Travis J. Weller

Just in time for your labor day fun – the September edition of the Music Education Blog Carnival is here!

It is very exciting to host, but it is even more exciting having nearly 100 submissions! There are so many of us now in this stream of communication and media that are making a difference by our professional development, reading, enacting new teaching strategies, and reflecting upon our craft as educators.  What a tremendous resource this movement has turned out to be, and how great to share it with you.  Many hard decisions were made, but we have a great line-up of articles and posts you need to check out!

Music Advocacy

Lindsay Morelli presents The Power and Purpose of an Ensemble posted at Lindsay Morelli.  What is an ensemble? Lindsay’s question unfolds into a great post with great perspective for all of us in music education to consider.

Music Education

The Grand-daddy Blogger of them All Dr. Joseph Pisano presents A Sample Curriculum For High School Instrumental Ensembles posted at MusTech.Net, saying “This curriculum example is a suggestion for Instrumental Concert Band Directors to study for use with their own programs. Many times “we”, as ensemble directors, really don’t think about the curricular needs of/for our ensembles nor give long-term thought to the integration of music literature that may fill a particular goal in our music programs.   This curriculum suggestion is just one way to think about these things and how what you are doing as a band director integrates into the bigger educational picture.”

Brenda D Muench presents BoomWhacker Mysteries in First Grade: Part One posted at Tech Tempo.  This lesson is a ton of fun for elementary teachers who use Boomwhackers – I will freely admit I tried it at home with the set in our basement!

Wendy Stevens presents To Give or Not Give Makeup Lessons posted atComposeCreate.com, saying, “Since many music educators also teach private lessons, this article gives them a list of options for making the most of their valuable time. Many independent music teachers will also find this information helpful.”

Great to see Andrew Ritenour (and fellow Tuba brother) getting involved as a future music educator!  Andrew presents The Educational Beauty of Twitter posted at Future Music Educators.

Janice Tuck presents Music Primary Singing Resources posted at The Music Teachers Blog.  I am continually impressed with the great teaching being shared by many elementary music educators, and Janice’s post identifies some great assets useful in the classroom music setting.

Matt Fonda presents Bass Drum Basics posted at DRUMMING WITH FONDA.  Keeping students aware of the physical demands of being on a drum line is essential, and Matt’s article (very appropriate for students to understand) outlines some things they can do to keep themselves physically ready.

Thomas J. West presents Creating Community in Secondary Performing Ensemblesposted at Thomas J. West Music, saying, “Here are some suggestions for getting choral and orchestra programs to experience the same kind of personal investment in a group musical activity that bands typically experience due to the marching band activity.”

Brian Wis presents I’m too busy to go to the doctor, and other teacher avoidance-techniques posted at Teaching Music in the 21st Century, saying, “A call to high school music teachers to join the PLN movement.”

Natalie Wickham presents Custom Design Your Own Flashcards with these Free Files!posted at Music Matters Blog, saying, “Use these beautiful free flash card designs by Natalie Wickham to create your own custom flashcards! Now you’ll never be stuck at the last minute wishing you had a particular set of flash cards – you can just make your own!”

Charla Pearen presents Old Macdonald – Letter Recognition posted at High Park Home Daycare.  A great exploration of music with infants and toddlers.

Kevin Keena presents 60 Picnicers, 13 years, 2 schools, and 1 Facebook Page posted at Heritage Bands Podcast.  A touching and refreshing look at how social media reconnected a group of students with an educator who made a big difference in their lives.

The experiment is on for me personally at school this year – you can check out the details in my post Big Leap into a Small Room posted at Travis J. Weller.

Carrie Oakley presents Novice to Slash: 100 Free Resources for Teaching Yourself Guitar posted at Online Colleges, saying, “Whether you’re picking up a guitar for the first time or revisiting a teenage hobby, these links provide free resources for teaching yourself how to play the guitar, as well as improving your technique and learning to read music.”

Samuel Wright presents Graphic Scoring with Yothu Yindi posted at Wright-Stuff Music, saying, “An Australian Aboriginal unit of work involving listening worksheets, music analyses and a final assessment where students get to create an animated graphic score of a contemporary Aboriginal work in Keynote 09.”

Ken Pendergrass presents It’s about the work, not you personally posted at Music Is Not for Insects, saying, “helpful advice for those of us who want to be “liked” by our students…”.  Ken’s blog is great, and he offers some helpful advice to communicate with students while maintaining a sense of fairness.

