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Music Zettel Ep. 2 – Skills every music teacher needs
What are the musical skills that every classroom music teacher needs? I’ve been lucky enough to rewrite our first year #MusicEd courses this year, and I’ve focused first on the ability to teach a melody through imitation & chunking (musical definition coming up!); and in addition, this semester, on the ability to accompany songs on…
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Music Zettel Ep 1 – Introduction
The first podcast in my first ever series – Music Zettel – in which I’ll share ideas and resources from my lecture series this semester at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, in addition to content related to my free MOOC (online short course), The Place of Music in 21st Century Education.
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Learning Ukulele Diary 4 – my favourite songs with C, G, F, and Am
As mentioned in my second diary, the only difficult thing about playing the above 4 chords is the change to and from G major, which has 3 fingers down, and in positions that aren’t necessarily similar to those in the C and F major shapes. And the best way I’ve found to practice the changes to…
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Learning ukulele diary 3: video tutorials amateur, semi-pro, and published paid courses
So you’re in the dress-ups room with your daughter sitting on the throne and what comes into your mind? Yes, of course, record another Uke learning video! This is a bit rough and messy, but hopefully funny if not very educational 🙂
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Learning ukulele diary 1: unboxing :)
As mentioned in my last blog post, I’ve decided to DO THE PROJECT MYSELF, FIRST! and learn a new chord-playing instrument which is what I’m asking my students to do in Key Approaches in Music Education this coming semester at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. I was in Limerick in June for the MAYDAY Colloquium (easily the most…
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Key Approaches in Music Education and completing degree accreditation for NESA/AITSL
I’m coordinating a new (for me) Unit of Study (UoS) this coming semester at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Key Approaches in Music Education. This is first year course that follows on directly from Key Ideas in Music Education. Taking over a UoS gives you chance to stamp your personality/philosophy on it. Ever since my first day…
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Remixular bells
In this unit of work you will examine how Mike Oldfield built the opening of his seminal progressive rock work Tubular Bells. By following each step as instructed below, you will rebuild the work yourself, remix it, and then compose a new piece based on the original. Simply follow the process outlined as follows. Listening Learn…
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Orff and aural learning-inspired arrangements by Sydney Conservatorium students
Every year at the Sydney Conservatorium I get to take one of my favourite courses, Composition in Music Education. The first task, after reviewing a number of creative music pedagogies, is to create a “mixed-bag” arrangement (one that will work for any combination of instruments at all) with aural learning elements. Actually, I talk about the…
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Technology in Music Education – 2018 cohort
This Friday brings one of my favourite events of the year at the Sydney Conservatorium – the Presentation of Learning for my Technology in Music Education course. This year’s cohort is just as exciting as ever, and some students have really broken new ground. If you’re in Sydney this Friday from 5pm (probably until around 8pm),…
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Homesong Diary 10: inspirations, and getting up and healing and going on
Originally posted on Under the counter or a flutter in the dovecote: Composer James Humberstone during the creative development sessions at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, December 2017. (Image: Ryley Gillen) When I first met James Humberstone, over dinner in 2015, he looked like a guitarist in Radiohead: joggers, funky trousers, coloured T-shirt, and a…
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GETTING TO KNOW: JAMES HUMBERSTONE
Originally posted on STREET TALK: James Humberstone is Senior Lecturer and Program Director of Music Education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the University of Sydney. Well known for his music education advocacy work, in 2016 Humberstone published the university’s first MOOC (Massively Open Online Course), The Place of Music in 21st Century Education, and his…
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The Weight of Light (Song Cycle)
Australia’s participation in the war in Afghanistan is the nation’s longest ever military involvement. What happens when an Australian soldier, who is carrying a dark secret, is forced to confront the full force of the family that he left behind? Nigel Featherstone A song cycle commissioned by the Goulburn Regional Conservatorium of Music with The…
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Soundtrap templates for Adelaide today
Just a temporary blog to share the Soundtrap templates for a workshop I’m giving today in Adelaide… Crossing the Line https://www.soundtrap.com/studio/fork/caG00D_JS5qE7QXjauOfhA/ Perfect Storm (from Odysseus : Live) https://www.soundtrap.com/studio/fork/d3qW3yDnRxGgqOe-iPPlnQ/
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The Weight of Light – my new song cycle
In just a few weeks, my new song cycle, The Weight of Light, will premiere in Canberra. I’ve just made a short video of some of the sight reading last December so you can hear a little of what it sounds like in advance… As it says in the description on YouTube: “The Weight of Light”…
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Words that became a Twitter poem that become the lyrics to a song that became a video for marriage-equality and inclusion and dignity in Australia
