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

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.

TI:ME Essay: Notation Software

As I said in my previous post, Electronic Instruments & MIDI, these essays are part of TI:ME Level 1 Certification and answer specific questions posed for certification.

This essay goes a little further as it address the concept of music literacy.  Before purists vote to lynch me, let me say that I think teaching students to read traditional music notation is important.  However, I don’t think it’s of primary importance and that becomes clearer in this article.  Reading music notation is crucial for recreating music but is not urgent, given today’s tools, to create music.  I think we spend far to much time emphasizing music notation as THE tool for music literacy.

Notation Software

Notation software is sophisticated graphics manipulation program made specifically for the needs of musicians.  The top notation software is Finale and Sibelius.  Fans of each could tell you why they prefer one product to the other that might include ease of use and learning curves.  With products this sophisticated, choosing becomes a matter of personal taste and personal needs.