For more than 30 years, March has been officially designated by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) for the observance of Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®), the time of year when music education becomes the focus of schools across the nation.
The purpose of MIOSM is to raise awareness of the importance of music education for all children – and to remind citizens that school is where all children should have access to music. MIOSM is an opportunity for music teachers to bring their music programs to the attention of the school and the community, and to display the benefits that school music brings to students of all ages.
You are encouraged to check out the resources available on NAfME’s Music In Our Schools Month® page. They have ideas that can help you focus your lessons for March, but you are certainly not limited to these ideas.
Please be in touch if you have any questions. We’re looking forward to a great month ahead!
MIOSM Co-Chairs
Tonya Allison | [email protected]
Lindsay Williams | [email protected]
Support from our State Leaders
We Are Music
Please enjoy a new composition by Liz and Chris Betsch from Onslow County, NC. If you perform this piece this year, don’t forget to add #MIOSM2023 to all your social posts, and send the composers an email to let them know where their music has reached!
Here is the final composition score and the accompaniment track for We Are Music.
Composers – Liz & Chris Betsch
Liz and Chris first met at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1969 and from the beginning, they enjoyed music together. They married in 1972 and moved to Harrisburg, PA where they had two sons. After three years in Harrisburg, they started traveling around the world. They lived in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf; Schweinfurt, Germany; Okinawa, Japan; Bitburg, Germany and finally, Jacksonville, North Carolina. During their lives together, they started writing music. They have written band and chorus music for junior high, including two musicals, and music for concert band.
We Are Music, their latest collaboration, is a song written for elementary chorus. Above all, their biggest joy has been listening to the children of North Carolina sing their songs over the last decade in Onslow and Carteret Counties. This year Pitt and Pender County will be performing one of their compositions for the first time.
Contact Liz and Chris at [email protected] for more information on performing their music.
Accompanist – Caroline Dundore
Having played several of Liz and Chris Betsch’s pieces in the past, accompanist Caroline Dundore was honored to work with them again! Caroline lives in Jacksonville, North Carolina with her husband, an orchestra teacher in Onslow County Schools. In addition to accompanying various local ensembles, Caroline teaches piano lessons from her home. She graduated from the Millersville University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Music Education and taught K-5 General Music for eight years.