I can't believe it! I just graduated with my Bachelor's degree in Music Performance from Western Carolina University. I could not have done it without the amazing support of the people in and around the School of Music.

Caroline Long took these amazing graduation pictures of me around WCU's campus.

 I wrote individual notes to most of these people with more heartfelt things than what I'm going to say here. But I want to thank these wonderful humans again.

Dr. Adam Groh
For always supporting my dreams, even if it meant running you over occasionally as I ran around from project to project. For introducing me to the wonderfully diverse community that surrounds us. For listening to me play glockenspiel for a year without too many complaints. For encouraging me in my adventure of finding the perfect school to pursue my Masters. And for so much more.

Dr. Diana Loomer
For introducing me to the world of Steel Pan, an essential for my Masters studies. For introducing me to the possibilities of Melodic Timpani playing - an instrument I refused to play until you opened my eyes to the possibilities. For telling me about the Womxn in Percussion facebook group that has changed my perception of what kind of percussionists can be and will be successful. And so much more.

Dr. Christina Reitz
For teaching me that Music History is not just Cis-White men but is actually beautifully diverse from race to sexuality to gender identity to all kinds of different things. For helping me get a job as a student tutor and allowing me to ramble for hours to your glassy-eyed non-major students about protest music/minimalism/and so many other topics they could care less about. For encouraging my brief fling with composing. And so much more.

​All other faculty throughout my four years in Cullowhee that have changed my life.

The Studio
Most importantly thank you to the percussion studio that I have had the pleasure to get to know for four years. Countless people have come and gone, each leaving an impact on me and my career.

The womxn
To the six womxn and female-presenting individuals who were in the studio during this past year. You all are powerful. You all are beautiful. You defy the stereotype of who can be a successful percussionist every day. I could not be more proud or thankful to be fighting the patriarchy alongside a better group of humans.

I not only will be presenting my research on the Electronic Music of Steve Reich at NCUR in a few weeks, but I also recorded two presentations for Western Carolina University's Research and Scholarship Conference (RASC). This is a virtual conference where presenters can discuss any topic they wish to. I wanted the opportunity to research something that I had looked at briefly last semester: The Shining and the two powerful women behind its score. I did a deep dive into the lives of Carlos and Elkind-Tourre and their work with Kubrick on the movie. I ended up with a lot of information that got distilled into a 5 minute video.

Here is a link to WCU's website if you want to view the presentations by other researchers: https://affiliate.wcu.edu/rasc/

I highly recommend checking out Kendall Rhymer's research on Bata Drumming!!

I also had the wonderful opportunity to fill in for Dr. Christina Reitz while she was presenting at a conference. While she was away, I taught a section of each of her Music in the American Culture classes during their protest unit. We discussed Bob Dylan, We Shall Overcome and the Civil Rights Movement, Childish Gambino's This is America, Michael Gould's A World Without Ice and a piece that I put together for a scholarship.

Both classes had wonderful insight into what they would protest, why they believe that people protest, and what it means to be human. I'll be sure to include some of the ideas from this discussion when I make a video about this or when I share the slides.

I am happy to announce that I have been chosen to present my research from last semester on the Electronic Music of Steve Reich at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research 2021. This year the conference will be virtual and I can't think of a more appropriate place to be presenting Reich's electronic music!

Here is a link to my essay and the powerpoint presentation that I used to present last semester. If anyone has any questions or wants to talk about my research I am more than happy to chat!

(The paper can be found at the bottom of the Squires tab of my website under research and compositions).

Things get kind of crazy for anyone involved in the music education system around this time of year. That’s right, it’s audition season. And with audition comes anxiety, questions about your ability, and a hundred other things.­­  Not to mention the fact that every audition has its own rule and regulations that you have to follow. Whether auditioning for a band or for college there is a lot that goes into it, but I have some tips, tricks, and thoughts regarding the audition process.
 