Music Pedagogy

David Ahrens presents Ever-Improving Chops on Secondary Instruments posted at Sound Education.  While I am new to David’s writing and work, this is a great post for all instrumental teacher to consider so that we can be effective musical role models for our students.

Music Technology

Jim Frankel presents The Other 80%: An Industry Perspective posted at Music Technology in Edcation. Jim tackles a larger issue that many ensemble educators/directors face in maintaining their relevance with the other students not in performing groups.

Nemanja presents Dont Compromise Choose Used DJ Equipment posted at Cheap DJ Equipment, saying, “The problem is universal, DJ equipment is expensive. When buying DJ equipment squeezing the most out of your budget is essential.”

Music Tips

Sam Lyons presents Piano Practice Tips For Beginners posted at Learn The Keyboard Online, saying, “If you are new to the piano and you’ve probably experienced boredom. Sometimes that happens when you continue doing the same thing over and over again. Things become a little repetitious…”

Ashley Davids presents Guitar Warm Up Stretches posted at Metal Guitar Lesson, saying, “Highlighting the importance of warming up prior to practicing guitar.”

Sam Lyons presents Keyboard Practice Blues! posted at Learn The Keyboard Online, saying, “Keyboard Practice Blues! We all get them from time to time. Just keep practicing the piano a little everyday. You will succeed in learning the piano.”

Jenny Boster presents The Importance of Beginning Technique posted at The Teaching Studio, saying, The Teaching Studio is a relatively new blog all about teaching piano lessons. This article focuses on the topic of teaching beginning piano technique.

Other

Naomi Seldin presents 10 Rock Stars Who Went to an Ivy League School posted at Online Colleges and Universities Education Database. An interesting article to demonstrate to students about notable stars that have challenged themselves in the academic field.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of music education blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

I hope Ed Rendell reads this.  I hope he reads and gets off whatever horse that apparently got him elected.  Saying he’s a friend of education is like saying Enron cared about its shareholders.  It’s like saying Vick was humane to dogs.  As the Keystone State Lawmakers continue to exchanger verbal volleys this week, friends of mine go unpaid and all functions of the state come to a screeching halt.  I have the solution to free up a lot of money in the budget – kill standardized testing where it stands.  But knowing Rendell’s agenda, we will stay the course and ultimately force districts around the state to make their cuts to save the essentials.  So now the arts in public education find themselves in another tooth and nail battle because we are non-essential….yeah, right.

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So if CNN would have been around when Mozart or Liszt died, would there be the kind of scrutiny today about their personal lives? I am not going to talk about his life, or his legacy because that should probably be left to someone who knows what happened and actually followed Michael Jackson.  But the tragedy of this situation has left me with questions about the professional responsibility each of us carries forward in their work place, and our responsibility to our students and the music.

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So thanks to Dr. Jay Dorfman’s (while he was still at Kent)class this past summer, I created an interdisciplinary unit on the Trail of Tears to enrich my ensemble’s studying of two pieces of music, “The Trail of Tears” by James Barnes and “Etowah” by Brian Balmages.  For those of you unfamiliar with the piece by Barnes, I highly recommend it.  It is not incredibly difficult music – but it is uplifting, dramatic, great music that has been crafted by one of the greatest band writers of the past 50 years.  Etowah is a new piece from FJH this year about the Hightower Trail that once connected Cherokee and Creek lands in the south.

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The following is one of the founding beliefs in my philosophy of music education.  I have recently been mulling over the task that lies ahead of all music education in the responsibility to be a shaping force in our own culture.  There are a number of performing arts groups situated in communities that contribute to the culture that are faced with tough times ahead as our country suffers through an economic recession.  The ripple on the pond spreads quickly and the effects are felt in the distance.  We are faced with a situation where funding from the community for these groups have dried up, and to some extent impacts the ability of educators to have the proper resources as well.  Ultimately, our ability to function as a collective partnership in the profession to improve, shape, and positively influence the culture is negated by the volatile economy.  Do we have a professional responsibility to build, shape, mold, and improve the culture in which we teach? I firmly believe that we do.  If we are to continue our move forward as a profession, it behooves us to take this mantle of responsibility where we are and begin to rebuild the cultural connection in our own community.  Reimer readers rejoice – the good Doctor’s third edition was a heavy influence throughout this article.   

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