Yesterday I came across a wonderful opportunity for students of all ages who are creating music and digital media with computers. The International Competition for Young Media Creatives is a European competition but it is open to any student worldwide. It is sponsored by the SAE Institute in Frankfurt, Germany.

There are a number of different categories. They include: Music Production, Multimedia, Short Film, 3D FX/Animation, and Creativity First. The prize in each category is pretty impressive: an iMac and 3,000 Euros. For more information, visit their “>website. Please pass this on to anyone who you think might have students who would be interested in entering the competition. Good Luck!

I am thrilled to announce that SoundTree is now a corporate sponsor of the Vermont MIDI Project Opus Concerts. As you are probably aware, I am a HUGE fan of the work that Sandi MacLeod and Anne Hamilton have done with the Vermont MIDI Project. I believe that it is the single best illustration of technology in music education. If you’ve never heard of the Vermont MIDI Project, please go and visit their website.

This Wednesday, April 30th 2008, I will have the very distinct honor of attending my first ever “Opus Concert” at the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph, VT on behalf of SoundTree. As the Managing Director, one of my first actions was to contact Sandi to become a sponsor. The Opus Concerts (this is the 16th one) are incredible opportunities for students in the program to write for a specific instrumentation group and have their pieces performed by professional local musicians - many from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. On this concert, 19 students will have their compositions performed by either a string or woodwind quartet. In addition to having their pieces performed, the students also have an opportunity to rehearse and conduct the musicians in preparation for the performance. I can’t wait to finally see this process live.

If you are in the central Vermont area this Wednesday, I urge you to attend the concert. Tickets are only $5 for adults and $3 for students. The concert is at 6:30pm and the open rehearsal session starts at 12 noon. I hope to see you there!

I read on Wired.com today about a very interesting upcoming event in Detroit, MI. The story is about how Asimo, one of the most well known robots (which is made by Honda), will conduct the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on an upcoming concert. The concert is more of a kick-off commercial for a long-term partnership between the orchestra and the car manufacturer who has donated $1 million dollars to the “Power of Dreams” education fund.

Honda will film the event, which takes place on Tuesday, May 13th. Attendees will include students from the Detroit School of the Arts. When the film is posted on their site, I will post a link to it here.

So what do you think? Shameless commercial? Interesting idea? Can a robot actually conduct a professional orchestra? What genius is programming it? Will the musicians actually follow it? Is this good for classical music? Has the Detroit Symphony “jumped the shark”? I’d love to hear from you.

I just arrived home after spending the last few days at the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Conference in Boston, MA. I always love going to the MMEA show, and this year I had the pleasure of presenting three sessions on Thursday: The Music Educators Guide to Copyright Law, Podcasting in the Music Classroom, and Connecting With The MySpace Generation. All of the PowerPoint presentations of my sessions are located at: www.soundtree.com/mmea08 and podcasts of two of the three sessions are located at: http://fams.podomatic.com.

In addition to the sessions I presented, this year I was at MMEA as the Managing Director of SoundTree along with Jason Panucci. SoundTree had a booth at the show where I met many teachers from Massachusetts. We also sponsored sessions by the amazing Tom Rudolph. His sessions are always highly engaging and SoundTree is thrilled to have him aboard. Hats off to Mike Moniz for all of his work as the Technology Coordinator of the conference. He always does a wonderful job. I look forward to presenting and exhibiting for many years to come.

For the past few weeks I have been working with one of my former TC students, Capt. David Paroby, on a really innovative event. Capt. Paroby is the Director of the US Army Ceremonial Band and he has come up with a fantastic idea that incorporates technology and traditional band music. Here is the invitation:

You are cordially invited to attend a free concert given by the United States Army Ceremonial Band. On Thursday, March 27th the U.S. Army Ceremonial Band will present a concert entitled “Music Meets Hi-Tech.” This event will take place at Brucker Hall in Fort Myer, Virginia at 7:30 PM.

The concert will be also available via live Webcast at the following URL: http://rastaban.ite.gmu.edu/usarmyband
(URL will be active 30 minutes prior to the concert). In the meantime, visit www.soundtree.com/usarmy for a podcast about the concert. Immediately following the concert, audience members will be encouraged to blog about their reactions to the concert at: http://soundtree.musiced.net.

