Graduate Music Summer Workshops
For all music educators at any stage in their career.
July 14-18, 2025
Summer workshop participation is open to all music educators, no matter what your educational or professional background. Join us for inspiring and motivating professional development, while connecting and sharing valuable learning experiences with music education colleagues and clinicians.
Workshop participants have the option to earn graduate credit, which can be used to renew or re-certify teaching licenses, and to increase earnings with achieving a salary lane change. Credits earned also apply toward elective requirements in the Master of Music Education Program at Gordon. All programs take place in person, on campus at Gordon College.
Workshop Overviews
Special Education Ins and Outs - Meeting the Needs of All Students in Music With Team Based Support
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 - empowering music educators to engage side-by-side with paraprofessionals, co-teachers, IEP liaisons, administrators and families. Learn more about this workshop.
Conversational Solfege Levels I and II
Dr. John Feierabend
Conversational Solfege is a pedagogical method that develops musical literacy. Base on modules used to teach conversational foreigh languages, Conversational Solfege develops an understanding of music through the use of rhythm syllables and solfege syllabes at a conversational level, that gradually evolves into traditional notation. Learn more about this workshop.
Leading a School Instrumental Music Program - Build a Took-Kit to Support Purposeful and Meaningful Music Making for All Grade Levels
Dr. Gabe Southard
Instrumental music teachers and ensemble directors of all grade levels are welcome. Motivating young musicians with meaningful musical experiences can be challenging with students who are beginners or even advancing novices on their instruments. Skill levels vary with some students taking private lessons, practicing at home, and some whose instrument might never leave its school storage locker other than for class time. Learn more about this workshop.
Curriculum Deep Dive - Revisiting, Revising, Re-launching to Breathe Life Into Music Teaching and Learning
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 responding in this music curriculum workshop. Learn more about this workshop.
Introduction to Adaptive Music Education
Jessica Corwin and Jennifer Kass
Diversity is our strength and is present in many ways in every classroom. Differences among student neurotypes and abilities means that music teachers need a very full toolkit to meet the needs of all students, especially those with the highest support needs, to ensure that everyone is meaningfully included in joyful music-making and social connection. This course will closely examine topics including the imperative of listening to neurodivergent voices, anti-ableist language, neurodivergence-affirming classroom practices, current research on autism, common learning differences, and corresponding music-specific strategies. Learn more about this workshop.
World Folk Song and Dance
Lillie Feierabend
Humor, love, kindness and joy are universal. Community music-making builds a bridge where we are offered a glimpse into another culture and are delighted to find ourselves looking back, A country's musical culture can also offer insight into it's history, spirit, values, and heart. We can appreciate and begin to know a little about people when we move in their footsteps, sing their songs, and play their games. Learn more about this workshop.
Bridges to the Community & Beyond
Lillie Feierabend
The school year provides many opportunities for our students to become involved with music. When we provide experiences outside the classrooom, we also make them available to our faculty, school and community. When the community is invited to participate in our music programs, they become invested in the child's development and the growth of the music program. Participants will be introduced to a dozen ways to enrich the musical growth and development of their students, schools and communities by creating opportunities for musical engagement. Learn more about this workshop.
The Choral Music Classroom: Creating, Recreating and Creating Again
Dr. Ellen Gilson Voth
Broaden your repertoire and deepen your rehearsal techniques. In this workshop, participants will delve into choral music for singers of all age levels - how it was created, and how we can best recreate it with the singers in front of us. Score study, language, gesture, vocal techniques, solfege, ear training, eurythmics, and integration among different art forms will be explored. Participants will also have the opportunity to practice arranging or composing choral music in a laboratory format - focusing on writing to set up young singers for success. Whether an experienced choral musician and educator or a newcomer to the profession looking for fresh ideas and inspiration, this workshop is for you. Learn more about this workshop.
From Four Strings to Six: Making the Move from Ukulele to Guitar for Grades 5 - 12
Kenneth Trapp
The sequential transition from ukulele to guitar can be made simple for both teachers and students. The learning experience on the instruments builds aural skill development, by scaffolding individual and collaborative music making experiences that allow for ensemble collaboration, improvisation, and composition opportunities. Building on connections to ukulele instruction for elementary and middle school students, music educators of upper elementary through HS students can make the move to the guitar and build the confidence to bring the instrument to all assigned duties throughout your school year. Learn more about this workshop.
Instrumental Methods and Techniques: Creativity and Literacy in Music Teaching and Learning
Dr. Christopher Azzara
For instrumental, vocal and general music teachers at all levels who wish to improve their musicianship skills for teaching. This course is particularly relevant for teachers who are addressing the NCCAS and NAfME National Standards (Creating, Performing, Responding, Connecting) and singing, performing on instruments, reading, composing and improvising. The emphasis is on beginning instrumental study for recorder, winds, percussion and strings from Jump Right In: The Instrumental Series Books 1 and 2, including available digital recordings. Learn more about this workshop.
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