Barnstable High School: Meaghan, was hired at Barnstable High School, Fall 2013. Descriptions about her classes can be found on the Barnstable Course Description page:
Barnstable Music Department Class Descriptions
Parents of Barnstable Students: Please feel free to E-Mail me with any concerns or questions at:
MusicFirst: Upon graduation from Teachers College, Meaghan was fortunate to have met Dr. Jim Frankel. Jim provided Meaghan an opportunity to be published nationally on the online cloud-based software/teacher platform MusicFirst. Meaghan’s entire hip-hop unit was published and can be found in the lessons content. She also had two articles published: hip-hop unit and social justice. Meaghan is also an “ambassador” apart of the MusicFirst team. The description can be found here.
Cape Cod Symphony & Conservatory Arts Inc.
Meaghan, worked as a Pre-School Assistant in the Conservatory’s Summer Pre-K program during the summer of 2013. Meaghan has been an active student and teacher with the Cape Cod Symphony and Conservatory throughout her life on the Cape along with her experiences in the Nauset Music Department.
Meaghan also had the pleasure of being the music educator of the Composing Kids Program through the Symphony & Conservatory, during the 2013-2014 school year. Meaghan participated in this program when she was in high school, and really enjoyed being able to give back to the community. The program included studying programmatic music, composing a story and melody, and orchestrating a symphony for a professional ensemble to play.
Conferences & Presentations:
- Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software
Nov 2021 – Mar 2022
O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan. (November, 2021). Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software. Presentation at the 2021 In-Service Day by the Massachusetts Music Educators Association. Online.
O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan. (March, 2021). Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software. Presentation at the 2022 Massachusetts Music Educators Association All-State Conference. Marlborough, MA.
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Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software & The History of Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom.
Apr 2019 – Jul 2020
O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan (July, 2020). Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software & The History of Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom. Class Lecturer, Berklee College of Music & Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Boston, MA.
3 Presentations: 4/2019, 4/2020, 7/2020 -
The History of Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom
Mar 2020
O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan (March, 2020). The History of Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom. Presentation at the 2020 Massachusetts Music Educators Association All-State Conference. Boston, MA.
- Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software
Aug 2019
O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan. (August, 2019). Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software. Presentation at the 2019 AES (Audio Engineering Society)High School Audio Educators Conference. Hartford, CT.
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Using Hip-Hop In the Classroom: Connecting Your Students to Music Composition
Apr 2018
O’Connor, Meaghan. (April, 2018). Using Hip-Hop In the Classroom: Connecting Your Students to Music Composition. Presentation at the 2018 Connecticut Music Educators Association’s In-Service Conference. Hartford, CT.
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Using Hip-Hop In the Classroom: Connecting Your Students to Music Composition
Feb 2018
O’Connor, Meaghan. (February, 2018). Using Hip-Hop In the Classroom: Connecting Your Students to Music Composition. Presentation at the 2018 New Jersey Music Educators Association’s February Music In-Service Conference. East Brunswick, NJ.
Publications:
- Performances for All Students: Creating a Music Technology Showcase, October 1, 2021 Massachusetts Music Educators Journal
After teaching through the COVID-19 Pandemic, every teacher can agree, that the way we teach and assess ensembles is starkly different from how we teach and assess general music classes. There is still a performance aspect to these classes, whether that’s presenting a music history PowerPoint or having a student perform a guitar piece for their peers. But how do we advocate for these classes outside of our own classroom? How do we engage the rest of the school community in our student’s work? After all, performances can be one of our greatest assessment tools and is an essential process in becoming a stronger student musician. In this article, I share my trials and tribulations in creating a showcase for my Music Technology students.
- Emo Rap and Journaling, a New Foundation for Social-Emotional Learning, June 1, 2021, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal
The pandemic has isolated students from one another, and there have been published studies stating that depression and anxiety among K-12 students has skyrocketed. Once I explained the idea of catharsis, my students agreed that emo rap was a way for them to release feelings of sadness, loss, and angst. (Page 6).
- Strategies and Tools to Make Music Electives Work for EL Students, January 2021, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal
EL (English learner) students have a unique struggle in schools today. We have various cultures and subgroups of students that experience similar isolation and difficulties in their learning, which have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Electives such as Music Technology and History of Music classes can fulfill a student Arts/Music Credit requirement for graduation. In these classes, students are typically pulled from across the general population of the school. EL enrollment in these classes generally come from a range in EL Proficiency, levels 1-6 (WIDA Proficiency Scale). Some of our students may also have a 504 or an IEP. With the right tools and resources, we can overcome these challenges and create an incredible connection with students that bypasses language barriers. In this article, we hope to offer some ideas, tips, and tricks in an effort to build strong relationships with these students and help them achieve their fullest potential. (Page 35).
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Bring Hip-Hop to the Table: A Story of Opportunity in the Time of BLM and COVID-19, Oct 1, 2020, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal
High school and/or middle school music teachers that are interested in using contemporary music generally, and hip-hop specifically, as an avenue to teach social justice themes in the classroom. (Page 36).
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Fostering Social Justice in the Music Classroom Apr 6, 2018, MusicFirst
When I first started teaching, I began exploring how I could teach hip-hop in the most pedagogically appropriate manner. I made a decision to teach the history of hip-hop, emphasizing themes of social justice, rather than the derogatory and graphic examples one can frequently find on the radio. This decision provided me with an opportunity to have intellectual conversations with my students about why artists choose to write about certain topics, connecting these topics to contemporary society and current events. Students are constantly inundated with information from news and media outlets, making it difficult to navigate what’s going on in our world. From Black Lives Matter to #Enough, our students have proved themselves worthy to be included in national political conversations. When we study the beginnings of hip-hop, my students quickly learn that many of the social justice themes that provided inspiration to the originators of genre are still relevant today. The entire unit I developed, including all rubrics, song lists, and handouts, can be found online on the software platform MusicFirst, under the heading “Hip-Hop Unit.” For this article, I am will focus on the final project of the unit, which emphasizes how to educate and inspire our students to use music as a tool to project their voices.
- Using Hip-Hop In the Classroom: Connecting Your Students to Music Composition Sep 2017, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal, Outlining music composition hip-hop unit.
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Hip-Hop Unit May 2016, MusicFirst
In this unit, students explore the cultural, historical and musical background of hip-hop. Students learn to understand the concept of form with two basic parts: verse and chorus, or “A” and “B”. Students also study essential instrumental elements of a “classic” hip-hop song: harmonic accompaniment, bass line, melodic motif/“hook” and beat.
In addition to creating their own song, students are provided the opportunity to share their favorite music with an audio recorded narrative explaining the significance of the song. This provides a platform for students to share their musical interests and also provides the opportunity for the teacher to learn about the interests of his or her students. This also requires student to think reflectively and critically about their musical preferences and experiences. Students will explore the popular concept of “sampling” or using outside audio as a foundation or loop for their next song in Soundation.
This unit acknowledges students’ outside interests and provides an appropriate place for sharing them in the classroom, all while creating those “beatz” that students have been asking for all year.