Month: January 2015

A lot of people approach social media with the vague hope of it being a sort of wonder solution to marketing and promoting. They’ve been told that social media sells stuff. But I think that they don’t understand how social media actually works.

Social media, social networks, in a way the Internet, can be defined as a continuous flow of INFORMATION. Also, social media enables easy access to ENTERTAINMENT. And lastly, social media is a way for people to interact with each other.

Finally, another My Week in Books! It’s not that I haven’t been reading them, it’s that I have been finishing a few long ones. I really had to finish up another Russell and Holmes book, for instance, before posting this week, simply because I couldn’t put it down.

Here are my latest reads.

First, Blue Birds, by Caroline Starr Rose

I was so honored to celebrate this lovely book last week on the blog. It’s not out until March, so I feel very honored to have gotten to read this book early! Here’s the post I wrote as part of the blog series. Caroline Starr Rose’s debut novel in verse, May B., touched me in a visceral way that I still can’t quite express, and in this, her lovely latest historical work, Rose brings this sweet pair of girls alive for the reader in their own special way…

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The FOX 4 Band of Angels puts donated instruments in the hands of young musicians, but sometimes those instruments are past their musical prime.

That’s where Hallmark artists come into play.

FOX 4 photojournalist Jon Haiduk’s special report shows you “Art that Blows.”

Watch it in its entirety in the video player above.

Preparing studnets for careers in music is appropriately  done in electives rather than in required general music classes. The latter will typically have a small percentage of students who intend to or are even considering a career in music, so focusing on career preparation in general music quickly results in a relevancy problem for most students in the class. Electives, on the other hand, are the perfect venue for preparing students for music careers. These classes are filled with students who have a specific interest in music, and will either pursue careers in music, or just enjoy learning what is taught as music career preparation. With this in mind, I’d like to look at what careers we should be preparing students for in these specialized elective classes. While the particular interests of the students enrolled should be addressed, music educators teaching these classes should be aware of the employment climate…