I would encourage you to pass the concert info on to your students so that they can participate in the event. It is very unique and I am thrilled that SoundTree is supporting this effort.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Two great TI:ME events are happening on the same day! On Saturday April 5th, in addition to the TI:ME PA event the TI:ME Ohio State Chapter is hosting a fantastic workshop titled: Working With Media For Your Classroom: A Hands-On Workshop. This event is sure to be a very good way for teachers who are interested in utilizing technology in their classrooms, including how to use audio, photos, video, and an introduction to podcasting. Presenters include Jay Dorfman from Kent State University, Dorothy Bryant from Ohio University, and Tom Jordan from Northern Kentucky University. The workshop is being held at Ohio University in Athens, OH from 9:00am - 4:00pm, and is being co-sponsored by TI:ME and SoundTree. The workshop registration fee is only $25.

I strongly urge you to sign up today at the TI:ME Ohio State Chapter website. TI:ME Ohio is one of the most active state chapters, and the expertise being offered will surely make for a very worthwhile event!

I am pleased to announce that the TI:ME PA State Chapter, under the incredible leadership of Beth Sokolowski, will be hosting a full day Technology Conference on Saturday, April 5th 2008 at West Chester University in West Chester, PA. The conference runs from 9:00am to 4:00pm and includes sessions by some wonderful technology presenters, including Amy Burns, Mike Fein, Marc Jacoby, Dave Marra, Hank Wajda, and Tom Rudolph. I will be giving the Keynote Address fro the conference. The address is titled “New Trends in Music Technology: Where Are We Going?” at 9:00am. I am really excited about this event. I urge everyone who lives within an hour or two of West Chester to plan on attending. Registration is $25 for TI:ME members and $30 for non-TI:ME members. The fee also covers the cost of lunch!

For more information about the conference, including a schedule of events, the flyer, and registration information, click on the links that I have provided below.

I hope to see you there!

Conference Flyer: patime-flyer-master.pdf

Schedule of Events: patime08.pdf

Registration Form: registration-form.pdf

Today I am in snow-covered East Brunswick, NJ for the NJMEA 2008 In-Service Conference. I am wearing three hats at this conference this year. First, as the Technology Coordinator for the conference; second as the Managing Director of SoundTree; and third as the outgoing President of the TI:ME NJ State Chapter.

As the Technology Coordinator it was an easy decision that SoundTree should provide the hands-on lab for the conference this year. We have an 8 station SoundTree lab, complete with tons of software for NJ educators to take for a spin. SoundTree and TI:ME NJ are sponsoring all of the sessions in the room - and there are lots to choose from. Here are just a few:

Introduction to Video Conferencing
Digital Audio Solutions for Music Educators
GarageBand in the World Music Curriculum
A Groovy Way for Your Elementary Students to Make Music
Teaching Classroom Music in the Keyboard Lab
Exploring Sounds: Virtual Synthesizers in the Music Classroom
Computer Recording In Rehearsal: Cheap And Simple
Lab Basics: Getting Started with Technology in Your Music Program

Many of the session materials listed above are located on a special page that SoundTree has created for the conference. If you’re snowed in and can’t make it today, please feel free to check out our page. If you are going to be there, please stop by the Carlyle Room to say hello.

I’m headed out now to go to the hotel - anyone have a shovel?

Today I head down to the SCMEA Conference in Charleston, SC. It is one of my favorite cities and I am really looking forward to meeting the music educators who will be attending the technology sessions in the SoundTree Hands-On Technology Lab. There is a terrific schedule of presenters, including Robin Hodson of Sibelius, Tom Carruth from Finale, and Steve Rummage and Janice Adams from Apple. I will be presenting four different sessions as well on how to incorporate technology into a music curriculum.

I know that this will be a terrific conference. I will post some reactions over the next few days. Until then…

I welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions.

Today I leave for the 2008 TI:ME National Conference being held in conjunction with the Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids, MI.  As the SoundTree Managing Director I will be overseeing the SoundTree Hands-On Tech Lab and presenting numerous sessions on a wide variety of topics.  Podcasts from my sessions will be available soon on my podcasting site and all of the session materials will be available on my home page.

If you have never attended a TI:ME Conference, you really should get in your car (or hop on an airplane) and get yourself out there.  The list of presenters reads like a Who’s Who of music technology and this year there are a number of special 3-hour courses that are being run to provide an in-depth view of software like Sibelius, Finale, and more.

Hope to see you there!