Post# 2 Blogging for Music!

I think blogging would be fantastic for my students to respond to different listening exercises. I feel it is vitally important to listen and more specifically, listen and watch professionals. It gives us something to shoot for, something to dream about; it gives us style, inflection, musicality, and because the body is the instrument we get to watch what the singer does. We see where the inflection is, the emotion. It may or may not be something we like, it may be a fantastic example of how not to do something but it it nevertheless a great tool and great education.

What I am interested in is students reaction, emotional or otherwise to one single selection. I love that we can all watch and listen to the same thing and get completely different and diverse responses. This is where blogging and technology is fantastic.
For example, I would have my students watch something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b12fX9pyVkk&feature=related

We would have discussed where and what this selection was from, the history and time it was derived. Who the singer is, who the conductor is and of course the composer. I would then want to them to respond, having watched the entire clip, to what they felt.

What was their initial reaction, then what do they think the performer was talking about? Did the performer do a good job with his expressions to portray whatever it was, even though it is in a foreign language? Anything and everything, prompted or otherwise typed out in a blog for immediate review from the entire class! Immediate sharing of ideas and reactions... because of this we all come back the next class period with so many things to share and say and above all we can use this fresh information about each others responses to raise the level of our performances and learning.

Take it a step further to discussions about the music we are rehearsing or about the most recent rehearsal or performance. Again, immediate feedback and sharing. Even the parents can be involved and blog with their student about what they might have thought regarding a recent concert or performance that their child was in. So great!