Music Faculty First Professors in U.S. to be Selected as Modern Band Fellows
Dr. Patti Foy and Dr. Susie Lalama are among the first university professors in the United States to be selected as Modern Band Fellows. Modern Band Fellows is a music program associated with ‘Little Kids Rock’ Foundation. This innovative program teaches kids to perform, improvise and compose using the popular styles that they are familiar with including rock, pop, reggae, hip hop, R & B and other modern styles.
Dr. Foy and Dr. Lalama attended a workshop sponsored by the foundation at Montclair State University where they received training in the Modern Band Method, a method for integrating popular music in schools. In return, the Little Kids Rock Foundation will be donating a number of modern band instruments, including ukuleles, guitars, amps and drums, to Converse.
Dr. Foy and Dr. Lalama will institute a weekly class in the after-school program at Mary H. Wright Elementary beginning this fall, where Converse music education students will have the opportunity to observe and teach popular music to the Mary Wright students.