A Rare Moment

photo by Shelly Campbell

Last month (February, 2011) during our show at Black Dog Coffee & Wine Bar OBI was lucky enough to have our favorite photographer come for a visit. At first glance I was delighted to see Mary Garvin and Donna Byrne leading the dance because they are wonderful friends of Orkestar Bez Ime and it's lovely to have a photograph of them. Then I noticed the band in back and did a double take; this is the first time I have ever seen a picture of me singing.  That's right, singing. Thanks to bandmate Natalie Nowytski for encouraging all Rogarians to reach outside the box and risk doing something a little different.

Musical Game

http://balldroppings.com/js/

Music composition can take many forms. While I do confess to liking melodies and rhythms, I'm also fond of random tones. The link at the right will lead to a game that offers inspiration to those looking for something 'a little different' in music writing.........

Accordion Radio Station on the Internet

 I'm pleased to say the owner of this fine collection of streaming accordion music is one of my students and a friend, John Elstad.  Thanks, John, for devoting your energy to such a great mix of music!

Infinite Accordion

Teachers Should Always Keep Learning

A couple days ago I attended a Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Faculty Forum about Promising Practices for Student Success on the Minneapolis Community and Technical College campus. I listened to the keynote speaker about the rewards and challenges students have in completing a degree program and the rewards and challenges we as educators have in guiding them to completion. Later in the morning I attended break out sessions on the importance and benefits of blogging and use of iPads in education.

All and all it was a stimulating day which left me with new ideas on how and why to develop this blog, whether or not I want to by an iPad or android and how I might use that technology teaching music; my interest in connecting with my students and helping them to succeed was refreshed.

It seems to me that if we want to encourage our students to work at learning new things we as their teachers should be good role models and keep learning ourselves.

Thanks MNSCU for providing the opportunity to help me think outside the box and be an active learner!