Are there core skills that MUST be acquired in order to teach music? Should there be? This week, I welcome Lynn Atkins to discuss the current challenges we face getting young teachers ready to teach music in an era when our current students and recent graduates had a pretty serious interruption in their education. In addition to this, we have debates raging about whether or not music degree recipients should even be required to be proficiently literate in notation. Throw in a rapidly increasing cost of tuition, AND a rapidly increasing pressure on collegiate faculties to recruit and retain tuition paying students, and we may have a boiling pot on our hands.

Tune in as Lynn shares his experience teaching at a college in California. We share thoughts about the need for different types of music ed training programs with different barriers to entry, the right of students to be taught be highly competent teachers, and the aspirational goals of an excellent teacher training program.

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

Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos

A passionate educator and musician, Lynn Gary Atkins, Jr. promotes honoring the world of his musicians in every choral rehearsal. From 2013-2019, he served as the Artistic Director of One Voice Chorus Richmond, who’s mission is to promote racial reconciliation in the City of Richmond through choral music. An 18 year veteran of teaching choir in schools in Virginia and New Jersey, Lynn is in his second year as Assistant Professor of Music, Director of Choral Activities, and Voice Area Coordinator at California State University Dominguez Hills. He is also Director of Music Ministries at Faith United Methodist Church in Torrance, CA; and Artistic Director of LA Bronze Handbell Ensemble.

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