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November 2010 Music Education Blog Carnival

11/01/10 By 1 Comment

It’s that time again! Welcome to the November 1, 2010 edition of music education blog carnival. This edition features some of the top posts in the Music Education blogosphere from the month of October. Special thanks, as always, go to Dr. Joseph Pisano of MusTech.net for founding/overseeing the monthly Music Education Blog Carnival!

This carnival is a bit thin, understandably so; many teachers are in the thick of their semesters right now. Don’t forget, however, that submissions for the Blog Carnival are always open! Read to the bottom of this post to find out more information about the December edition! Now, without further adieu, enjoy!

Did you like a particular post? Leave a comment here or on the specific post telling the author how much you enjoyed their work! [Read more...]

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A Busy October!

10/04/10 By 1 Comment

Hey all! A few exciting announcements about where MusicEdMajor.net will be headed as we move into the month of October:

New Contributor – Sari Feinstein

We have spent a good amount of time on the site discussing tips and tricks for being a Music Education Major, either at the undergraduate or graduate level. There have even been some teaching tips and thoughts posted for those who have finished their degrees. However, an area of the music education “lifespan” that we have yet to touch upon is the preparations for music school. To help us explore these ideas, I have added another regular contributor to our gang – Sari Feinstein. [Read more...]

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#MusEdChat Recap- Blogs/Podcasts/Wikis (6-21-10)

07/05/10 By 2 Comments

“Blogging helps student musicians learn to think critically about their work and evaluate their performance.” – @LindsayMorelli

The #MusEdChat on June 21st, 2010 discussed how music educators use or could use blogs, podcasts and wikis in the music classroom. The topic for the evening was suggested by @katiesw1. [Read more...]

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May 2010 Music Education Blog Carnival

05/03/10 By 11 Comments

It is my distinct pleasure to present to you the 14th Edition of the Music Education Blog Carnival! This post will highlight the best and brightest in blog posts from the month of April. There were many fantastic submissions this month, and you can find them below. This is the last edition of the Carnival for the 2009-2010 school year; we will resume posting with an issue in September. In the meantime, consider checking out the main landing page for the Music Education Blog Carnival over at MusTech.net. Enjoy reading, and be sure to share this post with any fellow music educators (or future music educators!) you know!

Music Education

Andrew Ritenour presents The Educational Beauty of Twitter posted at Future Music Educators.

Janice Tuck presents Music Primary Singing Resources posted at The Music Teachers Blog

Zoe Toft presents Stories in tune – The Magic Flute; Part 1 posted at Playing by the book, saying, “I’m not a music educator per se but a mum who wants to introduce my young kids to more classical music and so I’ve started a series called Stories in Tune where I review picture book versions of classical music pieces and write up the play and response they inspire in my children.”

Susan Haugland presents Why, not What or How posted at Susan Haugland’s Blog.

Brenda D Muench presents BoomWhacker Mysteries in First Grade: Part One posted at Tech Tempo.

Wendy Stevens presents To Give or Not Give Makeup Lessons posted at ComposeCreate.com, saying, “Since many music educators also teach private lessons, this article gives them a list of options for making the most of their valuable time. Many independent music teachers will also find this information helpful.”

Thomas J. West presents PMEA In-Service Conference 2010 – Live Blog posted at Thomas J. West Music, saying, “The Pennsylvania Music Educators Association’s annual conference and All-State Ensembles Festival took place in Pittsburgh, PA on April 22-24. This live blog features the story of attending the conference while serving as an All-State chaperone, as well as “pearls of wisdom” from conference sessions as tweeted by music educators and music ed. undergraduates.”

Steve Baker presents The World’s Greatest Band Director posted on Facebook.

Evan Tobias presents Open scores and music students: An invitation to compose from Jason Freeman posted at Catalysts & Connections.

Joseph Pisano presents Jazz Appreciation Month: Celebrate Women Jazz Artists -Lesson Plan posted at Music, Technology and Education: Mustech.net

Music Advocacy

Craig M. Cortello presents FROM THE BAND ROOM TO THE BOARDROOM?The 9 Common Lessons of Music Education That Translate into Success posted at Business Musician’s Blog.

Andy Zweibel presents Collegiate Leadership Academy at MENC’s Music Education Week posted at MusicEdMajor.net.

Music Pedagogy

Cary Stewart presents Measures of Success – First Look posted at Third Stream Music Education.

Cary Stewart presents Measures of Success – Second Look posted at Third Stream Music Education, saying, “Part Two of the method book review”

Jenny Boster presents The Importance of Beginning Technique posted at The Teaching Studio, saying, “The Teaching Studio is a relatively new blog all about teaching piano lessons. This was an article I wrote during the week we focused on the topic of teaching beginning piano technique.”

