Webinar: Scott Joplin – A Guide for K-12 Music Educators

Presenter: Kendra Kay Friar

Did you know that Scott Joplin, “King of Ragtime Composers,” began his career as a quartet singer and entrepreneur? Did you know that Joplin was a lifelong learner, a respected music editor, and a community leader? This interactive session empowers participants to introduce the real Scott Joplin to their students through improvisation, dance, and listening activities. Study the score of a Joplin piano rag, which was intended to be played as written. Consider historic photos of ragtime faces and places. Learn the “One-Step,” the “Stop-Time,” and other celebrated dance steps of the ragtime era. If Scott Joplin could speak to students today, what would he want them to know about his ragtime life? Participants will receive the resources needed to bring Scott Joplin’s story and his revolutionary ragtime ideas to life for students of every age and stage.

Kendra Kay Friar is a music teacher at Bonny Slope Elementary School in Beaverton, OR, and an associate conductor of Pacific Youth Choir in Portland, OR, where she oversees the K-5 choral education program. She has been a member of NAfME’s Equity Committee since 2022 and has served as Elementary Chair for Oregon Music Educators Association (OMEA) for the last four years. Kendra received OMEA’s Excellence in Elementary Music Education Award in 2021. She has presented sessions at NAfME National, NAfME-NW, and multiple state-affiliated conferences, and she served as an editor of NAfME’s Journal of General Music Education from 2016 to 2022. Kendra’s peer-reviewed publications include articles for Music Educators Journal, Journal of General Music, and Oregon Music Educator. Her practitioner-focused work appears in NAfME’s Teaching Music Magazine and Lorenz Corporation’s Activate! magazine. Kendra is also an active clinician, accompanist, and professional choral singer working in and around Portland, OR. In June 2022, she accompanied the Pacific Northwest premiere of Credo by Margaret Bonds, presented by Portland’s Phoenix Chamber Choir, conducted by Dr. Justin Smith.

Kendra Kay Friar is completing an Ed.D. in Educational Policy, Leadership, and Organization–Diversity & Equity Concentration at the University of Illinois; she holds an M.M., Music Education, from the University of Texas and a B.S., Music Education, Elementary-General Specialization, from the University of Illinois.