Making Music More Accessible Through Modern Band

Key Highlights

• Erin Stewart completed LVC’s Modern Band Certificate as part of her Master of Education degree and takes a student-centered approach to her teaching career in the Hempfield School District.
• Stewart easily fit Modern Band’s accelerated, online coursework into her full-time job and attended the two-week residency over summer break.

Twenty years into her music education career, Erin Stewart ’02 remains committed to finding new ways to reach her students and ensure that every young person who loves music can find a place to belong.

Stewart, a Music Teacher in the Hempfield School District in Lancaster, recently turned to Lebanon Valley College’s Modern Band Certificate program to expand her teaching approach and create new opportunities for students who may not see themselves in traditional school music programs.

“I have a new outlook on what my role is as a teacher, and I fully intend to make my curriculum more student-centered,” said Stewart. “I saw so many students who loved music but were not a part of anything musical in school. I wanted to help those students find a place in their school.”

Stewart, who earned bachelor’s degrees in Music and Music Education, returned to her alma mater to pursue a Master of Education degree. As part of her graduate program, Stewart recently completed LVC’s Modern Band Certificate that emphasizes performance, composition, and improvisation while teaching educators how to incorporate popular music and modern band instruments into their existing classrooms. Designed with working teachers in mind, the 12-credit certificate is offered primarily online in accelerated seven-week terms and concludes with a two-week, in-person summer residency where students put their lessons learned into practice through performance and teaching.

“I found myself easily able to do my coursework while I was teaching,” said Stewart. “Not only was the mostly online format easy to schedule, but it was also fun to learn! Any on-campus learning took place during the summer and as a teacher, that was convenient.”

The Modern Band lessons shifted the way Stewart thinks about who music education can serve and how students can discover their own musical abilities. By incorporating opportunities for students to perform, create, improvise, and engage with music that feels familiar to them, Stewart is helping students move beyond traditional ideas of what it means to be a musician.

“At first, some of my students are apprehensive because they have a certain perception of what a ‘musician’ is and they think they have to read traditional music,” said Stewart. “However, once they realize that Modern Band music making is more about making the music than reading the music, they are put at ease and become excited.”

For Stewart, one of the program’s greatest strengths was its ability to meet educators where they are while helping them grow. With small classes and individualized attention, the program is accessible even to teachers with little or no previous experience playing modern band instruments. Stewart said the experience helped her grow musically, rethink her approach to teaching, and, most importantly, develop new ways to reach students who may otherwise feel disconnected from school music programs.

“It makes my heart so happy when I see students find a place in the music world,” said Stewart. “Some of my former students have gone on to become part of the music industry; some have even become music teachers themselves, and when that happens, I am so pleased. But, when a student who hadn’t previously expressed interest in music leaves my room and wants to learn more? That is when I know I’ve done my job and helped change that child’s life.”