Music Performance

Chad Criswell presents Is Beta Blocker Use By Musicians A Form Of Doping? – Opinion | Music Education Magic – Music Education Magic posted at Tales From The Podium.

Music Technology

Samuel Wright presents iPad & The Future of Music Education posted at Wright-Stuff Music

Theresa White presents Group SMS Program – Swaggle.mobi posted at Education in Music, saying, “Also could go in education. It’s used as an educational technology :) ”

Jim Frankel presents The Other 80%: An Industry Perspective posted at Music Technology in Edcation.

Other

John Bogenschutz presents Dissection of a College Music Education Major posted at Tone Deaf, saying, “This is a comic I draw and this comic is based on College Music Education Majors.”

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REMINDER: Last Week for Blog Carnival Submissions

04/26/10 By Leave a Comment

We have officially made it to the last week in April, which means it’s probably crunch time for most college students/teachers out there, and the end is in sight for those of you in the public schools. However, don’t forget about an incredible opportunity to share your thoughts with the music education community which ends this Friday-the 14th Edition of the Music Education Blog Carnival! This carnival will be a showcase of the top blog posts related to Music education in the month of April, and will be hosted right here at MusicEdMajor.net on the first of May. Not only is this the last week to submit your posts for this month’s carnival, but it’s your last chance to submit until September, as the Music Ed Blog Carnival will be taking summer vacation with the rest of us! Don’t miss your chance!

Here’s What to Do:

Here are the steps to take in order to submit your blog post to this month’s carnival:

  1. Write or find a post! It can be on any topic related to music education, and doesn’t have to be written this month (you can use old posts), but it must be your original work.
  2. Take note of the permalink to this post. The permalink is the direct URL to the post, and can be found when viewing the post individually, as opposed to on your homepage (it will look something like this: http://yoursite.com/04/25/post-name/)
  3. Head to the Music Ed Blog Carnival Submission Page to submit your entry. Enter the permalink, your name and email address, a category for the post, and any additional remarks you have.
  4. Hit submit! It’s that easy!

Don’t Miss Your Last Chance!

This is your last opportunity to have your work featured in the Music Education Blog Carnival until September, as the Carnival will not be published during the summer months. Don’t miss this incredible chance to have your work read by hundreds of like-minded music teachers. Get your submissions in by April 30th at 11:59 PM EST by visiting the Music Ed Blog Carnival Submission Page today!

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Hosting the Music Education Blog Carnival

04/06/10 By 7 Comments

It is with great excitement that I announce that MusicEdMajor.net will be hosting the 14th Edition of the Music Education Blog Carnival (and LAST of the 2009-2010 school year)!

Huh? What’s a Blog Carnival?

A Blog Carnival is essentially a showcase of the top content from Blogs in a particular niche. The Music Ed Blog Carnival, specifically, is a project of Dr. Joe Pisano at MusTech.net, and is a monthly[1] showcase of the top Music Education blog posts for a given month. In this case, you can expect the Carnival to be published on May 1, and be a recap of the month of April.

What Do I Write About?

Are you interested in writing for the Music Ed Blog Carnival? Not sure what to write about? It’s quite simple, actually: write about music education! Okay, maybe that was a bit obvious. However, the Blog Carnival does allow you to submit your post under one of the following categories:

  • Music Advocacy
  • Music Education
  • Music Pedagogy
  • Music Performance
  • Music Software/Hardware
  • Music Technology
  • Music Tips
  • Other

If your post falls into any of these categories (which it likely does, seeing as how there’s an “Other” category!), I strongly encourage you to submitting it to the Carnival!

How Do I Submit?

It’s easy! Just make sure your post is related to Music Education (this is a requirement!), and then head to the Music Ed Blog Carnival Submission Page to submit your entry. You’ll need to enter the Permalink URL[2], your name and email address, the category under which the post goes, and any additional comments you have (this would be a great chance for a brief summary of the post). That’s it!

What Are You Waiting For?

If you’re interested, and you have a post (or an idea for a post), just head on over to the submission page to submit your post for consideration! Be sure to check back on May 1, 2010 to find out if your post was published in the Blog Carnival! This will be the last carnival of the school year, so get your posts in soon!

Submit your post to the May Music Education Blog Carnival today! It’s your LAST CHANCE until September!

