In the 4th episode of MusTech.Net podcast, special guest, Ian Robin -the managing director of the SKYPE Business end, joins us for an in-depth discussion about how SKYPE is being used in the education community.  Find out how educators, music educators, and language educators are using Skype in their classrooms in this one-of-a-kind interview with a [...]

This is the ENHANCED podcast version of Episode 14 Enhanced Note: Make sure you have selected “run scripts” from under the security tab of the tools section in Media Player to utilize this Enhanced Podcast! MAC Users Note: In order to take advantage of the Enhanced podcast on the MAC you will have to have Windows Media Player [...]

The Music Education Blog Carnival has been a huge success on many levels.  It has crated a “buzz” about becoming a blogger among music educators; it provides a semi-peer reviewed venue for posting great and useful music related posts, and also provides this information to the world free of charge.  It’s a “win, win” for [...]

I spent a little time last night looking for and trhorugh a number of new search engines.  The following is a list of that I found that were interesting in some way (I looked at about fifty in total).  I’m always looking for a way to “cut through” the useless information that is posted on the internet and [...]

I’ve been an active proponent of Finale Notepad since its inception and “birth” into the computer world.  I was very disappointed by Finale’s self-reported “exciting news” about the product and their subsequent charge of $9.95-$19.95 US for their latest version of Finale Notepad 2009.    Although, there have been a couple of fair freeware music notation programs, most [...]

Anyone?   Edublogs.org has stated that they’ve been updating for a couple of days now (stating that they would be “up” later?)  There are a number of ME Bloggers that have their site with Edublogs and I’m getting all kind of errors related to broken links at MusTech.net. I checked before this post and edublogs.org isn’t even [...]

Here is an article/post for all of the WordPress users that utilize the open-source software found at WordPress.org.  These particular plugins are directly related to music and particularly useful for musicians, whether players, composers, or educators. The following is a list of current, useful, and hand-picked plugins that I’ve worked with at some point that allow for [...]

It’s called a carnival of blogs and Joel Wagner and I started one for Music Education 5 months ago!   This is a great way for you all to get more exposure to your work(s) meet new folks and spread the word about music, education, and/or technology! I’ve started a home page for the carnival that can be [...]

What are your favorite music education podcasts? Ones that relate to music education, music technology, or music performance? Here’s a short list of mine for starters: MusTech.Net’s (Dr. J. Pisano’s and D. Morton’s) Podcast http://mustech.podomatic.com James Frankel’s Podcast http://fams.podomatic.com Scott Watson’s Podcast http://whatmusicmeans.mypodcast.com/ Larra Marra’s Podcast Click Here For it! Prof. Kieth Mason’s Podcast http://musictechforme.com What are yours? All posts and articles by MusTech.Net!, unless otherwise expressly [...]

It must be time to talk about this again as I am getting a number of students asking me where they can obtain staff paper!   There are a number of GREAT sites online where customizable music staff paper templates can either be designed or are already templatized. One of the very best sites to print staff [...]

Well, only Three Months to go!  The campaign has been long and hard but I know you will agree with me that it was/is worth it!   There have been so many great ideas and thoughts that have come out of the ME Blogger folks over the last 9 months that it would be almost impossible [...]

Sorry I haven’t been posting lately… I’ve been overwhelmed with local responsibilities both educational and civic related (I’m a borough councilman).     Hopefully, the craziness will slow down soon! Here are a couple of things to note:  If you haven’t signed up for the latest Blog Carnival, you are now down to mere hours…  The next edition will be [...]

The third episode of season three finds Joseph and Darren being surrounded with jack hammers, wrecking balls, and general chaos at the WSAJ studio. Darren was a little “late” for the recording and Joseph was stuck trying to find his way into a construction war-zone! This episode re-visits the HD Radio concept and new topics like [...]

As many of you know that follow me and my WordPress exploits, I can honestly say that I have not found any website/blogging platform that is easier to use and yet offers, nearly, endless flexibility for creation and implementation.  I have recently finished the framework and template for a wonderful non-profit music honorary known as Phi Beta [...]

 The Me Blogger Campaign Hits 80!   Please welcome the following ME Bloggers to our campaign!  77.  Andrew Spang  -MusicTech4Ed http://musictech4ed.edublogs.org 78.  Jon Ensminger -Pedaplus Click this link.   (A very log blog URL…) 79. Richard McCready - Tech Toys and Tunes http://techtoysandtunes.blogspot.com 80. Derek  -Downpressup http://downpressup.wordpress.com Please take a moment to visit these folks and say hello!   ME BLOGGERS TAKE NOTE: I am now current on [...]

Music Educator’s Freeware Toolkit Visit all of our Freeware Toolkit here: http://www.mustech.net/category/freeware/ Title: Launchy Description: A time saving tool to find and launch frequently used programs and files on your computer. License: Open Source Screen Snapshot:Tested On Which System (before posting): XP Professional Platforms Supported: All Windows and Linux Expanded Description: Although not a Music-Specific program,  Launchy is unbelievably useful for expediting the launching and finding of [...]

Just a quick note to promote our education project on SKYPE.   T.H.E. Journal has just published an article about our Music Education SKYPE concert as their featured post at their main website.   If you missed any of this at MusTech.Net! (and I’m not sure how you could!),  you need to check it out!   I am [...]

The countdown continues…  We are now officially up to 76 Music Education Bloggers!  There are only 4 months to go in this campaign and we are already over 75% of our target goal of 100 Music education bloggers.   I am very pleased with the progress of this campaign and personally, have been working, as much as [...]

