Casey Collins
Casey Collins is a clinical assistant professor of music education at Purdue University Fort Wayne. She teaches undergraduate courses in elementary and secondary general music methods, introduction to music education, freshman success seminar in music education, elementary music for the elementary educator, and is the student teaching coordinator for the School of Music. Prior to PFW, Dr. Collins taught PK-5 elementary general music in North Carolina where she was awarded Teacher of the Year and honored as an Excellence in Education district finalist. In 2018, Collins was awarded the Global Teacher of the Year from Participate Learning. Though elementary general music is her main passion, Dr. Collins has a love for playing the flute and can often be found jumping in on university flute ensemble rehearsals when she can, and spends her summers working with high school marching bands as a woodwind tech.
Dr. Collins holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Elon University, a Master of Music in Music Education from East Carolina University, and a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Michigan. Her research interests are on topics such as teaching general music in high-poverty schools, trauma-informed pedagogy practices for the music educator, vocal health and hygiene for music teachers, positive psychology applications for music education spaces, and improvisation in the general music classroom. Her dissertation research was centered on elementary music teachers in high-poverty schools, aiming to shift the deficit paradigm surrounding these spaces. She has presented on these topics internationally, nationally, and regionally at various research and practitioner conferences. When she is not teaching, Dr. Collins can be found reading, cooking, or snuggling up with her two cats, Opa and Anabelle.
eBooks by Casey Collins
Posts by Casey Collins
Music Beyond the Classroom: Interview with Composer, Richard Taylor
For the next installment of our "Music Beyond the Classroom" series, we sat down with composer, Richard Taylor. Richard studied composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in the UK, and has been working [...]
The scariest thing in your music classroom
A few weeks ago, I was on a Facebook forum for music teachers. Someone posed a question about popular music education—the essence of the post was prodding at the philosophy of music educators and whether or [...]
Want to learn guitar? Start here.
Creating a Companion Method Hi everyone! I’d like to take a few minutes to tell you about my new method book, The Oz Guitar Method. There are hundreds of guitar methods out there, but I decided [...]
3 Tips on how to sell your eBook
So, you want to sell your eBook but don't know where to start? Perhaps you're an author on our site, perhaps not. Perhaps you write music eBooks, perhaps eBooks on underwater Parcheesi strategy. Regardless, It's my [...]
Music beyond the classroom: Interview with guitarist, Haley Powers
You should Follow Haley on Instagram Do you follow Haley Powers on Instagram? You need to. Not only will you see beautiful, sun-drenched videos of her playing guitar and sharing her board setup; you'll [...]
Relief, burnout, grief, and a broken system: Why I left teaching
“I’m so shocked.” My previous principal spoke that phrase nearly 20 times when I told him I was leaving the school and the profession. I couldn’t help but wonder, “How can he be shocked?” None of [...]