Music Is Not for Insects

I recently commented over on Steve’s blog with a recommendation on proper care and feeding of the

beginning percussionist. My advice was to read “Teaching Music with Purpose” by Petter Loel Boonshaft. I’m actually on vacation right now and made a promise to my family that I wouldn’t open the lap top and do any blogging….BUT this book is just too good not to share with the music ed community.  The percussion chapter alone was so full of practical advice, it could stand alone as it’s own book.

As I prepare to start at a new school this fall with a different grade level (more about that later…)

this book keeps giving me such great advice for the classroom and my conducting health. Here is an excerpt that hit home with me:

We need to protect ourselves from damage, especially from wear and tear caused by our conducting…now you may say to yourself, “I’m in great shape and I work out twelve hours a day; this can’t happen to me!” Or, “I am only twenty-three years old; that is only something that happens to older folks.” Wrong! I know many young conductors whose ailments began very early in their teaching careers, and many very athletic people whose exercise regimens, though wonderful for some aspects of life, do nothing to aid these specific problems.

• Class D Amplifiers Are Shrinking and Greening Your Electronics | Listening Post from Wired.com

  Technology has democratized the music industry in many obvious ways — notice how every band, regardless of stature, has a MySpace page? But one of technology’s more subtle effects has been to make our sound systems smaller, lighter and greener.

• Make Your Own Music game – TVOKids.com

  Fun interactive mixer for kids…

• YTMND – Gustav Holst and the Venture Brothers pay homage to MARS, Bringer of WAR!

  Mars: The Bringer of War like you’ve never heard it before….

• A VC: Reblogging Music

  I’ve tried most every web music service there is and right now, almost all of my web-based listening is hapening on the hype machine and tumblr. … are two different takes on the same idea. Build a music service around the music people blog about.

• Articles Of Faith: Embrace boredom and ignite imagination

  EVERY SUMMER, PARENTS hear the lament, “Mom, I’m bored!” In the world of the busy child, the cry “I’m bored” may stir guilt in the parental heart. “Have I failed as a parent?” wonders the fully scheduled, multitasking dad or mom…

• Coordinating fireworks to music | Digital Noise: Music & Tech – CNET News.com

  Watching this year’s Fourth of July fireworks display in Seattle, I wondered how they coordinate the fireworks with the musical soundtrack–

• McInblog: Culturegraph and Steely Dan

  I’m also a fan because they’ve accepted a couple of my submissions (one Sting-related and one Michael McDonald related). The one that wasn’t accepted is probably only funny to die-hard Steely Dan fans…

• More music for the kids | Digital Noise: Music & Tech – CNET News.com

  I’ve had a lot of time this summer to watch how the next generation interacts with music and technology, and it’s making me feel like my parents. Two stories to illustrate my point:

It looks like I’m going to have to thankfully amend a previous post about the Flip Video and issues with iMovie08. We are documenting some remodeling work around my house this summer using my Flip Video Camera, (not the new Mino which looks really cool…) and when I plugged it into my Macbook running Leopard I was able to directly import my movies from the Flip into iMovie08! It even worked on my iMac running Tiger (OSX 10.4.11).

Previously, I needed a video converter like iSquint or Visual Hub to convert the .avi files on the Flip into a format that iMovie08 would recognize. I guess one of the latest software updates from Apple solved this problem…has anybody else had success with this issue?

There is a nice video review of the flip over at Macworld.

I happened to catch this story on NPR somewhere in the middle of the music and thought, “Man…that blues guitarist is smokin! Who is that?” When I heard that it was a family trio of kids aged 9, 14 and 16, I was blown away. AND- take a look at those guitars. They are made out of automobile mufflers! Too cool.

Don’t be put off by the novelty- they sound as good as they look. If you are a blues fan, The Homemade Jamz Blues Band will be your new favorite.

• Pixar Movie WALL-E | EM magazine Featured Interview with Sound Designer Ben Burtt for WALL-E

  George Lucas may have conjured up R2-D2 in the film Star Wars, but Ben Burtt gave him a personality. Without the chirps and beeps that made up his voice, the famous droid sidekick would have merely been a silent hunk of metal.

• Led Zeppelin Uncomfortable Lending Music to Rhythm Games | Game | Life from Wired.com

  Despite the success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, you won’t see Led Zeppelin’s iconic tunes pop up in either game any time soon, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• Secrets of Stradivarius Explained | Wired Science from Wired.com

  Scientists may finally have discovered the secret of Stradivarius violins.

• Listening Post’s Top 10 Hottest Music Sites | Listening Post from Wired.com

  Change is the only constant in the music business, and that goes double for the digital music business. Nonetheless, we’ve assembled a list of the 10 hottest digital music websites in the world.

• TinySong | Type in a song and make a free music link to share music with friends
  
• Rhapsody To Sell MP3s via Web, iLike, MTV and Yahoo | Listening Post from Wired.com

  As of today, you no longer have to use the Rhapsody application to purchase music from the company, and all of the single song downloads in its store are available as unprotected MP3s.

• Electronic Musician’s interview with mastering engineer Bob Katz.

  Bob Katz has strong opinions and is adamant in his condemnation of the “loudness race” — the continual increase in average level, and the consequent reduction of dynamic range, that has resulted from the heavy compression of CDs.

• July 2008 Tech Page | EM Tech Page on Tinnitus

  Among the maladies to which electronic musicians are especially susceptible, hearing damage caused by prolonged exposure to loud sounds…When you’re young, you normally don’t think about the consequences of cranking the amps to 11,