Publishing Student Work on the Web: The Living Music Project and the Imperatives of the New Literacy

To be effective in enhancing learning in the music history classroom, technology must be applied judiciously toward specific goals. The Web presents opportunities to broaden and deepen the impact of traditional research assignments, primarily through online publication, which increases motivation and brings a host of thorny issues of representation and quality to bear upon student work. One such assignment is an oral history project the author has developed titled Living Music in which students interview an informant involved with the music world (a concept akin to Howard Becker’s notion of “Art World”) and present their findings through the Living Music website. In completing this work, students have the opportunity to grow on several levels: as historical researchers, as writers, as editors, and most importantly as readers and users of historical research. As a guided experience in original research and publication, Living Music teaches students traditional skills in musicology, shares the joys of discovery and publication, and offers insights into the way the Web has augmented and shifted the character and values of publication itself.