Originally posted on Under the counter or a flutter in the dovecote: ? So here’s a thing. A few weeks ago James Humberstone, the composer I’m working with on the ‘Homesong’ song-cycle, sent me what he humbly described as a cheeky out-take of music. I loved it, so much so that I offered to write…
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SCM Technology in Music Education 2017
It’s that time of year again – my Technology in Music Education course is kicking off here at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and my students have created websites to share their reflections on the course plus resources that they make. They’re establishing their professional presence online, and most of them for the first time! You…
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Homesong Diary 3: paper copy, red pen
Originally posted on Under the counter or a flutter in the dovecote: It was, to be frank, a day that felt both terrifically exciting and utterly terrifying. Like skydiving, perhaps, or climbing a cliff without ropes. I am referring to the recent creative development day for Homesong, which, in the larger scheme of life’s trials,…
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Beat programming to iMovie on iPads
I’m teaching at the Sydney University Wingara Mura Bunga Barabugu summer camp for young indigenous Australian songwriters this week … today doing a workshop on drum programming on iPad apps, then sending to iMovie to use as TV show opening credits music … I made this cheat sheet that I thought I’d share for anyone…
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On Hip-hOpera, the Glitter Gang, Humberrants, and becoming Senior in 2017
You’ve probably noticed that my blogging rate has somewhat spiked in the past couple of days. As 2016 creaked to its end, and I realised that it was less than 11 months since I was in Oxford giving my TEDx talk, I was rather astonished to think about everything that happened this year in my…
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My MOOC, 9 months after release
I really should have re-posted one of the many press releases or interviews I participated in about the MOOC (Massively Open Online Course – free to anyone) that I wrote and produced for the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, The University of Sydney earlier in the year. Here’s one by the university itself, for example. And here’s the rather…
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My #TEDxOxford talk
I’m just in the middle of a blog reflecting on the year that was, and realised that I hadn’t actually blogged about my #TEDxOxford talk, so I decided to put that post on hold, and write about the talk – not just what it was about, but what it was like to give a TEDx talk! First, if…
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Free and impressive #MusicEd digital resources from my 2016 #SCMTME cohort
Last Friday my students in the Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s Technology in Music Education course (from which my MOOC Music in 21st Century Education came) gave their Presentation of Learning. If you go to the Con’s Facebook page and scroll down to 18th November, you’ll see a series of “was Live” videos and can re-live the event!…
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Raising the Bar
A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be asked to speak at one of the Unversity of Sydney’s Raising The Bar events – an opportunity for “leading academics” (their words, not mine!) to give a potted (30 minute) lecture in a bar to anyone who wanted to listen. My lecture was at…
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Presenting: the 2016 Technology in Music Education cohort
For obvious reasons, one of my favourite subjects to teach at the Sydney Conservatorium is “Technology in Music Education”. In fact, it’s the course that lead to my development of the first of five MOOCs on the Coursera platform, The place of music in 21st century education. As in 2013 and 2015, I’m pleased to…
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Odysseus : Live
On Sunday last we premiered Odysseus : Live at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. A collaboration between poet and hip hop artist Luka Lesson, producer Jordan Thomas Mitchell and I, Odysseus : Live was a cross-genre exploration of Homer’s The Odyssey from a metamodern humanitarian worldview. I couldn’t be more proud of this project, nor of my Conservatorium…
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Explore hundreds of brilliant free digital music education resources
This Friday evening my Technology in Music Education students are going to share all of their work at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. You can read more by clicking here. If you can’t get to Sydney, though, you don’t need to miss out. The students have been blogging about the process (and even their lecture notes!) on their…
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“Waterside Adventures” in rehearsal at 2015 AMIS Asian Honor Boys’ Choir Festival
My new work Waterside Adventures is part of a larger scale work titled say not men for we know they are boys and was composed for the 2015 AMIS Asian Honor Boys’ Choir Festival in Beijing, from where I write. The text was written by my dear friend, the incredible Robertson Fox. The amazing Elisha Keen created a…
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My first public lecture is live
It was an honour to be asked to give a public lecture in the Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s About Music series recently. While I’ve given dozens of keynotes on this topic (just a small one – the future of education), I felt very nervous speaking to my still relatively new colleagues. I hope you’ll enjoy some…
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Woo! MIDI in for my Little Bits synth! – at Sydney Conservatorium of Music View on Path
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2014 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. What does it make me realise? That I should blog more! Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera…
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We take assessment very seriously at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music – at Sydney Conservatorium of Music View on Path
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James Humberstone 