Thanks to the Music For All blog for the recent posts regarding No Child Left Behind legislation and its effect on arts programs including an editorial by a governor , a letter to the editor from a music student , an opinion piece in a newspaper from Utah, and a report from a DC education policy center. Some states are actually taking a proactive role to ensure that arts programs are not left behind.
Thanks to the riddim method for the post on this very interesting and amusing video clip that has some pretty fascinating implications for the future of performing live re-mixing. While the clip demonstrates the use of pre-existing music videos, with a little bit of imagination the (controversial) software he demonstrates can probably be used in some very interesting (and legal) ways in a music program. Imagine video taping your students performing music and then having another student use this software… Read More »Re-mixing the music video live
Almost a year ago I posted about the possible trend of students wanting to perform video game music. With more and more professional orchestras playing music from video games it seems like the trend will eventually end up in our music programs, especially now that music publishers are picking up on it. With websites focusing on topics ranging from remixing to live concert tours of video game music, resources are available for music teachers to deal with this emerging genre.… Read More »Video Game Music
The princeton laptop orchestra is getting even more press. The plork had me wondering about the potential for laptop orchestras in public school music programs earlier this month. If schools aren’t ready to move to an exclusively electronic ensemble maybe they can make a transition to an electro acoustic ensemble with just a few laptoppers (or is it laptopists)?
The jazz ensemble is not the only group that students can improvise in. Groups that create their own electronic “instruments” do exist and can provide a model for an interesting collaboration between the music and technology departments of your school. If you or your students don’t want to create musical electronic devices from scratch you can always work on modifying something and see/hear what happens.