Harmonizing Innovation: Exploring AI's Impact on Music Education and the Music Industry, September 1, 2024, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal

"... The opening paragraph above was created using ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence language model developed by OpenAI. It’s our job as educators to not only understand the progression, but collaborate on how we can use these new technological advancements in education while maintaining high expectations and fostering creativity. AI should not be used as a crutch, nor as a replacement of human creativity, but as an additional tool, a new means for creating. The possibilities are vast and therefore intimidating, but rest assured that this is new for everyone, hence this article: a cross view of several perspectives of AI in the Music Industry and Music Education..."

You're the DJ!: Taking a closer look at the impact of the DJ in Popular Music Education, June 2024, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal

"With the rising popularity of Music Technology and Production in K-12 education, there is a wide variety of content to choose from. Educators often focus on the standard elements of composition and music history. While these are strong foundations to build upon, a missed opportunity might be taking a longer look at one of the biggest impacts on modern music today, the art of DJing. As I wrote in one of my units published on the platform MusicFirst, “You’re the DJ” (2022), the evolution of the DJ has had an incredible impact on the music industry. The idea of examining the work of a DJ in music education may not be common, but it’s a critically influential element in the musical lives of our students. Since it is not a typical “ensemble” instrument, educators often overlook how the DJ might be incorporated into their curriculum, an “instrument” that has significant cultural importance in the popular music of the last 45 years (O’Connor-Vince). I was fortunate to have the honor to take a deep dive into dissecting the importance of the DJ with my friends at MusicFirst. “You’re the DJ!” is my second curriculum published to the MusicFirst online classroom, which focuses on using an online DJ and music-making software and learning about the advances in technology that support the evolution of the DJ, including important history, genres and cultures. In this article, I will present an overview of this curriculum and supply some additional resources that might interest curious readers..."

The Power of a Published Podcast: Creating a Platform for Students, October 1, 2023, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal

"With the growing popularity of Music Technology in schools, podcasting is the perfect avenue to teach students about audio production, explore copyright laws, and provide a platform for authentic student voice. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, I took a leap of faith and started assigning podcasting as a project. Throughout this article, I will be sharing student work and different project ideas you can incorporate into your own curriculum..."

Sounds from a Painted World: a Collaboration of the Visual Arts and Music, June 1, 2023, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal

"As musicians, we know that music is an incredible avenue for cross curricular education.  This concept, second nature to musicians, is not always obvious to others. Outside of academia, we see the Visual Arts and Music presented quite frequently together, in cinema, album artwork and music videos. As this is so often the case outside of school, why isn’t there more frequent collaboration amongst our students in music and visual arts in K-12 education?..."

Performances for All Students: Creating a Music Technology Showcase, October 1, 2021, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal

"After teaching through the COVID-19 Pandemic, every teacher can agree, that the way we teach and assess ensembles is starkly different from how we teach and assess general music classes. There is still a performance aspect to these classes, whether that’s presenting a music history PowerPoint or having a student perform a guitar piece for their peers. But how do we advocate for these classes outside of our own classroom? How do we engage the rest of the school community in our student’s work? After all, performances can be one of our greatest assessment tools and is an essential process in becoming a stronger student musician. In this article, I share my trials and tribulations in creating a showcase for my Music Technology students."

Emo Rap and Journaling, a New Foundation for Social-Emotional Learning, June 1, 2021, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal 

"The pandemic has isolated students from one another, and there have been published studies stating that depression and anxiety among K-12 students has skyrocketed. Once I explained the idea of catharsis, my students agreed that emo rap was a way for them to release feelings of sadness, loss, and angst..."

Strategies and Tools to Make Music Electives Work for EL Students, January 2021, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal 

"EL (English learner) students have a unique struggle in schools today. We have various cultures and subgroups of students that experience similar isolation and difficulties in their learning, which have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Electives such as Music Technology and History of Music classes can fulfill a student Arts/Music Credit requirement for graduation. In these classes, students are typically pulled from across the general population of the school.  EL enrollment in these classes  generally come from a range in EL Proficiency, levels 1-6 (WIDA Proficiency Scale). Some of our students may also have a 504 or an IEP.  With the right tools and resources, we can overcome these challenges and create an incredible connection with students that bypasses language barriers. In this article, we hope to offer some ideas, tips, and tricks in an effort to build strong relationships with these students and help them achieve their fullest potential..."

Bring Hip-Hop to the Table: A Story of Opportunity in the Time of BLM and COVID-19, Oct 1, 2020, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal

"Today I begin writing with many thoughts of what school is going to look like in the fall. Most teachers reading this will instantly connect to the COVID-19 outbreak and the global pandemic that has forced many of us to live and teach in dramatically different ways. Between constant updates on the status of the pandemic, the overwhelming amount of educational resources to dig through, and new technology to learn, the process of trying to identify the level of “normalcy” we’ll be able to maintain in our classrooms can be exasperating. This anxiety over the pandemic and the new realities of education is also met with the ongoing advocacy of the Black Lives Matter movement. Many schools have begun to tackle race in regards to curriculum, changing school mascots, and promoting more equitable teaching strategies in professional development sessions. As music teachers, we have an opportunity to create an environment that confronts both the Black Lives Matter Movement and the COVID-19 Pandemic through teaching hip-hop..."

