Category Archives: Uncategorized

The April issue of General Music Today has a focus on creativity and composition. For my column, I present a simple improvisation for a duo at the piano, which I relate to games as John Dewey spoke of them, and what … Continue reading →

I’ll be giving two presentations at the Illinois Music Educators Conference (IMEC, the conference formerly known as IMEA). What Movement Teaches and How It Shows: Introduction to Dalcroze Eurhythmics Thursday, 2:15–3:30 PM, Convention Center room 222 The Ukulele Ensemble: Sustainable … Continue reading →

I truly enjoy sharing ideas with a practical orientation, these days primarily via my General Music Today column, “Secondary Scene.” Like most scholars, I sometimes don’t know if I’ve really connected, but two nice bits of feedback this week put a … Continue reading →

About a year ago, a graduate student and I were lamenting the complete lack of free software in the “Technology for Teaching” section of Music Educators Journal. I theorized that this had to do with the review process (namely, that … Continue reading →

The current issue of Teaching Music has a letter I wrote concerning an article in the August issue, “The More You Play, The Better You Read.” The letter notes five problematic aspects in the way they describe an otherwise interesting piece of … Continue reading →

I had a great time as a virtual visitor (via Skype) with two of Patrick Schmidt’s music education courses. We discussed my General Music Today article, “General Music as a Cure for the High-Stakes Concert.” For those in the class, I mentioned two … Continue reading →

Update on 10/31: Another short piece about the class ran in the campus newspaper, the Daily Illini, “Ukulele gives music education class a new dimension.” Update on 10/30: The local paper, the News Gazette, ran a nice piece in the … Continue reading →

I was delighted to be invited to respond to John Kratus’ talk at the CIC/New Directions conference today at Michigan State University. My response focuses on the importance of a critical perspective and pragmatic approach to technology in music education. … Continue reading →

Nick Jaworkski is a current MME student, and his amazing blog attracted some national attention via a nice mention in today’s USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2011-10-02/high-school-music-programs/50635878/1