Going to a convention?

MANY a teacher who's returned from a convention has been heard to say, "Conventions are all pretty much alike--nothing new this year." A statement like that is usually the sign of a poorly planned trip on the teacher's part. Any convention, with its displays, meetings, conferences and concerts, is like a bewildering display of fancy foods to a man on a cafeteria line; indiscriminate choice or wholesale gluttony may have some undesirable after effects. The needs of the teacher must be considered before a wise choice of items can be made.

Before he leaves, the teacher should make a pre-convention plan by asking himself these questions: (1) What do I need in the way of materials, literature, ideas, or techniques that I might find at the convention? (2) What are the needs of my school, department or room? (3) What might I be able to bring back to my students or my fellow teachers?

Ideally, the teacher will have been keeping a list of the items he will want to look for. Most teachers do have just such a list in their heads but often the press of convention business leaves them with the feeling that something has been overlooked and the wanted item is only recalled on the way home.

Finally the day arrives. Furnished with a definite purpose, the teacher begins making his rounds. Here, a number of procedures will help:

(1) A notebook is an essential item. In it will go names, publishers, ideas, addresses. If you come across a book you want to remember take an extra 45 seconds and write out a full description of it including the title, author, date of publication, number of pages, size of the page, number of illustrations, whether it is suitable for grades, high school, college, etc. Many a teacher has later on looked up his convention notebook to find out more about a book he saw there only to come upon some such description as, "Roads to Voc Ex--good." No way to order, no sure memory of what made the book good, what it might cost, where to find it.

(2) Free literature will come your way in vast quantities. Don't discard it--save it. If you can't use the catalogue or the price list, perhaps another teacher back home can. If you teach in a college or university, pass on these items to a student who will be teaching next year. Beginning teachers need all of this type of material they can get. Many firms represented at the convention will be happy to send a catalogue of their merchandise to each member of a class you may be teaching on the college level if they feel the material will be put to good use. Even in the high school or grades, such material can be used.

(3) Along with their materials on display, many firms offer another source of information, their salesmen. These people have had wide experience and have seen much more of the total picture of music education in America than the average teacher who stays in one locality most of the time. Talk to them and get their reactions to your ideas. They will be able to give you very sound advice.

In this connection, you can give the manufacturers and publishers your own ideas about their products as well as getting their help. Exhibitors use the convention as a sounding-board to see how teachers like their products. Help them with your advice.

A second convention feature is the schedule of lectures, conferences, concerts and demonstrations. Here the teacher with the planned program of "needs" can again choose wisely and to the point from the many offerings. Some convention tips:

(1) Hear all the music you possibly can. Standards which you may have gradually lowered at home because you were out of touch with what others were doing will be revised. You can get pointers for your own groups and take back ideas of the music you hear for future trial.

(2) Talk to as many of your fellow convention goers as you can. A self-introduction mentioning name and school will serve the purpose and in minutes you can have a picture of how someone else is solving a problem you have back home.

(3) Try to attend one meeting on some phase of music you know very little about. If you are a college teacher, try a group that's discussing grade school music; if a vocalist, sit in on the brass seminar. A wider view of the field is likely to give you a better perspective of your own subdivision.

(4) Finally, look at the city you're staying in. You may be passing landmarks of considerable interest on your way from hotel to convention hall. A guidebook will help here.

Now you are back home. While things are still fresh in your mind, examine the materials you've brought back. You will probably find things you had overlooked in the rush. Now is the time to give some of your materials to those who will profit by them. If you stow them away in a drawer, they may only come to light the next year. Follow up some of the contacts you made with friendly letters.

If you can, present a report on your trip to your faculty or staff. This will help them and you both by clarifying your own experiences.

Once you have planned a convention trip around your needs, you will never again say, "These conventions are all alike."

Reprinted with permission from January-February 1952 Educational Music Magazine.

Leon Karel is Assocate Professor in Music, State Teachers College, Kirksville, Missouri.