By now you most certainly have heard of students practicing at home using SmartMusic and submitting recordings of themselves to their teachers back at school. It is an amazing product and a wonderful addition to any instrumental music program. But what if you don’t have enough teachers to teach all of your students, or if an advanced student requires some private lessons, but there isn’t a qualified instructor in your neck of the woods. Online lessons have been around for a while, but for a variety of reasons (mostly that the technology hasn’t been fast enough for truly effective interactions) they haven’t quite caught on. Enter viaAcademies.

I met the founder of viaAcademies, Mark Burke, at the NECC Show in Washington DC a few weeks ago and was thoroughly impressed with his vision for online instrumental instruction. His mission statement reads: Advance the availability of Instrumental Music Education through revolutionary delivery methods. Burke thinks that the time is right for connecting students online lives with quality instrumental music instruction, and I think he is on to something.

Here are the requirements for viaAcademies:

Enrollment and Program Requirements

* Step 1: Choose an Instrument: Choose the instrument you want to learn.
* Step 2: Enroll (Enrollment begins in September 2009)
* Step 3: Purchase or Rent an Instrument: Visit the viaAcademies Preferred Instrument Provider, Robert M. Sides Family Music Center. Costs associated with purchasing or renting instruments are in addition to the Enrollment fees. Have your own instrument? Great! A quick visit to your local music store will ensure it is ready to go.
* Step 4: Setup the computer: Make sure your child or student has access to a computer. The computer must have speakers, a microphone and webcam (webcam used for 1:1 lessons with teacher). Broadband connections to the Internet are recommended due to video and audio file exchanges required throughout the courses. viaAcademies recommends a 17 inch monitor to ensure online course materials can be viewed properly. Adobe Flash must be installed in order to view the content and videos. The computer must be located in their practice area. Internet Explorer must be used to access online content.
* Step 5: Setup the Practice Area: The Practice Area should include a chair, a music stand and the computer. Additional information on setting up the Practice Area is included in the course.
* Step 6: Begin!

Students can choose the following instruments to learn: Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, Bells, and Snare Drum. Paired with a quality band program at the public school level, viaAcademies offers a wonderful support system for instrumental music teachers who are looking for quality supplemental instruction for their students at an affordable price. The annual fee includes the following: Course fees include:

* Full course access for 12 months. Includes 6 units, 36 Lessons (1 lesson = 1 week for scheduling) of content, assignments, videos, practice assignments, SmartMusic Assignments and Unit Exams.
* A 1 Year SmartMusic student license
* Twelve 1:1 online lessons with a certified Instrumental Music instructor
* Teacher graded recorded assignments
* Secure access to online grade book and communication tools.

You’ll notice that viaAcademies has integrated the SmartMusic system directly into their instruction model - a great way for teachers to keep track of what their students are doing in their private online lessons. The lesson fees (in my opinion) should be the responsibility of the parents if they would like heir child to take private lessons. When you break down the annual fee ($850) and consider what you get in return, it is easy to rationalize the expense.

If I were still teaching, I would simply add this link to my band website and let kids know about it. viaAcademies isn’t asking you to sell the concept to your students - and I don’t think you should. I do believe that showing it to the parents at back to school night, or to the students during the first few weeks of school would provide them with enough information to make that choice on their own. Enrollment begins this September, and I wish Mark and his staff at viaAcademies the best of luck. It is an ambitious undertaking, but I believe that the product is well thought out and it will catch on with instrumental music programs in the years ahead.

I welcome your questions and comments.

Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of spending the day with my dear friend Tom Rudolph and his students at the Summer Music Institute at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, CT on behalf of SoundTree. This highly successful program, expertly run by Pam Perry, has a number of different course tracks, including General Music, Instrumental Music, Choral Music, and Technology. I had the honor of teaching there in the summer of 2007, and I have to say that it was my favorite venue to teach in.

