This March, music educators and music students will be celebrating music education in their school communities demonstrating how “Music: The Sound of My Heart” resonates with them. This theme continues from 2021 to 2022 as schools observe Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®). While the impact of the global pandemic continues to challenge music educators and students, the impact of music education is evident in how its social-emotional benefits have empowered students and brought joy in their communities.
During this celebratory month, more than 550 students of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) 2021 All-National Honor Ensembles will perform in six virtual concerts, one for each honor ensemble: Concert Band, Mixed Choir, Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, Guitar Ensemble, and Modern Band. More information will be coming soon. Later this month, a virtual concert featuring the work of winning student composers from the NAfME 2021 Electronic Music Composition Competition will take place. Free registration will soon be available. (Virtual concerts featuring the winning works of students from the 2021 Student Songwriters and Student Composers competitions will be featured in April and May, respectively.) All are invited to these special virtual events to celebrate the accomplishments of young musicians and composers from around the country.
Throughout the month of March, NAfME-affiliated state music education associations will be participating in advocacy activities, including holding meetings with state and local elected officials, sharing why music education must continue to be funded and supported. This month of music education advocacy will culminate in a virtual MIOSM Advocacy Celebration, and all are welcome to register and attend.
NAfME recognizes March as the thirty-seventh annual Music In Our Schools Month. Since 1985, MIOSM has been observed as an annual month-long celebration when schools and communities celebrate music in their local schools and the educators who dedicate themselves to bringing music into the lives of students every day. This year the NAfME Council for General Music Education has provided teachers resources to demonstrate the musical learning process throughout the whole school year. The “Music In Our Schools Month®: Process into Product” document explains this new direction, which began in 2018.
Every day, in music classrooms across the United States, music educators dedicate themselves to reaching all students with life-changing musical experiences. What parents, administrators, and the wider community have not always had the opportunity to observe, however, is the months of practice and rehearsals, and the process of learning that takes place in the music classroom—whether virtual or distanced in person.
Each school year provides an opportunity for music educators to show that process through “informances”—when students demonstrate various learning stages—before the performances at the end of that process. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to show their growth and learning in the music classroom—and for educators to share the incredible work they are doing in their music programs. NAfME also celebrates the music program leaders, superintendents, school boards, parents, and local businesses that support their local schools’ music programs and the difference music makes in the lives of students.
NAfME encourages teachers and music education advocates to share on social media how their schools are celebrating music education, using the hashtags #MusicTheSoundOfMyHeart and #MIOSM and tagging “@NAfME”.
This year NAfME has provided MIOSM lesson plans for 30 songs, including resources from the Library of Congress, instructional goals and objectives, connections to the National Core Arts Standards learned in each lesson, worksheets, and more. NAfME has also provided classroom materials for MIOSM that teachers can share with their students as they celebrate how “Music: The Sound of My Heart” connects with students and communities. All of these items are available at nafme.org/MIOSM.
Music In Our Schools Month® and MIOSM® are trademarks of NAfME and may not be used for fundraising or materials produced for profit.
