CONNECTION: It’s a word that took on new meaning in this past year, requiring creativity, resilience, and many new skills. It’s why we have dedicated the 2021-22 catalog to honor and celebrate the extraordinary measures all of you took to connect with your students, families, professional organizations, and the music-making community this past year! We thank our many teacher friends who sent us photos illustrating just a few of the incredible connections you all made, despite the many challenges.
Just as you discovered new opportunities in 2020, we did the same. We are proud to share Music ConstructED, a collaborative online community created by music teachers for music teachers. Discover lesson inspirations, articles on music education, a networking forum, and professional development opportunities. Materials are dynamic, responsive, and relevant to today’s general music teacher and created by leading educators from around the globe. We invite you to learn more at www.MusicConstructED.com and look for Music ConstructED articles and resources throughout the West Music Catalog.
Of course, in addition to resources and stories, find thousands of products carefully selected by our team to bring you and your students success. Look for familiar products and new discoveries. And, throughout the pages look for our informative badges and tips from our experts to help you find your next “must-have.”
We completed this year’s edition with hope and gratitude and are excited to combine new-found virtual connections with the return of our cherished face-to- face events. We may not know exactly what the new year will look like, but we do know this: we will continue to connect and discover new ways to, Play now. Play for life.
Melissa Blum is our Senior Vice President. She has over 25 years of teaching experience at the pre-K, elementary, middle school, and adult levels. Melissa has been on the World Music Drumming Faculty since 2009, creating and teaching the Drumming Up the Fun! summer workshop for teachers of children ages 3-8.
Melissa regularly presents sessions at state and regional conferences as well as professional development days for elementary music teachers. She has facilitated World Music Drumming ensembles as a team-building exercise at a variety of corporate and community events for children and adults.
