DLP Welcomes New Homeschool Groups

We are proud and excited to welcome the following homeschool groups and their members to the Discover, Learn, and Play family! 

SHINE 

SHINE is a non-profit 501c3 organization designed to provide cooperative opportunities and a support network to families educating their children at home in the Northeast San Antonio, TX area.  

SAIL 

SAIL is a member-governed, inclusive community of homeschooling families in the McKinney, Texas area. We encourage and respectfully support a membership diverse in homeschool style, race, religion, life philosophy, political views, and family composition and situation.

We look forward to helping you all enjoy the benefits of adding music to your current curriculum and activities.  For those families already playing and learning music, our program can act as a fantastic base curriculum or supplement your current course of study.  If you are new to making music, your membership includes the full support of our professional faculty as well as access to an extensive online support center.

We'd like to invite you to attend one of our FREE weekly webinars.  We'll guide you through each step, explain how we use it with our students here on campus, and show you how you can get the most out of it at home.  We'll also answer any questions you might have along the way.

Welcome aboard... let's get started!

Finding Inspiration Part 2: Between the Folds

We're continuing the "finding inspiration in unusual places" theme by bringing to your attention an amazing documentary about (of all things) origami, called Between the Folds.  I've seen this program twice before and remember being overwhelmed with inspiration.  Interestingly, I was not in a hurry to try origami, but rather, I was inspired to be better at explaining my ideas about my work in music and in particular, teaching music. 

In the same way that a few great movies suck me in, (The Godfather, Napoleon Dynamite, and Annie Hall to name a few) if I happen to catch just a few moments of any scene, I am then completely rapt and usually there for the remainder.  Such was the case last night with this amazing Independent Lens piece on PBS. I decided to make a few notes while I watched and wondered why I found it so engaging, inspirational, and addicting.  Here are some thoughts:

First,  each person who spoke about origami spoke passionately.  There are origami "artisans" of course, but there are also doctors, teachers, and "folders" of all sorts who relate their passion for the art so eloquently that it makes even the casual observer take interest.

Next, each interviewee was able to explain very complex ideas in relatively easy to understand soundbites. This really struck home with me as I remembered that our mantra during the creation of the Kore Series was, "if you can't articulate a musical concept in a few sentences, then you don't know it well enough". 

If you're making mistakes, you are actually in the process of learning.

It was also surprising to learn that folding failures were often saved or filed both literally and in memory banks as building blocks for future successes. I promised myself that I would share that information with more students.  If you're making mistakes, you are actually in the process of learning.

Lastly, almost every folder said it was the process of making or doing that is important.  It reminded me of musicologist Christopher Small's philosophy of musicking - that music is a verb, it is the act of doing and making music that is important. 

So if you're ready for a visual feast and a ream of inspiration - make it a point to see this film.  I promise you will not be disappointed! Check out the trailer below.
 

Killing...uhh, Saving Classical Music

This is a reply to a post titled Classical Music's Problem...  The author (who writes at a site ironically called KillingClassicalMusic) is actually an advocate for "rescuing the world's best music from a slow, certain death at the hands of tired traditions and oppressively ordinary thought." How could we not read on???  The general premise of the post is "how do we expect untrained audiences to relate to classical music?"

Here is our reply:

They say the definition of absurdity is repeating the same thing and expecting different results. There's simply no reason to put classical music on a pedestal in this day and age - if it dies, so be it (note to newspaper publishers). Times change - new things arise. Watching a symphony play 200 or 300 year old music (or even 50 year old music for that matter) is just not something the i-pad, i-phone or i-pod generation wants to do. So here is one group's solution:

1. Create a digital music learning environment. Make it a professionally designed curriculum that is not a shortcut but a solid user-friendly learning 'system'.

2. Make it personal, affordable, and so crystal clear that even school district music administrators and groups like MENC stand up and take notice.

3. Allow it to grow, change, adapt, and be flexible enough to be used by both teachers as a basic curriculum or students learning on their own.

4. Make it available for all instruments, including guitar, bass, electric guitar, piano, and keyboard (not just band and orchestral instruments).

5. Use many genres of music as playing and listening examples. We hear all sorts of music in our everyday lives, why continue to 'teach' musical concepts using outdated songs, examples, and exercises?

Basically, WE as educators (and the profession of music education) must adapt to create an environment where people of all ages interested in learning music can access it on their terms using modern practices and technology as a vehicle. Until we begin to reach current (and future) generations as they are accustomed, we will be mired in the state we are now, with dwindling in-school music programs (despite all the 'music makes you smarter studies) and poorly attended (classical) concert halls.

