Playing the music

I got to play with a musician friend of mine the other day. Normally, we record our playing session, and this one was definitely one to have on tape. When we get together to play, there’s really no musical agenda. He’s on drums, I’m on sax and we just play and see what comes out. It’s always a creative time, but this session had some obvious times of musical connection. I don’t recall a time before when he him played as he did, and the sounds that came from my horn was comparable to a steady stream of notes coming from a never-ending musical faucet. For me personally, I couldn’t seem to shut off the music. It just had to come out to “play” – literally!
Now, I can’t say that I’ve been practicing up a storm in order to have the technical facility that came forth... but perhaps it was because I have had some time away with my head buried in other musical ventures (i.e. writing, arranging, etc.) This just reinforces that there’s something to be said about just taking time to run with the music that’s in you. Whether it was all of the sound that had been stacked up in my head and heart for the past little while, or just that my spirit needed to release some extra-explosive music, it was a memorable moment.
These are the moments you live for as a musician and music educator. We can try to separate the two professions, and sometimes we have to because of time restraints.... but, when it comes down to the true foundation of our being, you always have to give time to play the music. Oh, by the way, we forgot to record the session. Ah, c’est la vie. Just another reminder that it was all about getting lost in the music.

Music Classrooms Embracing Technology

I've often wondered how we can bring technology into the music classroom without loosing that personal touch of the teacher-student relationship.  Today, we live in an uber simple social-networking climate with Facebook, MySpace, Hi-5 and all the other places that people can go to connect with old and new friends, as well as connect with businesses.  From this, it seems to me, that education, specifically music education, can get in on the use of the technology that is out there and get it into the music classroom.  I'm not advocating that we just use computer-aided instruction, but I can see how bringing in outside presenters via use of the net that our classrooms can benefit from all of the social networking.  If I dream for even a few seconds, I can see top-rate musicians speaking to schools about the importance of music or even giving a live music workshop to a band class.  Now, that would be a great connect for both the students and the performers!