music education

Corey Dargel’s thought-provoking article on contemporary art songs gives some food for thought and has some interesting implications for our music classrooms. I’ve had some pretty good success with approaching art songs with my fifth grade general music students focusing on the Erlking by Schubert and ending up with students creating their own art songs.  After reading Mr. Dargel’s article I can see many ways to expand the discussion and listening examples of art songs I use in the classroom. … Read More »Students creating contemporary art songs….

Do you notice any students of yours who do particularly well when composing in your music program? Let them know that young composers do get noticed! Recently, a 17 year old composer was the winner of 2 big awards and has since formed his own band that plays chamber music composed since 1988. Maybe students of yours will be winning composition awards in the future. Why not give your students a start by having them submit melodies to the Hartwick… Read More »Future Composers in Your Classrooms?

Thanks to David Wolf for the link to Soundtransit! While some people play music from around the world for their students, it is probably less common to have field recordings for our students to listen to of actual everyday sounds from spaces and places around the world. After taking a sound journey across the world our students will probably be more conscious and aware of the everyday sounds in their own lives and environment. Since the recordings on the site… Read More »Sounds and Spaces around the world…

Track 1 – How long until public school music programs start up their own laptop orchestras ? If you had one in your school one of your students might even eventually make a career writing electronica and orchestral music! Track 2 – Speaking of orchestras, why not let your students know what playing in an orchestra is like from an orchestral horn player’s perspective. Track 3 – The Cranbrook Composers’ Workshop website is a great model for music programs to… Read More »Catalysts & Connections – A Music Education Mixtape V3

Guitar Shred Show is definitely one of the more creative ways of using multimedia applications to allow people to interact with music on the internet. One nice thing about Mr. Fastfinger is that he’ll never loose his patience as you work with him to learn licks and techniques on the electric guitar or jam with an accordion playing demon or dancing dwarves. With software that allows for the creation of online multimedia applications available at reasonable prices (with education discounts)… Read More »Shredding & Jamming: Multimedia Music Education that is fun!