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Earlier this spring, Dr. Harry Price was named the NAfME 2018 Senior Researcher Award recipient. Following is an excerpt of his speech at the 2018 NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education Conference in Atlanta, Georgia:

Beethoven is credited with saying “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.” With that, we could stop right now, but that would make this talk a bit too short.

Beethoven is credited with saying “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.”

It is important to begin by recognizing some important people. I appreciate the National Executive Board of NAfME, the Music Education Research Council and its Executive Committee, as well as all the members of the Society for Research in Music Education for supporting my nomination. I especially want to thank my skilled colleague and friend Deborah Confredo. She wrote a remarkable nomination letter for this award. It is an honor for me to be named among this award’s previous recipients.

As an undergraduate in the early 1970s, I assisted a doctoral student, Michael Wagner. My job was as a “technology” aide to him. At that time, our job was mostly to make sure that the stereos were hooked up and the power cords were plugged in. Yes, this was the time of phonograph players, a little machine that was about this size that turned around and around, on which you placed a vinyl disk, and a needle sat on it to transfer the waveforms through an amplifier to speakers. We also made sure that the equipment was turned on, a problem many times. Mike helped me to begin thinking about music education and how it does or does not function. Along with this work, I also helped some other doctoral students with technology in their research.

In my master’s work, Clifford Madsen directed the thesis. Later, after teaching a bit, I was fortunate to work with Cornelia Yarbrough on my doctorate and beyond; strangely, I assisted her with some technology when she worked on her dissertation. Cornelia taught me a great deal about education, research, and life in general. She is responsible for so many good things that have happened to me. What would we do without our wonderful mentors? As for the not-so-successful things that have occurred in my career, those are due to my continued stubbornness.

My colleagues over the years have been so helpful. At Virginia Tech, I was able to further develop my research skills—even as the marching band director. By the way, Jere Humphreys (2006) stated that the ancient Romans fielded marching bands, so I guess I was doing historical research when I was there. Of course, there were the many positive years at the University of Alabama, which was incredibly supportive of my research. Finally, there were many wonderful undergraduate and graduate students in my almost 40 years of teaching. How rewarding it has been for the students and me to share working on papers together! Interestingly, I worked quite a while ago with one of my students, Evelyn K. Orman, and now am assisting her fine research on virtual reality, efforts that she has pursued for more than 18 years (Orman, Whitaker, Price, & Confredo, 2017). In this case, the teacher can also become the student.

Now, I would like to share with you some data that come from an examination of all the citations in Journal of Research in Music Education, from its beginning to 2015. Before going on, however, we need to remember that there are many researchers today who are making wonderful contributions and providing important professional service and excellent teaching.

NAfME members: Read the rest of Dr. Price’s speech in which he addresses the basic concept of questioning ideas and five steps to follow in doing so.

Dr. Price began his career as a high school band director in Chamblee, GA, before earning a Master’s Degree at Florida State University. He was then an Assistant Director of Bands at the University of South Carolina from 1976-1978, before earning his Doctorate at Syracuse University. Since 1981, he has been a professor of music education at various universities. Currently, he is Professor of Music History and Music Appreciation at Kennesaw State University’s School of Music. Dr. Price served as the editor of the JRME from 1994-2000; three terms on the Music Education Research Council of NAfME (then known as MENC); as editorial committee member for JRME; and as advisory committee member for CRME. Internationally, he held various leadership roles in ISME, and is a past and present member of the IJME editorial board. Dr. Price is currently working on the new journal development board for the Jazz Education Network.

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The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) provides a number of forums for the sharing of information and opinion, including blogs and postings on our website, articles and columns in our magazines and journals, and postings to our Amplify member portal. Unless specifically noted, the views expressed in these media do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the Association, its officers, or its employees.

Catherina Hurlburt, Marketing Communications Manager. August 29, 2018. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org)

Lawrence English's Room40 label has announced the release of Scanner's work Mass Observation in full for the first time.

The piece was famously sampled by Björk in 1995 on her track 'Possibly Maybe', in the form of the pulsing electronic tone that runs through the song. Many may not know though that the sample itself wasn't actually cleared for use.

The recording sees a young Jim O'Rourke and Robert Hampson teaming up with Robin Rimbaud, otherwise known as Scanner, and originally dates back to 1994. Like other works by Rimbaud, it reflects his concern with surveillance and the dichotomy of public and private space, issues that are still on people's minds today.

"There were three performers and one witness," says Rimbaud of the recording the piece. "I can remember this day so well, even though it was some twenty-four years ago. Standing up before a mixing desk in a dark room in an apartment in South London, Jim O'Rourke, Robert Hampson and myself, literally all hands-on deck as we each took responsibility for the faders on the desk.