Music Educator’s Freeware Toolkit Visit all of our Freeware Toolkit here: http://www.mustech.net/category/freeware/ Title: PrintConductor Description: Easily batch-print multiple files from within a GUI drag and drop environment. Screen Snapshot:Tested On Which System (before posting): XP Professional Drag and Drop!   Platforms Supported: All Windows (...)Read the rest of Best Music Freeware: PrintConductor (123 words) All posts and articles by MusTech.Net!, unless otherwise expressly stated, are licensed [...]

If you have not been following along here at MusTech.Net…it’s time to catch up!   Travis Weller and I, decided to test some of the educational “outer limits” of using SKYPE in the classroom at a performance in May of 2008.   What we accomplished was nothing short of “ground breaking” in the music education/performance and related arenas.  At Travis’ Spring [...]

Hello all,     As with everyone it’s been more than busy with the start of the college year.   We’ve had a killer band camp and the Marching Wolverines are stronger than ever (And We’re Going To Disney in October!).   I am working to having the ME Blogger campaign back on track, as far as my administering [...]

The Olympic motto, Citius, Altius, Fortius, is a Hendiatris, or a figure of speech.   These three word phrases were typical in ancient Greece and Rome (Veni, Vidi, Vici, etc.).    Citius, Altius, and Fortius translate to English as Faster, Higher, and Stronger.  The Olympics bring about a sense and feeling of the common good and a brotherhood among humanity.   One [...]

This is the second post in a series about an “Out of the Box” experiment by myself and Travis Weller about using SKYPE as a bridge to connect the audience, performers, and composers, together, during a concert.   This post will contain a flash video of the highlights of that concert.  The video is over 20 minutes [...]

Music Educator’s Freeware Toolkit Visit all of our Freeware Toolkit here: http://www.mustech.net/category/freeware/ Title: VB Doodle Screen Description: Screen Markup, Highlighter, and Capture Program. Screen Snapshot: Tested On Which System (before posting): VISTA 32 Platforms Supported: All Windows Expanded Description: This software is easily used in the classroom as it “sits” in the system tray until you have need of it.  With VB Doodle you [...]

Well, I didn’t want it to be this way, but I fell behind, way behind with regard to the ME Blogger Campaign.   I am going to begin to rectify that with this post and start and all out re-freshed campaign to GET OUR 100 ME Bloggers by the January 1st, 2009 Deadline! My sincerest apologies for [...]

As you know we’ve been quite successful with the Music Education Blog Carnival.  If you’ve missed the first two carnivals you can find the totally USEFUL Music Education articles posted at the Carnival Here: 1st Music Education Carnival Edition: July, 2008 at http://soyouwanttoteach.com 2nd Music Education Carnival Edition: August, 2008 at http://mustech.net 3rd UPCOMING Music Education Carnival Edition: September, 2008 at http://amymburns.musiced.net Dust [...]

We all can “talk the talk” when it comes to supporting Fine Arts Education among our friends, but what about really doing something about it on a local level?  Can we do anything at all?  To quote Bob the Builder… “Yes, We Can!”. Local School Board meetings are not just for conducting the day-to-day affairs of [...]

If you’re looking for the latest information about Olympic Medal Standings and Counts… Look no further than the beijing2008.cnsite.  I just thought I would pass this on as I have been looking for this for a couple of days and this site is very concise. Here is the link: http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/GL/95A/GL0000000.shtml Or Click Here! Also, if you are looking for [...]

This is the first part of an unknown number of posts about a first of a kind instrumental concert that, literally, connected the composers of the music being performed with the audience, conductor, and ensemble. The concert/event took place on May 6th, 2008 at Mercer High School in PA. Travis J. Weller (noted composer and ME [...]

I’ve been having a couple of issues with MusTech.Net so if things have been a little “different” with your experience, I apologize! I’m still waiting for the PodPress update to be published. So you will not be able to listen to the podcasts directly from MusTech.Net until that is resolved.  I’ve also had issues with my [...]

Even though I can’t post here as I normally do due to the problem with PodPress.  I’ve went ahead and put our new podcast up at at our Podomatic Host Site.  With this episode we have begun offering two versions of our podcast: A Standard mp3 based podcast and an ENHANCED podcast that is in [...]

A quick announcement to let you all know that Darren and I have finished our latest podcast and will be posting it at MusTech.Net as soon as the PodPress folks figure out what is wrong with the integration of Podpress 8.8 and WordPress version 2.6. There are two posts about these issues from podcastingnews.com: The first announcement of [...]

 photo credit: joiseyshowaa Welcome to the 2nd annual monthly edition of the Music Education Blog Carnival! The Music Blog Carnival was created and is maintained by Dr. J. Pisano of MusTech.net and Joel of SoYouWantToTeach.com in order to promote the great works being done by Music Education Bloggers across the Internet. The Music Education Blog Carnival [...]

I’m already getting in gear for band camp.  We start on August 14th.  It’s going to be a great year… I know this already because we’re taking the marching band and the jazz ensemble to Disney World!   The kids are pretty excited about it…   It’s also time to think about re-tooling your blog and getting some [...]

Don’t forget to participate in the Music Education Blog Carnival this month.  It will be published on August 1st!  We have had a number of submissions, but would still like more (a whole bunch)!   To participate in this blog carnival, you can follow the following link (it’s super easy!!!): Here’s the link for your blog post [...]

 photo credit: Point-Shoot The August Edition of the Music Education Blog Carnival is Coming to town AND if you are a Music Ed. blogger you will DEFINETLEY want to be a part of it.  Joel and I started the Music Education Blog Carnival last month and it was a HUGE success! Over 22 Music education bloggers participated!  Let’s continue [...]