Wheatley Heights, NY - April 16th, 2013 - Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, the nationally renowned summer arts day camp that has introduced the arts to more than 60,000 children, has also long presented unique summer workshops on the latest techniques for arts educators. Many have enjoyed Usdan’s professional development programs during the summer, engaging with Usdan’s 1,500 young students while sharpening their skills at the same time. The Center presents workshops for school arts educators in the Greater New York area, and these 4 and 5-day programs are designed to provide them with the most current educational tools during the regular school year.
Usdan’s workshops are taught by recognized experts in their fields. Most are experienced clinicians, having taught at regional and national conferences for arts educators and at major universities as well. Usdan is especially proud of its workshop faculty’s public school teachers, as these are professionals who are “on the ground” and working with children every day.
This July, Usdan will present “Finale: A Vibrant Tool For Today’s Music Educators.” The four-day workshops will take place at the Center’s 200-acre Long Island campus in Wheatley Heights, and they will be taught by certified Finale clinician David Dolgon. The Finale workshops will introduce this notation and composition program, one that is the industry standard in music notation software. Finale allows composers, arrangers, musicians, teachers, students and publishers to create, edit, audition, print and publish musical scores.
Topics to be covered during this summer’s workshop include the use of Finale for music notation entry, techniques for producing score and parts, the use of Finale in creating original arrangements, generating worksheets, and many more topics. (Full information on the workshop is available at www.usdan.com). A certificate of completion will be provided to participating teachers at the end for in-service credit.
Dale Lewis, Usdan's Executive Director, recently commented on the Center's new Finale workshop: “Usdan has long been a leader in continuing education for arts educators, having sponsored summer workshops presented by leading clinicians, and by international artists such as Canadian Brass. Finale is an important tool in our professional community and we are pleased to be focusing on its possibilities this year.”
Usdan Center presented the first New York State-wide Music Educator Technology Conference on Long Island. In addition, previous Usdan workshops have covered “Differentiated Instruction and Rubrics” and “Choral Conducting: Connecting Music and Literacy,” taught by distinguished vocal music educators; dance workshops, including “Vibrant Curricula and Ballet Technique for Jazz Dance Teachers” taught by Usdan’s Dance Chair and former Joffrey Ballet School head, Maurice Brandon Curry. Usdan also originated Long Island’s first Canadian Brass summer workshops, hosting two years of 3-day programs attended by music educators from across the country
David Dolgon, a clinician for MakeMusic! (creator of Finale), has taught graduate courses for the College of New Rochelle and at Queens College. He has presented staff development workshops for the Nassau Country chapter of the New York State Council of Administrators of Music Education, and for school districts and county organizations in New York and New Jersey. He taught band and music theory at Syosset High school, and has been a member of Usdan Center’s clarinet faculty.
For more information on the Finale workshops, visit www.usdan.com.