At MusickEd.com we have created the Kore Series as a start toward this end. Our goal is to package, market,  and sell (gasp!) music education to everyone, which in turn might lead to selling more instruments, more CD's, more sheet music, and more tickets.  Win-Win.

Our philosophy is simple and hearkens to a quote by Chris Small, "Music is a VERB not a noun, it is something one does and it is valid at every level."  We try and live this each day on campus at DSM and online at MusickEd. Comments welcome!

MusickEd Welcomes St. Ann Parish, Coppell Texas

St. Ann Parish is a vibrant Catholic community of over 28,000 members located in Coppell, Texas. The music ministry is led by Curtis Stephan, an accomplished musician, composer and performer and includes a 100+ member adult choir, a Spanish praise group, and a contemporary ensemble that performs for youth masses and events.

Members of the St. Ann music ministry recently met with Dr. Bob Lawrence, president of MusickEd.com and got a Kore Series Curriculum primer. Bob began the presentation by saying "This is not a magic bullet, it's real music education and it does require work.  But it is an awesome curriculum and most of all, it's fun!"  

Director Curtis Stephan said, "I have been in music a long time and I looked carefully through the lessons. It will be great for all of us to be speaking the same language as we rehearse in the upcoming months. I know everyone is excited to get started and I am looking forward to hearing their progress."

The group felt like it was important to continue their sense of community online so we created a password protected area in our forums. This allows St. Ann users to share their stories, document their progress, and offer encouragement to fellow members.  

Welcome to all of you from the faculty and staff of MusickEd.com and happy learning! 

Read more about our group rates and visit Discover, Learn and Play to see the Kore Series.

Discover, Learn and Play Now!

Let us help you to Discover, Learn and Play music. If you’ve been frustrated with hit and miss methods or simply playing songs without really learning music, then we have the program for you!

Our patented 3 step learning process is not a shortcut, it’s a music education tool developed by a professional staff of teachers who have decades of experience at all levels of instruction.
 
Step 1 introduces you to the concepts in every lesson.  We use simple language and clear graphics to explain each concept as it pertains to your instrument.  Take the time to read and re-read this material.  And come back to it often as it sets a solid foundation for the remainder of the learning process.

Step 2 is a review of the lesson material using our specially designed quizzes.  There are 3 levels of testing that provide a thorough review of all concepts.  You may be asked to choose one answer from a list, match multiple answers, or supply an answer on your own.

We’ve also included ear training examples that help prepare you to apply the concepts to your instrument.

Real time scoring gives you instant feedback so you’ll know if you’re ready to move on or return to step 1 for further review.

Step 3 is where you‘ll apply the concepts you’ve learned to your chosen instrument, and there are a number of ways to approach this step depending on your own personal learning style:

Open the song file to see and study the music you’ll be playing.
 
Click on the melody only track to hear the song.
 
Listen to the full orchestrations with both background and melody.
 
Begin with a few simple exercises that reflect the concepts presented in every lesson.  

We’ve even included our ingenious "note finder" for every instrument in case you need help with a fingering, slide position or note location.  

When you’re comfortable with each song, it’s your time to shine and perform it with the background only track.

Want more information?  Simply click on the MusickEd logo from any page to return to the main menu, and then choose any of the 4 support centers.

Instrument Support includes videos to help the most basic performer get started, from how to assemble and hold your instrument to making your first sounds.

Lesson Support includes specific educational comments for the songs and concepts in every lesson. Think of it as a personal lesson plan; designed especially for you by the professional educators at MusickEd.com.  As a bonus, the first 5 lessons also include ‘Practice Pointers’ that will help you set a solid foundation for all of your future playing.

Need even more information?  You have access to our extensive Knowledge Base, Glossary and you can even send us an e-ticket from the Custom Support tab. 

And whether you’re a subscriber or not, you can join the MusickEd community for free.  Participate in our educational forums and webinars and be able to stay up to date with all the latest news and info through the MusickEd blog, facebook, twitter and YouTube pages.
 
So if you’re an absolute beginner, a novice music maker, a professional musician, or teacher, MusickEd.com has a world of music for you to Discover, Learn and Play!

Are you a band, choir or orchestra teacher?  We have special academic pricing that can give your students access to our entire curriculum for just pennies a day. Let the Kore Series help make each member of your group become a better player.  Contact musicked@gmail.com for details!