Baptism By Choir

Amy talks about three different types of "covid-safe" activities on this live "minisode!" 1. Activities that can be done socially distanced. 2. Activities that don't involve singing. 3. Activities that can be done at a distance via an online platform (most of these can be done socially distanced in your classroom as well!) Please feel free to reach out via our instragram @baptismbychoir for more clarification about any of these activities! 

Enjoy Part II of our interview episode, as we address questions that you could possibly be asked in an interview (and what the correct (????) answers are). If you have more questions about interviews, or life in general, you can DM us on Instagram @baptismbychoir. In this episode, we failed to always use the correct terminology for Soprano/Alto and Tenor/Bass Choirs. We would like to state that we love and support our students who fall everywhere along the gender spectrum, and we are actively unlearning our learned experiences of our binary choir pasts. 

How do you know if it's the right time to leave your job and move to another school? Join us as we discuss our experience with talking to principals, moving schools, and staying professional. These questions were brought to us from followers on Instagram! Give us a follow @baptismbychoir ! 

Join us (literally US, we recorded this episode together in the same room!) as we discuss the intimidating subject of interviews. This is great for recent graduates, or for a person who may be considering changing jobs and needs a refresher. We also throw in countless little teaching tips that we hope are helpful for everyone! 

This episode is all about TRAVELING! Taking your choir on a tour may seem intimidating, so we give some tips about how to approach a big trip with your groups. 

In this episode, we discuss the different options a choral music educator has for pursuing a graduate degree. We also interview Griffin Maxwell. Griffin is a recent graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a Master's  in Music Education in the Kodály Concept. His teaching experience includes the development of a family music class, elementary music programs in public schools, musicianship classes, and teacher-instruction through the Kodály Institute at the University of Oklahoma. He is currently performing and teaching in the Boston area. You can find him on instagram at @music.maxwell and his website griffinmaxwell.com which is uber fancy.

Join us as we discuss what we wish we had done the summer before our first year of teaching. We will also chat about what we are doing this summer (2020 - COVID-19 Summer), and ways to keep your fire lit when you are out of the classroom. 

This minisode “Spark Notes” Chapter 1 contains Amy’s reflections and reactions to Nyssa Brown’s Zoom webinar “What Will Music Class Look Like- Fall 2020 and Beyond?” Amy summarizes her main takeaways and gives some ideas on how this could be applied to the choral classroom. Watch the replay here! http://musicedforward.com/webinars/fall2020

Join Amy as she interviews Jo Beth about grad school life, teaching, and being a psycho sixteen-year-old girl. Jo Beth Wasicek is currently pursuing an MM in Choral Conducting at the University of Washington. She attended Oklahoma State University where she received her Bachelor of Education in Vocal Music, and performed with the Chamber Choir and Concert Chorale under the direction of Dr. Z Randall Stroope. Upon graduation from OSU, Jo Beth began her first job as the head choir director at Carroll Middle School in Southlake, TX where she taught 5th-8th grade choir. While living in Dallas she performed with the Dallas Symphony Chorus under the direction of Joshua Habermann, and she has also sung with the Houston Symphony Chorus under the direction of Betsy Cook Weber. Most recently, she served as the assistant choral director at James E. Taylor High School in Katy, TX where she conducted the women’s choirs and taught AP Music Theory. She is currently the director of Intermezzo for the Seattle Children's Chorus, and teaches the Poco a Poco preschool class. Jo Beth is an avid hiker, reader, and enjoys long walks with her dachshund, Minnie.

Join me (Jo Beth) in our pilot episode as I interview my Baptism by Choir co-host, Oklahoma choir teacher Amy Pitts Knous. Mrs. Knous holds a Master of Music Education with an emphasis in choral conducting from Texas Tech University, a magna cum laude undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University in Vocal Music Education, and Kodaly levels one and two from the University of Oklahoma. Amy has taught for 7 years, with experience teaching 6th- 12th grade choirs, AP Music Theory, and music appreciation.