From Saturday, November 4th, 2023 to Tuesday, November 7th, 2023, I attended the 2023 North Carolina Music Educators Conference in Winston-Salem at the Benton Convention Center. I was able to experience some great workshops that focused on ukulele, modern band, recorders, boomwhackers, incorporating fitness into drum instruction, integrating literacy into the music classroom, and music technology. Music educators attending the event also got to participate in an inspiring performance and presentation given by Grammy award-winning educator Mickey Smith, Jr., who is originally from Louisiana, and now resides in Florida. Smith encouraged teachers to keep on teaching and persevering despite challenging circumstances and to encourage their students to do the same. He also told the workshop attendees about his book titled The Adventures of Little Mickey: Keep On Going. The book explains how Smith was not a good musician when he first started playing the saxophone. He kept practicing and eventually became a talented musician. He now teaches middle school band in Florida and won the 2020 Grammy Music Educator Award. His book inspires readers to be relentless in the pursuit of their goals. At the conference, I also had the chance to talk to my middle school band teacher, Mrs. Heidi Sue Iseminger-Ross, who taught me music at East Wake Middle School. She was one of the reasons that I kept on practicing as a percussionist to reach my career goals. I had a phenomenal time at this event and I am looking forward to attending the conference next year! Below you can see pictures from the event and listen to Mickey Smith, Jr.'s book.
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