Tonight I will be presenting two sessions at DAYTiME 2023, sponsored by MusicEDNet, in Adelaide, Australia - albeit virtually - and I’m really looking forward to it. Along with some of the best presenters in the industry, I will be filling in for James Humberstone for the Plenary Session, and presenting a session on podcasting. I posted about this event a few weeks ago, but it’s finally here and I’m excited.

Today I am up in beautiful Burlington, VT for the University of Vermont Music Education Mini Summit, hosted by Dr. Andrea Maas. Andrea has put together a wonderful schedule of events, and I am thrilled to be joined by both Dr. Cara Bernard from UCONN and Stefanie Weigand from Music-COMP. I will be giving the Keynote Address and a session on podcasting today, and I’m really looking forward to meeting many VT music educators, UVM music education majors, and even some high school students who are thinking of becoming music educators.

If you’re interested in the genealogy of popular music and LOVE infographics, then Musicmap is the site for you! Created by Kwinten Crauwels, this incredibly detailed and well-researched site provides users with a detailed map of the many connections between all styles of popular music. Simply by zooming in on any area of the initial map (see above) you can see the many sub-genres associated with each style of music and if you zoom in even further, you can click on the sub-genre and get a YouTube playlist that illustrates the style of music and includes representative bands and musicians from that style. It’s amazing.

Don’t let the name of this tool fool you. The Online Metronome site has an amazing collection of free tools for music educators, and it is definitely something that you should bookmark right now. Created by musician and educator Andrew Swinney, this site is a wonderful resource for music teachers and their students, specifically in terms of getting students to practice. This post includes a detailed description of each of the tools, and how they can be used.

I recently had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Canadian music educator Steve Giddings for my podcast - Profiles in Teaching With Technology. I had been following Steve through his amazing website, Steve’s Music Room, for some time. We had an amazing conversation and I quickly realized that Steve is a master music educator and our visions aligned quite closely in terms of technology integration and inclusivity in teaching music. He is a rockstar.

You read that correctly - there is a FREE DJ interface (Called YouTube DJ) that allows you to select two YouTube videos and mix the audio together in a software DJ-style interface. Best part? It’s FREE. While the site is not affiliated with YouTube itself, the YouTube API makes it possible to build a tool that pulls content directly from the vast online video library. Students find radio-clean versions of their favorite songs and start DJing right now. Here’s how it works.

One of the coolest websites on the internet is the Internet Archive. One VERY important thing to note on this resource though: do not take your students there! The site is literally an archive of TONS of media, including some types that are completely inappropriate for school use. That said, if you are a teacher, it is a wonderful resource for finding lots of stuff. There are numerous ways to use this site to find content for use in student projects, search previous versions of websites, listen to live music, and more. Here are a few of my favorite ways to use this site…

I was going to write this post on Mothers Day, but here goes: My mom is a badass.

For those of you who know me, you know that I was raised by a New York City cop and a Broadway dancer. My parents were/are a true New York love story. This past Monday I had the distinct honor of escorting my mom (Diane) to her triumphant return to the Broadway stage at the Dancers Over 40 Tribute to Angela Lansbury at the Actors Temple Theatre. Less than 10 weeks after breaking her hip, there she was, up on stage, being interviewed by fellow actor and performer Kurt Peterson, about her experiences and memories of working with Angela. I sat in the back of the theater with a huge smile on my face. I was/am incredibly proud of her.

Teaching 8th Grade General Music can pose many challenges.  Teaching the History of Western Music to 8th graders can pose even more.  How can one successfully capture the attention of middle school students (the period before they eat lunch) when discussing the works of Bach, Mozart, Mahler, and Copland?  Although there are effective approaches to the teaching of this specific subject matter that do not involve technology, approaches that effectively incorporate technology can truly bring the subject matter to life in ways you may not have imagined were possible.

James Manwaring is the Director of Music for Windsor Learning Partnership in England. He works with the 4 schools that are part of the academy trust, an amazing model of education that is unique to British schools. He is a FORCE in music education and the intersection of music technology. His blog, Manwaring Music Education Blog, is a vast resource of information for any teacher looking to incorporate technology into their instruction. MusicFirst UK is extremely fortunate to have him on board as an author and consultant, and this past weekend, he was elected as the next President of the Music Teachers Association - the UK equivalent of NAfME.

