Janet and I have been fortunate to have presented numerous pedagogy clinics at music conferences, universities, international horn symposiums and in-service events together during the past six years, including:
Texas Music Educator's Association Convention: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2025
Texas Bandmaster's Association Convention: 2019, 2022
The Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic: 2021, 2024
Texas Fine Arts Administrator's Conference: 2024
Our first session was at TMEA 2019, coinciding with the release of our method book, "Recipe for Success- a balanced curriculum for young horn players." I remember being nervous about presenting to an audience of music educators, worrying about saying all the right things etc. At that time I was much more comfortable playing my horn in front of a large audience than public speaking. Looking back, I think we had about 300 people attend that first clinic. Dick Clardy was our presider and he definitely took care of us, making sure the technology was working and providing support and encouragement for us "newbies".
Over the past several years, Janet and I have developed eight different clinic offerings, each one unique and featuring particular topics of interest to music educators. Here are some ideas that might encourage and help you to create your own clinic proposal and presentation.
1. Pick a topic that is in your area of expertise. Music education is a very broad field. Whether you realize it or not, you have valuable experience and wisdom in areas that would most likely be very helpful to others.
2. Craft a "catchy " title. The title and description of your clinic must be intriguing and engaging. Our first clinic was titled, "The Top Ten Secrets for Teaching Horn" which implied that "classified" information would be revealed.
3. Keep your slides and fonts simple. Your audience shouldn’t feel torn between listening to you and reading your slide.
4. Design your clinic to be as interactive as possible. When Janet and I present a clinic at a school district in-service event, we often request the attendees bring a horn with them if one is available. Then we are able to incorporate exercises to help explain, validate and personalize our teaching concepts.
5. Leave time for questions, either periodically throughout the session or afterwards.
6. After refining your presentation, rehearse/ time it repeatedly. This will give you an idea of how to use your allotted time wisely and allow you to become increasingly comfortable giving the presentation.
7. Make your presentation informative but also entertaining. Janet and I have been best friends for over twenty-five years. We've taught together, performed together, vacationed together and co-authored three books. We can finish each other's sentences. But even with all the thoughtful and thorough preparation before each clinic presentation, funny and unexpected things happen during our clinics. We laugh at each other and with our audience, trying to not take ourselves too seriously, even though the topics are significant and genuine.
Our latest TMEA clinic (February 2025) boasted our largest audience to date. Nearly 1300 people journeyed with us on "An Epic Odyssey Teaching Beginning Horn." It was a blast!
In closing, find something in your music education journey about which you are passionate and knowledgeable. We all have special and unique gifts to offer our students and colleagues.
Big thanks to Janet Nye for her helpful input on this article.