2005 TI:ME Asia Regional a Hot Success!
Anyone who’s been to Singapore knows that it is hot and
humid year round. While that was certainly true during the 2005 TI:ME
Asia Regional Music Technology Conference, the final outcome was an exceedingly successful event for
the attendees and presenters alike!
During the Welcome Address, conference chair Khew Sin-Sun of MusicTEC Singapore announced that the
July 16th event represented the first such conference in the history
of Singapore. Attended by over 100 Singapore school teachers (elementary
through secondary), the conference was also honored by the presence of Betsy
Lim, Deputy Director of Educational Technology Division of Singapore’s
Ministry of Education.
Conference Hosts Khew & Ruth Sin-Sun
The conference was held at the Singapore RELC
International Hotel, strategically located just off of Singapore’s
extravagant Orchard Road. The hotel also serves as a school for students from
throughout Asia who are learning the English language.
Dr. Rocky J. Reuter, TI:ME’s Conference Coordinator and
Professor of Music at the Capital University Conservatory of Music (Columbus,
OH), delivered the Conference Keynote Address. Titled Controllers and Laptops and
Software, Oh My!, the
whimsical talk featured sections of the film The Wizard of Oz as metaphors and analogies for teaching
music technology. The address will be featured as an article in the next issue
of The TI:MEs newsletter.
Two of the hotel’s computer labs were used for hands-on
training. Reuter
presented Creativity in the Music Curriculum: Give Them a REASON, featuring a demonstration and hands-on
experience with Propeller Head Software’s Reason 3.0 and Teaching with Reason. Dr. Mark Lochstampfor, Editor of The TI:MEs newsletter and Associate Professor at the
Capital University Conservatory of Music, presented Using Finale as the
Music Teacher’s Essential Tool in the
hands-on lab. Both sessions were repeated in the afternoon to allow 80
participants to get hands-on training.
Throughout the lab sessions, the MusicTEC staff provided excellent
assistance to both the presenters and the participants.
In the seminar room, Dr. Timothy Teo, Assistant Professor at Singapore’s
National Institute of Education, presented How and Why is Technology
Relevant to the Music Curriculum?, and Andrew
Surmani, Vice President of Marketing at Alfred
Publishing Company, presented Teach Them All Music Theory for Multiple
Learning Styles.
Another thing known by anyone who has
visited Singapore is that the national pastime is great food! We were not
disappointed by either the two great refreshment breaks featuring tea and
pastries or the fantastic noon banquet at the hotel’s Tang Court.
The afternoon events closed with two sessions. Conference Chair Khew Sin-Sun talked about the many values of TI:ME Membership and gave a thorough tour of the TI:ME website. That was followed with a Q & A session featuring a panel of all of the conference presenters.