Profile Blog

The music education world, as large a spectrum music itself covers, is quite small. Generally, the most skilled and inspiring public school music teacher is no celebrity, and often, these legends of higher level education are not aquainted with the blogishpere. Like many classical musicians/enthusiasts, it's all about the music, not about social networking--on the internet no less. This does not mean that music educators shouldn't keep up with technological advancements. In fact, even with the detrimental budget cuts, technology is continually finding ways to change music education.

Evan Tobias is Instructor of Music Education at Arizona State University. In my "blog search," I have found that his blog is most comprehensive in terms of combining new technological elements of music education, advocacy and the contributions of the "outside world" to music education. Tobias's blog, Catalysts and Connections, not only provides detailed information on various music ed. conferences throughout the country, but also provides thought provoking stories on how music is changing the world (through education). His entries are professional and academic as he often discusses the most effective ways to work with music students from a more pedagogical stand point. At the same time, he avoids the pretentiousness that comes with being a music critic or expert.

His last entry was in April of 2009, and I am ardently hoping he writes more this coming fall--there are comments on the blog as recent as one week ago. His readers are generally music teachers--public school or university level. He also receives comments from arts advocacy organizations.

In one article, he discusses how the music of T-Pain and Bjork can be used in the classroom to demonstrate different ways to portray and use the human voice. This is not only be an aid to teaching voice production, but also to exposing students to world music. As a member of the "teeny-bopper/pop culture music generation," adding a bit of pop culture to a lesson plan is so applicable. It is music, after all.

Another article demonstrates how music contributes to history: Tobias congratulates the Lesbian and Gay Band Association and provides a bit of a feature on the group as they were invited to march in the inaugural parade back in January. It's so important, especially in the case of advocating for music ed in public schools, to emphasize the fact that music helps groups of people (LGBT) make history!

Tobias speaks of the importance of bringing music to students in need also. He wrote in early 2007 about the importance of high school marching band to students whose programs suffered from Hurricane Katrina. He makes reference to an article in the New York Times that featured a band that marched in the first Mardi Gras parade since the hurricane and "proved they could do something positive in such devastated surroundings." He quotes students who were suggested by their English teacher to join the band after behavioral issues, and later dream of becoming band teachers.

These stories reveal the magic of music in schools! In my blog, I hope to feature more discussions of advocacy and the state of the arts budget throughout the country, and less pedagogical teaching methods, as valuable as they are. This blog can definitely be an aid to my research. and I am excited to start the magic!