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Blog: Catalysts & Connections

Working the Decks on This Blog: Web-Based Turntablism and more…

Have you ever played a turntable? You can now via the web! That’s right, every time this website is loaded from September 21st through November 25th TurntablePC, an interactive art project, will be triggered to manipulate an LP via the web in an art museum in Denmark. TurntablistPC was developed by Mogens Jacobsen. Every since I ordered a pair of Technic 1200 turntables and a mixer (under the district instrumental budget) for the general music program I used to teach,… Read More »Working the Decks on This Blog: Web-Based Turntablism and more…

Society for Music Teacher Education Symposium Recap

I had a fabulous time at the 2007 SMTE Symposium this past weekend. Congratulations to everyone at University of North Carolina at Greensboro that organized and ran the symposium so smoothly. It was great seeing people I’ve met at previous conferences and meeting new colleagues as well. The conference was packed with important presentations and I learned much from the research, best practices and position papers. I also had a lot of fun giving my presentation with Janet Barrett. I’ve… Read More »Society for Music Teacher Education Symposium Recap

Upcoming Society of Music Teacher Education Symposium

I’m looking forward to attending the Society of Music Teacher Education symposium later this week. A look through the program shows that it is going to be full of interesting papers and presentations. Janet Barret and I will be presenting our position paper “Counterpoint or Remix? A Dialogue on Popular Music and Popular Culture in the Music Teacher Education Curriculum.” Here’s the abstract: “Music education has professed the importance of including popular music in the curriculum for decades. Well-articulated rationales… Read More »Upcoming Society of Music Teacher Education Symposium

Hip Hop In the Music Classroom? Discussing Rap & Misogyny

One reason why many music educators are hesitant to integrate rap music in the classroom or even discuss it, is the misogyny present through much of the commercial rap music and videos that the general public and many students are familiar with. The difficulty in navigating through the complexity of this and other issues leads to many music educators avoiding the topic all together. On September 25th of 2007 Congress will be holding a hearing focusing on media and “”stereotypes… Read More »Hip Hop In the Music Classroom? Discussing Rap & Misogyny

Reluctant composers & Sparking student creativity

Anytime I hear about a music class, whether in K-12 schools or the university level, that makes use of improvisation and composition I get excited. I was happy to read Scott Spiegelberg’s recent post “Teaching Creativity” (via his excellent “Musical Perceptions” blog). At the end of his post he asks the following question regarding students who are “scared or reluctant” about a composition project: “So, how do you light the creative spark in these types of students?” You can read… Read More »Reluctant composers & Sparking student creativity