How do you get your music?
Well, here it is, the last blog of the semester. Coming up with blog ideas has been a challenge within itself. Sometimes articles jumped out at me and sometimes I had to search long and hard to come up with something I wanted to blog about. I have enjoyed reading all of my classmates’ blogs over the past 16 weeks. Being able to share ideas and ‘discuss’ them with classmates/colleagues as been a valuable, albeit time consuming part of this class. I have gained an understanding of the many ways blogs can be utilized in and out of the classroom. Hopefully when I return to the classroom I will be able to incorporate some of these ideas.
Now, without any further adieu, here is my last blog.
In one of my other graduate courses, I read a research paper about copyright issues. Being a music teacher, I quite often find myself at a crossroads of infringing on copyright laws in one way or another. In this paper, a music teacher found it quite disturbing how little students knew about copyright laws or what little respect people had for them. The students actually thought that copyright meant that they had a right to copy music. Students think that just because they have a cd burner, they have the right to copy music and do what they want with it. This line of thinking is what got a student from Boston University in deep doo doo.
Have you ever downloaded a song off the internet from Kazaa, Limewire, or Napster or any other music sharing site? Did you think twice about the legality of doing so? The premise of these sites was that you would just share the music you legally obtained (bought) with millions of other people via the internet. It soon became a process of other people just ‘ripping’ tracks any time from anyone. This is where the music industry has the problem. This is what got Joel Tenenbaum from Providence, Rhode Island in such hot water. In fact, according to this article he has been ordered to pay four recording labels a total of $675,000 in damages, To me, that is just a ludicrous amount for the ‘crime’ he committed. He is expected to pay $22,500 for each song he illegally obtained. That is crazy. How did this student get singled out and prosecuted. I would imagine every student in my school could potentially face the same charges as this guy did. I see the kids walking around with their I-pods loaded with thousands of songs. I don’t suppose they paid for each and every one of them. According to the law, that is not legal. But, how does that differ from the days of yore, where you let somebody borrow your records, cassettes, 8-tracks or CD’s. (Some of you probably don’t even know what records, cassettes or 8-tracks are. I once had a student ask me if records are those ‘really big CDs). Anyway, the threat of getting into random trouble like Mr. Tenenbaum has is enough to keep me from ‘ripping’ any music from any site. I definitely subscribe to i-tunes now and pay the low fee for any songs I want.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Blog 15
What can you sing at your school Christmas/Winter Program?
At this time every year as a music teacher, I struggle with finding appropriate music to put on the winter concert that is held in December. I am still able to call it the Christmas program. I always have been able to. I am lucky, because I don’t have to be so careful with the music I pick out. I can put any sort of songs on the program regardless of religious content or not. I try to mix it up. I usually put secular holiday songs as well as religious Christmas songs together on a program. I have never had any issues from students, parents, administrators or community. In fact I can remember one year I had the elementary students perform a little ‘musical’ about Santa and his goings on in Branson Missouri. I was asked by a pastor’s wife if I could incorporate things about the birth of Christ into this little musical to benefit her kids as well as all the others. This was such an unconventional request. It is usually the other way around, where you are not allowed to use anything related to Christ or religion in any sort of public school performance. We are a very small, close knit community and I don’t think it would ever be an issue if I used religious music for my concerts. But I suppose I should be prepared if it ever becomes a problem just like it has for a school in New Jersey. I found this article quite interesting because the courts upheld the decision to not allow religious music in winter concerts. The schools involved even went so far as to list what holiday songs they deem appropriate and what songs have religious overtones and should not be used. But, the kicker is that the same school, the same music kids, the same teachers are allowed to use these same disallowed public performance songs in the regular curriculum as learning devices. What? Doesn’t that seem quite contradictory? The basis of choral music is religious and I think it is an absolute shame to remove some of the best music just because it comes from the religious side. I found it interesting that this article also said the school has used songs such as "Waters of Babylon (psalm 137)," "Jubilate," and "Agnus Dei/Cum Sanctis" even after 2004 when the complaints had been made. Why are these songs okay, but not “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” or “Silent Night”? My theory is that the aforementioned songs are Latin and the complainants probably don’t know what they mean. That sure sounds cynical doesn’t it?
What is your public school allowed to do? How do you feel about it? Hope you are enjoying the holiday music that is playing everywhere your ear can reach these days whether it is secular or sacred!
At this time every year as a music teacher, I struggle with finding appropriate music to put on the winter concert that is held in December. I am still able to call it the Christmas program. I always have been able to. I am lucky, because I don’t have to be so careful with the music I pick out. I can put any sort of songs on the program regardless of religious content or not. I try to mix it up. I usually put secular holiday songs as well as religious Christmas songs together on a program. I have never had any issues from students, parents, administrators or community. In fact I can remember one year I had the elementary students perform a little ‘musical’ about Santa and his goings on in Branson Missouri. I was asked by a pastor’s wife if I could incorporate things about the birth of Christ into this little musical to benefit her kids as well as all the others. This was such an unconventional request. It is usually the other way around, where you are not allowed to use anything related to Christ or religion in any sort of public school performance. We are a very small, close knit community and I don’t think it would ever be an issue if I used religious music for my concerts. But I suppose I should be prepared if it ever becomes a problem just like it has for a school in New Jersey. I found this article quite interesting because the courts upheld the decision to not allow religious music in winter concerts. The schools involved even went so far as to list what holiday songs they deem appropriate and what songs have religious overtones and should not be used. But, the kicker is that the same school, the same music kids, the same teachers are allowed to use these same disallowed public performance songs in the regular curriculum as learning devices. What? Doesn’t that seem quite contradictory? The basis of choral music is religious and I think it is an absolute shame to remove some of the best music just because it comes from the religious side. I found it interesting that this article also said the school has used songs such as "Waters of Babylon (psalm 137)," "Jubilate," and "Agnus Dei/Cum Sanctis" even after 2004 when the complaints had been made. Why are these songs okay, but not “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” or “Silent Night”? My theory is that the aforementioned songs are Latin and the complainants probably don’t know what they mean. That sure sounds cynical doesn’t it?
What is your public school allowed to do? How do you feel about it? Hope you are enjoying the holiday music that is playing everywhere your ear can reach these days whether it is secular or sacred!
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