NY, NY - It's a hell of a town (unless you're a teacher)

New York City's mayor has proposed a budget that would cut over 6,000 teachers from NYC schools... that averages to about 1 in 12 teachers. Read more here.

Rachmaninov on Recording

Sergei Rachmaninov had some pretty interesting thoughts and reactions to Gramophone recording capabilities and radio broadcasting in an article he wrote in 1931. To see his thoughts, and to view just how far accessing musical performances have come, check out this article.

A Piano that can speak?!?

Austrian composer Peter Albinger has taken recordings of the human voice, and matched the frequencies to that of a player piano. In effect, we are able to "hear" what the human voice "sounds like" as a piano sound. In the video here, he took a child's recitation of the "Declaration of the International Environmental Criminal Court," written by Laureates Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and the Dalai Lama, and has the sound duplicated on a player piano. The video is in German, but has English subtitles. It is rather amazing...

20 Practice Tips

I think one of the most challenging things to do as a music teacher is to get your students to practice their music outside of class. Most parents would probably agree that their children are not practicing as much as they would like them to. While this doesn't speak of all music students, it does speak of many, especially those who are struggling with a particular piece of music.

In any case, here is a list of 20 practice tips that are important to keep in mind as one schedules out their time during the week and goes about practicing.

Bach in the Forest...

Even though this is a commercial for a limited edition phone (which I couldn't care less about), the actual video is amazing. A group of individuals went through countless hours designing, creating, and assembling this gigantic wooden xylophone in the woods. As you will see, the downward track, with hundreds of wooden blocks, "performs" Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" from Cantata 147 when a wooden ball is released down the track. Invisible Designs Lab's Kenjiro Matsuo is responsible for making the radical idea a reality. Take a look for yourself...

Great Art

I am a firm believer that good art should be shared with people. My brother-in-law posted this link on Facebook a few minutes ago, and I just had to share it. This cellist demonstrates how creative music-making can be. He not only plays this incredible composition, but he also beatboxes an accompaniment. Absolutely amazing... as the video says, he clearly takes the cello to the next level. Check it out here.

The Achievement Gap

Policies such as LIFO are hurting our schools in more ways than we may even recognize. There are increasing studies pointing out the achievement gaps between schools in moderate to high socioeconomic areas versus low socioeconomic areas. The practice of LIFO and non-performance based tenure are deflecting accountability, and perpetuating the status quo and the project of statistics such as young African-American males are more likely to end up in prison than graduate high school. Is education really a basic right in this country? If so, we have a long way to go to guarantee those rights to all. We still have a long way to go to live up to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream. For more about the achievement gap, read this article.