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curriculum

Potsdam People Article & Using American Idol in the classroom…

It was fun to read the recent write up in the Potsdam People that spotlighted me however, I was a little concerned about the way it discussed my use of American Idol in the classroom. These two sentence in particular were inaccurate: “Tobias also had his class compose music, and he would have the students judge the compositions like on American Idol..” & “Yet at the same time, Tobias had his students use American Idol-style judging when students composed their… Read More »Potsdam People Article & Using American Idol in the classroom…

The next generation of concert notes?

Besides being a great resource for information on music and composers, the Online Conservatory (a project of Northeastern University and the Boston Symphony Orchestra) serves as a possible model for the next generation of concert notes. While many music teaches have their students work on concert notes for programs, the use of multimedia resources could add an interesting dimension to your program. Why not have students analyze the music they are performing, do some research and then create an audio… Read More »The next generation of concert notes?

Religious Music and December Concerts….

With many school concerts taking place around this time of year the issue of what music should or should not be played is a concern of many music teachers, students, parents, administrators and community members. A recent article in the Boston Globe about holiday music at school concerts takes a neutral look at some of the issues without delving too deep into them. MENC, the National Association for Music Education is currently conducting a survey of music educators regarding concerts… Read More »Religious Music and December Concerts….

Classical, Contemporary, 20th Century or "New" Music?

Reading Frank Oteri’s recent piece “No Longer New” Music and Judith Lang Zaimont’s “Living American Woman” on newmusicbox reminded me not only of the many conversations I have had with colleagues about the need to include music being composed by living and recently living composers in our programs, but of the difficulty in finding a word to call that music. While some might say it is purely semantics to decide whether or not to call it classical music, contemporary music,… Read More »Classical, Contemporary, 20th Century or "New" Music?