Interview in MENC Magazine

Many thanks to Chad Criswell of MusicEdMagic.com for interviewing me for his article in the October 2009 issue of Teaching Music, an MENC magazine for music educators.  The article, “The Computer in Your Student’s Pocket”, gives an overview of some hardware and software used by students to create and learn about music. Chris was kind enough to interview me and how I use hand held computing devices to create music with my students.  Thanks for a great article, Chris!

For more information on MENC publications, go to http://www.menc.org/resources/view/menc-journals

Presenter at NYSSMA/MENC

I am just back from NYSSMA (New York State School Music Association) Summer In-Service Conference in Albany, NY.  NYSSMA is considered one of the best MENC Chapters so I was honored to have been asked to present.  My presentation was bright and early Monday at 9AM and I managed to get a some what awake crowd of about 25 people.  Since this is the smaller of the two conferences NYSSMA does each year, I was happy to have the numbers.  My 1 hour and 15 min presentation was entitled, “Digital Media In & Out of the Classroom”.  My presentation covered two areas:

1 ) Keeping it safe and legal outside the classroom with regard to CD or video sales and posting student work on the Internet 2) How digital media can be used in the classroom to demonstrate an idea or concept or be used as materials for student projects

I used examples of student podcasts and compositions and also gave examples of how popular media, video, YouTube and contemporary songs can be used in the classroom.  Each participant left with a nice packet of information discussed in the presentation and several lesson plans that were discussed.  They seemed enthusiastic and appreciative of the presentation.

All in all, I had a good time and meet a few really nice people. Given I am a New Yorker at heart (I was raised in Brooklyn and have Permanent NYS Certification), it was nice meeting several people from Long Island with an accent I could easily recognize!

New Widget to Listen to Student Music

It seems obvious but… take a look at the left side bar.  There’s a new widget generated by Tunecore that let’s you listen to student music available for purchase.  Track 3 of the first CD listed is the winner of the MENC/NSBA 2009 Electronic Music Competition, Gothic Memory Land, by Emily.

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL THIS MUSIC! The proceeds from this music goes directly to the GHS Electronic Music Student Activities Fund to help us purchase equipment.  Well, that’s where it would go if we actually made money!  We barely make enough money each year to offset the the cost of using Tunecore’s service for their distribution to iTunes, Amazon, Lala, Napster and others.  It’s really cool that kids can tell their friends they are on iTunes!So, please, buy a tune and help us distribute student music.