Abstract
The 2019 Symposium for Music Teacher Education was held this past September. The immediate aftermath of the symposium has passed, and now is the time to reflect on the experience of the Symposium and begin to look toward the next gathering. I will not be chair for the next Symposium—it will be in the capable hands of David Rickels. But there are always lessons to be learned, growth to be attained, and in the right measure, successes to be celebrated. The post-symposium survey teaches us a lot about what was meaningful to those who attended, as well as the personal and professional challenges and victories people found in those days.
The concept of the Society for Music Teacher Education (SMTE), as reimagined at the turn of the century, was that of a flat, organic organization. The Symposium was envisioned to be a space where all music teacher educators, regardless of their role or place in their professional journey, would be equal participants in discussions and projects. The vision was, and remains, for the attendees of the Symposium to take ownership of ideas so those ideas could flourish at the Symposium as well as between symposia.
The most lasting lessons I learned at the Symposium this year came from the intertwined nature of leadership and community I observed in presentations, at posters, during breaks, in the mentoring sessions, and in ASPA (Area for Strategic Planning and Action) work. I saw leadership in many forms from those who hold formal leadership positions in the various structured communities that are a part of the Symposium. However, I also observed informal leadership within those same communities, as well as among unstructured communities that are also a part of the vibrancy of the Symposium. I saw people who have worked together for many years and people who had just met forming goals, creating projects, and learning from each other and learning together. In other words, I witnessed the vision of the Symposium being enacted in many ways.
To be clear, here I will be using the term “leadership,” but I do not mean this in the traditional sense of the word. I do not see leadership as a goal—something to be attained. I see it as an opportunity. I see it as the very essence of service. I see it as the kind of participation that allows everyone to make a difference. Leaders know when to get out of the way, and leaders know how to step in when needed. There are leaders who offer great ideas and leaders who inspire great ideas. That is the kind of leadership I easily found at the Symposium, and that was thrilling.
I observed the SMTE vision of a flat organization, and a variety of leaders, in many spaces. This kind of structure goes by many names, two of which I find clearly reflected in what I saw at the Symposium—shared leadership and neighborhood governance. Shared leadership can positively influence a community of teachers by “reducing teacher isolation and increasing commitment to the common good” (Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008, p. 461). Isolation can take many forms, not only as a teacher, or as the only music teacher educator on a faculty. Isolation can be felt when a faculty member is the only person with a particular research interest, or with a unique definition of music education, or even with an individual conception of teaching/research/service or life/work balances. The Symposium seems to allow for participants who share their type of isolation and connect because of it. In addition, a shared leadership model promotes attitudes and values commonly found in an effective community, such as “experiencing informal influence and feedback in the context of important professional discussions” (p. 461). Based on feedback we have received about the Symposium, participants highly value these informal experiences, and those experiences help to buoy attendees through their academic year.
Neighborhood governance also describes a kind of flat organization in which the spirit of community is valued and the leadership is distributed. Purdue (2001) in his study of urban renewal stated, The regeneration of a neighbourhood requires a number of relevant actors to come together in partnerships to undertake innovative solutions to persistent problems. Such innovation involves taking risks, yet success in such risky ventures also requires the development of trust between partners and the extension of relationships of trust more widely in the neighbourhood. These two sets of trust relations may also be seen as ‘collaborative’ and ‘communal’ social capital. (p. 2213)
I find this to be an apt description of the work I saw in the ASPAs, in particular. I observed risk-taking within the groups, risk-taking in the shaping of ideas, and risk-taking in the building of trusting communities. If an ASPA functions, to a certain degree like a neighborhood, then I saw our own form of neighborhood governance at work.
How connections and communities were formed and evidenced at the Symposium varied. Clearly there is no one correct way to lead, as the context, group, and goals all influence the effectiveness and style of a group. Among those in formal leadership positions, I observed many styles of leadership, including servant-leaders for ASPAs that have multiple projects in multiple stages of development, to facilitator-leaders who encouraged participation and grassroots-style dynamics in the group, to cheerleaders who brought an ASPA to life for the first time, or were revitalizing an ASPA. Even more exciting to me is that while those in the formalized leadership positions were tending to the needs of the group, there were many forms of leadership bubbling up within the ASPAs as well—I witnessed shared leadership and neighborhood governance. And in this I saw the feeling of community (or perhaps neighborhood) that so many attendees report as one of their favorite aspects of the symposium. A place where anyone who wants a role can find one or create one.
And it was not only in the ASPAs where leadership was displayed. Several panel discussions, presentations, and posters highlighted music teacher educators who changed their curricula, transformed the notion of research, and challenged their students and the very notion of what music education is and can be. It was clear to me that the Symposium was not just about music teacher education. It was about developing a neighborhood where voices are encouraged and valued. It was about the opportunity for people, who happen to be music teacher educators, to find a community and support each other to become leaders in the way that is right for each individual.
There have been changes to how some formalized leadership positions are chosen in SMTE, through the recent by-law approvals. For the first time, ASPA facilitators were nominated and widely voted upon. Also, now there are term limits for ASPA facilitators as well as ASPA facilitators-in-training who will help with continuity in the facilitation process. Furthermore, the board is seeking nominations for the division representatives. These changes in identifying and selecting the formal leadership positions are intended to strengthen the sense of community within the organization.
It is important, however, to note that our community was not complete at this Symposium. Due to the need to hold the Symposium in Greensboro, North Carolina, some members could not or chose not to attend. Those voices are important to the SMTE community and necessary for community conversation. The sense of community at the Symposium was powerful but was also poorer for the absences. Moving forward, it is imperative that SMTE continue to make every attempt to avoid structural impediments to participation and, by extension, leadership.
In addition to the myriad leadership and community experiences I witnessed throughout the Symposium, I would be remiss if I do not mention three outstanding events at the opening session. Diana Dansereau and Brent Talbot provided a thoughtful and emotional tribute to the late Susan Conkling that gave even those who did not know her a reflective moment and space for the Society to grieve together. Kenneth Zeichner’s keynote address delivered an opportunity to understand and consider the function of policy and rhetoric in our future. And Rebecca MacLeod shared the work of her young string players in a remarkable performance that displayed outstanding musicianship and joyful music-making.
The effectiveness of our community/leadership appears strong and seems to continue to grow. The organization has the responsibility to provide, as much as possible and is realistic, the support to the participants who actively engage in the various communities (or neighborhoods) so they may experience the feeling of community and the opportunity for leadership. The Society itself relies solely on volunteers to give their time and efforts to sustain and build the work of the Society. It is a Society without dues and with a rather loose definition of membership. All of these factors contribute to the overwhelming feeling of awe that I experience at every Symposium and had the privilege of observing from a unique perspective at the most recent Symposium. Passion, dedication, and generosity in leadership and community make this Society, and the Symposium, meaningful and robust.