I very much enjoyed this ten-minute interview with percussionist and UCSD faculty member Steven Schick. His thoughts about the ways in which music and musicians are relevant certainly has implications for music educators. Consider starting your new year with some thought-provoking ideas.
This interview with Esperanza Spalding impressed me on a number of fronts. She is intelligent, humble, insightful, and mature beyond her years. If you haven't checked out her music you are missing out on being able to follow a music legend in the making. I highly recommend her latest work, Chamber Music.
While I think she is a great inspiration for young women interested in making it in the jazz world, her musicianship, positive outlook, and grounded view on the world is beneficial to all of us. Educators will especially appreciate her thoughts on teaching.Here is a quick screencast to show you how easy it is to create lists on Twitter. Lists can help organize twitter users by criteria you choose so that you can narrow or focus your reading from time to time, rather than just using your timeline view. For example in the video you'll see my Admin list which is comprised of over 50 principals and superintendents that are using Twitter regularly. I review this list a few times a week to get a sense of how admins are using Twitter and to see what they are reading and discussing. Since I don't particularly interact with those folks on Twitter I chose to assign them to a list rather than follow each one of them. This frees up my timeline for people that I regularly interact with on Twitter. In addition to assembling your own lists, it is also very easy to "follow" public lists that many of us have already created.
Visit my page if you'd like to see my lists and follow any of them: http://twitter.com/teaching_music
Thanks to the folks at qrayon for giving me a pre-release code for their cool new app for the iPhone, Air Projector. Here is a quick video to show you just how easy it is to get photos and pdf files onto another computer/LCD Projector.
I'm really going to enjoy not being tied to the computer. I can easily be anywhere in the classroom while referring to what is on the screen. As I said in the video, I would love to see the ability to vary the size of the laser pointer, and maybe even a simple highlighting tool. As it is, it's still an incredibly useful app, and you're going to love it!
Thanks again @qrayon, I really appreciate the sneak peak.
A friend posted this today, and I found it quite enlightening.
Even within our music programs we can easily create a feeling that the main purpose of one ensemble is to get into a higher ensemble. What's in it right now...today, that is of value and significance to your students? Don't we need to find the music within the music, so to speak?
Even within our music programs we can easily create a feeling that the main purpose of one ensemble is to get into a higher ensemble. What's in it right now...today, that is of value and significance to your students? Don't we need to find the music within the music, so to speak?
See if you can get through this performance without smiling. I couldn't stop.
I'd say more but I'm a bit speechless at the moment. Discuss amongst yourselves.
Here is a very enlightening TED Talk by Sheena Iyengar on the art of choosing. Think about the implications in your classroom or ensemble.
Here is a brief review of an amazingly complex and robust app: Wolfram Alpha. If you have an iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad, you have to get this app, particularly if you are in education.
Hold onto your socks, here is a quick review of Nuance's awesome dictation app, freshly updated for the iPad.