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music education

Catalysts & Connections – A Music Education Mixtape v2

Track 1 – Has anyone had their music students contribute material related to music for the wikipedia? Track 2 – Your students may be interested in the world’s longest concert. The “as slow as possible” project could lead into some interesting discussion in your class. Track 3 – My first thought when I found the link to this online test ( via musical perceptions) to determine if someone can hear incorrect pitches in excerpts of familiar songs was that it… Read More »Catalysts & Connections – A Music Education Mixtape v2

Living Composers and New Music for students

Composer Belinda Reynolds, a member of the common sense composers collective, is doing the kind of work I was thinking about when I posted about contemporary music and music education a couple of weeks ago. Her recent article on Newmusicbox “Writing Music for Young Players” offers a refreshing and promising perspective on the creation of original music for youth. It would be wonderful if her perspective became a trend (as it was at one point in the 60’s and 70’s)… Read More »Living Composers and New Music for students

Music Education and Standardized Testing

The recent decision by Florida music educators to begin the use of optional standardized assessments in music for fourth graders gives our field another reason to have a wide scale discussion about assessment and related issues in music education. Reading the responses of teachers and the general public gives an interesting picture of peoples attitudes, perceptions and beliefs in relation to issues ranging from the legitimacy or importance of music education to what is actually being worked on in music classes. Read More »Music Education and Standardized Testing

African Musicians and Musicians playing African Music

The influence of African music and musicians on music education and music in America could certainly be explored more than it probably is in music classrooms. While some music programs incorporate African drumming into the music curriculum there is a lot more to the music of Africa and the influence it has had on contemporary music.Read More »African Musicians and Musicians playing African Music

Radio Stations and Racism – HOT 97 and our students….

Do we have a responsibility to address racism on radio stations that many of our students listen to? Many of our students probably heard the racist Tsunami Song that was created and broadcast by HOT 97 (a station of the Emmis Corporation) employees that dealt with the horrible Tsunami in southeast Asia earlier in 2005. More recently our students may have heard the way HOT 97 employee Miss Jones made fun of immigrants in reference to the transit worker strike… Read More »Radio Stations and Racism – HOT 97 and our students….