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Last month I wrote an article for Leading Notes about Twitter and its connective and professional development capabilities for music education. It turned into sort of a primer on Twitter: how to get started, ways to organize it, some followers to check out, etc. In the next few weeks I want to expand upon some things I wrote in that article.

One of the pieces of advice – or Twitter-quette – that I mentioned - and take to heart - was suggested by @ericasipes and @mitchthetenor: “Don’t be too serious.” Paraphrased, they said that it’s necessary to remember that, on Twitter, people are people. We don’t always tweet things related to professional development; we often tweet seemingly mundane things,

Does copyright encourage creativity? Or discourage it?

I'm not sure how many people saw this article from Playbill.com the other day, which talks about a director's change to the ending of Rent:

The final scene was missing roughly five lines of dialogue. For those unfamiliar with the musical adapted from Puccini's La Bohème,the character of Mimi dies and returns to life in the final moments of the script.

Director and faculty member Diane Smith-Sadak told Playbill.com that she removed the final lines where Mimi describes her near-death experience, creating a "more ambiguous" ending about Mimi's fate, in order to point toward the savage realities of people suffering from AIDS and addiction in the early 1990s (a time when many of

Suzuki violin lessons, approx age 4

I’ve been playing piano for over 23 years. (That’s a rough estimate – both my mother and I don’t remember if I started lessons in first or second grade, but it was at some point after I stopped Suzuki violin lessons.) I’ve taken lessons for most of that time. During that time I also played trumpet (briefly) and euphonium, played in concert and jazz ensembles, and directed many ensembles, from marching bands to small pit orchestras.

My musical résumé isn’t one that movies are made from, but it is nonetheless substantial. And, yet, when I sit down in a practice room, I still find myself struggling. Sometimes I hit a groove and accomplish a lot. Other

For the past few weeks NPR’s Deceptive Cadence blog has been running a series on “Guilty Pleasures,” interviewing regular contributors about music they are “embarrassed to love.”

The stated premise is commendable:

Over the years, friends and acquaintances who know my passion for music have asked, "So, what are you listening to these days?"

It's tempting to respond with something like, "Oh, I'm back in one of my big Mahler phases again." It sounds impressive and it's easier than admitting to what I might be really listening to — which could indeed be Mahler, but could just as likely be some schlocky pop band.

There's pressure on classical people to: a) never admit liking pop music and b) always

There have been a few big new items on people's minds, blogs, and Twitter feeds in the last week or so. Aside from protests in the Middle East (and my home state of Wisconsin), two that I was drawn to were the discussion about a column on HuffPost by the president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the debut of Watson, IBM's new computer, on Jeopardy!

via www.venturebeat.com

If you didn't watch the shows or read news clips, Watson won over the course of two episodes, against the two highest-scorers in Jeopardy!'s history. In some ways, and in some people's opinions, this is scary. If a computer can do this, how far away are we from artificial intelligence, from HAL? We're probably not as far away as some people may think.

Single Petal of a Rose was written by Duke Ellington as part of his Queen's Suite in the late 1950s. Recorded in 1959, only one copy was pressed, and given to Queen Elizabeth II. The recording was later released to the general public. (If I'm not mistaken, it was released after Ellington's death, but I can't find any confirmation on that.)

This was originally a duet for piano and bass, but is often played by a solo pianist. (The bass part adds to the overall piece, but is basically sustained chords during the two louder sections, with the flourishes in the right hand.)

I first played this piece as a freshman in college - November of 1999, on my first collegiate jazz concert. It was sort of a test piece my jazz band

One thing I disliked about how I was taught music theory during piano lessons and in undergrad was that a lot of it seemed to be busy work. Unfortunately, I came to realize that some of it does need to be "busy work." Some topics need practice to learn and perfect. And to be an adept musician, you should be able to easily identify meter signatures, key signatures, and other basics of our standard notation.

It's with this mindset that I used PowerPoint key and meter signature quizzes in my music theory classes. In a way, these are similar to the timed multiplication tables that we did in grade school.

One PowerPoint was set up to include all 15 different key signatures (it works for major and minor keys); one had more key signatures, and

via www.windrep.org

I was at the Illinois Music Educators' Association Conference (IMEA) to perform with the Illinois Wind Symphony. Prior to our performance I was walking through the exhibit hall, checking out the new book and CD offerings (and sampling the occasional piece of cheesecake or pizza).

While I was at a CD booth I overheard a customer talking to the salesman about David Maslanka. My ears perked up because he is one of my favorite contemporary composers. Most of what I've heard about him from other people has been complimentary. But this person took a different angle.

The jist of what he said was that he was fond of Maslanka's music, until he discovered Maslanka's politics. The paton followed that up by saying that he was

via www.wired.com

I taught an AP Music Theory class for three years. The class was a mix of band, orchestra and choir students (with the occasional guitarist thrown in for good measure). Some were planning on majoring in music in college; some were taking it to learn more about music; some, to be frank, took it because I cajoled them into it.

Because the class had such a varied skill level regarding singing, I started at square one. Most of the choral students were good singers and had experience sight-singing, but not all of them did. Most of the band and orchestra students had minimal experience.

One of the things I used at the beginning of the year - and came back to occasionally as the year progressed - was a sight-singing matrix.

I stumbled upon a blog post titled "Shakespeare's Relevance*." The author, Amy Wratchford, gives ideas on how Shakespeare can be presented in today's society and still be relevant. The post has just as much relevance for the art music world as it does for the theatre.

Her first point is "about the need to adapt or translate Shakespeare’s work to make it accessible and relevant." She shares anecdotal stories about students - grade schoolers - enjoying Shakespeare in its original language - no translation needed.

Musicians can take this example when giving performances, and this point deserves more thought. But what I'd like to focus on now is Amy's second point: that the theatre-going experience has been made too sacred.