This week, I connect with yet another instrumental music educator! Don’t worry, I will be fine… It was a great pleasure to speak with Dr. Angela Ammerman about many music education topics including some “controversial truths” that I found on her Instagram account, “The Music Teachers Guide.” We discussed the idea that the best music teacher doesn’t necessarily need to be the best musician. Often times, we should be trying to facilitate our students’ skill surpassing our own. We also discussed the contradiction in arts education communities that on hand presents itself as liberal and supporting of freedom of expression, while on the other displaying a culture of conformity and intolerance toward diverse ideas and viewpoints. Angela shares her experience as tenure track professor who left Academia to be a “stay at home mom,” as well as a clinician, consultant and host of the #MusicEdLove Podcast. Tune in and as always, chime in with your thoughts on Facebook, Patreon or Substack.

For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!

Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos

Recognized by Fairfax County Public Schools as a Top Teacher in 2017 and the Virginia House of Delegates in 2016 for her dedication to instilling a life-long passion for music in all of her students, Angela Ammerman diligently works to now pass along these teaching and mentorship qualities to her own Music Education students.  In 2016, Dr. Ammerman was named the Virginia Orchestra Director of the Year, a finalist for the Fairfax County Public Schools’ Teacher of the Year and Washington Post Teacher of the Year. Dr. Ammerman recently completed a chapter for the book: Rehearsing the Middle School Orchestra edited by Sandy Goldie and is hard at work on a workbook for breaking language barriers in the music classroom. 

Ammerman is a passionate and dedicated music education professor and music educator, and is published in the String Research Journal, the American String Teachers Journal and Teaching Music. Dr. Ammerman is in high demand as a guest conductor, speaker, and clinician for sessions and workshops at local, state, national, and international conferences and in-services. Currently living in Virginia with her husband and newborn son, Dr. Ammerman works at George Mason University where she supervises student teachers, teaches Lab Orchestra and Aural Skills. Ammerman is known for an emphasis on play-based learning, humor, a unique style, and for the creation of the first ever Future Music Educators Camp as well as her Music Education Podcast: #MusicEdLove.

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