Performances + Events
Teaching Artistry@NEC Workshop Series
Teaching Artistry@NEC Workshops are hosted in person and online throughout the year
These workshops expand on the curricular and experiential learning opportunities in the concentration by inviting experts from a range of fields to present interactive learning opportunities.
Upcoming Workshops
NEC hosts eight workshops per year as part of its Teaching Artistry@NEC Workshop series. These workshops invite experts in their respective fields to present interactive learning opportunities on a variety of topics related to teaching artistry both on campus and in virtual settings. They are open to everyone including those in the NEC community, the broader teaching artistry field, and the general public. All of these workshops are free. Please see the listings below for information on workshop content, clinician bios, and the opportunity to register to attend.
Dr. Molly Gebrian
What Musicians Can Learn About Practicing from Current Brain Research
Tuesday, October 22, 2024 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. – Virtual on Zoom (register to receive link)
This presentation will focus on what neuroscientists have discovered about how our brains learn and how to apply these insights to practicing and teaching so that practicing becomes more efficient and effective, leading to enhanced performance ability, enjoyment, and confidence. Topics include how to get rid of bad habits, how to make things automatic/reliable on stage, the role of sleep in learning, the power of mental practicing, how to use the metronome to the greatest effect, and the benefits of random practice for enhanced performance.
Dr. Molly Gebrian is a professional violist and scholar with a background in cognitive neuroscience. Her area of expertise is applying the research on learning and memory to practicing and performing music. She also investigates the intersections between music and language. As a performer, she prioritizes the works of living composers and those who have traditionally been excluded from the culture of classical music. She holds degrees in both music and neuroscience from Oberlin College and Conservatory, New England Conservatory of Music, and Rice University. Previously, she was the viola professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the University of Arizona. After a decade of teaching viola at the collegiate level, she joined the faculty at New England Conservatory of Music in Fall 2024 to teach courses on the science of practicing.
Boulanger Initiative – Dr. Laura Colgate and Kathryn Radakovich
Where are the Women? Highlighting Women and Gender-Marginalized Composers in the Classroom
Tuesday, November 12, 2024 from 4:30-6:00 p.m. – Brown Hall – New England Conservatory
Culturally Responsive Teaching includes working to diversify content and repertoire taught in the classroom and music settings. Historically, women composers have often not been taught or covered in official curriculum, and therefore have needed their work and voices to be highlighted and included in topics that are overtly taught. Join Dr. Laura Colgate (NEC alum) and Kathryn Radakovich from the Boulanger Initiative for a discussion examining why, in the 21st century, the classical music industry is still not inclusive of music by women. Discover how we got here, what needs to be done, and how you can diversify content and repertoire in the classroom to create a more level playing field for the future of classical music. We will learn more about why Boulanger Initiative developed their composer database, how they go about finding resources and researching composers, and how we explore using more underrepresented music in our classrooms.
Boulanger Initiative advocates for women and all gender-marginalized composers. We foster inclusivity and representation to expand and enrich the collective understanding of what music is, has been, and can be. We promote music composed by women through performance, education, research, consulting, and commissions.
Dr. Laura Colgate currently is Concertmaster of The National Philharmonic at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD, and was formerly the concertmaster of Greenville Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina and the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. She frequently performs as a substitute with several major orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and is a member of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in her hometown, Memphis, TN. She completed her Doctorate from the University of Maryland (UMD) School of Music, focusing her thesis on Women Composers. Laura is passionate about being an innovator in the world of classical music, and in March 2018 co-founded the Boulanger Initiative, an advocacy organization for women composers based in D.C., for which she holds the position of Executive and Artistic Director. The Initiative champions the works of women composers through consulting, performance, education, and commissions, and launched its performance series with the Women Composers (WoCo) Festival in Washington, D.C.
Kathryn Radakovich enjoys a varied career performing works from the modern, classical, baroque, and jazz idioms. She can be found singing with the nation’s top vocal ensembles including; Grammy and Pulitzer winning Roomful of Teeth, Lorelei Ensemble, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and Opera Philadelphia Chorus, Oregon Bach Festival Berwick Chorus, and the Philadelphia-based vocal sextet Variant 6. Equally passionate about music education, Kathryn has nearly two decades of experience teaching classical and jazz voice with students of all ages and experience levels, from grade school (The Philadelphia School) through high school (East High School), to university (Metropolitan State University), and beyond. Whether teaching one-on-one lessons, directing an a cappella vocal ensemble, leading an early music ensemble, or leading masterclasses, Kathryn takes a varied, adaptable, and enthusiastic approach to working with students of music and is also passionate about creating equal access for everyone.