I was up at CCSU to guest teach Tom’s “Composing with Notation Software” course and the “Scoring Music to Video for Beginners” course. It was great to see some of the students that I taught in 2007, still excited about what technology can do for music education. I made a special landing page that includes some of the links that I mentioned during my time with the students. If you are looking for a great place to take some summer courses, including TI:ME courses, in the Northeast, I strongly recommend checking out the Summer Music Institute @ CCSU.

Today I am in State College, PA for the PMEA Summer Conference 2009 where I am presenting three sessions on behalf of SoundTree. I was here last year where I presented the Keynote Address, and thoroughly enjoyed meeting the educators of Pennsylvania and talking with them about technology. I have created a special landing page for the sessions that I am presenting (I am presenting Technology Integration in Music Education all three times) and I will be posting a podcast of the session on my podcasting site. This is a special format for me, as the sessions are actually two hours long so I should be able to get in depth with some of the concepts that I cover. If you are around at the PMEA Summer Conference, please say hello!

I welcome your comments and questions.

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of attending the culminating concert for the NYU Summer Institute of Music Technology - High School Program. This program selects around 20 high school students from around the country as well as some international students for a two-week intensive program where the students learn a variety of technology-based music production skills. Each day, the students attend lectures given by NYU faculty on specific applications of technology, including software titles such as Ableton LIVE, Reason, Logic, and ProTools; audio engineering techniques, and the principles of acoustics. After their lectures, they have some hands-on time in the lab, followed by more instruction and workshops in the afternoon. After classes, students head back to the dorms where they stay up late into the night working on their independent projects, which make up the content on the culmintaing concert on the last day of the program.

I met with Dr. Agnieszka Roginska, who runs the program and is on the faculty at NYU, before the concert. She truly has created a very unique program and now in its’ second year, it has become extremely competitive for students to get accepted. I was very impressed with the way she designed the curriculum, and I know that the program will expand in the years ahead. This year, they only accepted 29 students from over 200 applicants. Competitive indeed.

The students who performed in the concert showed an extremely high level of skill and talent with their projects. Performances ranged from live rock bands performing original works, to dance tracks with cool video effects, to students creating music with Ableton LIVE. The enthusiasm of the students was quite apparent as they spontaneously danced during a few of the performances. I was very happy to see the student work, and I know that I will be back in the years ahead to see this program grow.

If you are a high school music teacher who teaches with technology and would like your students to get an incredible experience during the summer working on some great gear, I would strongly recommend looking into this program and urging your students to apply.

I welcome your comments and questions.

I have known about a program called Hyperscore for quite some time now, but until I joined the world of PC (using Parallels on my MacBook Pro) I never really had a chance to take it for a test ride, or use it with my students. This past March, I had the pleasure of attending a session presented by Kevin Coyne on how he uses Hyperscore with his middle school students. I was thoroughly impressed with the interface of the software and the incredible potential for inspiring creativity within every student - regardless of their musical ability. I spoke with Kevin after the session, as well as Molly Corbett who works for Hyperscore. I asked Kevin to write an article about how he uses Hyperscore with his students for one of our monthly SoundTree Newsletters, and I asked Molly how SoundTree could become a dealer for Hyperscore. I am thrilled to say that now we are.

So what is Hyperscore, and how is it different than any other music composition software title? Here is a quote from their website: “Music software that lets anyone compose music. The first music software program designed to teach students and adults how to compose music simply by drawing lines on the screen.”

Somewhat similar to the interface that Morton Subotnick uses for his extremely successful Making Music series, Hyperscore (which was developed by the incredible minds at the MIT Media Lab - spearheaded by composer Tod Machover) allows users to draw or paint short melodic or rhythmic motives on virtual canvases using a color of their choice. You can create as many little motives as you’d like and place them on your work area. When you are ready to start your composition, you can use each of the colors to paint your fragments onto the main canvas (or score). You can paint in any direction you like, and the melodic or rhythmic motive changes with your direction. Paint a straight horizontal line - you get your original melody throughout. Paint a curved line, and the pitches change. You can create some pretty incredible music with Hyperscore. When you are finished you can export your song as a MIDI file to share your work with others, and import it into a notation software program like Sibelius or Finale.

