Want to turn that (possibly very) expensive hobby of yours into a career? Want to make money from the flashing hardware and great software that you use? There are some obvious and not so obvious paths – and we cover them all.

If you’ve ever considered turning that money-draining hobby status into a professional money-making (aka trickling in) enterprise, then you’ve come to just the right place. There are several routes you might not previously have considered taking to turn your creative passion into a career and we have five – plus one you really don’t want to consider, believe us – right here …

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The world has rediscovered the virtues of analog sound. Why has the hearing aid industry gone completely digital?

For someone like me—an avid record collector with profound hearing loss—the past decade has produced severe cognitive dissonance caused by two contrary developments. First, vinyl came back; then, good hearing aids went away. I realize that a mostly deaf music snob sounds like the premise for a Kids in the Hall sketch, but in many ways, I’m not alone. I’ll explain …

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Throughout his experience in the music industry, Larry Fast has witnessed the effects of technology on the evolution of music and the careers of those involved in the industry, including himself.

Fast, who spoke on Wednesday at the college, is a historian, technologist and musician who has recorded many albums and CDs since the spring of 1975. In addition, he has contributed to the music of Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Tyler and Foreigner.

He also has an established career in history. Currently, Fast is associated with the Thomas A. Edison Papers project at Rutgers University.

In his talk, Fast walked the audience through the world of technology, from the analog age to the digital. He clarified that the shift was not as straightforward as one may think.

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Would you like to see this headline in the newspaper or on the local news in the near future?  Well, it’s becoming more of a reality every year.  More and more schools are taking their budget shortfalls out on music and art programs and soon these programs may be a distant memory for central Texas students.

One excuse is that they are shifting funding to STEM programs when in reality it has been shown that adding the arts to STEM education (STEAM) produces far better results in our students’ learning abilities and better prepares them for tomorrow’s workforce.  See an example of this here.

One way that the community is fighting this trend is by having nonprofits and other organizations come into the schools and provide arts introduction and training to the students.  Texas Music Partners is one of those organizations trying to promote STEAM education and letting the students try different approaches to help our kids find a creative passion and be active in the community through music.

Texas Music Partners offers our courses to the schools for free and we rely on our generous donors to accomplish this task.  We appreciate our donors very much as we cannot accomplish our mission without them.  Unfortunately, there are too few of these individuals and businesses for us to really make a dent and we need your support to reach these students and help them become a creative and successful part of our future.

Consider it an investment in our community’s future, or paying it forward.  Either way, we help our kids become successful adults and invest in our community for the next generation.

December 3rd is #GivingTuesday and we ask that you please make a small investment in the future of central Texas by making an individual donation or starting an affordable monthly donation to Texas Music Partners.  Your gift of $5, $10, $25 or more will do so much to help our students stay creative, think outside the box and show them how we invest in our community’s future.

It’s easy and there are 3 ways to donate.

1. Click on the Donate button to donate through PayPal in the upper right-hand side of the window.
2. Click on the Donate Now button to donate through Amplify Austin in the upper right-hand side of the window.
3. Click here donate through Facebook fundraiser (until Dec. 6). If you donate on Dec. 3rd, Facebook will match your donation!!

Thank you for your time and we hope that you have a wonderful holiday season!

It would be hard to imagine a childhood without music, but sadly, because of budgetary restraints and a focus on standardized testing in the school systems, many districts are cutting arts programs from their curriculum. With the focus on preparing for successful careers with specific skills and the emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), music education, especially, is becoming deemphasized.

Eliminating the arts in the array of subjects a child studies can be a big negative, as many researchers will attest. The recent inclusion of the arts as the “A’ in the more contemporary acronym, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math), is an example of how many now see the arts as a necessary and complementary discipline to the sciences that helps develop a well-rounded, creative student.

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– The History Behind Bringing A Song To Silence –

Pop songs can end in a variety of ways, but the two most common are the cold ending, where the music ends abruptly, and the fade-out, where the volume of the music slowly decreases until silence is reached. But who first came up with the fade-out approach in music?

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The power of music education was showcased this week at Liberty Hall in Tyler through a documentary featuring impoverished Venezuelan children rising up out of violent slums.

Although East Texas offers a completely different environment, some Tyler community leaders say the program, or one like it, could be duplicated here for the benefit of children.

For Hispanic Heritage Month, the Hispanic Professionals Association of Tyler and the East Texas Symphony Orchestra on Thursday screened “El Sistema,” a film about the program of the same name that takes children from poor communities and turns them into world-class musicians.

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Keynote speaker Edmund Adjapong spoke about Hip-Hop Based Education, and the method’s success in engaging students with educational topics by having them engage and participate than forcing Hip-Hop into the curriculum.  As an example, he talked more about the Science Genius rap battles, first held in New York City. The format is a friendly competition, in which students are judged not only on their performance and lyrical skills, but also on the scientific quality of their lyrics. Adjapong said that they’ve seen students who previously showed little interest in science suddenly start researching topics outside of the mandatory curriculum just to make their rap more interesting and scientific.

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Texas Music Partners partnered with Perez Elementary and the ACE after school program this fall. We all had a good time and learned a thing or two over the 9-week session. Some of the subjects we covered include Editing Photos of Musicians on a Tablet – I (4 weeks) and How to be a DJ Using a Tablet – I (4 weeks).

TMP would like to thank Kara Mitchell-Santibanez (Principal) and Rhonda Jones (Ace Director at Perez) for their generosity and support.

Next semester we are confirmed to be at Williams and Langford elementary schools.

Included are some pictures of Perez students getting into the How to be a DJ using a tablet course.

For information on partnering with TMP click here.

As STEAM learning has grown in prominence in classrooms across the country, so have the tools and resources facilitating this approach to learning.

This article illustrates five examples of how technology is supporting the integration of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics in classrooms today.

To read the entire article click here or on the picture