Blog: Catalysts & Connections

As I was watching the last couple of minutes of the spelling bee championship tonight I couldn’t help but notice the amount of finalists who were involved in music. But even better then that was the statement of Evan O’Dorney upon winning the spelling bee: “My favorite things to do were math and music, and with the math I really like the way the numbers fit together,”….. “And with the music I like to let out ideas by composing notes… Read More »Spelling Bee Champion & Music Education Advocacy

I recently returned from the Mountain Lake Colloquium for General Music Methods teachers (and graduate students). I cannot say enough positive things about the colloquium and words such as revitalizing, inspiring, thought-provoking, and collaborative can only begin to give a sense of what a wonderful conference this was. It was obvious that great care went into its organization and it went very smoothly while truly providing a sense of community. Bennett Reimer and Estelle Jorgensen provided rich philosophical perspectives and… Read More »Mountain Lake Colloquium

UPDATED: The following post written in 2007 is no longer accurate as Northwestern currently has a Jazz Studies Major directed by Victor L. Goines. The Northwestern University School of Music will be eliminating its jazz studies major. An official public statement was made by School of Music Dean Toni-Marie Montgomery today, a day after the news was announced in the Daily Northwestern Newspaper , on the Northwestern News Network (you can still watch the actual news broadcast ) and a… Read More »Northwestern University School of Music Cutting Jazz Studies Major [Northwestern does currently have a Jazz Studies Program]

If you haven’t already done so, take some time to read the April 2007 issue of Visions of Research in Music Education. VRME is an online open access research journal that deals with various issues in music education. For music educators who do not have access to online databases from which to access research articles, open access journals such as VRME provide free access to thought provoking work by other music educators. How might you put into practice some of… Read More »Vol. 9/10 of Visions of Research in Music Education online…

This weekend I’m planning on watching “The Hip Hop Project” a new documentary on a community hip hop program for youth based in New York City. The movie has been getting mixed reviews ( positive) & (less positive), though it won 13 film festival awards. Recently the MPAA re-rated it from “R” to PG-13 despite the use of the “F-word” 17 times. Chris Rolle the founder of the Hip Hop Project was quoted in the Hollywood Reporter explaining his reasoning… Read More »Hip Hop and youth documentary this Friday!