With the launch of MusicFirst Elementary here in the US about a month ago, a VERY cool piece of software is now available to the US market as a part of the Creative Tools area of the MusicFirst Elementary dashboard. These Creative Tools are included for no extra charge, and they are very powerful. One of those tools is called YuStudio, and it may just be worth purchasing MusicFirst Elementary just to access it. What is YuStudio you ask? Here we go…

Last month I had the honor of being included in a panel discussion at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA hosted by Daniel Liston Keller. The panel discussion was recorded on video (posted above) and is a part of the Insights In Sound podcast series. The title of the panel discussion was "Building the Bridge Between Education and Manufacturing," and featured John Krivit, myself, and Jonathan Wyner. If you're a student, an educator, a manufacturer, or just want to know more about the relationship between these two camps, you'll love this conversation.

Whenever I am asked what I think the best example of music technology integration into music education is, without hesitation I always say Music COMP (formerly the Vermont MIDI Project). The COMP part stands for Composition Online Mentoring Program. The organization was started back in 1995 by Sandi MacLeod and Anne Hamilton as a way to teach students in grades 3-12 in Vermont how to compose original music. The original program had teachers sending MIDI files of student work to a composer who would then provide feedback via email. In the nearly 30 years since then, the program has flourished and I am a HUGE fan. Students no longer have to reside in Vermont to participate in the program. If you have a young composer in your school, you should DEFINITELY consider signing them up for mentoring.

OK - I know it’s a LONG flight, but come on down and attend this incredible day of professional development hosted and sponsored by one of my all-time favorite companies - MusicEdNet. Can’t make it in person? That’s cool - you can attend virtually (just like me)! :)

MusicEDNet is an amazing company based in Adelaide, Australia that is the go-to music technology solution provider, integrator and reseller in all of Australia and New Zealand. It is headed up by Managing Director Keith Huxtable, Warrick Dowdy and David Dowling. MusicFirst has been a very proud partner since 2013 and all of the MusicFirst solutions are available exclusively through them in ANZ.

Yes it’s a mouthful, but WOW - if you teach music technology, you need to bookmark this site right now and dive into the HUGE wealth of resources that Wayne has made available to anyone - free of charge. Wayne is a music teacher at Torrington High School in Connecticut where he teaches band and music technology. He was the recipient of the 2009 Mike Kovins TI:ME Teacher of the Year award and his school district regularly wins the NAMM Best Communities for Music Education Award. I saw Wayne recently at the 2023 Connecticut Music Technology Day, sponsored by MusicFirst and Focusrite, and attended one of his sessions that he presented there. I was reminded just how wonderful of an educator Wayne is, and how generous his music department website is - sharing his entire music technology curriculum with music educators around the world. For free.

The MusicFirst Classroom recently added an amazing course to their Content Library called BZZKTT. This course provides teachers and their students with the essential building blocks for learning how to beatbox.

I am a HUGE Star Wars fan. Tomorrow is May the 4th, and millions of Star Wars fans just like me celebrate the unofficial Star Wars holiday called May the Fourth - aka Star Wars Day. Very nerdy, yes, but it IS fun. Because this classic series of movies has some of the most well known movie music ever composed, by the one and only John Williams, music teachers around the world also celebrate May the Fourth by bringing this music into their classrooms.

In an effort to help you find something that is just right for your students and your teaching style, I have put together a playlist of over 25 YouTube videos that should help you find something perfect for you class. This playlist includes Listening Maps, Boomwhacker videos, behind the scenes videos, performances, composer tips and tricks, and more. I hope you enjoy it!

PracticeFirst (powered by Match My Sound), available exclusively through MusicFirst, is an incredible performance assessment tool that provides the most detailed and nuanced feedback to students who are learning to sing or play an instrument. For many years the only criticism that we have faced, especially from our main competitor, is that we don’t have that much content. Well, that is no longer the case. In fact, we now have over 25,000 interactive titles, representing some of the very best content available from a broad coalition of music publishers who specialize in music for schools. And that number is growing every single day.

To help celebrate Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I am posting a wonderful lesson plan from the MusicFirst Classroom General Music Library. It is based on a presentation by Pingyi Song, D.M.A. presented at ACDA 2023. The content is used with her permission.

Objective: Students will be able to name several Asian female composers and characterize their compositions. Students will respond to representative works by several Asian female composers after listening.

Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of presenting a few sessions on behalf of MusicFirst at the first ever Connecticut Music Technology Day 2023 held at the Bristol Arts & Innovation Magnet School in Bristol, CT. The event was co-sponsored by Focusrite. I was joined by 3 wonderful presenters and dear friends, Barbara Freedman, Amy Burns, and Wayne Splettstoezer as well as Jason Panucci and Walt Straiton from MusicFirst. I also had the distinct pleasure of seeing two of my dearest friends, Dr. Lee Whitmore and Stefani Langol. It was a great day.