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Blog: Catalysts & Connections

Mountain Lake Colloquium 2013 General Music & Music Teacher Education

I always look forward to the Mountain Lake Colloquium for teachers of general music methods. This conference addresses issues related to those in music teacher education who focus on general music. It is a wonderful conference and community. This year’s conference will focus on the theme “re-visioning and re-inventing our music teacher education practices and perspectives, culturally relevant pedagogy, and building community through music.” The 2013 Mountain Lake Colloquium will include Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings and Dr. Ysaye Barnwell as keynote… Read More »Mountain Lake Colloquium 2013 General Music & Music Teacher Education

A warning on moving from complex goals to discrete and disconnected tasks

Grant Wiggins (of Wiggins & McTighe’s Understanding by Design) recently highlighted the issue of breaking things into little bits in education. new post on the error of breaking complex goals into itty bitty pieces & marching thru them, & the warning on c core: http://t.co/hwLHJAYgmk — Grant Wiggins (@grantwiggins) April 20, 2013 He focuses on the following excerpt from the High School Publishers’ Criteria for the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics Fragmenting the Standards into individual standards, or individual… Read More »A warning on moving from complex goals to discrete and disconnected tasks

Considering the “next great copyright act”

Wired recently published an article titled “Copyright Chief Urges Congress to Produce ‘Next Great Copyright Act’ regarding upcoming testimony on copyright to congress.  As Mitch Stoltz and Parker Higgins from the Electronic Frontier Foundation state “if it’s open season on the Copyright Act, let’s be involved from the start.” Music educators ought to be a part of any conversation concerning new copyright laws. Whether addressing issues related to engagement with digital music or what students and teachers can or cannot do… Read More »Considering the “next great copyright act”

Perspectives on Marching Band and School Music Programs: Frank Deford’s commentary

Frank Deford’s recent commentary on Marching band  titled “School Bands Should not be Entertainment Adjunct for Sports” (on NPR) generated some very interesting dialogue on the comment section of the NPR website. Deford’s key point is that students should not be required to be members of the school marching band. He frames marching bands as primarily a means of entertainment for people at football games. While Deford could flesh out the social and cultural aspects of marching bands and use… Read More »Perspectives on Marching Band and School Music Programs: Frank Deford’s commentary

From Old School to New Schulwerk: Addressing Sound Worlds of Contemporary Popular Music

From Old School to New Schulwerk: Addressing Sound Worlds of Contemporary Popular Music  Evan S. Tobias To Cite or Download the article:  Tobias, E. (2011) From Old School to New Schulwerk: Addressing Sound Worlds of Contemporary Popular Music.The Orff Echo, 43(4), 19-23. This article, written for the Orff Echo, addresses considerations for integrating popular music in elementary music classrooms. In the article I draw on how Doug Goodkin (2001) frames Whitehead’s notions of romance, precision, and generalization in terms of… Read More »From Old School to New Schulwerk: Addressing Sound Worlds of Contemporary Popular Music