Changes to NCLB

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/washington/23child.html

Conductor Hero

I like finding these crazy articles.  Here's another all about "Conducting Hero"

Could it be something that is developed into a viable teaching tool???

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2008-04-14-ubs-virtual-maestro_N.htm

Here is an article that I just came across - I'm sure nobody looks at this anymore, but just in case... 

Horton Hears A Who

I just saw Dreamwork's Horton Hears A Who over the break, and I was talking to Haltmeier about how it connected to CP. I'll try not to spoil too much of the movie for anybody.

Basically, Horton plays the teacher role in his jungle society. He's well-liked, energetic, patient, understanding, albeit a tad bit off center. That is, until he hears the Mayor of Whoville, which resides on a miniscule "speck" on a flower. 

On the opposite side of the fence is Kanga, the "rule maker and enforcer" of the society. She is the final say in all things, and she keeps everybody on their toes. When word gets too Kanga about Horton's speck fascination, she deems this idea and the "dangers" it will lead to the society's children in their learning environment. Throughout the movie, Kanga attempts to persuade, con, and brutely enforce her influence on Horton (even hiring hit men in false exchange for her own son at one point). Kanga gets everyone in the jungle on her side, and only is opposed once Whoville is proven to be real (by her own son none the less), at which point she completely changes her view to that of Horton's.

The whole scenario (despite my horrible summary of an awesome movie) is completely similar to some of those that we've talked about in class (i.e. the intangibles of politics in schools/communities, the board of ed, dealing with parents, what is "right" and "wrong" to teach, etc).

Not to mention it had the best line in ay Dreamworks movie ever.

Anybody else see it? 

Religion in choral music

As I was doing my philosophy assignment, a thought came to mind in terms of exposer to different cultures.

Most religious music that I have sung at least in my High School and Middle School was mostly christian or Jewish based. Do you believe that we should sing other religious repertoire? Should we even sing it in public schools or stay secular?

I believe that some of the repertoire I have sung in the past were great and I see nothing wrong but at the same time , I would have loved to sing other religious pieces. Maybe something tibetan or even islamic , which I have heard choral music being done when I went to Egypt once.Just a thought.

Quote to consider

Hi everyone,

Here is a quote for you to consider as you construct your lesson plans. The quote is from the great pianist/jazz musician/recent Grammy award-winner Herbie Hancock:

"A great teacher is one who realizes that he himself is also a student and whose goal is not to dictate the answers, but to stimulate his students creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves."
Herbie Hancock

Looking forward to seeing your lesson plans...
EH

Arts In Schools

Thought this was something we should all be aware about.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/nyregion/07schools.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 

Auditory and Musical Illusions

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13355-music-special-five-great-auditory-illusions-.html

Follow the directions to each illusion EXACTLY the way they tell you ( or else it will not work). It is pretty amazing and at times I have to warn you, is very creepy. Enjoy and tell me what you think.

Interesting field of cognitive listening and how the brain works. I think by learning this type of things it makes us better musicians or teacher if we learn how human beings react to auditory perceptions.

ENJOY!

Paying Students for Getting Good Grades?

What do we think?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/nyregion/05incentive.html

Favorite?

Just for fun...who is everyone's favorite composer?

Mine is Britten.

How Bach really looked like. So what?

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/experts-reconstruct-bachs-face/20080228163909990002?ncid=NWS00010000000001

What do you think and does this place any importance in Music Education? Should we teach this to our students? Should we bother? It would be neat to hear from some of you.:)

I definetly think it is worth sharing and teaching because it is pretty interesting along with the hypothesis on his portraits. We also get an closer and almost accurate picture of how he might have looked like and get a frist impression.

Connection is the key

So I left you with the charge today of coming up with a connection between the 45-minute conversation we had (i.e. messy desk, video games, books/movies, phone/e-mail,.etc.) and music education. Yes, you can see I am going down a road that seems to be taking us into learning styles, but think more from the perspective of 'What would the kinds of questions asked today lend to you if you were teaching music?'.

Here is some of the thinking rolling around in my head following today's class... This will be a sort of stream-of-consciousness list, so feel free to take any of these ideas and post a reply (or create a new post) that takes the thinking down another road:

--It is important for teachers to create a classroom environment where students feel safe and comfortable. How might/might not a dialogue like what we had today make students feel comfortable and safe?

--I have a tendency to ramble on with oddball personal stories (gee, you do? we hadn't noticed). When I do so, what does that do to the vibe of the class? How does my rambling on affect your perception of me?

--At different points in our "80 questions" game today, different students spoke up at different points to share their experiences. In doing so, the whole class knows at least a little more about each other. Is this a good thing? What does such discussion provide me as your teacher?

--In what ways is the "learning process" in our class similar/different from other classes you are taking? Would the process we have been using work well in those classes? What do the learning processes look like in your other classes? Would they translate well in our class? How would any of these learning processes carry over into the public school music classroom?

