establish a spirit of play to learn songs in depth
• A process for motivating students who may be reluctant to sing and dance in a traditional way

Just like there are “lifetime sports” like tennis and golf, we can develop “lifetime music” by learning to accompany singing with non-orchestral instruments such as ukulele and guitar. This can be a wonderful interpretation of working towards the National Standards for Music Education.

Examples of student work will give participants a view of authentic student experiences. In addition, participants will be given access to instructional materials to get started. Instruments and equipment will be provided for all participants.

More about Kenneth Trapp 

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.

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

More about Christopher Azzara 

Program Schedule

July 13–17, 2026
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.