The topic of composing and performing with a laptop will be a theme running through this blog I’m sure for a long time. Over at newmusicbox Marc Weidenbaum recently wrote an interesting article tracing the history of musciains using the laptop, focusing on some recent composers/performers making use of it in their own work. After […]
The Willie Mae Rock Camp is looking for volunteers and campers for the 2006 summer rock camp for girls. Based in Brooklyn, New York the camp is modeled after the Rock n Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Oregon.
If you happen to work in New York, whether you work with student rock bands in your […]
While information about Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian revolution taking place in Venezuela is somewhat one-sided in the U.S., some of the positive things happening are getting reported. Apparently music education in Venezuela and classical music are taken very seriously. For many poor children in Venezuela music education is a transformative experience and plays a […]
Track 1- Thanks to Jonathan Savage for his comment referencing some very exciting music education research on Ted’s post about Lucy Green and informal music education settings in the classroom.
Track 2 - Looking for a prompt for getting your students composing? How about this idea..
Track 3 - If you are going to be working on […]
The princeton laptop orchestra is getting even more press. The plork had me wondering about the potential for laptop orchestras in public school music programs earlier this month. If schools aren’t ready to move to an exclusively electronic ensemble maybe they can make a transition to an electro acoustic ensemble with just a few laptoppers […]
The jazz ensemble is not the only group that students can improvise in. Groups that create their own electronic “instruments” do exist and can provide a model for an interesting collaboration between the music and technology departments of your school. If you or your students don’t want to create musical electronic devices from scratch you […]
Track 1 - How long until public school music programs start up their own laptop orchestras ? If you had one in your school one of your students might even eventually make a career writing electronica and orchestral music!
Track 2 - Speaking of orchestras, why not let your students know what playing in an […]
Have you ever wanted to commission a new piece of music for your music students but not had the money to make it happen? Sixty five symphony orchestras across the country have created a model for commissioning new music that could easily be replicated in public school music programs.
The orchestras chipped in together to commission […]
It’s always interesting reading about the various ideas people have in order to increase the attendance of younger people going to classical music concerts. Justin Davidson, guest blogging on Alex Ross’s The Rest Is Noise, recently offered his perspective on some methods orchestras are trying out (towards the end of his post). I’m […]
Composer Belinda Reynolds, a member of the common sense composers collective, is doing the kind of work I was thinking about when I posted about contemporary music and music education a couple of weeks ago. Her recent article on Newmusicbox “Writing Music for Young Players” offers a refreshing and promising perspective on the creation of […]