Vanessa Trien and Phil Berman
Welcome to the Music Circle: An Insiders’ Guide to Music Teaching for Early Childhood
Wednesday, December 4 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. – SB231 – New England Conservatory
Are you a musician or music educator interested in a hands-on workshop to learn and practice creative music teaching techniques to engage infants, toddlers, preschoolers and early elementary students? Would you like to learn more about how music learning in early childhood fosters foundational musical skills and benefits the “whole child,” including children’s cognitive, social-emotional and motor development? Are you curious to learn more about the field of music teaching for early childhood, or develop your skills if you already teach this age? Join us for a lively, engaging session, combining research on music learning and children’s developmental stages of play with interactive modeling of practical teaching techniques.
Vanessa Trien (M.Ed, Harvard Graduate School of Education) is an award-winning children’s singer/songwriter, recording and touring artist, and dedicated, long-time early childhood music educator. As both a teacher and performer, Vanessa is passionate about creating and sharing joyful, interactive and educational music experiences with children and families.
Beginning in 2023, Vanessa joined New England Conservatory’s Expanded Education department as their Director of Early Childhood Education. Synthesizing her years of teaching, curriculum design and teacher training experience, Vanessa is working in partnership with the City of Boston to develop and implement NEC’s pilot early childhood music program at six ABCD Head Start and Ellis Early Learning centers in the South End, Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with NEC to expand early childhood music opportunities to Boston’s youngest learners.
From 2005 to 2020, Vanessa taught caregiver-child group music and movement classes for children ages 0-5, including ten years of the national program, Music Together. From 2011 to 2023, Vanessa taught early childhood music in the classroom with Arts for Learning’s Expanding Horizons Through Music Program, Brookline Early Education Program and Cambridge’s Martin Luther King Jr. Preschool. Each program Vanessa has taught employs age-appropriate music learning activities to spark curiosity and the joy of music in young children, encourage social emotional learning (SEL) opportunities, and inspire children to become engaged music makers. To learn more about Vanessa, visit www.vanessatrien.com
Phil Berman is a life-long musician and passionate early childhood educator who believes access to playful and joyful music-making can be a transformational experience for children, families, and communities. He joined New England Conservatory’s Early Childhood Music Program as a teaching artist in 2023 and is now working as lead faculty and Program Coordinator for the program. While teaching, Phil also trains other early childhood teaching artists and mentors Teaching Fellows in NEC’s Teaching Artistry Program.
In 2012, Phil co-created the Brookline Puppet Showplace Theater’s “Puppet Playtime” series. In 2014, he joined Rock and Roll Daycare as Music Director and ran their immersive music program for seven years. During that time, Phil co-founded Fiddlefox music, collecting, translating, adapting, and publishing 37 collections of children’s songs and folk tales from around the world. Phil has taught early childhood music at numerous Boston-area organizations and early childhood centers and serves as head of music and cultural education at Zibi Consulting Group in Cambridge, MA, providing early childhood centers with professional development and curriculum support. He has studied a wide range of musical pedagogies including Dalcroze Eurhythmics at Longy School of Music, Orff Schulwerk at George Mason University, and Music Learning Theory through the Gordon Institute of Music Learning. Phil holds a BFA in Theater Arts from Boston University.
Phil frequently performs his original music around the Boston area with his Americana vaudeville band, Phil and the Flying Leap. To learn more about Phil, visit www.philandtheflyingleap.com and www.philberman.net
Krissy Skare
Working with Adult Learners and Trust-Building in a Teaching Artistry Practice
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 from 7:00-8:30 p.m. – Burnes Hall – New England Conservatory
Krissy Skare is multi-talented singer, music educator, and community choir leader. In addition to her role as the Choral Director at the Rivers School in Weston, MA, she is a co-founder of Neighborhood Rocks, a Boston-based intergenerational community choir. She also maintains an active teaching and performing schedule in Boston’s Latvian-American community.
One of the most common ways of practicing teaching artistry is working with adult learners in a variety of settings. Given the rise of fields like creative aging, there are many opportunities available for working with adults and seniors. In this workshop, we will discuss some of the primary considerations to keep in mind that support a successful teaching artist practice when working with adults including, leadership and soft skills, trust-building, and a compassionate teaching lens.
