Kalamazoo Kids in Tune recently hosted the Teaching Artists Training Institute Midwest Regional Practicum in Kalamazoo. The featured clinician was Dr. Derrick Fox, the Director of Choral Activities and Distinguished Associate Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He will take up a faculty position at Michigan State University in the fall.
Fox is keenly aware of how assistance and positive messages reach some kids and not others, having himself been one of the kids on the cusp of being left out. He tells Cara Lieurance that his focus at the practicum is about reminding educators to keep fresh eyes and ears on their students and staying conscious of how they communicate with them.
Fox remembers that as a boy he was interested in music but couldn’t afford an instrument. A choir director offered to audition him as a singer, and requested “My Country Tis of Thee.” The young Fox was ashamed that he didn’t know the song. But the teacher said, “I will teach you.” It has remained one of the most important memories of his life.
