Who We Are
The SongWorks Educators Association (SWEA) is a community of educators who engage learners through SongWorks, a principles-based approach to teaching music.
SongWorks principles and practices offer teachers both grounding and flexibility in making purposeful, caring choices in their interactions with people and music. Songs are the foundation for study and learning experiences that nurture playfulness, responsiveness, and musicality.
Through developing and sharing ideas centered around the SongWorks teaching approach, SWEA members support each other in growing as educators and learners.
Events
Certification Courses
Summer 2023
Norfolk, VA & Provo, UT
Annual Conference
March 17 – 18, 2023
Boston, MA
SongWorks Saturday Workshops
October 8, 2022
Norfolk, VA
News
Recent and Upcoming SongWorks Presentations
SongWorks Educators have been busy presenting at and preparing for sessions at national, state, and local music education conferences and workshops. Here’s some of what our members have been up to recently!
2023 Conference Visiting Scholar
Since 2015, select scholars have been invited to the SongWorks Conference for the purpose of exposing them to the principles, practices, and activities of our organization. We are thrilled to announce Alison Reynolds of Temple University as our 2023 Visiting Scholar!
2023 Emerging Pioneers
The Fleurette Sweeney Fellowship was initiated in 2010 to honor founding member and teacher extraordinaire, Dr. Fleurette Sweeney. We are pleased to announce this year’s Emerging Pioneers in Music Education!
Recent and Upcoming SongWorks Presentations
SongWorks Educators have been busy presenting at and preparing for sessions at national, state, and local music education conferences and workshops. Here’s some of what our members have been up to recently!
2023 Conference Visiting Scholar
Since 2015, select scholars have been invited to the SongWorks Conference for the purpose of exposing them to the principles, practices, and activities of our organization. We are thrilled to announce Alison Reynolds of Temple University as our 2023 Visiting Scholar!
Resources
Looking for Songworks I & II or other printed resources?
Head over to our Books page for these and more!
Get Involved
• SWEA Newsletter & Teaching Ideas
• SWEA Membership
Available in Members Access Area
Become a Member, Gain Access to 50+ Sturdy Songs & Study Activities
From the Archive
Looby Loo Scores and Scrambles
Playful Teaching – Vibrant Learning! What an inspirational tagline! Yet we easily fall into ‘habitual teaching’ where we take the same route to achieve a specific learning goal. This group of lessons is suggested as a pathway to vibrant learning. The ultimate goal is to be skillful in reading and musical in performing several different scores for “Looby Loo.”
A Musical Evolution of Notation: Introduction
Often, conventional music notation is studied on an elemental level by pulling visual symbols, representing rhythm and pitch, out of their musical context for study. What happens when we consider that complex traditional music notation has become so rigid that its study at an elemental level lacks value, function, or power?
‘…that by which…’
In 1946 during my first year of undergraduate studies, I took my very first course in philosophy. How I loved that course! Yet for all my enthusiasm at the time only two precise memories remain. Those of you who know me will laugh at this first one simply because I haven’t changed a whit to this day!
Looby Loo Scores and Scrambles
Playful Teaching – Vibrant Learning! What an inspirational tagline! Yet we easily fall into ‘habitual teaching’ where we take the same route to achieve a specific learning goal. This group of lessons is suggested as a pathway to vibrant learning. The ultimate goal is to be skillful in reading and musical in performing several different scores for “Looby Loo.”
A Musical Evolution of Notation: Introduction
Often, conventional music notation is studied on an elemental level by pulling visual symbols, representing rhythm and pitch, out of their musical context for study. What happens when we consider that complex traditional music notation has become so rigid that its study at an elemental level lacks value, function, or power?