Professors Collaborate on Video for Music Educators
JONESBORO – Arkansas State University's Wind Ensemble and Dr. Timothy Oliver, director of bands and coordinator of wind and percussion studies at Arkansas State University, are among an elite group of university wind ensembles and conductors invited to contribute to a new music education website.
The website, Conducting Masterclass, http://www.conductingmasterclass.com, is home to a series of brief instructional videos geared toward high school and middle school band directors. It employs pedagogical and interpretive ideas for improving musical performances.
Dr. Timothy Crist, professor of music, collaborated with Oliver and the Wind Ensemble to tape, edit and provide technical support for the production of the video titled, “Ideas on How Harmony and Texture Help Create Musical Drama.”
These Internet-accessible instructional videos are free to anyone who logs on to the website.
“The Conducting Masterclass website offers an opportunity to share important ideas with a wide variety of music educators at a crucial time where access to information is increasingly obtained through the Internet and mobile devices," Oliver stated. "By using this platform, the ideas and techniques are readily available to band directors around the world.”
The Conducting Masterclass project represents a partnership between leaders of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), of which Oliver is an active member, and banddirector.com, a website devoted to sharing information among band directors at all levels. Currently, the banddirector.com website has more than 2 million page views per month. The conductingmasterclass.com website has already been viewed in 48 states.
A-State's Wind Ensemble and Oliver have been recognized regionally and nationally for both their performances and collaborations with the music education community. Other major universities invited to participate in this project include Michigan State University, Oklahoma State University, Ohio State University, University of Louisville, University of Colorado and University of Southern California.
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