Dave Cordes
From Performance Degree to Classroom Teaching: Career Conversation
Thursday, March 13, 2025 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. – Virtual on Zoom (register to receive link)
Are you interested in working in classrooms as a teaching artist, but worry about needing to earn a Music Education degree? Would you like to learn more about the credential process? Have you ever wondered what skills you are developing in your performance training could translate well to the school classroom? Join NEC alum Dave Cordes for a conversation detailing his journey from NEC to the school classroom, including looking for work opportunities, how to get your teaching license, the mindset shift to teaching as a full time career, and finding creative fulfillment.
Dave Cordes, bassist and multi-instrumentalist, is a music educator with expertise as an early-childhood teaching specialist. His fascination with learning, teaching, and improvisation have led him to develop curricula and a range of creative workshops for all ages. Dave designs and leads high quality and developmentally- appropriate ensemble music experiences for students in both general music and string orchestra settings that emphasize teamwork, cooperation, and artistic growth.
Since 2022, he has served as Music Department Chair at the Park School in Brookline, MA, an independent Pre-K – 8 school. At Park, Dave also teaches early-childhood general music and upper elementary String ensembles. He also recently served as curriculum designer and lead teaching artist for the Music Inclusion Program at the Henderson Inclusion School in Dorchester, MA, whose mission is to create an accessible orchestral learning environment for all participants regardless of ability. As Early Childhood Music Director of the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Boston, he led a team of 6 music teachers to forge a nationally-acclaimed program that drew representatives from schools around the country to observe and learn from his curriculum and classroom practices.
Dave has developed curricula and taught as double bass faculty at institutions including New England Conservatory Preparatory Division, Bridge Boston Charter School, Somerville El Sistema, as well as early childhood music for Young Audiences of Massachusetts. He has led teacher-training workshops for educators at the Cantata Singers, MusiConnects, MyCincinnatti and the Eliot School of Fine and Applied Arts. He maintains a private studio teaching bass, guitar, ukulele and improvisation.
A Level III-certified Kodaly instructor, Suzuki-trained bass teacher with a K-12 music-teaching license from the State of Massachusetts, Dave also holds music degrees from Wesleyan University and the New England Conservatory.
Laura Sinclair
Designing a Stress-Free Studio: Creating a Performer/Teacher Life of Balance
Tuesday, March 25, 2025 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. – Virtual on Zoom (register to receive link)
Establishing a teaching studio can be daunting to any musician, particularly if you have the desire to balance teaching with a performance career. This workshop explores common pitfalls of studio development, studio structure, best policies, and how to build community. If you are interested in creating your own private studio now or in the future, this workshop will provide resources and action steps you can implement to increase your income, enjoy your teaching, and still have time to practice!
Laura Sinclair is an active performer, Suzuki teacher, and coach. She can be found on the concert stage with ensembles like the Naples Philharmonic, and Atlantic Classical Orchestra, in the pit with Hamilton and other National Broadway tours, and at private events with Elan Artists. A 20-year veteran studio owner, Laura is a former Title I public school strings director. She is presently the music curriculum director for the Volta Music Foundation, providing educational training and support to their teachers and developing a diverse repertoire sequence. Laura is passionate about helping other teachers develop smart business practices and enjoy teaching to the fullest. She does this through her bespoke coaching program “Stress-Free Studio” and in talks she has given around the country. You can hear her on the Tales from the Lane podcast with Kate Kayaian, Time to Practice with Christine Goodner, and Tech Conversations at FIU’s Ratcliffe Art + Design Incubator with guest host Neil Ramsey. Laura firmly believes that music can be a powerful tool for breaking down barriers and building good citizens of the world through the next generation.
Learn more at https://linktr.ee/lauraksinclair
NEC Alumni
Teaching Artistry Careers: NEC Alumni Panel Discussion
Wednesday, April 16 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. – In Person and Virtual on Zoom (register to receive link)
Registration details forthcoming
This workshop will feature NEC alumni discussing their varied careers with teaching artistry after graduation. The conversation will be focused on balancing teaching and performing, the role teaching artistry plays in a holistic career, tips for seeking opportunities post-graduation, and the best ways to prepare for a teaching artistry career while still a student!
