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This week we are releasing the first episode recorded in front of a live audience. During the Texas Music Educators Association convention in February 2014 I was privileged to be the moderator of a panel of college deans and professors. This panel answered questions regarding majoring in music and we gave advice including information about degree plans, reasons for majoring in music, and time management. The panel included: Dr. Robert Tucker - Hardin Simmons University Dr. Marylynn Flecher - Victoria College Dr. John Scott - North Texas University Dr. David Scott - Texas AM Commerce

Nothing worse than when an instrument breaks, so lets learn how to fix them. This week we talk about easy repairs band directors can make and what tools to keep on hand.

While they are all different methods of teaching music Suzuki, Kodaly, and Rote teaching share some similar characteristics. In this episode our hosts sort out these methods, their similarities, and their differences.

On the one year Anniversary of the FreeMusicEd Podcast, we examine one of the oldest questions in music education. Is musical talent a real thing? Is it something you have or don't have, or do you develop it. We also look at tone deafness and rhythm deafness.

This week we interview the music education technology company Musicopoulos with their founder Con Eliopoulos. This company is responsible for excellent music education apps including a metronome, ear training application, an innovative vocal warm up app, and a music theory ipad training course. Learn More at: http://www.musicopoulos.com/

Journey into the world of Jazz improvisation and brass embouchure this week with Dr. Dave Wilken of wilktone.com. Dave studied at Illinois Wesleyan University and DePaul University. He also directs community ensembles, performs as a freelance trombonist, and composes/arranges. Learn More at: www.wilktone.com http://www.youtube.com/user/wilktone

If you're in music education and you need a laugh, a guaranteed win is Tone Deaf Comics. This week artist John Bogenschutz joins us for a conversation all about his excellent web comic and the road so far. Visit ToneDeafComics.com and check out John's work.

Back in 2012 the Open Goldberg Variations sought to "Set Bach free." Now, the team behind the ground breaking project are continuing that quest with The Well Tempered Clavier - Ba©h to Bach. Robert Douglass, MuseScore, and Kimiko Ishizaka return to take Bach's masterpiece - The Well Tempered Clavier, and release it to the world with copyright free recordings, typesetting, and a digital score. In this interview Douglass shares the vision, history, and motivations behind this 2nd project as they do a major part to preserve and share one of the most significant works in the world's musical heritage. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/293573191/open-well-tempered-clavier-bah-to-bach

This week we have the pleasure of a return visit from Yigal Kaminka from Joytunes. Yigal is the Oboist for the Jerusalem Symphony and the music arranger and consultant for Joyutnes. We talked about arranging for the applications, their new application PianoMania, and working in a music technology start up. We also played a few of Yigals arrangements.

Gannon shares some excellent bass education resources and sheds some light about some important beginner bass techniques. Scottsbasslessons.com playbassnow.com

Cloud based software allows you to use a tool on any computer that can access the internet. Dr. Jim Frankel from Music First tells us all about the best cloud based music education software in this weeks episode of the FreeMusicEd Podcast. Dr Frankel is a graduate of Montclair State Univeristy and Teachers College Columbia University where he is currently an adjunct professor. An author of several music education books as well as an active member of TI-ME, Dr. Frankel is one of the leading experts in Music Education Technology.

Ever walked into a music store to buy drumsticks and had no idea what to choose from their selection, or even why they carried so many different types and sizes of sticks? This episode is for you! Dillon Phillips is here to talk about different aspects of drumsticks, including wood type, tip shape, thickness, and more.

This week Stephen shares his iOS application recommendations for musician's and music educators. Apps mentioned in this podcast include: Cleartune Tonal energy Metronome (Tempo) iReal b Session Band Symphony Pro Notion PianoMania PianoDustBuster Midi Studio Charms Office Smart Music Finale Reader For these links and more visit freemusiced.org/podcast

Today I had an opportunity to talk with one of my personal clarinet and saxophone heroes: Ken Peplowski. In this interview we talk about clarinet and saxophone techniques, jam session etiquette, equipment, being a professional musician, Benny Goodman, and house parties. Mr. Peplowski has had an incredible career as a musician with 40 CD's as a soloist and over 400 as a sideman. Peplowski's career includes playing in a polish polka band as a child, working in the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra under the direction of Buddy Morrow, studying with Sonny Stitt, and touring with Benny Goodman. Official Website: http://kenpeplowski.com/

We had a great listener question that we are answering on the air: This week we spoke with Justin Phillips the Senior Product Manager at Make Music. Justin oversees the development of Finale, one of the most popular and established music notation applications available. During this interview we address finale versions, features, and uses as well as discuss working in the field of music technology. Find out more about Finale and Make Music at: http://www.makemusic.com/

We had a great listener question that we are answering on the air: From Rayanne: "Is it possible for a woodwind player (alto sax) to switch to a brass instrument? I'm just worried that it will be hard for me to major in music Ed if I play sax because even though I'm proficient at saxophone, I was never taught jazz. Help?"

This week we have an interview with Gregory Dell'Era from the company Weezic which is based in Paris, France. Gregory is a Bassonist and recorder player with both music and engineering degrees. He is one of the founders of Weezic. Weezic is a platform for augmented sheet music. This platform plays accompaniments with the performer and gives instant assessment. Weezic has both a web based application and an iPad app. Learn More at www.weezic.com

This week we are joined by professor, musician, and author David Rothenberg. Rothenberg studies animal and nature music and has written many books, created multiple CD's, and traveled the world both studying and performing with animals. In this episode we talk about why animal music is important, how to make music with animals, and why/if this can really be called music. David Rothenberg currently works at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Learn more about Rothenberg at http://davidrothenberg.wordpress.com/ or at http://www.freemusiced.org/podcast.html

We had the pleasure of visiting with Joe Berkovitz from Noteflight, the web based music notation program. Noteflight is a powerful, cross platform solution for music notation. Users including people distributing parts to musicians digitally, teaching music theory, and composers looking for a powerful affordable tool set. Noteflight has free entry level accounts, so go try it now! Mr. Berkovitz is a composer, pianist, and software engineer with 30 years of development experience.

This week Gannon tells us all about brass mouthpieces including the parts of the mouthpiece and recommendations for beginners and more seasoned players.