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gift-box-300Silent Night is one of the most beloved of all Christmas carols, and this document contains links and downloadable PDF's of a variety of Silent Night violin sheet music files.  Some of the files are hosted here at MusicEdMagic, others are links to off site repositories of sheet music that may or may not be in different keys or use different playing techniques.  The Silent Night sheet music for violin and other instruments provided by this site is written in D Major and should be easily playable by most violinists in their second or third year of instruction.  Scroll down below the license block to view individual violin sheet music files.

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Sound WaveIt's been well over a year since I last did a real round up of the current crop of digital audio recorders and there have been a lot of changes. One of the recorders that many of my collegues swore by (The M-Audio MicroTrak 2) got discontinued, and the company got out of the portable digital audio recording business completely. At the same time Olympus, a long time maker of digital voice recorders has come out with a model that (at least in my tests) seemed to do very well as a music/field recording device. The old list was kind of long and complicated so this year I am scaling back to focus on the best of the best in the world of portable digital audio recorders.  Read on to find out who made the cut.

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Jeltone Jello PianoOn Friday, February 17th during a live webcast the annual Georgia Tech Guthman Musical Instrument Competition will be available for all to watch.  Each year this eclectic mix of new and strange musical instruments takes the stage to see whose design will win what some people have gone so far as to call the X-prize for music.  In reality it is quite a bit less than that, with the top prize only being $10,000.  Still, the honor and prestigue of having your creation featured in this competition is definitely worth some cool points.  Last year's top winners fail to impress me much, a strange electronic table instrument called Mo Kitchen and the MindBox Media Slot Machine are interesting but a little bit boring IMHO.  In contrast the 2010 winner, the Double Slide Controller makes my trombonist heart beat with extended enthusiasm.

 

Read on for more videos about some of the 2012 Guthman Musical Instrument Competitors

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Music RepertoryI 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!

 

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In case you were not aware, Japanese culture is ripe with adoration for robots of all kinds.  From fighting robots to servant robots, to annoying little Furby-esque pets, robotics has become a very big deal over there.  In case robotics has never really interested you as a musician, stand up and take notice of this story for a minute and see if it "changes your tune."

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Free Music Fonts

I was digging for a font the other day to use with a PowerPoint presentation when I came across a very useful resource for music educators. Chances are that you already know about the Maestro font that Finale and similar music notation products use to display music noteheads on the screen, but did you know that there are many more music themed fonts that you can use for free on posters, handouts, and many more?

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Photo by highwaystarz

One of the keys to having a good brass sound is to also have a good air stream.  We spoke with Dr. Ramon Vasquez, assistant band director at Lopez High School in Brownsville, Texas to get some tips on encouraging proper breath support in young musicians.  As one would expect diagnosing the problem is his first step.  Says Vasquez, “I begin by listening for the quality of the sound.  If it is small and not as resonant as it could be, I look into how much of their capacity they are really using.  I then start some exercises

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Main Interface of Rhythm Calculator

When I first saw Rhythm Calculator many months ago I was impressed with the idea and was intrigued to see how it might be used with students who struggle with reading complex rhythms. Today the company is releasing an update to the app that adds several useful features that make it even more valuable as a teaching aid and as a tool for almost any musician. Read on to find out more!

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Oboe on a red background

Few music teachers would deny that the oboe can be a challenging instrument to play well with respect to proper intonation and technique. We spoke to Dr. Sarah Hamilton, associate professor of oboe at the State University of New York at Fredonia to get her insight into ways to help young oboists fix some of the more common problems associated with the instrument.

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ClassroomOnce or twice a year every music educator needs to go recharge their batteries a bit by attending a conference or convention in their field.  I have always been blessed with administrators that understand the importance of these events, and I just returned from my yearly visit to the Iowa Music Educator's Association Convention at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.  I  want to tell you a bit about what I saw and learned along the way.  In one session by Dr. S. Daniel Galyen of the University of Northern Iowa , I learned that the concept of mental practice and imagery is becoming much more accepted and useful in the field of music education.

 

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Music, band, choir, and orchestra classrooms can be huge and assessing the knowledge and retention of individual students in such a large class can be daunting.  Plickers are one of several solutions that can be adapted to work in large groups, making the act of assessing a student’s understanding a little easier and a whole lot faster.  

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  2. For Musical Instruments Made In China No Longer Means Poor Quality
  3. Yamaha SILENT Brass Review
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