About

Moving Forward with Music is a site by Nick Jaworski that attempts to understand issues related to teaching, creating, understanding, and enjoying music. 

Take a look around! You could try the Lessons page.

Here are some basic facts about me:

  • Co-Founder and Co-Editor of Leading Notes, an online music education magazine. If you’re reading this page, you should really go check that site out. 
  • Vice President on the Illinois Music Educators Association (Secondary General Music). Click here for my webpage on the IMEA site.
  • I’ve presented around the country at National and State conventions including the Illinois Music Education Conference (Peoria, IL), the Technology Institute for Music Educators National Convention (Louisville, KY), the New Directions in Music Education Conference (East Lansing, MI), the Games, Learning, and Society Conference (Madison, WI).
  • I have presented to collegiate music educators at Illinois State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Illinois. 
  • Master’s in Music Education from the University of Illinois.
  • While pursuing my MME, I completed a Master’s degree worth of Communication courses from the University of Illinois, as well. 
  • Has taught music technology, rock and roll methods, music appreciation, band (K-12), and more than his fair share of marching percussion.
  • Is fond of adorable animals.

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Everything down here is from the original site description I wrote back in June of 2010. Things have changed a bit since then, but I’ll leave the info up for now in case you want to see where I started.

With the increasing rate of technological advances, I continually feel the field of music education seems to get distracted by what the latest trends are in terms of technology and music. This would be fine except for the fact that few people seem to be publicly talking about how to effectively use these technologies in the classroom.

This blog was created for three reasons:

  1. To talk specifics about how to create lessons for the 21st century music classroom.
  2. To encourage the debate about which musical subjects are worthy of studying in our public schools.
  3. Without a lot of guidance from the rest of the profession (no textbooks), it is my hope that by focusing on smaller lessons that larger curricular units will emerge over the coming months and years. 

Please click here to read an early blog post concerning the current state of technology discussions in our music classrooms.

Some interesting (semi-relevant) facts about me:

  • Elected to Illinois Music Education Association Board of Directors - Vice-President of Secondary General Music Elect (Term starts in 2011)
  • University of Illinois, Masters of Music Education (Starting Fall 2010)
  • Will serve as the Teaching Assistant for two sections of MUS243 - Introduction to Technology in Music Education

Last random musings:

While I was a pretty good traditional percussionist when I was young, my most rewarding musical experiences growing up were the times when I was responsible for creating my own music. This included writing, performing, recording, packaging, and promoting. However, it’s clear that most music programs do not offer their students these types of experiences - even though most would probably love the opportunity.

My experiences while teaching at Winnebago High School helped to reinforce these ideas. In a very short amount of time, enrollment for “non-performance based” classes skyrocketed. It was because the curriculum was created to allow students to engage and interact with the music that most closely resembles their own musical experiences. Some would say that this is simply giving in to music that has lessor “value”, but I would argue that music has whatever value that we place in it. The students were truly being challenged by engaging in a comprehensive music program that included composing music and lyrics, singing, playing guitar, recording and manipulating audio, and analyzing a wide variety of music. The classes were not easy, but the kids wanted to work because it was fun! And, I had a blast, too!

With school budgets getting slashed, classes like these need to become more common. This blog, as much as a resource for other teachers, is a place where I hope to sculpt a larger curriculum for my future students.

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