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This past weekend, I had the honor of presenting two keynote addresses at two amazing music technology-focused events in the greater Boston metro area on behalf of MusicFirst. The first event was on Saturday, October 5th at North High School in Worcester, MA. MusicFirst, along with Berklee College of Music, the Worcester Public Schools, and MMEA sponsored the first Massachusetts Music Tech Day. We had 4 fantastic presenters who covered a variety of topics on how to integrate music technology into all facets of a comprehensive K-12 music curriculum. We were joined by a great group of music educators from around the state of Massachusetts and a good time was had by all. We also had some fantastic prize giveaways from our friends at Korg Education, Focusrite and Novation. To access all of the handouts and links shared that day, visit our Mass Music Tech Day landing page. Here are some photos of the event:

I often see posts on social networks asking for free online pianos and keyboard resources. While there are many out there, one of my personal favorites is an incredible curated collection of online synthesizers and web piano apps called Playtronica. This amazing free website hosts links to 54 online tools - all of which can be used with or without a USB MIDI keyboard. If you ever teach your students ANYTHING about synthesis, this site should be at the VERY top of your list of resources in my opinion. The collection is vast and covers some famous synths as well as innovative synthesis tools tht can provide your students with hands-on experience playing some of the most iconic patches as well as programming their our sounds. The only thing that they ask in return for accessing all of these terrific free resources is your name and email. Here is a quick look at three of my favorite online synths that are included in their list.

We are thrilled to announce the addition of another amazing resource to the MusicFirst Classroom - specifically as a part of our brand new Modern Band offering. Written by the amazing Dr. Ethan Hein, our new Pop & Contemporary Theory Course is a brilliant addition to any music curriculum that incorporates popular and contemporary music. This course has 38 complete lesson plans - each one focusing on not only a music theory concept, but also techniques of popular music production, suggestions of musical works that both utilize and demonstrate each theory concept, links to pop music resources, and really well written lessons and tasks that have students demonstrate their understanding of the theory concepts. In short, this is a full year’s worth of high quality content and it is now INCLUDED with every MusicFirst Classroom subscription! You can find it in the Modern Band section of the MusicFirst Classroom Content Library. What follows is a preview of just one of those lessons.

Last week I had the honor of attending the FOBISIA 2024 Conference at the Denla British School in Bangkok, Thailand on behalf of MusicFirst. I also had the pleasure of presenting one of the Keynote Addresses to the delegates there. It was an incredible event and it was so wonderful to spend time with such a wonderful group of music educators who have dedicated their lives to teaching in Southeast Asia. Yes it was an incredibly long journey, but it was 100% worth it. One of the added bonuses of the trip was that I got to spend some quality time with my dear friend and colleague, Marcel Pusey - who runs OGenPlus and Cool4School. He is a gifted musician and presenter.

We just announced the schedule for our upcoming Massachusetts Music Tech Day - sponsored by MusicFirst, the Worcester Public Schools, Berklee College of Music and MMEA. This is a FREE in-person event is designed specifically for K-12 music educators and administrators like you. The date is Saturday, October 5th 2024 from 8:00am - 3:15pm at North High School - 140 Harrington Way in Worcester, MA 01604. We have a great schedule of events - with something for everyone. I’ll be kicking things off in the morning by presenting a keynote address on fostering creativity. Following that will be a session on using Canva presented by Stefani Langol and a Modern Band session presented by Adam Calus. The next hour has a session on MusicFirst Elementary presented by Amy Burns, and a session on DJ-ing by Meaghan O’Connor-Vince. The noon hour is reserved for lunch, which we are catering in. After lunch there are two more sessions! The 1pm sessions include a podcasting session presented by Stefani Langol, and a session on making music with iPads by Adam Calus. Following that are two more sessions - one on creating play-along videos and one on creating beats. In the last session, I will be giving away some INCREDIBLE prizes to attendees from Focusrite, Korg & Novation! We have designed the schedule to address the needs of elementary and secondary music educators - no matter what you teach! To register for this FREE event, simply fill out this registration form by clicking on the button!

I came across a new AI-powered tool yesterday called Answer AI and it reminded me yet again that teachers need to immediately reconsider the way they assess their students knowledge and understanding. Answer AI essentially allows students to take a picture of their homework assignment or quiz, and the AI-assistant completes the assignment for them. That means if you give your students a quiz using Google Forms, Quizziz, or the quiz functionality of the LMS that your school uses, students can complete the quiz with zero mistakes (provided that the assessment content is publicly available knowledge) by either copying and pasting the content of the quiz or taking a picture of it. Answer AI is available as either a FREE Chrome browser extension OR an iOS or Android app for mobile devices. These are the features that are available to students when using this app:

Inside Music is the first notation-based composition curriculum that combines video instruction with Flat® and Noteflight® to create a flexible, accessible, and highly engaging learning experience. Created originally by the incredible team behind the Vermont MIDI Project (now Music-COMP), Inside Music may be used to fulfill state and national composition standards as part of a composition-based course. The Inside Music curriculum is based on fifteen years of classroom research and implementation. We recently acquired this incredible curriculum so that it can be made freely available to ALL MusicFirst Classroom users. We are absolutely THRILLED to offer this one-of-a-kind collection of ready-made lesson plans integrated with your choice of online notation programs.

