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Contemporary Issues

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

Sofia Ashraf: Social justice through music

Thanks to a post by Jay Smooth, I just learned of Sofia Ashraf, who uses the power of music to address critical issues facing the people of India such as reinterpreting Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda to address environmental justice in Tamil Nadu, India. Check out Kodikanal Won’t: Given that Ashraf’s Kodikanal Won’t is part of a larger environmental justice campaign, she is receiving some mainstream media attention, such as a recent New York Times article by Robert Mackey. Yet, music educators and… Read More »Sofia Ashraf: Social justice through music

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

Musical, community, and political leaders: FM Supreme working towards justice in Chicago

Music educators often discuss how musical engagement provides multiple opportunities for leadership. This week, Chicago musician Jessica Disu AKA FM Supreme is leading a youth-oriented peace and justice initiative “The Chicago International Youth Peace Movement.” According to a dedicated eventbrite site: “The goal of the first annual Chicago International Youth Peace Movement Conference, June 4th-6th, 2015 is to mobilize, activate and empower youth and young people, in grades 5th-12th  to organize and utilize their voices for peace and social change.”… Read More »Musical, community, and political leaders: FM Supreme working towards justice in Chicago

Participatory and digital cultures in practice: Perspectives and possibilities in a graduate music course

Tobias, E. S. (2015). Participatory and digital cultures in practice: Perspectives and possibilities in a graduate music course. International Journal of Community Music, 8(1), 7-26. doi: 10.1386/ijcm.8.1.7_1 My article Participatory and digital cultures in practice: Perspectives and possibilities in a graduate music course is now available in International Journal of Community Music. Thanks to guest editor Janice Waldron, this issue of IJCM was a special issue on participatory culture. The abstract is below: Music educators seeking to address contemporary society… Read More »Participatory and digital cultures in practice: Perspectives and possibilities in a graduate music course