"Introducing sounds to the mix, unexpected, unpredictable, where the accident reigned supreme. Sometimes the high frequency of cellular noise would pervade the atmosphere, at other junctures it would erupt into words and melt down to radio hiss."

Room40 will release an edited four-minute version of the piece, which you can hear above, alongside the full expanded version which has never been widely heard before now.

The label will release Mass Observation on CD and digitally on October 5. You can pre-order it here.

Primetime Preliminary Fast National Nielsen Data
(includes all DVR playback through 3:00 am)

Here are the highlights of the 15 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night (11/20/18):

NBC (7.331 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.4, #1) took home top adults 18-49 honors on Tuesday with its mix of "The Voice" (8.219 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T2), "This Is Us" (7.889 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.8, #1) and "New Amsterdam" (5.885 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.1, #5).

CBS (9.409 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.0, #2) then was the silver draw with its trio of "NCIS" (11.899 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.2, #4), "FBI" (8.895 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.0, #6) and "NCIS: New Orleans" (7.433 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T8).

Next up was ABC (4.269 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.9, #3) and originals from "The Conners" (6.911 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T2), "The Kids Are Alright" (4.389 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.9, #7), "Black-ish" (3.478 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T8), "Splitting Up Together" (2.730 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T11) and "The Rookie" (4.052 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.7, #10).

Meanwhile, The CW (1.301 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #4) offered up fresh installments of "The Flash" (1.602 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T11) and "Black Lightning" (1.000 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T14).

And finally, FOX (1.318 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.3, #5) opted for repeats of "The Gifted" (1.178 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T14) and "Lethal Weapon" (1.457 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.4, #13).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
0.00% - New Amsterdam
0.00% - The Rookie
0.00% - The Flash
0.00% - Black Lightning
-6.67% - The Conners
-9.09% - FBI
-10.00% - This Is Us
-10.00% - The Kids Are Alright
-11.11% - NCIS: New Orleans
-12.50% - The Voice
-14.29% - NCIS
-14.29% - Splitting Up Together
-20.00% - Black-ish

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+7.69% - The Conners (vs. The Middle)
-9.09% - FBI (vs. Bull)
-11.11% - NCIS: New Orleans
-14.29% - NCIS
-15.38% - New Amsterdam (vs. Chicago Med)
-17.65% - The Voice
-18.18% - The Kids Are Alright (vs. Fresh Off the Boat)
-25.00% - The Flash
-28.00% - This Is Us
-38.46% - Black-ish (vs. Dancing with the Stars)
-40.00% - Black Lightning (vs. DC's Legends of Tomorrow)
-46.15% - The Rookie (vs. Dancing with the Stars)
-53.85% - Splitting Up Together (vs. Dancing with the Stars)

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

· In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," 1.8/5; "Late Show with Stephen Colbert," 2.9/8; and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.7/5.

· In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," 0.5/3; "Late Show," 0.5/3; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.4/3.

· From 12:35-1:05 a.m. ET, ABC's "Nightline" averaged a 1.1/4 in metered-market households and a 0.3/2 in 18-49 in the Local People Meters.

· From 12:35-1:35 a.m. ET, ratings were: "Late Night with Seth Meyers," 1.2/4 in metered-market households; CBS's "Late Late Show," 1.3/5. In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, averages were: "Late Night," 0.2/2 in 18-49; "Late Late Show," 0.2/2.

· At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.7/3 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.1/2 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Here are the highlights of the 14 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (11/21/17):

NBC (8.266 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.8, #1) was the demo champ on Tuesday with its mix of "The Voice" (9.289 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.7, #2), "This Is Us" (9.288 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.5, #1) and the season premiere of "Chicago Med" (6.221 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T4).

ABC (7.831 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.3, #2) then was the silver draw with new episodes of "The Middle" (6.032 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T4) and "Fresh Off the Boat" (4.295 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T7) plus the season finale of "Dancing with the Stars" (9.165 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T4).

Next up was CBS (9.791 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.1, #3) and its trio of "NCIS" (12.494 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.4, #3), "Bull" (8.950 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T7) and "NCIS: New Orleans" (7.928 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.9, #10).

Meanwhile, FOX (2.913 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.8, #4) offered up originals from "Lethal Weapon" (3.914 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.0, #9), "The Mick" (2.157 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.7, #12) and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" (1.666 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.6, #13).

