Lafayette Hosts National Music Technology Conference

The Lafayette music department is welcoming representatives from dozens of colleges and universities during a national conference June 7-10 focusing on the use of technology in the classroom.

The National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE) Orpheus Alliance Music and Technology Conference features 10 workshops held in the Williams Center for the Arts with the goal of advancing liberal education in the digital age.

“This is the first music technology conference in college history, so we’re pretty excited since it brings national attention to our campus and our programs,” says James Moyer, associate professor of music and director of bands. “We’re very pleased to have been selected to host this conference. I hope this paves the way for us to host more things like this in the future.”

Conference topics include multimedia creation, video streaming, uses of technology in the music classroom, podcasting, electro-acoustic music production, Internet2 demonstration, and presentations by participants on successful technology applications. Moyer hopes to implement new techniques at Lafayette next school year.

Sessions are led by representatives from a variety of colleges and universities, including Lafayette, Willamette, Colgate, Hamilton, Gettysburg, Haverford, DePauw, Rollins, and St. Lawrence. Conference events are open only to NITLE members.

Lafayette faculty performed in the conference’s opening concert June 7. Moyerperformed a marimba solo and Larry Stockton, professor and head of music, performed on Japanese percussion for the opening concert. The program featured ethnic, contemporary, and electro-acoustic music. The Luna Nova New Music Ensemble rounded out the evening with its interpretation of George Crumb’s Voice of the Whale.

Conference schedule

June 7

• 7:30-9 p.m.: Concert at Williams Center for the Arts
• 9 p.m.: Post-Concert Reception

June 8

• 9 a.m.: Crossing Borders: Multimedia creation process; Mike Nord and Ann Kresge, Willamette University
• 10 a.m.: Deep Winter: A Flute and Computer Collaboration; Mark Volker and John McMurtery, Colgate University
• 10:45 a.m.: MaxMSP/Jitter; Sam Pellman, Hamilton College
• 11:30 a.m.: Presto Presentations: successful projects from participating colleges
• 1:30 p.m.: Podcasting demo and discussion; Tim Sestrick and Gavin Foster, Gettysburg College
• 3:30 p.m.: Live Internet 2 demonstration: Flute masterclass taught by John McMurtery. Participants at several remote institutions. John O’Keefe, manager of instructional technology

June 9

• 9 a.m.: Quicktime Video Streaming; Mike Wolk, Apple Computers
• 1:30 p.m.: Music Libraries and Media Centers: Challenges in Equipping New Facilities; moderated by John Anderies, Haverford College, and Holling Smith-Borne, DePauw University
• 3:15 p.m.: The physics of musical instruments: Discovering the science of music and the music of science; Thomas R. Moore, Rollins College
• 4 p.m.: Music Technology in Non-Music Courses; Christopher Watts, St. Lawrence University

This past January, Lafayette hosted NITLE’s Internet2 Symposium. Representatives from nine colleges and universities explored possible applications for using Internet2 to enrich campus curricula and expand pedagogical approaches. Participants shared case studies that demonstrated how Internet2 could enhance learning and teaching in the liberal arts.

NITLE is a non-profit organization which provides opportunities for teachers in liberal arts institutions to create transformative learning experiences for and with their students by deploying emerging technologies in innovative, effective, and sustainable ways.