I urge you to read Kevin Coyne’s article and check out some of the resources on the Hyperscore homepage. At $79 per copy, it is an extremely affordable and different way to get kids composing in your classroom. It is only for the PC at the moment - sorry Mac users.

Have you used Hyperscore with your students? What do you think? I’d love to hear from you.

Today I am back at Castleton State College in beautiful and sunny Vermont for the VT MIDI Summer Institute - a great program run by my good friend, Sandi MacLeod. The program is an outgrowth of the amazing VT MIDI Project - dedicated to training teachers how to effectively integrate technology into their music programs. SoundTree is a proud sponsor of the program, donating equipment for the students to use during the week.

This year, the Institute is running three courses: Composing and Arranging Music for the Classroom and for Personal Use - taught by Anne Hamilton and Matt Pod, Working with Digital Audio - taught by Adam Pod, and FLIP into the World of Video for your Classroom - taught by Lucie deLaBruere. In addition to these courses, you can opt to work on an independent project with one of the course instructors. The program is rigorous, and students spend hours and hours working with technology until they feel comfortable enough to teach with it. Students can get three graduate credits for their work. If you are looking for a comprehensive summer technology workshop, taught by top-notch instructors in an absolutely gorgeous environment, I urge you to consider signing up for next year. It is a testament to Sandi’s work that the institute is very well attended - most of the courses are full this year. I am so happy to be a part of it again.

In a deal announced this week between the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) and a group of webcasters, Internet Radio Stations such as Pandora and Blip.fm will be able to remain on the “air” for the time being with a tentative agreement for lower royalty rates than were originally proposed by the CRB. The original proposed royalty rates were as high as .19 cents/song to be charged retroactively to 2006 which would most certainly have silenced most internet radio stations. The new rates that have been tentatively agreed upon follow a staggered implementation schedule - beginning at .08 cents/song to be implemented retroactively to 2006 up to an eventual .14 cents/song in 2015. There are a few problems with this - as most Internet radio stations do not currently charge customers - therefore generating little (if any) revenue. Pandora has stated that they will most likely begin charging a monthly fee to those customers who use the site the most (those who listen to over 40 hours of music per month). This will most likely not sit very well with avid listeners (like myself) - many of whom will shift over to sites such as imeem to avoid paying for content that many consider free advertising for the musicians. For example, most radio stations include purchase buttons next to the tunes being played that allow you to buy the song from a site such as iTunes or Amazon. Some now include commercials between the songs. Additionally, most radio sites do not allow you to choose the exact song you’d like to listen to, just choose an artist. Paying for a service that does not give you ultimate control over what you listen to probably won’t be a viable business model either.

For now, Internet radio will continue, but for how much longer no one can actually say. I personally believe that it is a service that should stay around. I use it all the time. As an educational tool it can be invaluable. Rather than sending students somewhere to steal music that you’d like them to listen to, you can refer them to a radio station like Pandora so that they can hear music legally. It would be a shame to have this disappear.

What do you think? Should Internet radio stations be allowed to play music without paying royalties? Why should terrestrial radio be permitted to pay far less expensive licensing fees than online radio? What would be a fairer system?

I welcome your comments and questions.

RIP: A Remix Manifesto

If you are looking for a fantastic resource that encapsulates the copyright reform movement position, RIP: A Remix Manifesto is a great place to start. This “open-source” documentary by Brett Gaylor looks at the digital music revolution and its implications for copyright law by tracing the steps that have taken our culture from Napster to Greg Gillis (aka Girl Talk) - “open-source” meaning anyone is able to make their own remixes and mashups the film. Appearances by Lawrence Lessig, Gilberto Gil and Cory Doctorow provide an interesting perspective for how copyright law hinders creativity and is ultimately destroying our culture. Certainly controversial, this documentary tries to present the most compelling argument for why copyright law needs to be reformed so that the remix/mashup culture of the 21st Century can legally create new art while respecting aspects of copyright law. The movie doesn’t advocate the end of copyright law, but rather looks to alternative licensing, such as those offered by the Creative Commons.

