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Blog: Catalysts & Connections

Perspectives on garageband and musical engagement?

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?

Re-imagining Sondheim as a Means of Considering Curricular Possibilities and Limitations

I am often inspired by news items to imagine musical possibilities that could play out in varied teaching and learning contexts. A recent NPR story on pianist Anthony de Mare’s commissioning 36 composers to re-work songs by  Steven Sondheim caught my attention in this way. Rather than focus on the story (which is fabulous by the way) or the Liaisons project itself, I’m more interested here in making a larger point about curriculum and the ways we do or do… Read More »Re-imagining Sondheim as a Means of Considering Curricular Possibilities and Limitations

Inspiration or appropriation? Impetus for analysis

NPR’s weekend edition recently featured the story Inspiration Or Appropriation? Behind Music Copyright Lawsuits. The story leads with the question: “Where do you draw the line between inspiration and appropriation when it comes to musical compositions?” This is a fabulous generative, essential, or driving question that could lead to variegated investigations, projects, and student problem solving. As with similar reportage, this story features the perspectives of musicologists, in this case Judith Finell. This and similar generative questions can provide an impetus for… Read More »Inspiration or appropriation? Impetus for analysis

Visualizing Music

I’m always interested in the ways that people visualize and represent music. As a field, we can often be very Western standard notation-based. I’m increasingly interested in digitally mediated ways of visualizing sound and music. I discuss some aspects of this in my chapter Inter/trans/cross/new media(ting): Navigating an emerging landscape of digital media for music education. If you are interested in the topic of music visualization, I also highly recommend Webb’s articles Music analysis down the (You) tube? Exploring the potential of cross-media… Read More »Visualizing Music

Sofia Ashraf: Social justice through music

Thanks to a post by Jay Smooth, I just learned of Sofia Ashraf, who uses the power of music to address critical issues facing the people of India such as reinterpreting Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda to address environmental justice in Tamil Nadu, India. Check out Kodikanal Won’t: Given that Ashraf’s Kodikanal Won’t is part of a larger environmental justice campaign, she is receiving some mainstream media attention, such as a recent New York Times article by Robert Mackey. Yet, music educators and… Read More »Sofia Ashraf: Social justice through music