In working through the concepts and content in the MOOC “The Place of Music Education in the 21st Century” I have been exposed to lots of exciting stuff. I have come to appreciate the DAW, or Digital Audio Workstation, as the evolutionary next step after the keyboard-based synthesizer. After watching the video of DJ Madeon performing for the BBC, I find it impossible to see how anyone could dismiss this display of artistry as mere “knob-twiddling.” This is artistry!

Gradually we are seeing that, worldwide, Open Learning is increasingly taking hold. Could this be the answer to the student debt crisis that has impacted so many lives in America? I have gathered useful resources and materials listening to podcasts and exploring the resources found in Australian Katie Wardrobe’s Midnight Music. Though mostly a paid platform, I found a blog on Udemy by Matt Guarino that took me step-by-step through the features of GarageBand that allowed me to create a cool bass and drum loop. I took a deep dive into Steven van Zandt’s TeachRock project, and look forward to using this free resource in my music classes in the upcoming school year.

Project-based learning is the way forward. It is student-centered, cross-disciplinary, and gives students the opportunity to learn new skills while creating something of value. This has been going on in music performance classes for hundreds of years, although we didn’t call it that. The example set by music classes is spreading to other areas of the curriculum, but we got there first. If you think of it, the model of project-based learning was perfectly encapsulated in the plot of the 2003 movie “School of Rock.” Kick a little a&$!!