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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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Music Technology Presentation

09/29/09 By Leave a Comment

I had the opportunity on Friday, September 25th to see a presentation on the use of Music Technology in the Classroom. The presentation was given by Radio Cremata, the music technology teacher at LaSalle High School here in Miami, FL. Cremata is also a Doctoral Candidate in Music Education at Boston University, and is pursuing his degree through a case study based on music technology. I did live updates to my Twitter stream during the presentation, which I have pasted below in chronological order. You can also see the original “tweets” by viewing the tag #musictech, which I included in all my posts. Below, find the pasted updates, as well as some major ideas that Cremata discussed:

Twitter Stream – The Updates

  • Morning, everyone! This morning I’ll be live-tweeting a presentation on #musictech from our weekly #umiami Music Ed forum! Stay tuned!
  • Today’s #musictech presentation: Radio Cremata-”Maximizing Your Student’s Musical Potential: Strategies for Teaching Music With Technology”
  • Radio Cremata just started his presentation off right-saying he’s hoping for a ‘Canes win tomorrow!
  • “Music is Evolving, but Music Education tends to be behind the Evolution of Music”
  • Reason: Electronic Music Creation Program -Allows students without musical training to create music
  • Technology Program:”Reason” helps teach how a Mixing Board works (visual mixing board, front and back, on the screen).. way cool!
  • This guy can beat-box, too! He’s an a-capella aficionado
  • Cremata is showing an example of how he teaches students to create drum patterns, when they have no musical experience!
  • “My goal is to make them un-afraid, so they can love music”
  • In “Reason,” you can look at the back of the mixing board, and drag/drop cables on your screen to re-wire!
  • The class that Cremata uses “Reason” in is entitled “Sound Engineering”
  • Cremata moves on to a demo of “Music Ace Maestro” to teach students with no experience how to read music!
  • EarMaster Pro – Ear Training software
  • Uh oh! We’re getting tested… the last level of the “Extended Harmony” lesson in EarMaster Pro!
  • Another software demo: eMedia Piano & Keyboard Method
  • Jazz Piano MasterClass with Miles Black helps teach Jazz Piano… not very interesting interface, but it teaches well!
  • Cremata gives every child he teaches in his classroom high-back leather chairs, so they “feel special” and are more motivated
  • Programs that Cremata calls “creative software”- GarageBand, Logic, Reason, ACID Pro
  • Cremata is modeling how he teaches the blues using ACID Pro
  • “Music is supposed to be FUN!”
  • Cremata has a project to remix the #umiami fight song in ACID Pro! WAY cool!
  • “Our goal is to maximize students’ opportunities to grow” – Radio Cremata
  • GREAT presentation from Radio Cremata on using Music Technology to enrich students’ music education! Thanks for coming, Radio!

The Software

The following is a list of software programs that Cremata mentioned during his presentation, with links to the websites of the programs.

Quotes

Quotes from Mr. Cremata’s presentation:

  • Music is Evolving, but Music Education tends to be behind the Evolution of Music
  • My goal is to make them un-afraid, so they can love music
  • Music is supposed to be FUN!
  • Our goal is to maximize students’ opportunities to grow

The Study

As part of his doctoral work, Mr. Cremata is doing case studies on collegiate music students and their experiences with music technology instruction. If you are interested in participating in this study, which will take no more than 15-20 minutes of your time, please email him at rcremata@yahoo.com. Any offers to participate would be greatly appreciated, I’m sure.

What do you think of some of the things Mr. Cremata is doing in his classroom? Do you have other ideas for integrating technology into the music classroom? Share them below in the comments, so we can continue to advocate for music technology!

Front Page Image – Flickr Photo
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MusTech.Net Lists Must-Have Freebies

09/01/09 By 2 Comments

Dr. Joe Pisano, the man behind MusTech.net, has put up a fantastic resource that was just too helpful to pass up sharing with everyone here. He has compiled a list of the top downloadable “freebies” for music teachers. These programs range in type from audio editing to ear training to metronomes, and the list includes programs that run on each of the three major operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, and Linux). While the post is billed as being a list for music teachers, I found that many of the programs that are mentioned have been extremely helpful to me as a music student as well. With tuition being the way it is nowadays, too, we can always use more free resources!