And finally, new episodes of "The Flash" (2.171 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.8, #11) and "DC's Legends of Tomorrow" (1.492 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.5, #14) closed out the night on The CW (1.831 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.6, #5).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+10.00% - Fresh Off the Boat
0.00% - The Middle
0.00% - Lethal Weapon
0.00% - The Mick
0.00% - Brooklyn Nine-Nine
0.00% - DC's Legends of Tomorrow
-3.85% - This Is Us
-6.67% - NCIS
-8.33% - Bull
-11.11% - The Flash
-15.00% - The Voice
-18.18% - NCIS: New Orleans

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+66.67% - DC's Legends of Tomorrow (vs. No Tomorrow)
+40.00% - The Mick (vs. Scream Queens)
+20.00% - Brooklyn Nine-Nine (vs. Scream Queens)
+17.65% - Lethal Weapon (vs. Brooklyn Nine-Nine/New Girl)
+4.17% - This Is Us
-5.56% - The Voice
-13.33% - Chicago Med (vs. Chicago Fire)
-18.75% - The Middle
-21.43% - Fresh Off the Boat (vs. American Housewife)
-25.00% - NCIS: New Orleans
-26.32% - NCIS
-26.67% - Bull
-27.27% - The Flash
-27.78% - Dancing with the Stars

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

· In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," 2.2/6; "Late Show with Stephen Colbert," 3.1/8; and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.8/5 with an encore.

· In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," 0.6/4; "Late Show," 0.6/3; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.4/3 with an encore.

· From 12:35-1:05 a.m. ET, ABC's "Nightline" averaged a 1.2/4 in metered-market households and a 0.3/2 in 18-49 in the Local People Meters.

· From 12:35-1:35 a.m. ET, ratings were: "Late Night with Seth Meyers," 1.4/5 in metered-market households; CBS's "Late Late Show," 1.3/5. In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, averages were: "Late Night," 0.4/3 in 18-49; "Late Late Show," 0.3/2.

· At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.7/3 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.3/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Source: Nielsen Media Research

The Traditional Cornhusk Doll Kit comes with materials and instructions to make one hauntingly faceless doll, admittedly a more simplistic version than the elaborately crafted cornhusk dolls that line the path to a devastating discovery made by Det. Wayne Hays, played by Mahershala Ali.

The CW is lighting up the Bat-signal for a few more Batwoman cast members: Teen Wolf alum Meagan Tandy is among three new additions to the pilot’s cast, our sister site Deadline is reporting.

Tandy will play Sophie Moore, a military academy graduate who works in Gotham as a high-level private security agent. The actress recently co-starred on MTV’s Teen Wolf as Braeden — where she played the love interest of fellow Arrowverse member Tyler Hoechlin, aka Supergirl‘s Superman — along with regular roles on UnREAL and Survivor’s Remorse.

Also joining the Batwoman pilot cast: Camrus Johnson (Luke Cage) as Lucius Fox’s son Luke, who guards Bruce Wayne’s estate while he’s away; and Nicole Kang (YOU) as Kate Kane’s excitable step-sister Mary Hamilton.

Batwoman — which landed an official pilot order at The CW earlier this month — stars Orange Is the New Black veteran Ruby Rose as lesbian vigilante Kate Kane. (The Vampire Diaries scribe Caroline Dries wrote the pilot and will serve as an executive producer.) Rose made her debut as Kate Kane/Batwoman in last fall’s Arrowverse “Elseworlds” crossover event; that episode earned a TVLine reader grade of “A-,” with 85 percent saying they definitely or maybe would watch a Batwoman series.

Excited to see Batwoman take flight on The CW? Hit the comments below and share your thoughts.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has struck a deal with Gismart to license its content to the music app developer.

On Tuesday (May 21), the London-based company announced that the songbook for its karaoke app, Karaoke Face, will be expanding to include thousands of songs from the leading music publisher. The app allows users to sing, record and share performances, all the while wearing 3D masks if they so choose. It's an extension of Sony/ATV's 2018 licensing agreement with Gismart, which covered the U.S. 

Gismart vp of business development and marketing Lana Meisak told MusicWeek, "Gismart is committed to developing its 'A-team' of global music partners. Our new strategic deal with Sony/ATV supercharges the content available in Karaoke Face, which is the world's first karaoke app featuring AR masks and filters. With over three million tracks and songs, the Sony/ATV catalog covers every era and genre of popular music." 

A representative for Sony/ATV told Billboard that Gismart's release was sent without its knowledge so "it's not something we have anything to say about."

Last year, Gismart also announced a global licensing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group. “A deal with UMP and Sony/ATV helps us offer a diverse repertoire of songs from day one, once the app launches," said Meisak, who was business development manager at Gismart, at the time. "We’re striving to create a complete karaoke songbook so any user can find their personal favorites to sing. We will continue speaking with partners from all the major publishing companies to grow our catalog and bring you the hottest tracks.”

Instead of being given a puppy love story treatment, Laila Majnu could have been handled as a mature love story, feels Sneha Chakrabarti.

