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.