2026 General Music Fall Workshop

Saturday, September 26
9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Central Michigan University

MMEA Member: $50.00
Non-member: $70.00
Collegiate: $20.00
State certification credit: $10.00

Tentative Schedule (subject to change)

9:00 am
Education Through Music: Beyond the Lines & Spaces – Kris Ryskamp/Tom Klein
This 2 session workshop overview of Education Through Music (ETM) will offer a refreshing approach to teaching and learning through song, movement, and play. ETM is a child-centered approach focusing on promoting emotional, social, cognitive, musical, and language development through best-practice teaching of song and play. The study and enactment of ETM materials and philosophy with children yields results that include increased intrinsic motivation, sustained focus and attention, heightened musicality, greater regard for others, and stronger auditory and music literacy skills. Participants in this session can expect a joyfully interactive session featuring whole group singing, movement, and play, with specific song games to use with children in grades K-6.

10:00 am
Education Through Music: Beyond the Lines & Spaces (continued)


Cart Chaos, Budget Blues and the Irascible Itinerant – Melissa Stouffer
Carts, low to no budget, and traveling are just a few of the things music teachers are facing in today’s classrooms. This session will look at these as well as other situations I’ve faced including multi-age classrooms, low to no instruments, shared time, and shared spaces. Learn how to deal, find what resources will help you out, and how you can shine even when you have nothing in your room. Or on your cart.

11:00 am
Composition through Different Grade Levels and Modalities – Maura Drinkert
 In this session, we’ll learn about and experiment with ways to incorporate improvisation and composing into your everyday music lessons. We’ll look at composition activities/resources that you can use with different grade levels, as well as different modalities and classroom set-ups. While my background is primarily based in K-5 general music, these activities can be adapted for older students (and I will do my best to provide some examples/resources for older grades, as well)!

Five W’s and an H for Orff Instruments – Dan Dezwaan
In this workshop, participants will work through the who, what, where, why, when and hows with multiple experiences on glockenspiels, xylophones and metallophones.

12:00 pm
Lunch/Networking

1:00 pm
Behavior Management: The Anxiety Factor – Denise Gulliver-Lewis
In this session we will be looking at how anxiety affects student behaviors in the music room. Discussion will include how to recognize anxiety as a possible cause, common triggers, de-escalation and how to meet the needs of these students.

On Repeat: Harnessing Popular Music to Drive Upper Elementary Engagement – Steven Hu-Wideman
Meeting upper elementary music students where they are starts with speaking their musical language! This session provides a roadmap for using top chart hits and current trends to drive deep engagement in the upper elementary music room. In this hands-on session, explore how popular music can serve as a catalyst for singing, playing instruments, rhythm practice, movement, and form analysis. Participants will gain plug-and-play lesson ideas that channel everyday student enthusiasm into active, rigorous musical learning.

2:00 pm
Making Music With All Students: Planning for disability access in your music room – Eric Bottorff
As music teachers, we teach every student in the school no matter the level of need. This session will focus upon turning theory into practice in the self-contained music classroom and general education classes for students with disabilities. Learn to build successful processes and routines to guide student learning and make music the favorite place in the school! This session provides field-tested strategies to help you build essential musical skills with your students, prioritizing foundational skill development through consistent and appropriate lesson structures. Examples will be shared from K-4 multi-categorical, special education classrooms and general education classrooms.

General Music Fall Workshop 2024 Highlights

Highlights from our 2019 Fall Workshop