I believe that I present myself as a better musician when the audition is face to face (rather than a blind audition).  I guess this stems from the fact that with a face-to-face audition there is a human connection. In other words, I can see the people who hold my fate in their hands. There is also this idea in the back of my mind that if the judge, or person I am auditioning for, will see that I look professional and will automatically think higher of me than if I came in in sweat pants and a tee. There’s also the fact that I was raised in a household where you dressed professionally for something important such as auditions.  For most everyone else that I talk to blind auditions are easier. Some people say they are easier because you can’t see the judge and their involuntary reactions to what you are doing and the fact that you are “by yourself, almost as if your are just practicing”. The one thing that I think is great about a blind audition is the fact that the judge doesn’t know who you are – they have no pre-existing biases before they hear you. You enter into an even playing field.

​​Just like anyone else who is auditioning, I have a routine that I go through as I prepare for the big audition.  Leading up to any audition I try to put in a couple hours of practice. I practice and practice until I know the piece inside and out. This is what everyone tells you to do and it is the best strategy you can used to be prepared for an audition. The morning of the audition comes and I become nervous, so nervous that I won’t eat anything for breakfast without feeling sick. I put all these emotions aside and force myself through the motions that I have done at least once a year since 7th grade. I dress professionally. I put on nice earrings, my favorite necklace, and a comfortable shoes that give me a little bit of a height boost.  After this I would take deep breaths and try to make myself eat, knowing nothing would be more embarrassing than my stomach growling in the middle of an audition. From there I would make sure I have all the right equipment and music. If there is a practice room nearby I will run through something that I’m nervous about (usually scales and rudiments). 

​Once I’m outside the room waiting to audition I begin freaking out and shaking with nerves. To help combat this I force myself to do something that makes me nervous every day, because I know how to combat those nerves. I talk to the other people who are auditioning. I’ve made a lot of friends, at least friends for a few minutes, because I put myself in uncomfortable positions. I remember cracking jokes, that I am sure were not funny except for the fact that we were all nervous. I remember when I auditioned here at Western Carolina University I met someone that I would grow close to. Of course I didn’t know that at the time but one of the girls in the percussion studio and I bonded that day over someone I had met a few years before in passing. Now that girl and I are close friends. 

​I arrive at the room early and wait outside ready to go in and give the best that I can give. Sometimes the judges are running faster than the schedule says, sometimes someone misses their time, and sometimes the judges are running behind. I know that I know the music. I have attempted to cure my nerves. I’m ready. And then I enter the room and who knows how I actually do. I come out of the room feeling as if I’m the worst musician to ever set foot on planet earth – every single time. When I feel confident that I did well, I begin to worry, and return to thinking I’m a terrible musician. But I have come to learn that playing well is not the only thing that matters. I came into my college audition with all my music learned, my major scales, rudiments, and with the ability to sight-read. That’s all fantastic. But I also came in with some other things that I am proud to say I had. I had an amazing, tear-jerking recommendation letter. I had a thank you card thanking the Director of Percussion Studies for allowing me to take time out of his day. But the most important thing that I had was the ability to tell my judges that I was self-taught and hard working. Even if I had had an instructor or someone to teach me and prepare me for what learning actual music was I would still be able to tell the Director that I was (and still am) hardworking. I’m not afraid to “get down and dirty” – to lock myself in a practice room until I’m satisfied with my ability. From there I can only hope that the judges see the effort I have put in toward my goal.

​​The last thing I want to talk about is the actual judging. This year (2019) I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity that most music major college seniors want to get. I was given the opportunity to judge. I was given the opportunity to experience the opposite side of the event that I had participated in for more than five years. Every year the Western region of North Carolina hosts an All District Band Audition. The highest scoring students who audition are given the opportunity to participate in a band here on Western’s campus and play with some of the best musicians/clinicians from the area. Before college I had auditioned on Snare, Timpani, and Mallets every year (except for one) since my 7th grade band class. I was fortunate enough to make the band in 8th and 12th grade. My senior year I did well enough and scored high enough to be able to audition for All State. All State is where every student from across the state gets to compete to make a state band. I didn’t make the state band but it was a great experience. So when I went off to college I figured my chances of ever being near All District auditions were over. They were, until I got a phone call asking me to judge.
 
