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Blog: Catalysts & Connections

Meaningful Music Theory

I was interested to read about Roger Bourland’s approaches to teaching music theory and making it more meaningful to his students. One of the approaches that stood out as a great idea was having the students bring music they are working on to his class to analyze. This makes so much sense! What types of approaches do you use to make theory meaningful to your students? Is there collaboration in your department between the theory and ensemble aspects of the… Read More »Meaningful Music Theory

Early Childhood Music and Television shows….

I haven’t written much on this blog on issues dealing with early childhood music but find it a fascinating area. The New York Times recently reported on the television show Jack’s Big Music Show. I wonder what impact shows such as this have on young children and their music education. Are students watching it passively or do they interact with it in their homes? A quick search on youtube revealed a toddler playing the “drum” while watching the show while… Read More »Early Childhood Music and Television shows….

What can your local orchestra do for you?

In the livejournal music education forum a Director of Education for a mid-west professional orchestra wants to know ” if there is something that you, as educators in schools, would love to have from your local performing arts group, such as programs, support materials, etc.” If your local orchestra director of education asked you what they could provide your program with, what would you say?

Urban Music Education? Music programs, Technology & Popular Music

The Christian Science Monitor had a very interesting article a couple of days ago that raises several important things for music educators to think about. The article discusses music school graduates and urban cultural institutions providing urban schools with music programs.While it is very positive that students are receiving music programs, one might be concerned that a trend will continue in which schools do not hire music education professionals but rather rely on musicians outside the school not necessarily educated… Read More »Urban Music Education? Music programs, Technology & Popular Music

Has your music classroom been YouTubed?

Have you checked to see if any of your music classes have made their way onto You Tube? You may be amazed at the number of music classes that have been recorded by students and posted onto this video sharing site. What would drive a student to do this? Is there a certain type of classroom culture that leads to this type of action or is it dependent on the individual student? Is it a malicious act? Do students even… Read More »Has your music classroom been YouTubed?