With the use of i Movie, the project would have a different feel and be much more hip. I could see the use of iMovie helping them overcome the composition inhibition and making it much easier for them to compose using their instruments. I would love suggestions on ways that I could improve my film scoring projects without the use of iMovie.

 The process has been much more give and take with using technology in my classroom.  In the future, I think it will be absolutely imperative to infuse the music curriculum with the use of technology.  Not only to facilitate the learning of all students.  Technology is and will be a prevalent part of all of our lives.  I love the possibilities it presents to the future of the classroom. 

However, as I have stated in the past, we must be very mindful of those schools who do not have as many resources due to inequities present within our society.  My hope is that we will always be mindful of these inequities and do all within our power to raise funding to provide all students access to the best possible resources to gain the benefits from use of technology.

 The Hip Hop Project was started by a rapper named Chris “Kharma Kazi” Rolle who is involved with the not for profit Art Start.  The program addresses the needs of “at risk” students who are performing very poorly in school and on the verge of dropping out.  Throughout the course of the program, students write their own songs, perform, produce, and record a CD.  The album of the students and the film will be released in May. 

I highly recommend this film for the chance to see, yet again, the power music can have in children’s lives.  It is also a great example of how hip hop can be used in an encouraging, educative, and transformative way. 

The Weinberg article makes a great point that practices like DRM limit the ability to make decisions dependent on the circumstance. Rules are made without a knowledge of the people using the resources. I think educators do suffer from the use of DRM. If I buy music on iTunes, which I often due, I only have the ability to download it five times on five different machines.  Sometimes, I need to burn a CD for my classes, for a student teachers to use, for a presentation, for an outreach program, all on different machines.   By that point I’ve used all the downloads for that purchase. However, I have not used any of the music illegally. I have not handed out CDs to my classes or given music to anyone for personal use. I am using the music to educate my students. The Weinberg articles says it much better than I do practices that do not allow exceptions to the rule always hurt someone.

In my high school, many of my families have limited computer access.  For our blogs for the Music as Social Justice class, I have to give class time each week for those students without computers at home.  Computers can be found at public libraries but the wait can be extremely long in certain neighborhoods and is often not worth the effort.  Another worry in my school is the language barrier.  For many of our families, the student is the only one who speaks English.  I also have parents who are not comfortable with their writing abilities and would feel threatened by email.

I am in no way condoning the use of email with parents and students.  I just think that we should carefully take into account the environments in which our schools are located.  Any tool to aid communication in a plus and I think that email can often be very efficient way of addressing concerns, celebrating classroom victories, or expressing needs to students and parents.  However, I think special care must be taken to find alternative tools for communicating in situations where email is inappropriate.