Life’s ironic, so I was placed as a judge in the 11-12 Upper High School Snare audition room. Of course this was the room I felt the least comfortable judging in. But it’s good to stretch your abilities so I was ready for the challenge. And I enjoyed the challenge that was presented to me. This year the way people auditioned was changed. When I auditioned on snare you had to play an etude, sight read, and play four different rudiments that the judges pre-assigned. This year the students had to play a snare etude, sight read, and play a snare/triangle etude. This was an amazing change because when you show up on Western’s campus that first day for the clinic, if you make the band, odds are you will play snare on one piece and some accessory instrument on all the other pieces, so that everyone has a chance on snare.

​Having been on the other side of the auditions I had sympathy for the kids who came in shaking or the kid who ran in panting because they had just come from another audition across the high school’s campus. I also had standards. Some kids came in looking cocky and gave my fellow judge and I attitude. Others came in and were polite. Some came in prepared with their own music marked up and their own instruments. Others were not allowed into the audition room until they found a triangle and beater to borrow. 

​All that to say that the judges are human as are those who are auditioning. Judges have to set aside biases, friendships, professional relationships, as well as anything from their personal lives in order to just judges someone’s musicality and ability.  We set aside everything that could possibly get in the way of us judging you accurately and fairly because we wish every single one of you could make the band, get into the school, and be successful. We want you to succeed.
 
It was interesting being on that side of the table, and I can’t wait to do it again. I also can’t wait to take what I learned from all my auditions and teach my future students.

In schools today, the average student has to take a bubble test in almost every subject that is taught. Math, Science, History, and Math all have End of Grade/Course exams. At least that is how testing started. Prior to the 1980’s the government was hands off. In 1983 a publication was released called A Nation at Risk saying that the United States was falling behind the rest of the world in how it was educating its students. This prompted President Reagan to start the National Commission on Excellence in Education. From here Bush Sr, Clinton, Bush Jr, and Obama have presented their own plans on education. But it wasn’t until 2002 and the No Child Left Behind Act was passed that testing turned into a mandatory thing in every school in almost every subject.
 
I remember the day were I entered Third grade and was told that we would be having a cumulative exam on everything we had covered over the course of the year in English and Math. As a kid who struggled with math and thrived in English, I had mixed emotions. That was the beginning. As a child under No Child Left Behind, slowly the testing moved from just being two courses that were tested to every class being tested. Even classes where the subject material is subjective, such as Music, Art, and PE were tested.

This is important in my own future classroom because I want my students to learn and dive deeper into their studies rather than just memorize something for the test. The nice thing about teaching music is that I don't have to test as often, and I get to create my own test, as my fellow educators, but I still have to test my students. The unfortunate thing about testing in music is that it is all subjective - there is very little that is set in stone, instead its other people's opinions.

For more on the subject of testing students:
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http://neatoday.org/2018/01/04/educators-strike-big-blow-to-the-overuse-of-standardized-testing/
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/study-says-standardized-testing-is-overwhelming-nations-public-schools/2015/10/24/8a22092c-79ae-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.59514e059b52
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Red4EdNC is a movement started for teachers by teachers in our state. Teachers have created a movement to shape future legislation and future classrooms in order to better education future generations by fighting for their owns rights to be protected in the process of seeking a better education system.
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As of July, 2018 the Red4EdNC advisory Board and Board of Directors have released a Declaration in defense of North Carolina’s Schoolchildren in order to bring to light what teachers have to go through and how it affects the children they teach.
 
“Over the course of seven years a hostility to the premise, the constitutional promise, and the provision of a high-quality public education for all, a decent respect to the citizens of that state requires a comprehensive list of the injustices that supermajority has inflicted upon its children and its teacher corps, as well as coherent vision for restoring that state to its former prominence as a leader in public education.”
 
