Brancati aspires to make the unity he felt at Longy the norm for music educators across the city.
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
A few years ago, Jake Brancati was teaching music in New York City and longing for a community of like-minded teachers.
“Especially in the city, music educators can be very isolated. For the first two and a half years of my teaching, I did not have much of a community, as I was the only music teacher in my building…Even though there was probably another music teacher three or four blocks away from me, I didn’t know who they were.”
When Brancati realized he needed a master’s degree to keep his teaching license, he looked for a program that would allow him to keep
Jake Brancati
working while pursuing a degree. That’s when he found both Longy’s Online Master of Music in Music Education program and its tight-knit community of music teachers.
While Longy’s Online MMME program meets asynchronously, Brancati took advantage of the many opportunities for connection, from weekly virtual group meetings with classmates to the consistent support of faculty members.
“It was so nice to be able to randomly schedule a meeting with the professors and Erin [Zaffini, Director of Teacher Education]. I could talk with them about a lot more than just academic coursework and they genuinely cared for me, not just in the academic context, but also my future career context. It was absolutely lovely. It definitely gave online learning the feel of in-person teaching and community.”
At Longy, Brancati realized the role community could play in energizing music educators and reigniting their love of their work. He felt maintaining that sense of connectivity in New York City, and facilitating connections among music teachers there could be crucial to their collective success in the classroom.
Now, Brancati not only teaches 3-K through eighth-grade general music and musical theater club at New York’s PS 46, he is getting ready to take on a new leadership role—president of New York City Music Educators Association (MEANYC).
As Brancati aspires to make the unity he felt at Longy the norm for music educators across the city, MEANYC was a natural fit to work with. The organization is committed to pursuing quality music education for every student in the five boroughs and encouraging cooperative relationships among pre-service, in-service, and retired music educators by curating collaborative environments that foster connection.
Since becoming president-elect in May, Brancati has begun to strategize ways to improve togetherness across school districts, including supporting the creation of honors festivals for students, inspiring music teachers to join MEANYC and take on leadership roles, and signal-boosting workshops and opportunities to meet fellow educators.
He will also be involved with improving access to music education at the state level, recognizing that the first step to inspiring the next generation of enthusiastic music teachers is to support access to the arts.
“Music education is important because it offers an opportunity for our students to not just connect with a subject academically, but emotionally, socially, and spiritually. It provides another avenue for students to feel successful.”
At Longy, Brancati graduated with more than just his master’s degree—he received a powerful lesson in community building that set his sights on improving the education community in New York City, something he will prioritize once he becomes MEANYC president.