Thomas J. West Music

Over the past two years, I have endeavored to add more opportunities for students to create their own music, both in improvisation and in written composition. It is definitely a slow process, taking a long time to build into my program, but that's why I know it is going to be very impactful over the next several years. I am finishing my fourth year teaching in my current school setting,...

I do not follow many bloggers regularly, but Seth Godin is one of them. In his recent e-newsletter from The Domino Project, Godin tells the story of Amanda Palmer, a musician who built her audience one listener at a time, one burnt CD at a time, all on the internet. Her Twitter ...

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Every so often, I will write an article about something that is loosely related to music and education. I usually do so when something strikes me as particularly valuable to my readers, no matter what their interests are...

Image: SoundCloud.com

Looking for a way to use online tools and social media in your music classroom? You can't get much easier or more effective than incorporating SoundCloud into your curriculum. SoundCloud is social networking for recorded sounds. Accounts are free and ...

By the time a student who is actively involved in a band, chorus, or orchestra program graduates high school, what skills should they have? How are music education programs designed for these self-motivated, team player individuals? What should their "exit interview" sound like?

For me as a music educator finishing his 13th year ...

Pennsyvania Governor Tom Corbett (R) is halfway through his second year in office, and the cuts that he and his majority friends in the state legislature have made to Pennsylvania public programs last year are now starting to show their devastating effects in many public programs. Corbett's 2011-2012 budget cut $27.3 billion, which included a $550 million cut to public eduatio...

Contrabassoon, self painted by Mezzofortist

For any of us who have ever given an instrumental audition for a band or orchestra, or for those who have had to sit on an election committe or adjudicators panel and listen to performer after performer fo...

Here is an example of the great professional conversations going on as part of the new Facebook group Music Teachers. Online Professional Learning Networks are powerful professional development tools, as this conversation thread can attest to:

Musi...

Yesterday, I served as a driver and chaperone for our high school guitar classes to the C.F. Martin Guitar factory in Nazareth, PA. I took over 100 pictures during the day which you are welcome to look at as I describe our experience.

I have previously featured videos by both a cappella artist Peter Hollens and dubstep violinist Lindsey Sterling. The two have teamed together to produce a YouTube video cover of the theme from 2011 video game of the year Skyrim. It is a remarkable achievement, both in Tom Anderson's 12-part vocal score,