James Boldin, Jacob Coleman, Jeremy Marks (photo by Bradley Kerns)

October has been, and will continue to be, a busy month, with concerts and other activities happening every week. Last week my colleague Jeremy Marks and I shared a faculty recital at ULM (performance videos coming soon), and then traveled to the University of Kentucky in Lexington and Ohio University in Athens for some additional performances and masterclasses with their students. A huge thanks to our generous hosts Bradley Kerns, David Elliott, Lucas Borges, C. Scott Smith, Joseph Brown, and Laura Brown, for their hospitality and kindness during a very busy part of the semester. Both schools have very fine music programs – there is some great teaching and playing going on in the horn and trombone studios there! In addition to performing and teaching at these schools, I also gave a brief talk called “Technology and Horn Playing.” In my correspondence with David Elliott at the University of Kentucky prior to our visit, he requested that I speak to his students about my experiences using technology as a horn player in the 21st century. The presentation went well, and it is one that I plan to continue to develop in the future. Being somewhat familiar with technology, I created a series of bullets to use as talking points and as the basis for future discussion. Those points are listed below, with active hyperlinks where applicable and a few explanatory comments that weren’t in the original handouts. I hope you find them useful, and feel free to comment if you feel so inclined.

TRENDS

• Mobile apps – ubiquitous
• Facebook “Live” [for performance/audition preparation and promotional material]
• Short Promo/Informational Videos (2 minutes or less) [Better to have several short videos on a topic than one long video. Research shows that shorter videos are more engaging to viewers.]
• Texting/Messenger/Instant communication (Email old fashioned?) Snail mail now prestigious?
• “Research” being done through social media (“where can I find…”)
• Playing advice on social media [A mixed bag of sometimes helpful and sometimes irrelevant advice.]
• Online lessons/master classes [More and more popular as technology improves and travel costs increase.]
• YouTube great for discovering new repertoire – going to conferences is even better!
• Death of compact discs – replaced by streaming services and websites like hornexcerpts.org

RECOMMENDED DEVICES

• Audio/Video recording: Zoom H1, H2n, H4n; Zoom Q4
• Standalone tuner and metronome: Snark, KlIQ MetroPitch (standalone device=fewer distractions than a smartphone)
• If you must use your smartphone, turn off ALL alerts.

WEBSITES I USE EVERY DAY

• www.random.org Create random lists of….anything! Sight-reading, scales, excerpts, etc.
• www.toggl.com Time and task tracking software. Free, easy to use, with mobile apps.
• www.drive.google.com Great for organizing/collaborating materials

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED WEBSITES/APPS

• Metronomics HD – great desktop metronome for Mac, iPhone, Android, http://metronomicsapp.com/
• http://doodle.com/ – Rehearsal scheduling
• Naxos Music Library – https://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/home.asp?rurl=%2Fdefault%2Easp

SOCIAL MEDIA…BE WARY

• A powerful tool in the right hands, but can also be damaging to careers and personal well-being
• Keep a tight rein on what you post, share, and/or like on social media. If you have to ask yourself “is this appropriate?”, then it isn’t!
• Turn off commenting on YouTube videos [Some of the comments you receive will be less than helpful, and those who really want to reach you will use email or some other method of contact. In my experience, leaving comments on for YouTube videos invites trolls.]
• I prefer blogging to social media – less reactionary, gives the opportunity for more reasoned discourse.