University Communications

^{By Emily Schmidt
University Communications Student Assistant
studentpio@minotstateu.edu}

MINOT, N.D. – “I was told when I was in high school that I shouldn’t go to college, but it was because my school didn’t tell me, or I didn't know, that I could study music which is what I was smart at. Now I'm sitting here with a Ph.D.,” said Kateri Miller, the newest assistant professor for the Minot State Division of Music.  

When professor Miller neared the end of high school in small-town Ohio, playing the euphonium was her priority. Attending higher education, let alone pursuing a career in it, was not on her radar.  

“At that point in my life, that was all I knew how to do, to play my instrument,” she said. “If it weren’t for my band director, I wouldn't be sitting here today. She took me on my audition, and I can remember sitting there looking at the degree requirements and thinking, ‘OK, well I’ll go to college if most of my classes are mostly going to be music.’”  

She completed her Bachelor of Music in euphonium performance from Heidelberg University but decided performing was no longer the route she wanted to take.  

“My life kind of did a 180 junior and senior year of college when I had my son, so all of a sudden I found something that I loved more than my instrument,” she said. “That degree has taken me many places including where I am today, so not for one second do I regret getting it.”  

Using her own experience with music and education, Miller realized she wanted to show other people how music can be part of their lives like her band director did for her.  

“I tell people I’m music smart, and that’s what I’m good at. As a music educator, that’s what I want to make sure my students know, that someone is there for them,” she said. “This could be their niche and be something they’re smart at as well.”  

Miller taught music to both children and adults for 19 years after undergrad. Meanwhile, she pursued her Master of Music from Bowling Green State University, Ohio and just completed her doctorate in music education from University of Kentucky. 

“I really want to be a teacher of teachers, and so that was one of the number one things that appealed to me about this job,” she said. “This is a teaching university. I love that it was a normal school. I didn’t know that coming to my interview, and I remember seeing that big stone bench in front of Old Main. That kind of got me excited because I've been a teacher. I'm starting my 20th year, so with that I feel like I have a lot of experience to bring to my future students.”  

Now, Miller is teaching her first semester of music methods for elementary teachers at Minot State, a class required for all elementary education students.  

“I’m pretty adamant in my belief in this class to enhance what they already do,” she said. “I’m not teaching them (elementary education students) to take my job as a music educator. I’m teaching them to be confident in their music skills, and I’m teaching them how to add music to their lessons. I really like that class a lot. I feel I have a lot to offer. It’s important for music education to make sure classroom teachers have a better understanding of music.”  

Miller also teaches elementary music methods to music education students to prepare them to work with kids of that age.

Class with professor Miller keeps students on their toes with constant immersive activities that blur the line between elementary and college classrooms.  

“If someone were to come into my classroom, they would see me teaching my college students like I would teach elementary students,” Miller said. “The best way for them to experience and to know how children are taught is to experience how children do. I tell them, ‘I’m going to speak to you like you’re a college student. Sometimes I’ll talk to you like you’re a teacher. Sometimes I’ll talk to you like you’re a fifth grader, and sometimes I will talk to you like you’re a kindergartner.’ So as far as the difference, sometimes I feel like there isn’t. I take a lot of the same music education philosophy from what I taught in elementary into college, and that is active learning and hands on. It’s that Chinese proverb, ‘Tell me, I forget. Show me, I remember. Involve me, I understand.’”