A stunning post from Kenneth Woods at A View From the Podium this week. Check out Kenneth’s essay on Mahler 2. Especially notable are the dozen or so audio clips of a menagerie of conductors bringing their own (more and less “correct”) interpretations to the piece:
Who goes for contrast, and who goes for continuity? Who is fastest and who is slowest? Who has the most terrified sounding Alto soloist? Let’s listen….
On behalf of all of us, Kenneth, thanks for digging through the stack of discs and harvesting the gold!
January 26th, 2010
By reader request, I would like to make my Audacity instructions available for everyone’s use. This is a one-page, full-color handout appropriate for middle- or high-school students (and teachers of all technology abilities!). I use this sheet to introduce my students to Audacity, and I insist that they refer to it every time they record a project. It is focused toward simple projects using a laptop computer’s internal mic (like playing quizzes) and does not cover detailed editing, multi-track options, or external hardware such as interfaces or better microphones.
AudacityInstructions downloadable PDF file
Permission is granted for reproduction and distribution, so long as authorship continues to be attributed to Cary Stewart. All other rights reserved.
January 25th, 2010
“ThirdStream2009″ image courtesy of www.wordle.net by Jonathan Feinberg.
What’s at the center of your professional world? Hopefully students are, with either “band”, “choir” or “orchestra” playing a large but not central role. We don’t teach music, after all….we teach students. Better yet, we teach future professionals and happy, self actualizing adults. An easy but important resolution for the new year: Make that state sweepstakes trophy the method, not the objective. Makes smiles, interpersonal growth and student ownership the goals.
Coach John Wooden talks about more than basketball at
TED.org January 9th, 2010
<Snicker>
Following the advice of this New Year’s Resolution Song, I have set these achievable and attainable resolutions for my teaching in the new year:
Play music in class.
Perform a couple of concerts every year.
Plan my lessons in advance…..at least once a month.
Insert a Band grade and comment into the report card of each and every Band student.
Miss the housing deadline for the state music teachers’ conference, then complete it online a week later in a tizzy at 1:00 a.m. only to see that my favorite hotels are full. A day or two after the charge hits my credit card, have a buddy volunteer to share his room in my favorite hotel.
Delete, without reading, any e-mail from the school secretary, of which the title begins with “IMPORTANT!!!!” or “Today’s Attendance” or “Weather”.
Delete, without reading, any e-mail from the Community Service Coordinator, AP Coordinator, Grade 6 Homeroom Coordinator, or Faculty Sunshine Committee Coordinator.
Listen to Miles while planning and grading.
Write a daily post on Third Stream….at least once a month.
January 5th, 2010
