Catalysts and Connections

Michael Gagliardo contributed a blog post over at the League of American Orchestras regarding the role that orchestras play in music education. The post focuses primarily on the lack of young musicians who attend orchestra concerts and the degree to which orchestral musicians should be enthusiastic during concerts designed specifically for young people.

What types of . . . → Read More: The Future of Orchestras and Their Role in Music Education: A Dialogue

Music educators can benefit from the increasing sophistication and ease of use of music web-based technologies allowing for a wide range of musical engagement. IndabaMusic is one such technology with great potential for music educators looking to have their students create, record, produce, listen to, analyze, and critique music. This web-based platform makes it easy for . . . → Read More: Creating, Producing, Analyzing, & Critiquing Music in the Cloud: IndabaMusic & Music Education

Wether or not your music program includes string education, it is well worth your time to listen to and consider including this NPR interview with violinist Regina Carter in your classes. Carter, a winner of a MacArthur Genius grant, discusses her work interpreting African folk music and realizing several pieces in new contexts on her latest . . . → Read More: Regina Carter’s “Reverse Thread” as inspiration for potential chamber music projects

I posted earlier on Jason Freeman’s open score project and invitation for people to create their own musical versions of his open scores. The results are in and he selected several versions that were performed my pianist Jenny Lin. You can listen to them and read comments by the creators in his latest post on “The . . . → Read More: The Results of an interactive composition project…

For those interested in music education research, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2010 Conference schedule is available – the conference takes place this weekend through Tuesday. This annual conference is always full of phenomenal research sessions in a very wide array of disciplines. Thanks to Paul Baker, from the AERA Communications and Outreach committee, a . . . → Read More: AERA 2010 Conference & Music Education

The New York Times has a fantastic section called “The Score,” which features composers discussing their music, process, and various issues related to composition. Jason Freeman, a composer and assistant professor at the Center for Music Technology at Georgia Tech, recently wrote about the use of open scores as a springboard for creating music. In his . . . → Read More: Open scores and music students: An invitation to compose from Jason Freeman

The New York Times has an interesting article, titled “The String Quartet Reinvented,” about David Harrington’s (violinist and founder of the Kronos Quartet) role in broadening the stylistic oeuvre of string quartets and reinventing this type of ensemble. In addition to reminding me that some of my favorite groups are chamber groups and small . . . → Read More: The [fill in the blank] ensemble reinvented?

MENC has the results of an informal poll on music-focused television scripted and reality shows. It seems, based on the additional comments, that many people take the shows at face value when considering their use to (or problems for) music education. I was surprised that few responses discuss the use of these shows in the classroom . . . → Read More: Music-focused Television Shows

I’m sure there are many efforts similar to the following, but this just arrived in my email box and I’ll post it below:

Online Contemporary Classical, Experimental Electronic, Improvisational and Sound Artists release New Music Haitian Relief CD to Benefit Food For The Poor’s Haitian Relief Efforts

Sanibel, Fla., January 17, 2010 – Nineteen composers, improvisers and sound . . . → Read More: Music to Benefit the People of Haiti…

I became intrigued with the new reality show “The Sing Off” after hearing about the A Capella focused show on NPR’s Here & Now. However you feel about the groups on the show or the contemporary A Capella scene in general, this show offers tremendous potential for creative music educators and our students.

In particular . . . → Read More: Thank you Ben Folds & Shawn Stockman! “The Sing Off” and music education…