Fostering Social Justice in the Music Classroom Apr 6, 2018, MusicFirst

"When I first started teaching, I began exploring how I could teach hip-hop in the most pedagogically appropriate manner. I made a decision to teach the history of hip-hop, emphasizing themes of social justice, rather than the derogatory and graphic examples one can frequently find on the radio. This decision provided me with an opportunity to have intellectual conversations with my students about why artists choose to write about certain topics, connecting these topics to contemporary society and current events. Students are constantly inundated with information from news and media outlets, making it difficult to navigate what’s going on in our world. From Black Lives Matter to #Enough, our students have proved themselves worthy to be included in national political conversations. When we study the beginnings of hip-hop, my students quickly learn that many of the social justice themes that provided inspiration to the originators of genre are still relevant today. The entire unit I developed, including all rubrics, song lists, and handouts, can be found online on the software platform MusicFirst, under the heading “Hip-Hop Unit.” For this article, I am will focus on the final project of the unit, which emphasizes how to educate and inspire our students to use music as a tool to project their voices..."

Using Hip-Hop In the Classroom: Connecting Your Students to Music Composition Sep 2017, Massachusetts Music Educators Journal

"... At first, I started exploring the term “Music Technology” and what it actually meant. Through my first few years of teaching, I quickly learned that teaching music history backwards was key to engaging students in my curriculum. Upon arriving to class, they would always anticipate their “do now,” or what I referred to as the “Genre of the Day.” They would constantly ask, “when are we going to do hip-hop?” I started thinking about why I had never been presented hip-hop in an academic setting. My former teachers must not have found the content classroom appropriate or of musical merit. Or maybe they simply did not have the materials, expertise, or support to effectively teach hip-hop in the music room..."

Hip-Hop Unit May 2016, MusicFirst

In this unit, students explore the cultural, historical and musical background of hip-hop. Students learn to understand the concept of form with two basic parts: verse and chorus, or “A” and “B”. Students also study essential instrumental elements of a “classic” hip-hop song: harmonic accompaniment, bass line, melodic motif/“hook” and beat.

In addition to creating their own song, students are provided the opportunity to share their favorite music with an audio recorded narrative explaining the significance of the song. This provides a platform for students to share their musical interests and also provides the opportunity for the teacher to learn about the interests of his or her students. This also requires student to think reflectively and critically about their musical preferences and experiences. Students will explore the popular concept of “sampling” or using outside audio as a foundation or loop for their next song in Soundation.

This unit acknowledges students’ outside interests and provides an appropriate place for sharing them in the classroom, all while creating those “beatz” that students have been asking for all year.

Beatz & Barz: Creating a Hip-Hop Instrumental

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan (Oct, 2024). Beatz & Barz: Creating a Hip-Hop Instrumental. Presentation at the 2024 Massachusetts Music Technology Day. Worcester, MA.

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan (April, 2023). Beatz & Barz: Creating a Hip-Hop Instrumental. Presentation at the 2023 Play On Conference, Boston University. Boston, MA.

You're the DJ!

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan (Oct, 2024). You're the DJ! Featured on MusicFirst. Presentation at the 2024 Massachusetts Music Technology Day. Worcester, MA.

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan (March, 2023). You're the DJ! Featured on MusicFirst. Presentation at the 2023 Massachusetts Music Educators Association All-State Conference. Boston, MA.

Emo Rap and Journaling: a New Foundation for Social-Emotional Learning

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan. (June, 2022). Emo Rap and Journaling: a New Foundation for Social-Emotional Learning. Presentation at the 2022 Association for Popular Music Education Conference. Detroit, MI.

Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software

Nov 2021 – Feb 2023

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan. (Feb, 2023). Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software. Presentation at the 2023 TI:ME Conference, Texas Music Educators Association All-State Conference. San Antonio, TX.

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan. (November, 2021). Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software. Presentation at the 2021 In-Service Day by the Massachusetts Music Educators Association. Online.

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan. (March, 2021). Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software. Presentation at the 2022 Massachusetts Music Educators Association All-State Conference. Marlborough, MA.

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan (Jan, 2020). Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software. Presentation at the University of Rhode Island, NAfME Collegiate Professional Development. Kingston, RI.

Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software & The History of Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom.

Apr 2019 – Jul 2020

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan (July, 2020). Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software & The History of Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom. Class Lecturer, Berklee College of Music & Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Boston, MA.
3 Presentations: 4/2019, 4/2020, 7/2020

The History of Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom

Mar 2020

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan (March, 2020). The History of Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom. Presentation at the 2020 Massachusetts Music Educators Association All-State Conference. Boston, MA.

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan (Jan, 2020). The History of Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom. Presentation at the University of Rhode Island, NAfME Collegiate Professional Development. Kingston, RI.

 Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software

Aug 2019

O’Connor-Vince, Meaghan. (August, 2019). Hip-Hop In The Music Classroom Using MusicFirst Software. Presentation at the 2019 AES (Audio Engineering Society)High School Audio Educators Conference. Hartford, CT.

Using Hip-Hop In the Classroom: Connecting Your Students to Music Composition

Apr 2018

O’Connor, Meaghan. (April, 2018). Using Hip-Hop In the Classroom: Connecting Your Students to Music Composition. Presentation at the 2018 Connecticut Music Educators Association’s In-Service Conference. Hartford, CT.

Using Hip-Hop In the Classroom: Connecting Your Students to Music Composition

Feb 2018

O’Connor, Meaghan. (February, 2018). Using Hip-Hop In the Classroom: Connecting Your Students to Music Composition. Presentation at the 2018 New Jersey Music Educators Association’s February Music In-Service Conference. East Brunswick, NJ.