 In other words teachers have decided that the State has no upheld its promises to the students to provide high-quality education for all while having respect for those teaching. This is from the introduction to the Declaration. The first paragraph ends with something profound:
 
“We take as our standard, North Carolina’s proud motto: ‘Esse quam videri —To be rather than to seem.’”
 
To be rather than to seem, meaning that teachers want to state to not just look good statistically or be praised for its education system, but they want the praise and statistics to be backed by fact. They want their education system to mean something not just look like its doing okay.

Public Schools have been around in one form or another since the settlers first came to America. In the beginning education came from the churches and private tutors. If your parent was rich, mainly plantation owners, you could be sent to England to be educated. If you could not go to a church run school or pay to be educated then you remained uneducated until the State’s Constitution was adopted in 1776. The State was now required to provide education (which people still had to pay for). By 1800 around 40 academies had been created for white males in NC.
           
In 1817, Archibald Murphey began a campaign for a State funded public education system. His campaigns lead the state to pay one-third of the expenses for 10 academies. Through his campaign, the State established a Literary Fund. This later became part of the State Board of Education, which passed The Education Act of 1839. The Act established the idea of financial support coming from both State and local funds. Progress was slow at first but by 1852 Calvin Wiley was appointed Superintendent of Common Schools and the State rose to the top in terms of school system by the time the Civil War broke out.
 
Fast forward to after the War and the Constitution of 1868. With the State in turmoil after the War, North Carolina adopted a new state constitution. This new constitution had a strong view on public education – a free public school from age six to twenty-one. It also allowed the Superintendent of Public Instruction to be elected by the people for a four-year term. As well as a four month (at least) school year, an education fund, and a State Board of Education. This went into effect in 1869.
 
With the election of Charles B Aycock into the position of Governor in the early years of the 20th century, an educational renaissance occurred. High schools were built in rural areas, funding was rethought and more money was out in place for schools, and the Compulsory Attendance Act was passed meaning kids had to attend school during at least four months of the year from age 8-12. Everything was progressing nicely until the Great Depression hit and schools were forced to close for lack of funds.
 
As the US entered the 1940’s, NC saw improvements in the schools. So much improvement that the 12th grade was added to high school and the school year was extended from 6 to 8 months. And with the Civil Rights movement came integration and better schooling/support for all students. Improvements to the education system continued through the 1970’s and into the end of the 20th century. With the start of a new century came new Presidents – each with their own plan as to what should be done with the education system across the nation.
 
In the late 90’s and early 2000’s North Carolina set standards as to what should be taught across the State. They started making progress and bettering the education system by adding funding and creating Boards to direct how the education system was run. Then in 2008 the Economic Recession hit the nation, impacting education the most (in my opinion). Thus began the problems that Red4Ed is attempting to address.

In the Declaration that Red4EdNC presented they list some of the issues that the education system has. Below are just a few from that list:

1. Failure to restore public education funding to the level it was at before the recession in 2008.
2. Slashed textbook funding has lead students to have to go without text books
3. Created a culture of fear and anxiety in terms of assessments
4. Shifted millions of dollars from public schools to private schools and charter schools
5. Taken steps to de-professionalize the teaching profession in NC

​I present all this information to show that the North Carolina Education System has seen its share of setbacks, but it has always risen back to a higher standing. So why are we dismissing teachers demands for a better education system? If we can fix our education system every time that it has faced a setback, why can’t we fix it now?

​https://www.red4ednc.com/
For more information and other teachers thoughts click here.

Here is the link to listen to the podcast and some links to read further into it desegregation and its impact on school systems:
https://hw3.thisamericanlife.org/sites/default/files/styles/landscape/public/episodes/images/562.png?itok=vlgIRhDe
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2018/03/16/new-report-school-segregation-is-on-the-rise-in-nc-and-its-harming-our-kids/
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article205580044.html
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