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The Wind Repertory Project

Details: Category: Tales From The Podium

Music Repertory I have seen many different online wind band music information sites come and go over the years. When I was a grad student I even made one myself as part of a class project. Of course, it died as all the rest have as a result of an apparent lack of interest by the music education community as a whole. Today I was informed of a new site that in my opinion may have the ability to break free and survive in the long term. Organized and edited by dozens of collegiate faculty and graduate students, the new Wind Repertory Project may provide what many band directors have wanted for a long time. A comprehensive, useful source for information on a large variety of wind band literature. Read on to find out more!

Pranks Against Teachers: The Teachers Fight Back

Details: Category: Tales From The Podium

Angry teacher We have all heard the stories of teachers being goated into losing their temper in class by students whose motives were to record the event and then upload it to YouTube for the entire world to see. Some of these stories are not pretty, some are incredibly mean, and others are enough to make a teacher give up on the profession alltogether. An arguement could be made in some cases that these teachers allowed themselves to get to this stage through poor classroom management or through inadequate preparation or training. That is not and should not be the point, however. No matter how it is spun, such an attack on any teacher goes beyond being a simple student vs. teacher prank. Luckily some school districts and local communities have seen the light to defend their teachers and take serious actions against students that would be so blantantly evil.

Musical Oddities and Strange Songs

Details: Category: Tales From The Podium

computer If you enjoy hearing about strange and interesting new pieces of music read on to find out about the latest piece discovered on YouTube by Professor Joe Pisano.

Think Your Kids Have Discipline Problems? Try These Instead!

Details: Category: Tales From The Podium

Jail As music educators (and educators in general) we will all complain about discipline issues in our classes. Perhaps there is one student that just drives you nuts, or one that spends more time in the office than in his chair. Take heart music educators, it could be worse. What if you were teaching music in a prison?

Student Incentive Programs Revisited

Details: Category: Tales From The Podium

A Gold Medal This week I thought I would do a little mash up of some of the most interesting articles and blog posts from other music educators that I happened to find recently. My interest in reading these various bloggers was fostered by the continued dedication to the cause set forth by Joe Pisano and his 100 ME Bloggers campaign. His efforts have met with some great success. Here is one of ...

Travel Troubles: Leave Your Laptop At Home

Details: Category: Tales From The Podium

Laptop Computer Departing a bit from music education for a moment I wanted to share some information I received today regarding international travel and problems people are having bringing technology across the border. Specifically having to do with laptops, the US customs service is apparently taking the position that a laptop is the same thing as luggage and should be open to being searched (giving them your passwords, etc). For any teacher getting ready to take an international band or choir trip (or a personal one) you may want to read on to save yourself a whole lot of headaches and humiliation.

Music's Place In Our Schools: Schools Districts Work To Bring Back The Fine Arts

Details: Category: Tales From The Podium

Girl Playing Guitar Music educators have complained about the small amount of instructional time they are given during the school day for as long as music has been incorporated into the curriculum. How severe this misallocation of time is varies between school districts and even more widely between the individual states, but no one can deny that No Child Left Behind compounded this negative effect on music and fine arts class time. Recently however, we have seen several examples of school districts that have realized the vital part that music education plays in the education of their students. These forward thinking schools are trying very hard to find ways to bring back or increase the amount of music instruction in their schools. This article examines a few of these forward thinking districts and their conventional wisdom breaking ideas.

Video: Drummer, Age 2, Puts Down Some Beats

Details: Category: Tales From The Podium

Once in a while it's fun just to relax and surf the Internet. Once in a while I find a Stumble across a video that bears watching a little closer. This time I found a video of a young aspiring drummer. Take a look to see the improvement this kid made from age two to age nine. He's very good, but somehow I bet that he can't read a note of written music...

When The Metropolitan Opera Comes To Town

Details: Category: Tales From The Podium

The Metorpolitan Opera in HD For a limited time this year you need not live in New York City to be able to watch live performances of the world's greatest operas being performed by one of the world's greatest opera companies. Live performances of Macbeth and other operas are being beamed into participating theaters all over the country. The opportunity for music educators that this presents is intriguing to say the least.

Music Games for Band and Choir Class

Details: Category: Tales From The Podium; Written by Chad Criswell

There was a time when band and choir teachers focused their rehearsals solely on the music for the next concert. At the end of the day, the group might be able to play better, but chances were good that they really did not learn anything of any substance about music. Today teachers have moved on to include real curricular content in their classroom. In the process the large group band rehearsal has changed a bit, allowing for activities that build understanding and comprehension rather than just rote memorization of notes on a page. Games are one of many great ways to encourage and strengthen retention of key concepts. Other classrooms use games all of the time so why doesn't the band or choir?

DCI Lauches OnQ.org: Online Music Performance Education

Details: Category: Tales From The Podium

Marching Band I first spoke to Gary Doherty, the new head of Drum Corps International's educational division about three months ago. At that time the idea of the new OnQ performance education program was in its relative infancy. When I first heard the great ideas and possibilities that the OnQ program had in the works I was immediately taken by the fact that if successful, OnQ could be a very worthwhile and exciting way to help musicians with an interest in the Drum Corps activity to improve and excel, even in the absense of being in an actual Corps. Recently OnQ was officially rolled out with great fanfare by DCI and asked Mr. Doherty if I might share our conversation with my readers here at MusicEdMagic. This article shares a written interview, taken on August 20, 2007. Click the read more link to view the interview with Mr. Doherty and to see what all the hype is about.