Summer Classes

I am spending this summer taking a few workshops through Kent State University. All three workshops that I am taking are online, which has been an interesting experience. I am really enjoying them a lot. It is very nice to be able to dictate my own schedule for doing classwork and assignments.

The first class I took was on Website Design. I completed this class in June. I am currently finishing up a class on Podcasting, Blogging (hence me starting the blog), and RSS Feeds as well as another class on using Adobe Acrobat.

I have expecially liked the Podcasting, Blogging and RSS Feed class (and no, I'm not kissing up). I can see many practical applications for the new technologies I have learned to use. For this class, I had to create a podcast, a PowerPoint lecture presentation capture, and a computer screen capture.

My PowerPoint lecture was about reading chord grids in guitar class. You can watch my presentation here:




My computer screen capture was about using some of the editing functions for adding musical expression in Finale music notation software. You can watch my presentation here:

Beauty and the Beast

Another musical activity that has taken up much of my time this summer has been being in the cast of the show "Beauty and the Beast" being performed at The Little Theatre of Tuscarawas County in New Philadelphia, Ohio. I am playing Gaston, who is the town bully who is in love with the lead character, Belle. We have had two weekends of performances so far, and we have two more weekends left. It has been a lot of fun to be in this show, but as you can imagine, it has been very time consuming.

My favorite song from the show is "Me," which is a song I sing. Click here to watch a YouTube video of a performance of this song (no it is not me performing).

My summer with the Coshocton Community Band

As I sit down to write this first entry in my music education blog and I reflect on the musical activities of the summer, the first thing to come to mind was my experience with the Coshocton County Community Band. I took over as the director for this group in March, and this summer celebrated our first summer concert season together.

The Coshocton County Community Band is based in Coshocton, Ohio, and it is comprised of musicians from all over Coshocton County. The age of members vary from middle school to retirees, and the talent in the group covers all ends of the spectrum also. The band performed a spring concert in May at a local park, and then performed six concerts over the summer months on the courthouse lawn in downtown Coshocton. Audiences were really appreciative of our concerts, and we had a regular following of more than 150 audience members.

The members of the band worked very hard for me this year in our inaugural season together. They are very talented individuals, and they are there to have a good time and to make music together. Although, it seemed slow going at times, I am very happy with the progress this group made over the course of the season, and I am looking forward to returning to conductor this group next summer.