Epics do not expire.

Every time you think we have had enough of them, a new version comes up.

Someone, somewhere recreates it. 

Laila Majnu is a classic example. 

The latest version, which hits the screens this Friday, has been produced by Imtiaz Ali and Ekta Kapoor. 

Ali, who has scripted the film as well, gives the age-old story a contemporary sheen. 

The film begins with Laila and Qais' love story. 

They keep the Srinagar gossipers busy, despite knowing that their fathers Masood (Parmeet Sethi) and Ghulam (Benjamin Gilani) are arch rivals.

Masood emotionally blackmails Laila into agreeing to marry a politician, Ibban (Sumit Kaul).

Qais, who has gone to London, discovers this when he returns home after four years.

This is when the real story begins.

The potential of the film is seen post-interval, when you get engrossed in Qais's metamorphosis to Majnu. 

Avinash Tiwary as Qais/Majnu is a great discovery. His expression and body language are excellent as he transforms from the happy-go-lucky Qais to the obsessed Majnu. 

Tripti Dimri looks pretty, which is all you can say about her really.

The supporting cast -- Sumit Kaul as Laila’s cruel husband, Abrar Qazi as Kais’s brother, Zaid, and the Kashmiri locals -- add a nice flavour to the film.

Imtiaz Ali's music and cinematography have always been praiseworthy, whether it was in Jab We Met or Rockstar. Laila Majnu's music has the same charm. 

Niladri Kumar and Joi Barua’s music is one of the highlights of the film, which has 10 songs. 

Cinematographer Sayak Bhattacharya does full justice to the beautiful valley of Kashmir. 

Sajid Ali as a debutant director (his first film Banana has not released) has potential. 

Yet, instead of giving the film a puppy love story treatment, it could have been handled as a mature love story. 

Go for Laila Majnu if you want to watch a romantic film but be prepared for a flawed script.

Rediff Rating:

In anticipation of large crowds for Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, theater managers from across the country have announced that they will be holding vigil showings for the faithful who cannot attend holy day showings.

“We are very excited about all the zeal and enthusiasm that we have seen for this movie,” said 16-year-old Regal Cinema manager Craig Livingston. “So, to help accommodate those who cannot make it to holy day showings tomorrow, we have decided to run multiple showings of Endgame, blessed be it’s awesome title.”

89-year-old film projectionist Herb Scott told EOTT recently that, as excited as he always is to see enthusiasm for going to a movie, it is a shame that a majority of the faithful still only tend came out for the “big movies.”

“Look, I’m not trying to be crabby. I’m just saying that so many people, especially our youth, just stick with Netflix and such throughout the year, and then might just come out for two movies the rest of the year. In my day we used to come out to a movie every Sunday, but things ain’t like they used to, I suppose.”

Scott went on to say that he planned to welcome everyone to the theater some time midway through the movie, before delivering fifteen minutes of remarks about the importance of going to the theater every week.

“Oh, yes, I’ll definitely be reminding people that the theater is still here on days other than just these holy days.”

Pete Davidson made his first real return to Saturday Night Live this weekend, following the frightening Instagram post in which he threatened to take his own life in December.

Instead of offering a full-on heart-to-heart with audiences about mental health awareness, though, he decided to recruit his tour partner John Mulaney for a segment reviewing Clint Eastwood's newest movie The Mule.

"As you know, I've had a really crazy month and I want to talk about something that matters a lot," Davidson said to open.

"Okay, mental health?" Colin Jost asked in response.

"No, the new Clint Eastwood movie The Mule," Davidson said before introducing Mulaney.

Mulaney then revealed that he'd been "spending time with Pete to try and show him that you can have a life in comedy that is not insane, a sober domestic life." Davidson has evidently not lost any of his twisted wit in the process, though, because he responded to say, "Yeah, and after observing John's life, I publicly threatened suicide...I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't make that joke. But it is funny."

Saturday Night Live Spoofs the Shutdown with Deal or No Deal Parody

On a somewhat serious note, Mulaney did proceed to tell Davidson, "You are loved by many, and we are glad you are OK" before the two got back to business and dove headlong into their review of the bonkers nature of Eastwood's new crime thriller.

"You remember when Clint Eastwood berated an empty chair at the Republican National Convention?" Mulaney asked. "It's like if that was a movie."

In the course of the review, fans learn a few new nuggets, like Mulaney's allegation that Andy Garcia was once "rude" to him at a Lakers game (which Davidson remembers) and how astounded they are that Eastwood could eat ice cream and drive simultaneously at 90. But even though the two didn't broach the subject of Davidson's mental wellness any further, the real takeaway from the exchange is that the comedian is in good company right about now.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.