MusTech.Net!

If you have not been following along here at MusTech.Net…it’s time to catch up!   Travis Weller and I, decided to test some of the educational “outer limits” of using SKYPE in the classroom at a performance in May of 2008.   What we accomplished was nothing short of “ground breaking” in the music education/performance and related arenas.  At Travis’ Spring Instrumental Concert we SKYPED three of the composers of pieces being performed that night, LIVE via VIDEO, into the concert to talk with the performers, conductor, and audience that were present that evening.  The composers SKYPED in were, Dr. Andrew Boysen, Dr. Scott Watson, and Mr. Brian Balmages.

Today, on the front page of Campus Technology, is an article by Linda L. Briggs, about our project entitled: Bringing Composers into Classrooms Through Skype.   Travis and I have been interviewing with a number of folks about our usage of SKYPE in the educational setting and this is one of the articles that has resulted from that collaboration with the SKYPE folks and others.

I have started a 4-part series about our SKYPE CONCERT and have finished the first two parts; you may find those articles here:

Part I, Out of the Box, Connecting the Audience, Performers, and Composers through Skype
Part II, Connecting the Audience, Performers, and Composers

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The Olympic motto, Citius, Altius, Fortius, is a Hendiatris, or a figure of speech.   These three word phrases were typical in ancient Greece and Rome (Veni, Vidi, Vici, etc.).    Citius, Altius, and Fortius translate to English as Faster, Higher, and Stronger.  The Olympics bring about a sense and feeling of the common good and a brotherhood among humanity.  

One can hardly watch the Olympics without being awestruck by the excellence that is achieved by the athletes of the games and the feeling of goodwill that is perpetuated by the event.  Although perfection is rarely seen (if even possible), excellence abounds and we as musicians should literally, take note of what it is that makes these Olympians truly great.

Let us start off our new school year by reflecting on how our music students, music ensembles, and even we as teachers and educators, can obtain excellence within our music programs:

1. We must first know what excellence is…
      What are the best examples of our music, ensembles, teaching techniques, etc.?  Without an acute awareness of “the best” we are blindsided by our own ignorance and any comparison that we make of what our achivements might be are foolery.  
2. We must be goal oriented and disciplined…
      What are our musical goals and what must be done to achieve them?  Without a goal and the discipline necessary to achieve it, we are simply wandering quickly to nowhere.  
3. We must believe in our cause…
      Without believing in what we are doing, we are destined to mediocrity at best.
4. We must persevere…
      As students and teachers, we must not be afraid to fail in order to achieve. Whether something we are working toward takes one time or one thousand times, we must be ready to make the commitment to continually improve and move forward.   Even the most disciplined and goal-oriented of people must persevere to achieve things worthwhile.
5. We must strive for perfection…
      Perfection can never truly be achieved.  There will always be someone better, or something that can be done better.   Our struggle for perfection leads us to excellence in what we do.  In order to be excellent…we must first know what excellence is… See number 1 above...

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This is the second post in a series about an “Out of the Box” experiment by myself and Travis Weller about using SKYPE as a bridge to connect the audience, performers, and composers, together, during a concert.   This post will contain a flash video of the highlights of that concert.  The video is over 20 minutes long and will allow you to see the process which we used to make this hybrid concert a reality.

The video was created using Pinnacle Studio 10. and an incredible freeware flash converter that makes embedding video, like this, into a website with playback controls a breeze, Free Video to Flash Converter.  This  video is hosted here at mustech.net; please let me know if you would like a copy of it to use for educational purposes. 

The Bridging the Gap Between the Composers and Audience Video in Brief:

1. 0:00 Color Bars
2. 0:10 Title Sequence
3. 0:20 Brief Introduction and description
4. 0:46 Part I, Concert Introduction
5. 3:22 Part II, Composer, Mr. Brian Balmages
6. 8:04 Part III, Composer, Dr. Andrew Boysen
7. 15:06 Part IV, Composer, Dr. Scott Watson
8. 19:40 Part V, Ending Text, Wrap up
9. 20:24 END

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As you know we’ve been quite successful with the Music Education Blog Carnival.  If you’ve missed the first two carnivals you can find the totally USEFUL Music Education articles posted at the Carnival Here:

1st Music Education Carnival Edition:
July, 2008 at http://soyouwanttoteach.com

2nd Music Education Carnival Edition:
August, 2008 at http://mustech.net

3rd UPCOMING Music Education Carnival Edition:
September, 2008 at http://amymburns.musiced.net

Dust off an old interesting post or create a new one, either way submit them to the Carnival Here.  We’re really making an impact with these carnivals and we are off to a great start, let’s keep up the momentum and it’s great fun!