me arts ed

Smithsonian Online Conference

The Advanced Music class at North Haven Community School (Megan, Natalie and teacher Courtney) participated this spring in a Smithsonian Online Conference titled, “Who owns music?”  The speaker was D. A. Sonnenborn Ph D, the associate director of the Smithsonian Folkways label.  Discussion questions focused on the value of recording and preserving music and sound, drawing lines between music and sound, ownership of recorded music and sound, and defining music.  Sonnenborn’s lecture was videocast, and questions were posed to the audience, which consisted of teachers, students and musicians from around the world.  We had the opportunity to respond to the questions via a chat window.  Here’s what the students thought!

Megan: It was a unique opportunity that we got to see what other people thought about music, and argue with them.

Natalie:  It was interesting to see what other people thought and what their opinions were.

Megan: I really liked the thing where you could type in stuff. It was about recording stuff – everything – even if you don’t like it.

Natalie:  People like the sound of stir frying broccoli.

Megan:  I got into an argument about humans being the only animals that make music on purpose.  Then somebody said that birds do that too, but then I said that’s by accident, they’re just talking and it’s not actually on purpose music making.

Natalie:  It’s probably not music to them.

Smithsonian Online Conferences are free, easily accessible with a computer and internet connection, and provide opportunities for students to interact with people around the world and try to answer questions in fields that interest them.  The conferences discuss things from outer space to ecology to fashion.  The sessions are archived and are available online.

Here is a link to the session we participated in:  http://www.smithsonianconference.org/expert/who-owns-music/

I hope to use this amazing resource more in the future!

I learned about this work while visiting North Haven as part of the follow-up to the island being named as an Imagination Intensive Community. The project is being conducted by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education and the Maine Department of Education. The project is supported in part by a grant from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Betterment Foundation and the Maine Arts Commission supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Thank you to North Haven Community School music educator, Courtney Naliboff for contributing this story for meartsed blog.