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Blog: Catalysts & Connections

AERA 2010 Conference & Music Education

For those interested in music education research, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2010 Conference schedule is available – the conference takes place this weekend through Tuesday. This annual conference is always full of phenomenal research sessions in a very wide array of disciplines. Thanks to Paul Baker, from the AERA Communications and Outreach committee, a NING site dedicated to the conference is already up and running and the twitter account @AERA2010 will be aggregating tweets tagged with #AERA &… Read More »AERA 2010 Conference & Music Education

Open scores and music students: An invitation to compose from Jason Freeman

The New York Times has a fantastic section called “The Score,” which features composers discussing their music, process, and various issues related to composition. Jason Freeman, a composer and assistant professor at the Center for Music Technology at Georgia Tech, recently wrote about the use of open scores as a springboard for creating music. In his post he mentions the small percentage of adults who continue playing music and speculates that even less compose music. When viewed through the prism… Read More »Open scores and music students: An invitation to compose from Jason Freeman

The [fill in the blank] ensemble reinvented?

The New York Times has an interesting article, titled “The String Quartet Reinvented,” about David Harrington’s (violinist and founder of the Kronos Quartet) role in broadening the stylistic oeuvre of string quartets and reinventing this type of ensemble. In addition to reminding me that some of my favorite groups are chamber groups and small ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, Ethel, SO Percussion, and the many configurations of Bang on a Can, the article provoked a resurfacing of a question… Read More »The [fill in the blank] ensemble reinvented?

Music-focused Television Shows

MENC has the results of an informal poll on music-focused television scripted and reality shows. It seems, based on the additional comments, that many people take the shows at face value when considering their use to (or problems for) music education. I was surprised that few responses discuss the use of these shows in the classroom or the role that music educators can play in recontextualizing them or re-mediating the meanings that students make from their engagement with these shows.… Read More »Music-focused Television Shows

Music to Benefit the People of Haiti…

I’m sure there are many efforts similar to the following, but this just arrived in my email box and I’ll post it below: Online Contemporary Classical, Experimental Electronic, Improvisational and Sound Artists release New Music Haitian Relief CD to Benefit Food For The Poor’s Haitian Relief Efforts Sanibel, Fla., January 17, 2010 – Nineteen composers, improvisers and sound artists from diverse online experimental and contemporary classical communities have teamed up to release a compilation CD targeting all the proceeds to… Read More »Music to Benefit the People of Haiti…