Blog: Catalysts & Connections

Since for many, Valentine’s Day encourages expressions of love, why not address music’s power to do just this? Countless composers and songwriters have expressed their love for another or tried to capture the concept or feelings of love in their music. Contemporary composers such as Corey Dargel allow you to commission a love song after providing details which will end up in the lyrics of the song. You can listen to a short program featuring some of Dargel’s past commissions… Read More »Commission (or Compose) A Love Song!

Prior to being a full time student, when I was teaching in a public school, I remember being very frustrated with my lack of access to various music research journals. There was no way I could afford subscriptions to the wide variety of journals I now read and downloading one article could cost up to $40! (If you don’t believe me try checking it out yourself!) While those of us at universities have almost unlimited access to countless online journals,… Read More »Open Access Journal News

While watching Super Bowl XLII I was thinking about the role music played during commercials and the game. While it was interesting to think about the particular choices of music during commercials, I got the biggest kick from the “Mr. Oboe” commercial featuring Ephraim Salaam and Chester Pitts who, according to the commercial plays (or played) the oboe. While some might be upset that the narrative of the commercial could be read as saying that playing football is a more… Read More »Super (Bowl) Oboe (Ad)

Jonathan Savage has been writing an interesting series of posts on the cross curricular dimensions of the UK National curriculum. If you are interested in the design of curricula, or are curious about the types of things taking place in education in the UK, his posts offer a helpful look at how cross curricular initiatives can be approached in music education. So far he has addressed the following cross curricular dimensions: Identity and Cultural Diversity, Healthy Lifestyle, and Community Participation.… Read More »UK Curriculum & Cross Curriculuar Dimensions

If you are interested in issues of social justice and music education consider attending the upcoming Musica Ficta Lived Realities: A Conference on Exclusions and Engagements in Music, Education and the Arts, at the Univesity of Toronto from Thurs. Jan. 24 – Sun. Jan. 27 2008. It looks like an excellent set of sessions and workshops with some far reaching implications for the field. I’ll be presenting a paper entitled “Flippin’ the misogynist script: Representation and agency of women in… Read More »Musica Ficta Conference: Social Justice & Music Education