Summer Listening iMix & More Thoughts on iTunes for Education

939604 Band Silhouette 4My prior post on iTunes and Textbooks started with this iMix. As I mulled the educational implications over I realized that this was exactly how teachers should be sharing instructional materials.

As a musician and music aficionado I listen to a lot of new music. My tastes range across genres – what draws my interest is solid musicianship, great lyrics, and a good tune. Over 2-3 months I probably listen to 200-300 new songs inspired by recommendations from friends, recommendations from iTunes and Pandora, and stuff I hear randomly. Oddly, I find some of the best stuff on political blogs (Juan Luis Guerra below). I rank the songs using iTunes and from the short list of 5 star songs I create a mix to share. I also toss in a couple of old favorites that I haven’t listened to in a while (like Cocker on this mix).

My musical adventures are not typical – but I hope that is why playlists like this are valuable to others. I’ve done the leg work of culling through a lot of new stuff to find the best (for my ears).

There are teachers and former teachers who do the same thing with lessons and lesson plans. Most teachers have other priorities – but those that do scan for new stuff should have a tool that allows them to take the best of the best (as they see it) and publish it easily for others to sample.

Ears up! In this mix you will find latin, rock, gospel, folk, jazz, and bluegrass. These are many of the tunes I listened to as I blog.

Sample the ones you like or download the whole mix. Let me know your favorites too.

Next up in this series – why a database in your pocket is the killer app for the age of social media.