CNN recently featured a story on Marcelas Owens and her journey from being known as the Obamacare Kid years ago to transitioning as a transgender teen. The story addresses a number of important themes, one of which might not receive as much attention from the media, which is the power that music played in her life.Read More »Supporting transgender and other students communicate through music creation
Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock recently wrote an open letter to artists that is definitely worth a read and would be worth sharing with students. It is particularly appropriate for students in that it is addressed to the next generation of artists on how to respond to recent global events and contemporary society. Whatever students’ plans for the future, the suggestions could serve as organizers or starting points for projects in music ensembles or classes. Much of what Wayne Shorter and Herbie… Read More »Wayne Shorter’s and Herbie Hancock’s open letter to artists
A recent development out of Georgia Tech’s Center for Music Technology demonstrates how robotics can be used to augment live performance. However one feels about this type of technology and its connection to human performance, I find it helpful to think through these types of developments and imagine future scenarios that might relate to or impact music teaching and learning. I’ve written in the past about robots in relationship to music and musical engagement. More recently, in my article Reflecting on… Read More »Robotics to augment musical engagement?
Around this time of year, the Music Teachers Facebook Group is full of posts about Christmas concerts, religion and music education, sacred music in schools, and associated issues. The majority of the posts often position Christmas as the default holiday during wintertime and focus of concerts that occur this time of year. Some posts or comments even dismiss perspectives that question this focus or admonish students who are uncomfortable with foci on Christmas and related music. I’m left wondering how well music education is doing at addressing issues of understanding, cultural sensitivity, and meaning making in relation to these types of conversations.Read More »Christmas concerts on Chanukah and considering issues of cultural sensitivity. . .
The article Democracy of Sound: Is Gargageband Good for Music by Art Tavana is an interesting read. It’s also the type of article that could surely include the perspective of music educators, but does not. Coincidentally I had a very productive conversation with students in my Art of Teaching Contemporary Musicians course the other day about how music educators should consider the affordances and constraints of technology when situating them in teaching and learning contexts, another conversation with a music… Read More »Perspectives on garageband and musical engagement?