In a few weeks I will be heading to Bangkok, Thailand to present a Keynote Address at the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA) Music Teacher’s Conference at the Denla British School. My Keynote Address is titled Music Education at the Crossroads: The Impact & Implications of AI and I am very much looking forward to waving the flag for MusicFirst throughout the event. We have quite a few schools in this system that subscribe to a variety of our platforms and individual software titles, and I look forward to interacting with current and future customers while I am there. I will be joined by my dear friend and colleague Marcel Pusey - one of the creators of OGenPlus. Both of our companies are sponsoring the event, and I can’t wait to visit Thailand - a place I’ve never been before. If you are reading this post and ANYWHERE near Bangkok from September 26 through the 28th, I hope to see you there. I’m presenting my Keynote Address on my birthday, so perhaps you can help me celebrate! I’ll post a recap on my way home from the event - it’s a LONG plan ride!

A few weeks ago I saw a post on LinkedIn that brought up a topic that I hadn’t considered before. The post was written by Jack Diserens and focused on retention and pride when using AI music composition tools like Udio and Suno. The crux of the article was that because it is so easy to “compose” music utilizing one of these tools - no investment or effort - they become one trick ponies. Because the user invests almost no effort in the process of composing, they have no pride in the product. Because of this, users tend to play with these tools a few times and then move on when they get bored of them. And THAT is the dirty little secret of these AI music tools. Just like the company I run, MusicFirst, the success of these businesses rely on strong retention rates - meaning people keep coming back to them and perhaps more importantly, keep subscribing and paying for them. Without strong retention numbers, investors in these companies will start to invest elsewhere. All of this made me think of just how important the process is when it comes to musical composition. Have you ever had that moment when you write something you really like and can’t wait to play it for others. It is a special moment made even more meaningful by the fact that you composed it. AI tools simply don’t afford you that same experience, and I believe that is a good thing - for both composers and students. Without any expending ANY effort in the process there is simply no pride in the product.

Next month I will be presenting a Keynote Address at the AI in Music Education Symposium at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA on Monday, October 7, 2024 from 9am - 4pm, alongside two great friends and colleagues, Dr. Rick Dammers and Dr. Benjamin Guererro. The event is organized by my very dear friend Stefani Langol and focuses on Innovations, Applications and Considerations of utilizing AI-powered tools in the K-12 music classroom. The event is FREE, you can get PDPs (if you’re an MMEA member) and even includes lunch! I am REALLY looking forward to presenting some of my findings alongside two other leaders in this field. We will be sharing LOTS of resources and covering the ethical and philosophical implications of this exciting (and often scary) technology. If you are anywhere near the Boston area on Monday, October 7th, I would LOVE to see you there! To register for this event, visit this LINK and sign up today! I hope to see you there!

I have been working in the ed tech space - specifically music education - for more than 35 years. For the past 25 years, those ed tech tools have included online resources including websites that help students learn, explore, create and perform music. At first these websites didn’t require any type of login to use them (think about MusicTheory.net), but over the past 12 years, users have had to create accounts, and include some type of PII (personally identifying information). That information could be an email address, your name, your address, your age, and even your credit card information. When it comes to having students use these tools - whether they are free or paid - teachers and administrators face an increasing need to understand laws that protect student data and privacy. Among the most significant for U.S. educators are COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) and FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). These regulations directly affect how educators can use technology in the classroom, where digital platforms ( like the MusicFirst Classroom) and apps (like Soundtrap and Flat) have become valuable resources. Understanding these laws is essential for protecting students, ensuring compliance, and making informed decisions when selecting technology. This post is an attempt to help music teachers understand the what and why of these very important laws.

Mark your calendars!!!! If you live within a few hours drive from Worcester, MA, then you won’t want to miss our next big event: Massachusetts Music Tech Day 2024, in collaboration with the Berklee College of Music Music Education Department, the Worcester Public Schools, and MMEA -the Massachusetts Music Education Association. This FREE in-person event is designed specifically for K-12 music educators and administrators like you. It’s a day packed with innovative sessions, hands-on workshops, and the chance to learn from five experienced clinicians who are leaders in music education. The date is Saturday, October 5th 2024 from 8:00am - 3:15pm at North High School - 140 Harrington Way in Worcester, MA 01604.

