The way hip hop is portrayed in the media plays a great role in the way our students and society in general perceive it. There has been an entire world of hip hop that has been left out of the mainstream media and that may soon change. The way rap is discussed in music classrooms can be greatly broadened if consciousness in hip hop becomes a part of the mainstream coverage of it and the conversations in our classrooms. Speaking… Read More »Hip Hop and Improvisation
The recent International Association for the Study of Popular Music conference gave me a lot to think about. I will discuss some specific issues that were addressed at the conference in the next few days. The overarching feeling I had leaving the conference was that our field really does need to make more connections with scholars in the various fields of music.Read More »Popular Music and Music Education
The next time the music industry and the current state of popular music comes up in conversation with your students ask them to answer some of the questions from this ipsos survey and then have a discussion about the answers in class. Do they agree with the results of the survey? Do you?
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 a new work by composer Joan Tower. The result is a work that makes use of material from “America the Beautiful.” Unfortunately the title… Read More »A possible model for commissioning a new piece of music
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 in agreement that affordable tickets are one of the key ways to get more young people going to concerts. It was the exact thing I was thinking… Read More »Young people going to classical music concerts?