Catalysts & Connections - Evan Tobias

As you gear up for the upcoming school year consider taking advantage of several free advocacy resources being offered by MENC.
“The Power of Music” Advocacy Brochure Series is one resource available as a set of pdf files.
“Music for All students: Planning Music Education Advocacy” (also available as a pdf file) gives step by step suggestions […]

About a year ago I wrote about the possibility of robots appearing in school music ensembles. With The League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR) still at it, a set of concerts are being performed by robots with music commissioned from composers ranging from Morton Subotnick to the group They Might Be Giants.
Is it possible […]

As I was watching the last couple of minutes of the spelling bee championship tonight I couldn’t help but notice the amount of finalists who were involved in music. But even better then that was the statement of Evan O’Dorney upon winning the spelling bee:
“My favorite things to do were math and music, and […]

“Q Mr. President, a cultural question for you. There is a version of the National Anthem in Spanish now. Do you believe it will hold the same value if sung in Spanish as in English?
THE PRESIDENT: No I don’t, because I think the National Anthem ought to be sung […]

With many school concerts taking place around this time of year the issue of what music should or should not be played is a concern of many music teachers, students, parents, administrators and community members. A recent article in the Boston Globe about holiday music at school concerts takes a neutral look at some of […]

While listening to readings this evening from the new book “Letters From Young Activists: Today’s Rebels Speak Out” I was inspired by the idea that young people were given an opportunity for their voices to be heard. By providing a space for young people to give voice to their passions, perspectives and self reflections the […]

People familiar with the culture of marching band and drum and bugle corps are used to lengthy discussions (and debates) entailing what music should and should not be played on the field. Some marching band directors have to worry about the music they are planning on playing being banned by their district, but it’s […]

DJ Spooky (also known as Paul D. Miller )sent an interesting email out today (also archived on nettime) that contains an interview in which he discusses issues of music as a metaphor, remix culture , collage and the relationship between his perspectives of music and the philosophies of Deleuze and Guattari. It’s definitely an […]