NAMM Music Education Days TI:ME Sessions Registration is open for the online global gathering of music educators and industry professionals. 

Sitting at the heart of the industry’s crossroads, NAMM’s Believe in Music week (January 2021) – the online, global gathering to unify and support the people who bring music to the world – will offer free professional development for music educators and administrators, nonprofit professionals, and college-aged students and faculty, among others.

“While we cannot gather in person in January, the opportunity to band together to bring music to the world and support those who continue to be affected has never been more important than at this moment in time,” says Joe Lamond, NAMM President and CEO. “For professionals seeking the tools to prepare for the future, now is the time to invest in yourself with meaningful education and training to meet what’s next.” Programing for educators beginning on Monday, January 18, will include a robust series of sessions from The NAMM Foundation in collaboration with Technology In Music Education (TI:ME)

Registration for Believe in Music week is free and now open at https://attend.believeinmusic.tv

 Once presented, all sessions will be posted for on-demand viewing through February, but educators must register to access them. Register for free here https://attend.believeinmusic.tv/ 

Monday, Jan. 18
Lights, Camera, Action! Using Video to Promote Student Engagement
Time: 12:10pm – 1:15pm Pacific
With the onset of Covid-19 and remote learning, music educators have had to move at warp speed to bring their classrooms and rehearsal rooms into students’ homes. While streaming services like YouTube, Vimeo, and social media sites are commonplace and have had the attention of our students for quite some time, the need to be the creator and not just the consumer of video is more important than ever! This session will look at the educational value of video in music education, and a wide array of intuitive video creation tools that both music teachers and students can use that will add a fun factor to student engagement and learning! 
Presenter: Stefani Langol

How to improve your sound: The Important Basics of Signal Flow
Time: 1:50pm – 2:55pm Pacific
This session looks at the important basics of signal flow for music educators; how to effectively improve the quality of your final audio output by balancing each stage of the audio from input to final output, and how the order of audio processors yields different results. Different situations will be considered from remote teaching to live sound and recording. 
Presenter: Mark Lochstampfor

Tuesday, Jan. 19
What the TECH are you talking about?!
Time: 10:20am – 11:25am Pacific
Struggling to keep up with how to use all the technology in your music program? Wondering about MIDI devices, Bluetooth, recording, apps, DAWs, etc?! Then this session is for you! Come learn the need-to-knows of using tech in music programs and see many examples of solutions at all levels. 
Presented by John Mlynczak

How to Improve the Student Online Learning Experience
Time: 11:20am – 12:25pm Pacific
Music educators with K-12 and Private Lesson backgrounds share their successes and challenges using technology for online music instruction. This panel of experienced music teachers, alongside an educational technology specialist, will help you navigate best practices for remote learning, and to help you identify effective tools, techniques and products to enhance and improve virtual music instruction for students. 
Presented by Shana Kirk

Wednesday, Jan. 20
Teaching Ensembles and Applied Lessons in the Virtual Classroom
Time: 11:00am – 12:05pm Pacific
Music performance poses special problems for the virtual classroom. This session will include tips and solutions from ensemble directors and applied music teachers for a number of different ensembles and instruments including winds, brass, strings, percussion, piano, and voice. Solutions for problems with common distance learning and virtual ensembles will be presented.
Presented by Dr. C. Floyd Richmond

Thursday, Jan. 21
Technology to Support Elementary Music
Time: 11:00am – 12:05pm Pacific
Are you looking for practical and simple ideas for tech-based instruction through distance learning? Are you looking for new ideas to update your elementary music classes? Thinking about including more technology? In this session, we will explore numerous free and inexpensive ways to bring more technology into your music classes.
Presented by Shawna Longo

The Best Possible Audio in Zoom, Teams, or Other Conferencing Software
Time: 12:30pm – 1:35pm Pacific
When using video conferencing software, the quality of the audio is often disappointing. Tips for solving this will include (1) maximizing existing equipment, (2) appropriate system and software settings, (3) resolving audio conflicts, (4) inexpensive hardware additions, and (5) troubleshooting. The focus will be on simple and approachable solutions. Questions welcome!
Presented by Dr. C. Floyd Richmond

Friday, Jan. 20
 At Home & In the Classroom: Bridging the Gap with Soundtrap
Time: 9:00am – 10:05am Pacific
Whether you find yourself teaching at home full time or you are back in the classroom and want the learning and music making to continue at home, the online software Soundtrap can be used by classroom teachers, ensemble directors of all grade levels with all devices. Appropriate for grades 5 – 12, it is an easy-to-use program that students can use to record, compose their own music, work in collaboration with other students, make podcasts, and share seamlessly it all with the teacher. This software is also outstanding and easy for teachers to create music to send to student, record your own voice or instrument, or make your own podcast! Learn the ins and outs on this software. Session will include an overview of the software, how to record, adjust sound levels, editing audio, recording with MIDI or loops, and composing. Lesson suggestions will be included.
Presented by Barbara Freedman

Live Streaming Your Music Class: Equipment, Software, and Strategies
Time: 1:35pm – 2:40pm Pacific
Need to teach music remotely but have no idea where to start? This session will walk you through creating a live-streaming teach-from-home setup and deploying interactive lessons to your students. We will be discussing software such as OBS, Streamlabs and Twitch for alternatives to the usual videoconferencing solutions and walking the balance between live and prerecorded material to have maximum student impact over a distance. No experience required, and we will cover specific applications from elementary through college level instruction.
Presented by Will Kuhn

Teaching Guitar in a Virtual Learning Environment
Time: 3:40pm – 4:45pm Pacific
In this session, Richard McCready (TI:ME Teacher of the Year 2013) will present strategies and best practices for teaching successful guitar classes in a Virtual Learning Environment, including when all students are remote, and some are in the classroom. Participants will learn how to best set up their home or classroom studios to suit instruction and how to incorporate technologies such as Soundtrap, Bandlab, Jamstik, and online learning platforms.
Presented by Richard McCready