Introducing Music to Students

At the end of every semester, I provide links to some of the music that I listen to while grading my students' quizzes, discussion posts, and essays. My writing class is taught entirely online.

This fall semester, one student responded to Jasmine Myra's "Rising." Attracted to Jasmine Myra's saxophone, having played saxophone herself while in high school, my student says that she plans on buying the complete album, especially after I mentioned having the album in my CD alarm clock for the past month or so.

One student responded to Vassilis Tsabropoulos' "Gift of Dreams," which is taken from the Melos album. She said that she found the music "enchanting."

One student responded positively to "Jeg er træt og går til ro," one of the songs taken from Soren Bebe's Echoes album. She found the music "relaxing," she said.

Another student liked both Yuri Honing's "Paperbag" and selections by Matthew Halsall, particularly "Together," "I Have Been Here Before," and "Samatha." The student said he bought one of Matthew Halsall's albums as a result, but he didn't say which one.

What I enjoy is introducing my students to music that they probably had not heard before although I have to admit that one student said that she has heard some of this music when visiting the homes of  family members. The student, however, didn't name anything in particular.

A Favorite Post of Mine

One of my end-of-the-year music posts from 2019 has been getting a lot of attention. This post reviews Matthew Halsall's Oneness, Bagland's Cirkel, and Soren Bebe's Echoes. Since its day of publication, this post of mine has gotten clicked on 430 times, thirteen of them in the last seven days and sixty-four in the last thirty days.

I wish I knew what attracts people to this particular post. I admit that I am much more specific in this post than I have been in some of my other ones about music. Perhaps it is the specificity and the brief excerpts from Bandcamp that attract people.

I guess I know what I need to do in upcoming posts.

Autumn in Northeast Kansas 2024

Although the drought we were experiencing in October reduced the the number of colorful trees, I still found delight in our autumn colors. The pictures appearing below were taken over a period of a week's time. Clicking on each picture will enlarge it.

Ravages of Time

One of the places I enjoy walking is located at the Veterans Administration in Leavenworth. A building located near Lake Jeanette has been deteriorating a little more each year. I don't know whether the Veterans Administration plans on demolishing the building at some point. The overgrown vegetation has at least been removed recently.