Patrick Scafidi

What’s the backbone of healthy musical practice? As it turns out, our backbones; when our bodies feel at odds with our music–making, we risk injury, fatigue, and poor development.

As communities grow increasingly diverse in places like British Columbia, where 29% of the population identify as immigrants, programs like VYC Kindred, from the Vancouver Youth Choir, are offering music as a meeting place for the region’s past and future.

Michael Bonshor’s recent article in The Conversation examines the many reasons why certain music makes us feel good. Surprise: it’s all tied to individual preferences. 

Bachtrack has released their annual statistics report on classical music performances around the world. The numbers are encouraging: while the top ten composers are still dead white men, there are notable increases in performances of living and female composers.

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The Boulanger Initiative, with the support of Sphinx, launched its newest project this past March: the largest open-access database of works by women and gender-marginalized composers. 

A few news hits from Sistema programs around the world:

The Lewis Prize for Music is now accepting applications for the 2024 Accelerator Awards.

Research is beginning to show how much new technology can benefit students in the music classroom. David Knapp’s recent study, published in Research Studies in Music Education, offers a few good reasons why music educators should be outfitting their classrooms with digital audio workstations (DAWs).

The Brussels-based organization SIMM (Social Impact of Music Making), a worldwide research-oriented network of scholars and practitioners, will hold its 8th annual symposium in Brisbane, Australia, November 20–22, 2023, and is now seeking proposals for research papers in the field.