music education

“Q Mr. President, a cultural question for you. There is a version of the National Anthem in Spanish now. Do you believe it will hold the same value if sung in Spanish as in English? THE PRESIDENT: No I don’t, because I think the National Anthem ought to be sung in English. And I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English, and they ought to learn to sing the National Anthem in… Read More »Nuestro Himno – The New National Anthem?

While information about Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian revolution taking place in Venezuela is somewhat one-sided in the U.S., some of the positive things happening are getting reported. Apparently music education in Venezuela and classical music are taken very seriously. For many poor children in Venezuela music education is a transformative experience and plays a positive role in their lives. It is interesting that while many poor youth in Venezuela perform in youth orchestras, many young people in the US… Read More »Venezuela & Music Education

Thanks to Ted the blog system at the Music Educators Network has been completely upgraded and allows for multiple blogs to be hosted. Catalysts & Connections will be located at http://etobiasblog.musiced.net for now on.

The discussion of people creating music with computers and software is taking place among music educators, in internationally read newspapers, and in various online forums. With tools to create music becoming more and more accessible to almost anyone with computer access regardless of their music education, the question of who can and should be composing music seems to be a reoccurring one. Our field is probably at a point where the majority of music teachers recognize how composing is becoming… Read More »Students composing and sharing original music…

Track 1– Thanks to Jonathan Savage for his comment referencing some very exciting music education research on Ted’s post about Lucy Green and informal music education settings in the classroom. Track 2 – Looking for a prompt for getting your students composing? How about this idea.. Track 3 – If you are going to be working on sampling, rap music or electronic composition in your classroom, consider this interesting perspective on an important musical moment and its transformation over time.… Read More »Catalysts & Connections – A Music Education Mixtape V4