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music education

Hybridity and Convergence: Popular and “Classical” music and musicianship can live together

I often write and speak about music education curriculum and teaching/learning contexts in terms of hybridity and convergence. I differentiate these paradigms of curriculum to those that are more compartmentalized or specific to particular ways of knowing or doing music such as “strands” and classes that focus on a form of musicianship or type of music (particularly in relation to secondary K-12 music education). John Covach’s recent piece, Rock Me, Maestro, in the Chronicle of Higher Education is a great… Read More »Hybridity and Convergence: Popular and “Classical” music and musicianship can live together

Consider responding to the article “Standardized tests suck. But the fix is more data, not less”

I am continually fascinated by the amount of journalism about education issues that excludes citations to research on whatever topic is being addressed or educators’ perspectives. Here’s a recent article by Jason Tanz on Wired.com entitled “Standardized tests suck. But the fix is more data, not less.” Unfortunately, it is lacking in terms of citing research on assessment or including quotes from or perspectives of educators. Interesting timing for music educators given that the 5th International Symposium on Assessment in… Read More »Consider responding to the article “Standardized tests suck. But the fix is more data, not less”

The ASU Music Education Department

A few years ago the ASU Music Education Department revised our curriculum to address the contemporary state of music education and help students adapt for a rapidly changing society. Along with providing more choices for undergraduate students we reorganized our curriculum around the following core principles: Flexible musicianship Innovative practices Inquisitive minds Community leadership Here’s a sense of what takes place throughout the ASU Music Education program: Music Education from ASU School of Music on Vimeo. Interested in a dynamic… Read More »The ASU Music Education Department

Should knowing how to read music be an essential requirement for children learning music? A response. . .

The National Association for Music Education recently shared the following twitter message (tweet) via its twitter account: Should knowing how to read music be an essential requirement for children learning music? http://t.co/mGB7ptrotE #musiced via @SinfiniMusic — NAfME (@NAfME) February 18, 2015 I offer an extended excerpt from my chapter Learning with digital media and technology in hybrid music classrooms in the forthcoming book Approaches to Teaching General Music: Methods, Issues, and Viewpoints, edited by Carlos Abril & Brent Gault,  as one… Read More »Should knowing how to read music be an essential requirement for children learning music? A response. . .

Solo, multitrack, mute? Producing and performing (gender) in a popular music classroom

Tobias, E. S. (2014). Solo, multitrack, mute? Producing and performing (gender) in a popular music classroom. Visions of Research in Music Education, 25, 1-29. My article Solo, multitrack, mute? Producing and performing (gender) in a popular music classroom is now published in Visions of Research in Music Education (VRME). For those unfamiliar with VRME, it is an open-access journal, which means that all articles are available for free on the journal’s website. An earlier version of this article was presented… Read More »Solo, multitrack, mute? Producing and performing (gender) in a popular music classroom