This column presents an interview with Nathaniel Braddock, who created and teaches an ensemble devoted to Beck's "Song Reader" at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois. "Song Reader" is a collection of 20 compositions published as sheet music for musicians to record and release, with over 17,000 versions…

This column explores from a philosophical perspective how sound recording and media create a context different in consequential ways for music education. The author relates the story of his connection to his son through the ukulele in two ways: first, through playing and singing together; and second, through a recording of their music. These…

This column "comes clean" about secondary general music, admitting some common wrongs, looking briefly into some reasons for the current state of affairs, and finally moving onto a redefinition of secondary general--a redefinition that perhaps may be the best hope for responsive and respectful music education. (Contains 4 notes.)

Instead of focusing on the "stuff" of recording technology, this column explores ideas about the music that comes from the recording studio. Based on the author's experience working with Mark Rubel, four ideas about music are explored--one, the rise of alternatives to performance; two, the "get it done early" school of thought; three, recording as…

This column presents an improvisation game designed to be played by any two musicians from beginner through professional skill level. The author argues that two aspects are critical for success: one, an understanding of the creative power of limits; and, two, the importance of framing the activity as a game. The game, based on the limit of the…

Poems are filled with musicality. Poetry and music are often described using similar terms: meter, cadence, phrase, form, and more. Poetry also has physical qualities recognized ever since the Greeks classified poetic meter in feet. In this article, the author presents a project that works well across the age spectrum: recording expressive poetry…

This article details the use of multimedia spectrogram displays for visualizing and understanding music. A section on foundational considerations presents similarities and differences between Western musical scores and spectrograms, in particular the benefit in avoiding Western notation when using music from a culture where representation through…

This column presents an account of the Homebrew Ukulele Union: an ensemble where students build their own instruments, write their own compositions and arrangements, and organize performances in the local community. One author, a member of the group, presents the student perspective on building, learning, leading, and performing, whereas the…

In this article, the author describes a true story about Dwayne Carter Jr., a rapper most music educators probably don't know but one who is beloved throughout the world as "Lil Wayne." Critics overwhelmingly proclaimed Lil Wayne the top rapper in the hip-hop game, and the album and his work leading up to it were universally regarded as some of…

The author argues that concerts create pressures on the music curriculum similar to those high-stakes tests generate on the general curriculum. Three similarities are presented and discussed using the example of a concert the author organized: first, teaching to the test and the narrowing of curricular goals; second, evaluation by a single source…