For three days I attended the New York University Interactive Multimedia Performing Arts Collaborative Technology (IMPACT) Conference . It was IMPORTANT to meet teachers who are just like me (I’m not alone) : Over the course of three days I met four teachers who I would also consider future collaborators. We are all doing similar things which are not typically done in our home states. We are fighting “the system,” which is what I call old-school music education. The truth is that 20% of students take band, orchestra, and choir. The other 80% must have a MEANINGFUL music education. At one point we discussed why we were teaching music. There was large discussion about cultivating talent vs. teaching music for the joy of music making. Barbara Freedman summed it up by saying “Teaching music saves lives.” Industry Meets Music Education: This is the first conference I have been to which combined teachers, future teachers, and industr...
.....musings of a music educator.