Check out Dr. Pisano’s post, “Music Teachers -Must Have Downloadable Freebies For The New School Year,” today at MusTech.net. Be sure to check out some of his other great posts too, including his creation of a netvibes page for Music Education bloggers/podcasters (which MusicEdMajor.net is featured on), and his list of the top music pedagogues to follow on Twitter!

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REVIEW: Teaching Band and Chorus in the 21st Century

07/09/09 By 2 Comments
Teaching Band and Chorus in the 21st Century

A Book by BNC Education

While in Washington, D.C. for MENC’s Music Education Week, I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Kriston Feldpausch, one of the Executive Directors of BNC Education. I have had a small amount of interaction with BNC Education before; one of my personal blog posts was featured in the June edition of the Music Education Blog Carnival, which they hosted on their blog. It was wonderful getting to put a face to the name, and get to have some great conversations with Mrs. Feldpausch.

One thing I did not know about BNC Education when I arrived in Washington is that they have published a book! Mrs. Feldpausch, along with Mr. Steve Raybould (the other half of BNC Education) published a book in 2008 entitled Teaching Band and Chorus in the 21st Century: A Director’s Guide. When I informed Mrs. Feldpausch of what I was doing here at MusicEdMajor.net, she asked if I would be interested in writing a review of the book here on the site. I, of course, was thrilled with the idea, and this review is the result of that encounter!

The Premise

There are plenty of books that have been published on pedagogical techniques, books that “teach you how to teach.” This book is different, though, in that it is geared towards teaching you many things you won’t learn in your method’s courses, and some that you will as well. As the back cover explains:

Teaching Band and Chorus in the 21st Century is a practical, common-sense guide to efficiently running a band and chorus program.

Essentially, the authors highlight details of absolutely everything that a teacher could encounter, from ways to structure lessons and organize rehearsal time to advice for how to build your program’s budget. It is really an all-in-one crash course in being a band or chorus teacher.

The Layout

The book is laid out in four sections. The first section is entitled “Your Students” and discusses topics that will involve both you (the teacher) and your students (for example, listening, classroom management, and assessment). This section is the main area that discusses pedagogical techniques; most of the rest of the book focuses on the “extra stuff” that all teachers encounter. Section two is called “Your Program.” This is the longest section in the book, and covers topics such as marketing your program, planning concerts, financial considerations, paperwork, and parent communication. The third section, “Your Place,” is about relating your ensemble to the community. It includes advice on recruiting, collaboration, and administration. Finally, section four is entitled “Your Life” and focuses on your well-being as the director. The three issues covered in this section are getting a job, professional development, and things to do over the summer (a topic that has also been covered here at MusicEdMajor.net).

In addition to the content of the book, the authors have added small segments, which appear in sidebar format on some pages, or take up full pages elsewhere, to add additional insight. The first of these are called “Technology Tips,” and they include ideas for integrating technology into the music program. The “What if…” boxes anticipate “what if…” questions that are likely to come up based on the content around which they are placed (for example, the “What if” box in the budgeting section is appropriately titled “What if my budget gets cut?”). The third type of section is called “Reality Check,” and appears every so often on it’s own page, with a reminder that as ambitious as we are as musicians, we cannot do everything, and our program is not the center of the universe. Finally, the authors place a segment called “Blogging at North Central…” at the end of each topic. This segment chronicles the lives of two fictional teachers, band director Barbara Ritter and choral director Conrad Wallace, telling stories about encounters they have had that coincide with the topic they follow. The catch is, all the stories themselves are true-the names have just been changed!

The Content

This book will not find its home as a textbook in a collegiate Music Education program any time soon, but it does serve its purpose extremely well. The information and ideas in the book are fresh and exciting, and they are delivered in an extremely passionate voice. The book is written in a more informal voice than a typical textbook, which makes it significantly easier to read. The authors (one of whom is a choral director, the other a band director) do a good job of citing specific examples from both of the concentrations equally, although there are some sections that focus specifically on one concentration where a broader view might be more beneficial to the reader. All in all, though, the book does a great job at doing what it is billed to–providing a practical, common-sense guide to running a program.

