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Educator, Musician, Engineer, and Composer
EDUCATOR
Spencer believes music making in schools should be student-centered, joyous, communicative in nature, and relatable to students' personal experiences outside of school.
"As educators, it is our calling to ensure students are given the lessons they need to succeed both in and out of the classroom. The latter being of greater importance because after all, life is lived outside of the classroom. If we truly wish to enrich students' lives, our work in the classroom must at all times be focused on enabling students to take what they have learned in our classes and apply those lessons throughout their lives." - Spencer McNeill
Experienced in the area of traditional band and wind ensemble settings, yet desiring more inclusion of popular music, technology, and wider student outreach, Spencer takes a holistic approach to music education that incorporates both respect for tradition and a thirst for innovation. Particular areas of educational innovation Spencer excels in are the foundational stages of improvisation instruction, the education of sound engineering concepts focused on enabling the student to make deliberate, artistic choices, and the practical instruction of music theory which does not alienate students and instead fosters the understanding of musical thought and a deeper love for music.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Pittsburgh Public Schools All-City Arts Showcase
For the past two years, Spencer has been an assistant band director with the PPS All-City Arts Showcase Concert Band tutoring students in saxophone (pictured above) and trumpet and assisting in running rehearsals. This past year, in addition to continuing as an assistant director with the concert band, he has been promoted to the director of the PPS All-City Arts Showcase Jazz Ensemble. As the director of the Jazz Ensemble, Spencer rehearsed and directed the ensemble as well as arranged charts for students to perform. Spencer has also continued his position as the improvisation instructor for the showcase, where he teaches a class on improvising which builds students up from no previous improvisational experience all the way up to performing a fully improvised solo on the night of the concert. The PPS All-City Arts Showcase culminates in a performance at the August Wilson Center in downtown Pittsburgh.
Music Technology Summer Intensive Instructor, Duquesne University
This past year, Spencer held a position as music technology and theory instructor at the Duquesne university summer intensive. The summer intensive lasted two weeks in the summer and offered high school students a chance to learn more about music in much greater depth than their traditional high school and early collegiate classes. There he taught students sound engineering concepts such as recording, mixing, composing, film dialogue, and practical theory. Students Spencer taught in this intensive spanned a great age range, from 6th grade all the way to sophomores at universities. In his theory class, instruction was differentiated so students of all abilities were challenged equally whether they were learning about basic triads or working on ear training, discerning alterations, extensions, and advanced chord theory.
Assistant Director of Jazz Band, Riverside High School
Spencer also has experience teaching in a more traditional classroom setting where he was the assistant director of the Riverside high school jazz band under Michael Dingfelder. There, he rehearsed the jazz band weekly switching off leadership with Michael Dingfelder and leading the ensemble through warmups and charts. In addition to running the ensemble at large, Spencer also taught group and individual pull out improvisation lessons to prepare students for improvised solos in concert as well as the district jazz band auditions. As well as rehearsing and instructing the group, Spencer also arranged songs for the Riverside jazz band the most memorable being an arrangement of Weather Report's "Birdland" for full big band and vocal ensemble to commemorate the first year of Riverside High School's vocal jazz ensemble.
Volunteer Instructor with Urban Impact Pittsburgh
For the past several years (not including COVID), Spencer has volunteered as a jazz saxophone instructor with Urban Impact in Pittsburgh. Urban Impact is an organization focused on helping kids at risk for hunger, crime, and poverty, helping to enrich the lives of students who need the arts the most. As part of Urban Impact's music faculty, Spencer arranged music for the jazz band to perform as well as rehearsed the band each week along with P.J. Winters and Lorenze Jefferson, Urban Impact's Instrumental Music Coordinator. The Urban Impact jazz band is a performing ensemble teaching kids new and exciting contemporary music that they enjoy, culminating in multiple performances throughout the academic year and summer including the Deutschtown Music Festival and performances at the New Hazlett Theater.
IMPROVISATION INSTRUCTION
One of the areas that truly sets Spencer apart as an educator is his ability to teach improvisation at a fundamental and understandable level, and his desire to find new ways to teach improvisation more efficiently than previously thought possible. The main advantages Spencer brings to the table when teaching the art of improvisation are the instruction of what he calls "the improvisation mindset", an adherence to Kratus's 7 Levels of improvisational development, and a focus on creating melodies first rather than emphasizing harmony as a building block for improvisation.
