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Inspiration or appropriation? Impetus for analysis

NPR’s weekend edition recently featured the story Inspiration Or Appropriation? Behind Music Copyright Lawsuits. The story leads with the question: “Where do you draw the line between inspiration and appropriation when it comes to musical compositions?” This is a fabulous generative, essential, or driving question that could lead to variegated investigations, projects, and student problem solving. As with similar reportage, this story features the perspectives of musicologists, in this case Judith Finell. This and similar generative questions can provide an impetus for… Read More »Inspiration or appropriation? Impetus for analysis

Orchestral hybridity and convergence: FUSE@PSO & potential for music education

Here’s another example of how professional orchestras are engaging in some of the ideas expressed in my article Toward convergence: Adapting music education to contemporary society and participatory culture: The FUSE@PSO (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) initiative currently involves Steve Hackman’s arrangement of music by Brahms, Radiohead, and others in the form of mashups (as discussed in this article by Elizabeth Bloom in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). While in this case Hackman is creating mashups for an orchestra to perform, I suggest that in music education… Read More »Orchestral hybridity and convergence: FUSE@PSO & potential for music education

Serial opera format as a springboard for musical exploration?

Allan Kozinn reports on the opera Vireo: The Spiritual Biography of a Witch’s Accuser composed by Lisa Bielawa, which will be broadcast over television or via the web in short installments over two years. I can imagine multiple ways students might engage with this as a topic or even the work itself, though I’m not yet familiar with the opera. The notion of creating music that can be shared in both a live setting (as this opera will be performed… Read More »Serial opera format as a springboard for musical exploration?

Crossfading music education: Connections between secondary students’ in- and out-of-school music experience

To Cite or Download the Article: Tobias, E. S. (2014). Crossfading music education: Connections between secondary students’ in- and out-of- school music experience. International Journal of Music Education, 1-18. doi: 10.1177/0255761413515809 If you do not have institutional access to International Journal of Music Education and would like a copy of the article, contact me via email or with a note in the comment section. My article “Crossfading music education: Connections between secondary students’ in- and out-of-school music experience” is now… Read More »Crossfading music education: Connections between secondary students’ in- and out-of-school music experience

Music Education + New Music + NewMusicBox = NewMusicBox Education Week!

As a longtime reader of the online multimedia publication NewMusicBox (from New Music USA), I’m thrilled to contribute to their special focus on Education:  How We Learn Now: Education Week (Sept 23- 27). My article, Inviting Possibilities for New Music and Music Education addresses three key themes: Contemporary pedagogy: shifting from a lecture, direct instruction, teacher-centered approach to one that is more project-based and student-centered Participatory culture: drawing on some of the themes I addressed in my MEJ article Toward… Read More »Music Education + New Music + NewMusicBox = NewMusicBox Education Week!