Just some more food for thought. I look forward to your replies, especially from those of you who may be more comfortable posting to a blog rather than speaking out in class.

EH

Just to ponder on..

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/CutCollegeCosts/TheComingStudentLoanCrunch.aspx

To some, this is not really a big deal but do you think this has an affect on music education? If so, why? And if not why not? Should teachers be concerned? Like to hear from you.

Special Education in Music Education

I was just wondering,.. and thinking about teaching special education students. How did your past teachers handle children with special needs? And what if one came across a deaf or blind student who wanted to learn music?.. What is one to do? The thought scares me a little, and I just wanted some thoughts on the topic.

How To Make a Good Teacher

This article recently appeared in Time magazine. Thoughts?

Grading

I was just curious, since we've been talking a little bit about giving an A and stuff. How did your music teacher's grade you when you were in high school?--in performance ensembles that is (choir, band, orchestra, choir).


In my high school's both audition and non auditioned choirs we started out with a 75% and then added on points with our own initiative if we turned in things like personal performance critiques, listening critiques, programs, up to ten points in "positive class behavior", research of a composer or analysis of a piece we were singing. Not to mention up to 10 points for 'voice tests' at the end of every semester (one of the songs we were singing at the most recent concert and a sight singing passage on solfege).
I thought it was a fairly good system. You could make your grade what you wanted, and certainly get 100 if you put in the effort--which wasn't nescessarily talent based. A lot of people didn't, and would consequently get like an 83 in choir--choir! But they couldn't complain, because they had plenty of opportunity to turn in extra credit.
THe choir got rid of the system last year.

American Music..ok what is it?

http://music.msn.com/music/grammys2008/winnerslist?GT1=10948

Tell me how you feel about the winners and what you think about this music and American culture. Does this affect " American" music ( or doesn't)? What is American Music? Dvorak wrote a piece to which he thought was the sound of America but in a world where we are more of a blender than a melting pot, what can we define as our music? Did the historians get is right with Broadway composers like Gershwin or who could forget the "Beef's what's for dinner?" theme? Share your thoughts on what you think and the dificulties of maybe even teaching "American" music. Definetly looking foward to hearing different thoughts and opinions.

This is something we haven't really discussed, but I have been thinking about it quite a bit lately. . . What is everyone's opinion about the 5 year Bachelor in Music Ed and Master of Arts in Teaching?  

Thoughts on Money and Education

I went to the MENC at TCNJ convention with my bestfriend who is going to another University. As we went through our day and talk alot about our career goals, it became apparent that she was less prepared and even though I transfered from a County College and she went directly to a four year school, it seem that her school lacked her in preparing her mentally and preparing her in her resume. Although it does not affect me at all, it does concern me as to what are the futures of Music Educators in America.Since Music is so subjective and in the gray area, it is critical to have as much knowledge as possible but what if University are not doing this? It is like the article that we read with Dr. Abrahams on wed. Some people cannot afford to go to great Universities and sometimes because of the low pay in other University,sometimes the quality is not so great either. Is is the perpetuation of quality vs the money we can afford to lose to gain quality.

I Believe money plays a big role in education ( which is very sad) and reading the article reminded me of some expriences although brief, that I have shared. What are your thoughts about money affecting Music Education? What can we do to help and still making a living during recession( not to mention money for Gas, Food and Rent which are the highest cost of living nationally)?
Things to think about: Cost of private lessons, instruments, instrument repair, rentals, music, books, things to maintain instruments, health care ( this is most crucial for singers),etc. Although there may not be a "right" answer, we could find ways to cope.

Education Articles

I thought it might be interesting to have a post where we could place links to articles related to what we're talking about in class.  The one here is to an article about teaching music in languages other than english to young children.  I thought the concept was pretty neat.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/business/yourmoney/02money.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Organization

Ok, I may be a little ocd, but could I suggest/plead that we have posts for certain subjects? Idk, personally, I just get confused and frustrated when I read "ok, lets get this started" and start off talking about all sorts of different topics at once.
Not only would this keep my sanity, but it might make it easier to navigate and respond to different debates instead of going back to things people said three posts ago and we're already on a different topic.

Just a suggestion.

OK...Let's Get It Started!

Ok, folks. Let's get the dialogue started. Post any thoughts that have come to mind following our discussions in class today. Opinions, arguments, confusion, questions, answers? Feel free to post thoughtfully, and to challenge (respectfully, of course) the thinking of your colleagues.

To spur on the thinking:

Yellow Card/Blue Card

Celine Dion - Musical Genius?

Sesame Street vs. Teletubbies

Screaming - Bad for music?

Seating arrangement in class: OK how it is, should be different, up to me, up to you?

Reality: Media, community, parents, education, friends

Ani DiFranco


Ok...game on!

Welcome to the CP1 Blog for Spring, 2008!

This is where you can begin posting your thoughts, reflections, ideas, and questions with regard to what is being covered in CP1 and in your Music Education program.