Skip to content

Project Ideas

Iconic notation music videos

I have written before about the use of iconic notation in composing with computer software. In having students listen to and analyze music it can be very helpful for them to use iconic notation to help them focus on various details in the music. This online video of Bach’s’ Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is completely in iconic notation. This is just one of many videos created by the music animation machine. By importing a MIDI file into a… Read More »Iconic notation music videos

Reflections on using American Idol in the Music Classroom

As many readers know – ABC world news tonight broadcasted a story on the use of American Idol in the music Classroom recently that included me and many of my 5th-7th grade general music students. In this post I want to provide some background information on why I chose to use the show in my classroom, how I use it, why I participated in the news story and my reflections on the entire experience. I also just found out about… Read More »Reflections on using American Idol in the Music Classroom

African Musicians and Musicians playing African Music

The influence of African music and musicians on music education and music in America could certainly be explored more than it probably is in music classrooms. While some music programs incorporate African drumming into the music curriculum there is a lot more to the music of Africa and the influence it has had on contemporary music.Read More »African Musicians and Musicians playing African Music

A musical signature….

Have you ever wondered what your musical signature is? What about the musical signatures of your students? Why not pose that question to some students and see what they come up with? After trying out Jason Freeman’s itunes signature maker software you can have discussions leading in many different directions. What do the different musical signatures of your students sound like compared to one another? Why do they sound so similar or different? Does the musical signature reflect the identity… Read More »A musical signature….

From Conscious Hip Hop to Racism in the Jazz Age….

How has music education dealt with hip hop culture or rap music let alone issues of race and class when discussing listenership? Baakari Kitwana author of the recent book “Why White Kids Love Hip Hop”wrote a recent article in the Village Voice that looked at the fact that most “conscious” hip hop shows ( non-commercial and politically progressive) are attended predominantly by white youth. Some people might observe that more often than not, there tends to be a disassociation between… Read More »From Conscious Hip Hop to Racism in the Jazz Age….