In Conclusion

On a scale of 5 stars, I give this book 5 stars! It is an extremely helpful resource to beginning educators, and I would call it a “must-have” for any first-year band or chorus director. The book seems to have less application to veteran teachers than it is billed to, but it does provide the opportunity for revitalization for a veteran teacher who has fallen into a routine and is looking for new ways to go about things. This book by no means is a substitute for a 4-year Music Education degree, but it is a fantastic handbook for being out in the field, and should be on every first-year band or chorus director’s shelf! It is not necessarily cheap at $21.95, but I feel it would be a good investment for a beginning teacher!

Have you read this book or others like it? Please leave a comment with your thoughts or questions about the book, and I will be happy to answer anything I can! Don’t forget to pick up your copy of Teaching Band and Chorus in the 21st Century today!

Do you have a product (book, software, website) that you would like to see reviewed on MusicEdMajor.net? Leave a comment here, or email the editor at andy@andyzweibel.com for more information!


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“Live Blog” of Technology Session

06/21/09 By 3 Comments

I had the chance, again, to attend an Opening Plenary session as a part of  MENC’s National Music Education Week in Washington, D.C. entitled “Software for Music Creation.” The panel was moderated by Peter Jutras, and included Amy Burns, Barbara Freedman, and Estelle Roth. In continuing with my frustrations from yesterday, I was unable to live-blog the session as I had hoped. I did, however, take notes on the session in live-blog fashion, and have posted them here for you! If you have any thoughts or questions, please feel free to leave a comment! Here is my live-blog feed from this morning’s presentation, in bulleted list format:

  • Beginning “live-blog” of presentation titled “Software for Music Education”
  • Panel is: Moderator Pete Jutras, Amy Burns(@awillis2 on Twitter), Barbara Freedman(@MusicEdTech), Estelle Roth
  • Teaching is trying to make connections between different worlds-our world as a teacher, their worlds as a student
  • It is difficult making connections when the worlds are from different times and with different resources
  • We need to get over the concept of using technology as a “reward” and use it as a TOOL<
  • Amy Burns presenting now-TI:ME President-Elect and elementary teacher in NJ
  • Sibelius Groovy: Shapes, Jungle, City
  • Groovy Shapes: Create mode is like a loop-based program; interface is like creating a jungle-trees, butterflies represent rhythm/melody loops!
  • Groovy Shapes “Create” mode allows you to click and drag these aspects of the jungle into the screen to create loops!
  • Combine science with music; students create a composition based on their knowledge of the rainforest in Groovy Shapes!
  • New program demo: “World of Music” let’s you DRAW music and then replay the exact steps that were taken
  • 3rd Grade Social Studies-Music combination with Social Studies; recorder compositions using G, A, B and import into GarageBand to create their own “State Song”
  • http://Trakax.com is a free GarageBand alternative for PC
  • Amy can be found at http://amymburns.com
  • Now time for Barbara Freedman to present-HS teacher in CT
  • Barbara can be found at http://www.MusicEdTech.wordpress.com
  • Courses titled “Electronic Music” at the HS level—4 levels
  • Students have entered “Electronic Music” with no musical experience and gone to college for degrees in Electronic Music
  • Barbara starts with GarageBand in early levels, and moves to Logic Pro for advanced level  classes
  • You used to have to buy 3 different programs: MIDI Sequencing, Notation, Audio—now, Logic Pro (or GarageBand) does all 3!
  • Great thought: Barbara’s view of notation: a means by which to re­-create music (creation of music does not HAVE to be linked to notation
  • Estelle Roth presenting—she teaches Elementary Instrumental Music in VA
  • She uses the playback feature in Sibelius that allows you to select which voices to play back (student’s part can be used to aid them or taken away for a challenge)

Thank you to Peter, Amy, Barbara, and Estelle for their wonderful presentation this morning! It was extremely informative and very passionately delivered!

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