This past week, as I am quite certain you’ve heard, MakeMusic announced that it would cease all development and sales of their landmark music engraving program, Finale - dealing a heartbreaking blow to the many loyal and long-time composers and musicians who have been writing music with this software for the past 35 years. The reaction from the music community was immediate and fierce, and that shouldn’t have been a surprise. To many, Finale is/was the tool that they use(d) every single day to write music. It is/was the industry standard for publishers too. After getting lots of passionate feedback from their community, the company has identified a clearer path for their users to switch to one of their competitors - Dorico - and how they can continue to use Finale for at least the next few years. I’ve seen some of their/my competitors take this opportunity to try to get Finale users to switch to their product, but I think that is in really poor taste. The last thing Finale users want to do is switch - no matter how good the other products are. I thought that I would share some of my thoughts on the end of Finale, as it has been the one music technology product that has followed me throughout my career.

MusicFirst Elementary - the incredible K-5 spiral curriculum powered by Charanga and available exclusively from MusicFirst, just dropped an incredibly cool creativity tool just in time for the start of the school year. Introducing the Graphic Score Tool. As we know, one of the most important aspects of being a elementary music educator is fostering creativity in our students by engaging their minds with innovative and FUN tools that eliminate any barriers to exploring their inner creative voice. With the launch of the Graphic Score Tool, we believe we have created something that makes music composition and listening activities accessible, intuitive, and fun for your students - and is INCLUDED with every subscription of MusicFirst Elementary! The Graphic Score Tool also comes with 10 fantastic mini project ideas - perfect for any educator to dive right in and start using this new tool with your students. This new tool is designed to empower both teachers and students to explore the world of music through visual and auditory creativity. Our Elementary Music Consultant, Amy M. Burns, has created this short overview video that illustrates exactly why we are so excited about this new tool.

The upcoming trial between Thomson Reuters and Ross Intelligence (now Paxton Legal AI) is about to shake things up in the AI and copyright world, and it’s something that music teachers (and all teachers) using technology in their classrooms might want to keep an eye on. The trial is set to start on August 23rd, and while you might not see it in the news headlines, the outcome of the trial will likely set a huge precedent with regard to perhaps THE most important question when it comes to AI and its use of data: Can you use copyrighted material to train an AI system without paying for it and still call it a fair use?

Back in 2007 when I was still teaching music in the public schools, I held a Battle of the Bands as a fundraiser to help school music programs in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. In addition to the ticket sales and some donations that we raised, my students thought it would be a cool idea to record the concert and sell it on iTunes. I told them that it wasn’t possible due to licensing difficulties, but in truth, I had no idea how I would get the recording to be posted on iTunes. One of my students came to me with a tip: check out TuneCore. At the time they were a startup from Brooklyn, NY and they did exactly what I was looking for - they get your recordings distributed to online music platforms. Nearly 20 years later, they are still doing just that, and I think that as a music teachers, we invest countless hours nurturing our students' talents and preparing them for performances - but once the performance is over, it vanishes into history. By recording them and using a service like TuneCore, you can easily share your school's music performances on popular platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. There are other similar platforms that do exactly the same thing (DistroKid is very popular) - but I’m focusing on TuneCore because I’ve actually used it.

I recently stumbled upon a fantastic YouTube Channel and website called Make Pop Music. It is a perfect resource for any music teacher that is looking to incorporate songwriting into a popular music curriculum. The site and channel were founded by Austin Hull. Originally a metal producer, Austin’s love for pop music led him to create a Facebook group in 2014, which has since grown into Make Pop Music with over 30,000 members and 200,000 YouTube subscribers. The platform offers resources like sample packs, courses, and tutorials, filling a gap in education for underground pop. While there is plenty of stuff to buy from his website, I think his YouTube videos are REALLY good and will inspire students - especially as he focuses on how to make songs that sound like many of their favorite artists. For example, here is a 40-minute video that shows how to write a song in the style of Ariana Grande:

The U.S. Copyright Office recently released a report yesterday that directly addresses the intersection of AI and copyright law - something that up until now has been very confusing. As music educators, I believe that it is REALLY important to understand the what, why and how of copyright law when it comes to the end products that AI tools like Udio, Suno, ChatGPT, Claude, Moises and more. Who owns what? Do your students own the copyright on anything they create with these tools? What if the tool is free? What if you paid for it? If they don’t own the copyright - who does? Are the creators that made the content that these tools have been trained on entitled to any compensation? If not, why? I really think that as AI continues to weave its way into the fabric of music creation and learning, understanding the legal landscape is becoming more and more important.

As I site here in the United Lounge waiting for my flight to London on behalf of MusicFirst, I am reminded of world travel - especially since I have trips coming up to Thailand and Vietnam this Fall. I love experiencing different cultures, and of course their music, and I was reminded of a lesson plan that I wrote as a part of the Podcasting Across the Curriculum publication that I wrote titled Around the World in 80 Podcasts. The lesson and project are perfect for students Grades 4 and up, and can easily be taught in any subject area. What follows is the lesson plan and project overview. I hope that you can use it with your students in the new school year. Enjoy!