In an interesting twist, you can visit the documentary homepage and purchase the movie (in a variety of formats) for whatever price you’d like to pay - in true Radiohead style. I downloaded the movie and paid $5 for - though I could have easily paid nothing. In my opinion this is an interesting idea and I think that other bands/filmmakers/artists will test out the “pay what you want” model. Here is the text from the RIP homepage:

In RiP: A remix manifesto, Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers.

The film’s central protagonist is Girl Talk, a mash-up musician topping the charts with his sample-based songs. But is Girl Talk a paragon of people power or the Pied Piper of piracy? Creative Commons founder, Lawrence Lessig, Brazil’s Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil and pop culture critic Cory Doctorow are also along for the ride.

A participatory media experiment, from day one, Brett shares his raw footage at opensourcecinema.org, for anyone to remix. This movie-as-mash-up method allows these remixes to become an integral part of the film. With RiP: A remix manifesto, Gaylor and Girl Talk sound an urgent alarm and draw the lines of battle.

Which side of the ideas war are you on?

I recommend checking out the documentary for yourself and seeing where you fall on the copyright vs. copyleft continuum. Not really appropriate for use in the K-12 classroom, the video does provide musicians and educators with a fascinating glimpse into this complex issue, and helps illustrate what the remix/mashup culture is (our students are a part of this culture) and how the law effects it. It will most certainly provide you with quite a few talking points and discussion questions - and best of all - you don’t have to pay for it (though you should).

I welcome your comments and questions.

Today I post to my blog for the 400th time. It has certainly taken me a little longer to post another 100 posts than it did in previous years (I posted my 300th post in April of 2008), but I am still thoroughly enjoying the blogging experience, and I thank you for taking some time out of your day to read this. I started this blog in September of 2006, and nearly three years later it is still a rewarding endeavor.

As many of you may know, for the past 18 months I have been the Managing Director of SoundTree, and it has been the most exciting part of my career thus far. I have traveled extensively across the country, speaking with educators about the integration of technology in music education. My blog has been a way to connect with these educators after my sessions are over, and it is quite rewarding to hear from them months later. I plan on continuing this effort for many years to come. I enjoy finding out about new products, websites, and innovative ways that educators are integrating technology into their music curricula. There is never a shortage of new content to blog about, and it is certainly a challenge to keep up with the ever ebbing tide of new technologies. I am always amazed by what I find, and by what fellow bloggers find as well. To anyone who has ever asked me: “How do you keep on top of all of this new technology?”, my answer remains: I read and write blogs. Hopefully you will too.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment over the past few years. Every blogger knows that it is comments (more importantly the discourse that comments foster) that drives us. Please keep them coming!

See you at the 500th post!

If you’ve been around the music education/technology blogosphere, you’ve probably heard of Andy Zweibel. Andy is a music education major at the University of Miami and is a member of the ME Blogger campaign started by Joe Pisano of MusTech.net. I first met Andy at FMEA this past January. He came to one of my sessions and was Tweeting throughout. I enjoy checking out Andy’s blog and many of his posts provide incredible insight into the perceptions of music education majors. Andy is a very enthusiastic music technology and future educator, and I know that we will be hearing wonderful things about him in the years ahead.

Recently, Andy started a terrific new website called MusicEdMajor.net. The mission of the site is to provide undergraduate music education majors with a place to gather online to blog about a wide variety of topics - many of which are yet to emerge. The site’s design is very slick, and Andy has created some highly interactive content already. During the MENC Music Education Week he was running a live blog feed throughout. Another testament that the youth know this stuff inside out, while people like us sit back and watch in amazement. I strongly urge you to check out his site, and more importantly, if you teach pre-service music educators recommend that they utilize during the semester to connect with other music education majors around the country. I know that this site will catch on, and I wish Andy the best of luck with it!

I welcome your comments and suggestions.