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Contemporary Issues

Music Education In 2030: Technology, Education Reform, Future Challenges And Opportunities

I am very much looking forward to joining former NAFME president Scott Shuler and Prof. of Music Ed at University of Hawaii in Honolulu, Barbara McLain, for our presentation “Music Education In 2030: Technology, Education Reform, Future Challenges And Opportunities” at the upcoming 2014 NAfME National In-Service Conference. Our session is an outgrowth of a set of articles we wrote in Arts Education Policy Review in which we reflected on Shuler’s prior predictions for music education and projected our own… Read More »Music Education In 2030: Technology, Education Reform, Future Challenges And Opportunities

Is it the technology? Challenging technological determinism in music education.

Ruthmann, S. A., Tobias, E. S., Randles, C., & Thibeault, M. (2015). Is it the technology? Challenging technological determinism in music education. In C. Randles (Ed.), Music education: Navigating the future (pp. 122-138). New York, NY: Routledge. In this co-authored chapter Alex Ruthmann, Clint Randles, Matthew Thibeault, and I provide multiple perspectives on the notion of technological determinism in relation to music education. Simply put, technological determinism is a perspective in which one argues that technology determines or causes what… Read More »Is it the technology? Challenging technological determinism in music education.

Contribute to the dialogue on music education at the Wall Street Journal: Joanne Lipman’s “A musical fix for American Schools”

The Wall Street Journal recently published Joanne Lipman’s essay “A Musical Fix for American Schools: Research shows that music training boosts IQ, focus and persistence.” Lipman (co-author of the book Strings Attached) focuses primarily on issues of students’ IQ, ability to process sounds, cognitive abilities, links to reading abilities, and brain expansion. She ends the article citing an economic analysis from the Journal of Economic [sic] Finance [I believe it is possibly the Journal of Education Finance] to demonstrate the… Read More »Contribute to the dialogue on music education at the Wall Street Journal: Joanne Lipman’s “A musical fix for American Schools”

Promising practices in 21st-century music teacher education and 21st-century musicianship through digital media and participatory culture

Tobias, E. S. (2014). 21st century musicianship through digital media and participatory culture. In M. Kaschub and J. Smith (Eds.), Promising practices in 21st century music teacher education. Oxford: Oxford University Press (pp. 205-226) Congratulations to Michele Kaschub and Jan Smith for another excellent edited book Promising practices in 21st century music teacher education. I feel privileged to be among a set of wonderful people and great thinkers in music education, discussing potential transformation in music teacher education and schools of… Read More »Promising practices in 21st-century music teacher education and 21st-century musicianship through digital media and participatory culture

Music, Expression, & Responding to Current Events: Michael Brown & Ferguson

A little over a year ago I wrote about Music, expression, and responding to current events in relation to Trayvon Martin. Perhaps it’s the musician side of me but whenever tragedies occur, I often wonder about the ways people use music to mediate their feelings, perspectives, and make meaning of the situation. It should be no surprise that musicians are already responding musically to the tragic killing of Michael Brown and ensuing situation in Ferguson, Missouri. I’m not sure how… Read More »Music, Expression, & Responding to Current Events: Michael Brown & Ferguson