Footnotes:

  1. Monthly editions of the Music Ed Blog Carnival will stop over the summer, and resume with an edition on September 1. [↩]
  2. The direct URL to the post (for example, the permalink of this post is http://musicedmajor.net/2010/04/06/april-carnival) [↩]
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The “Conference Effect”

04/05/10 By 1 Comment

Flickr Photo by Gaelic ArtsThis is a re-post of an article I wrote on my personal website a while ago. In light of some recent discussions I’ve had, I felt it had merit here. Stay tuned for a few other posts from the andyzweibel.com archives in the coming weeks!

I just recently was talking to a close friend, who is a graduate student in the Frost School of Music at UM, pursuing a DMA in Instrumental Conducting. She is also a graduate assistant with the marching band, and a TA for the Frost Symphonic Winds and Wind Ensemble. As a future band director, she recently went to the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) convention in Austin, Texas. She came back with a new found inspiration, and attributed it to the experiences she had at CBDNA, which made me think abut my experiences after returning from conferences. I’ve realized that what my friend is experiencing is similar to what we all tend to experience after an event such as CBDNA-something I have come to call “the conference effect.”

On the most basic level, “the conference effect” is the sense of inspiration and excitement for the profession that many people (in this case music educators) tend to feel after spending a day/weekend/week immersing themselves in what they love at a conference. I know the feeling myself, and I know that many of the music educators reading this know it as well. When you return from a conference, you feel revitalized-almost like a new person, and ready to take on whatever challenges may approach you. In my case as a student, conferences are the times when I find myself wishing I could actually be out in the field, teaching, right away. However you react specifically, this heightened level of inspiration motivates us all to be our best in the days and weeks following the conference.

It is important, though, to keep in mind the effect that timing has on this inspiration. I have only ever been to three different music education conferences: the Midwest clinic in Chicago in mid-December, the FMEA conference in Tampa in early-January, and MENC’s Music Education Week in June. Midwest, while extremely enjoyable, comes just at the end of the semester and the beginning of the holidays, so when the conference is over, I tend to find myself extremely inspired, but with nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs for the rest of December. Music Ed Week, while also enjoyable, runs into the same problem, as it takes place during the summer holiday. FMEA, on the other hand, occurs just before the spring semester begins, and I find myself beginning each spring semester with a renewed excitement for what I am doing, in part because of the lasting effects of this inspiration I get from the conference. This has been even more obvious the past two Januaries, when I had the opportunity to spend the week in between FMEA and the beginning of classes working with a high school band in LaBelle, FL at a school where a close friend (and recent UM alum) teaches. By the time the conference was over and my week of working in a real-life situation was through, I was prepared to do whatever it took to get myself teaching right away.

I’m sure any person who has been to a conference in their field has had experiences like mine, where they have felt a renewed excitement for their profession in the days and weeks following the conference. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it’s likely that we are more productive in this period than we are in any other, as a result of this excitement. So the real question is-how do we artificially create this “conference effect,” and the productivity that comes with it, when there is not a conference to inspire us? If we can somehow trigger this motivation without actually going to a conference, we can increase the caliber of the work we do throughout the entire year, instead of just for a few select weeks after conferences.

Let’s examine what types of activities take place at these conferences. For music education, specifically, we can narrow it into three main activities: learning, networking, and concert-going. Generally, any music education conference will include each of these three aspects. Attendees go to sessions where they learn about a specific subject, they speak to other professionals in their field and network with them, and they attend concerts put on by performing ensembles over the course of the conference.

So, how can we recreate each of these in our daily lives to artificially create the “concert effect”?

  1. Learning-Now that the Internet has improved the way we share information, there have been tons of blogs set up in which educators share their thoughts and ideas on the field. By subscribing to these blogs and reading the new entries, we can stay informed and continue to learn even when we’re not at a conference. For a great place to start looking for music education blogs to subscribe to, check out the 100 ME Bloggers, organized by Dr. Joseph Pisano.
  2. Networking-Networking can be difficult when you’re the only music teacher in your school, but the advent of Web 2.0 technologies and Social Networking tools have changed that. Dr. Pisano has a great list of music educators to follow on Twitter, and if you’re interested in more discussion, consider participating in our weekly #MusEdChat on Monday nights!
  3. Attending Concerts-There’s really not a great techie-answer to this one, but my only suggestion is: go see concerts! Whether it’s a school band in your area, the local community band, or the symphony orchestra in your closest city, continue to expose yourself to music performances, and listen to them critically!

Hopefully these tips will help everyone be able to re-create “the conference effect” in their every day lives. Do you have an experience with this effect? Do you have a great story from a conference you’ve been to? Thoughts on my ideas? Leave a comment!

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