Throughout his method for teaching improvisation to new students, Spencer utilizes language-based improvisation, discussions on artistic motivation and inspiration, the practical use of theory to analyze familiar melodies, a top-down "big picture" approach, aural skills training, improvisational practice technique, singing, and finally, performance on the instrument. Many teachers who instruct students on improvisation forget that the instrument is separate from the student; they teach improvisation to the instrument and not the musician who uses said instrument. Spencer on the other hand uses a holistic approach, influenced deeply by improvisation and early music pedagogue Dr. Rachel Whitcomb, a close mentor and professor of Spencer's at Duquesne University.
As a supplement to his improvisation instruction, Spencer has created various resources for student use. One of those resources is an encyclopedia of over 1,516 measures of jazz vocabulary all transcribed, composed, and transposed into the key of 'C' so students can internalize the jazz style and practice quick transposition in an efficient manner. For a small sample of this 50+ page document, click the corresponding button below.
For even more information on Spencer's improvisational teaching approach, use the contact tab or corresponding button below to get in touch and schedule a meeting.
MUSIC TECHNOLOGY
As a teacher, sound engineer, and composer, Spencer is uniquely qualified to teach students in the area of music technology. With real classroom experience in the area as well as experience as a working sound engineer with multiple albums and singles under his belt, Spencer is comfortable in any area of teaching music tech, be it in private lessons or in a group setting.
As an educator, Spencer firmly believes in the practice of meeting students where they are and teaching them relevant material that they care about. What better way is there to engage students in the 21st century than to teach them how to make the music they listen to on a daily basis? In his music tech classes, Spencer has taught students recording techniques, sound design, composing, arranging, and music theory. Students learn best when they are motivated by results and actionable feedback. Guided by this principle, Spencer finds great success in teaching students music theory through practical use because of the feedback students gain by making songs in tech classes.
Unlike other instructors of music technology who are primarily either educators with informal experience in the area of sound engineering or sound engineers who are inexperienced in the area of teaching, Spencer is capable in both areas with a broad set of classroom experiences and formal instruction in music education, as well as being a working sound engineer with multiple releases credited as recording engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer, producer, and arranger. Because of this intimate knowledge of music technology and education, Spencer has the ability to teach students in much greater detail and depth than other educators, giving students not only a working knowledge of technology, but also affording students the ability to make artistic decisions confidently when working as sound engineers and making music alike. For example, working as a mixing engineer for years, Spencer has created a method for teaching developing sound engineers how to mix a song from start to finish.
To preview a short segment of this mixing guide, click the button below.
PRACTICAL MUSIC THEORY AND JAZZ INSTRUCTION
Having taught a music theory course during Duquesne's summer intensive program, Spencer is experienced in the area of music theory instruction. In addition to this class, Spencer has taught private lessons to students for the past eight years incorporating elements of music theory as well as jazz instruction. These two passions work hand in hand due to jazz's emphasis on the performer to have intimate knowledge of music theory concepts such as song form, resolution structure, chord-scale theory, and harmonic analysis.
In terms of jazz instruction and educational advocacy, Spencer was recently given the opportunity to work with Garrett Hoffman and Alex Weibel to give a presentation on everything jazz to the Duquesne School of Music education program. This talk encompassed everything from jazz terminology, elements of the jazz style, listening strategies, cultural background & history, improvisation, solo techniques, advocacy for jazz music, and recommended listening. The presentation covered these topics in great depth, but for a small sample click the button below to view the handout we gave to students on the day of the presentation.
During private lessons with students, Spencer frequently prepares and introduces students to music theory topics ranging from novice to beginner. Topics covered include scale knowledge, song form, harmonic analysis, and chord-scale theory. These topics are first introduced as simple, easy to understand concepts and expanded from there into complex theories to challenge advanced students. For these private theory lessons, it is beneficial for students to have a reference to look back at. It is because of this that Spencer has made various handouts throughout his eight years of private theory instruction. For a sample of these handouts, see the basic chord reference table in the button below.