music and technology

• My first thought refers to the task where we added a “fun” feed to our reader.

I don’t advise adding the amazon gold box deals of the day unless you want

your inbox flooded with dozens of items!

• On the Catalysts and Connections reader I was struck by the article titled

“Congratulations HASTAC Digital Media and Learning Grant Winners:

Another look at technology based orchestras.” PLOrk is the name of the

Princeton University Laptop Orchestra. They have 15 computers, each attached

to a speaker. The “musicians” use keypads, drum pads and the mouse to “play”

musical pieces. I find it thrilling and frightening to think of computers

replacing traditional instruments. Just as I fear that live theater performances

will disappear one day, I wonder if the same could happen to live music.

• On the reader So you want to teach? there is an article titled “Reflections on

December and January.” Item #4 links you to Joseph Pisano’s article titled

“100 Music Education Blogggers by the end of the year.” The goal is as simple as the

title states. The blog writer, Joel, includes instructions so even teachers new to blogging

can start and he has created a new term-MusicEduBlog which encompasses music education and

technology. If you google the term, he says, you only come up with one entry-his own.

• On the Race in the workplace reader in the article “links for 2008-02-20″

there is an article/review “Are Girls Wired not to Win?” Susan Pinker is a

psychologist who is the author of a book that looks at the hormone oxytocin

and it’s connection to how it affects women . She says this is why girls are wired

to care for their children rather than strive to succeed in the workplace.

“When the researchers looked at women’s motivations to work, they discovered that having a powerful position was the lowest ranked career goal of highly qualified women in every sector. For 85% of the women, other values came first: the ability to work with people they respect, to “be themselves” at work and to have flexible schedules.”

Even when women were given help to balance work and home, many

women either chose not to advance in a career and spend time at home,

or to advance and feel guilt about the decision.

I would love to know what readers of this article think about this idea as

well as how it affects teaching.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 11:07 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.