Jun 27 2008
I’m posting this fun short video on behalf of my colleague Todd Gowers who will be running The 14th Annual Hammond Ashley Memorial Double Bass Workshop, June 25-29 on the Seattle Pacific University Campus. This is one of the largest bass camps in America. You can hear Todd describe what he considers a “bass geek” and see some students and faculty from the workshop at this link.
Jun 26 2008
You may have heard this Chopin Prelude many times…but when played by Benjamin Zander in the context of the TED conference, you will be moved. It will give you hope as a fellow music educator and conductor. Watch it at this link.
Jun 25 2008
The SC600 Dual Adapter Box from Switchcraft® combines many of the most commonly used audio adapters into one, easy to use device. Each side functions separately, and features a 1/8″ stereo jack, a 1/4″ stereo jack, two 1/4″ mono jacks, and two RCA jacks.
Songkick is your concert-savvy friend. We send you email tour alerts when your favorite artists come to town, and we recommend concerts based on the music you like.
…there’s more at stake as the recording industry seeks new income avenues in the wake of wanton peer-to-peer piracy and declining CD sales in part due to the iPod and satellite radio. A U.S. House subcommittee could vote as early as Thursday…
Jun 23 2008
I was recently interviewed by one of our district Instructional Technology teachers here in Seattle about my use of technology in the general music classroom. You can watch the video below at the following link:
Teaching Music with Technology
or read the short blog post at the Seattle Public Schools Instructional Technology Blog.
Jun 21 2008
It’s my first weekend home without thought of school on Monday. In spite of my feeling guilty about not posting anything really thoughtful for awhile, I am relaxed and looking forward to some time off from students.
I am also doing something I haven’t done in ages: watching TV on a Saturday morning. I stumbled upon a great show that wasn’t animated or involved inane plot lines over-acted by hyper teenage “kids”.
DEFINITELY NOT CARTOONS-
From the Top at Carnegie Hall is a show on PBS that highlights exceptional young musicians. The performances are jaw dropping, but it’s the format of the show that really has me excited.
In addition to some of the finest performances of classical music you will ever hear, each show is a story about the performers; a hip, cool, thoughtful, insightful and behind the scenes look of each performer. Concert pianist Christopher O’Riley is the perfect host who introduces us to each kid and their unique story in a relaxed and documentary style fashion. It’s refreshingly “un-masterpiece theater” in it’s approach.
THE POWER OF A GOOD STORY-
As each story unfolds, you see the kids practicing, talking about their families, interacting with their friends and before they even perform you realize: “Hey! These kids are normal!”. Normal in the sense that they have similar lives to kids and teenagers anywhere. Most live in modest homes; they listen to all kinds of music; they have homework and worry about their grades; they hang out with their friends and even wear cool clothes and watch TV.
GREAT MUSIC FOR ALL-
Even though the performers have exceptional musical talent, they are not weird, unapproachable, or somehow privileged. The producers and editors of the show have done a magnificent job of debunking the myth that “classical” music is unapproachable or only enjoyed and experienced by adults who can afford tickets to the symphony or opera. As you get to know these kids, the power of story reveals a profound truth: the transcendence of musical performance can be experienced by anyone.
DEFINING AN EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE-
As a music educator, my initial reaction to this show could have been, “There is just no way kids can be this good. I’ll never work with kids at this caliber….woe is me; I hate my job! I could have been somebody other than a teacher of ungrateful losers…self-loathing, etc.” But it was impossible to feel this after I got to know these kids by watching them eat pizza, tell some jokes, and see them interact with parents. It wouldn’t be fair. Their exceptional performance was not born out of some freakish accident or circumstance unrelated to my own experience. I was inspired to do my best and be as passionate about music (or anything) like these kids.
WEB-SITE RESOURCES FOR YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS-
I believe your students will have the same reaction to these performances. You can find all of the TV shows on-line at the From the Top website. There is also a link for podcasts and some great teacher resources.
I am thankful the producers of From the Top at Carnegie Hall decided to include more than just performances by exceptional musicians. That alone would have been enough for you and me, lovers of great music. But I think our students would have been unimpressed or confused about such great performances. It’s the story and relationship developed between the performers and the viewer that creates a rich experience. In this way the exceptional performance is not weird.
Jun 11 2008
From the folks who brought you STOMP- great interactive web-site and educator resources for what looks like a multi-ethinic STOMP film event
The kakophone is a music composition device. First you select ten numbers to create a serial number for your kakophone. Each serial number creates a different melody based on your selected numbers. The next step is to adjust your numerical sequence…
Jun 07 2008
SoundCloud is an online audio platform for music professionals. We got fed up with the crappy tools available for sending and receiving music and felt we’d do things a little different. This is our version of how things should be.
Charting the MP3 Universe! Our sources find the best MP3s so you can enjoy a steady supply of excellent music.
AudioMicro is free to join. Upload and Sell your wholly owned stock music, sound effects, music cues, production music, and production elements on AudioMicro. Research, Locate, Purchase, and Download stock music and sound effects for your projects.
ArtistData empowers musicians and music organizations to extend their reach and do less data entry.
This week, Sasha Frere-Jones writes about Auto-Tune, a pitch-correction software program used in pop music. Here Frere-Jones talks about how Auto-Tune has become a pop-music phenomenon, and demonstrates how it can transform the human voice…
Jun 06 2008
In case you haven’t heard yet – the I.T. world is changing. The rise of social computing technologies, generally branded as “Web 2.0″ and including things like wikis, blogs, social networking, RSS, and more are slowly making their way into the business education world. This new movement is called Enterprise 2.0, and it’s no small shift. They’re even having a conference about it next week. But the change encompasses more than just the introduction of new, social software into the formerly stodgy business education world – it also includes the movement of server software from in-house data centers to the cloud, the rise of a mobile workforce, the rebirth of thin client computing, a self-provisioning user base, and more.
This is a short quote from a must read post from ReadWriteWeb
but try this as you read the artcle: replace the word business with education or school (as I did above…); the word CEO with principal or administrator; and the word client or customer with student.
Take time to read the comments on the post too.
Jun 02 2008
Now you can collaborate and record with ANYONE in the world (no matter how slow their broadband Internet connection) with NO LATENCY ISSUES.
I am constantly confronted with choices as I continue on my journey of recording my first music album. For a guitar player one of those choices is the tone you want for a song, or even a particular part of a song.
Honestly, given the amount I write about Digital Rights Management, you’d think that I’d rather the industry kept using it, just so I’d continue to have fodder for writing and writing—and occasionally talking—about it.
Amy Burns has become a tech specialist in the area of elementary music…president of the Technology Institute for Music Educators, a na’l nonprofit corporation that assists music educators in applying technology to improve teaching and learning in music.
Very clever and funny video…
SongCast is a music distribution service that delivers independent music to the world’s most popular download retailers, including; iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, Emusic and Napster!
AudioJungle is a brand new audio community serving up thousands of stock music loops and audio effects by independent authors for use in your projects. Join us today, and together we’re going to rock the web!
…LaLa will have a time rising above its peers. The new music social experience has put together a set of features however, that may make it stand out. Lala combines a social network, a music store, and an online music library.
