I have long wanted to improve two-way communication with visitors to my sites and have been frustrated by the lack of feedback and by the very small amount of real communication that seems to take place online. That’s one reason why I set up this blog and I have been delighted to create new connections through it. I also wanted to further The Full Pitcher’s mission of helping those whose musical interests are not well-served in the, mainly commercially-focussed, music scene to locate the information and resources they require and to share their ideas.
I have been nervous of setting up the forums I wanted The Full Pitcher to provide because of the technical, financial and labour implications. I’m pleased to say that, after much thought and research, I have now found a, modestly-priced, hosted solution that seems to provide the features I require. I have set up my bulletin-board with several forums, matching the special interests identified by my visitors.
The forums will, of course, enable members to provide mutual support but I intend them also to be bulletin-boards in the traditional sense of a place where members can publicise their events and courses, etc. and where The Full Pitcher can post links to the specialist resources it makes available online. At present, forums are set up so that anyone can read them but only registered members of the board can post. Posts will be rigorously moderated, on a daily basis.
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Class Music Teaching
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Music Technology in Education
Dear Audrey,
I had to check it out the link provided to me by Joe Pisano at Mustech.net. I have enjoyed reading several of your blogs this evening. I appreciate your desire to improve communication and expand people’s vision for music and music education in really such a simple manner. It must take more courage that what we think, as I too have been dissapointed by the apathy (as I perceive it) of many in our profession to talk and write about music. Joe assisted me with a recent blog (“My Band Room Is On Fire!”). After alerting over 100 colleagues about joining in and commenting, only a handful have responded so far. Frustrating, but not discouraging. I look forward to reading future entries, and I hope you don’t mind me including a link to your blog on my page. Thanks for your time, and best wishes!
Sincerely,
Travis J. Weller
I just wanted to echo Travis’ comment and affirm your “frustration” about lack of responses sometimes. I’ve had to accept the fact that many of my colleagues are simply not as inclined to sit at their computers as I am. You’re not alone.
You can also be encouraged by the thought that many people will probably read your posts but don’t feel a need to post a comment or reply. For example, my teaching situation is different that yours, so I might not have anything worthwhile to say in reply to some posts.
Also, if you check out the “blog stats” feature of your site, you might be encouraged to see that many people who have an RSS subscription to your blog will visit it when you post something new.
Great work!
I much appreciate the comments and encouragement on this topic! It’s true that many people who read the posts won’t feel moved to comment. Also, as Travis says, it takes courage to partcipate in a public discussion. That’s why I’m very pleased that the forums I have created allow people to send private messages to those posters who have enabled this function, and WordPress provides the Contact page. It’s good to talk!