Internet2 > IDEA Awards > 2006 Awards

IDEA Award Winner 2006

Interactive Music Education

Megaconference Team
  • Tom Snook, New World Symphony (Nominating award winner)
  • Thomas Knab, Case Western Reserve University in partnership with the Cleveland Institute of Music
  • Christianne Orto, Manhattan School of Music
  • Brian Shepard, University of Southern California Thornton School of Music

Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, The New World Symphony (NWS), and University of Southern California Thornton School of Music have used advanced Internet2 networks to dramatically expand their educational resources through the use of live interactive music master classes, symposiums, and coaching sessions with music programs at Internet2 member universities. In doing so, these institutions are building a virtual music community to enable the free exchange of resources providing students access to coaches, teachers, and guest artists normally not available within their own campus.

These institutions regularly connect to living composers and conductors whose schedules do not permit them to attend rehearsals of their music and allows unique opportunities for musicians to hear first-hand from the composers themselves. The collaborating institutions leverage Internet2 networks for masterclasses, teaching, sectionals, symposiums, performances, community outreach and live auditions. Using this network for auditions enables music students in remote locations who would normally have difficulty in going to major cities the opportunity to audition for world class symphonies. To accomplish these programs, the sites involved use multi-casting capabilities as well as multiple interactive DV and MPEG2 streams. The high bandwidth of the connection and the Internet2 backbone allows for realistic high-definition video and realistic, better-than-CD quality surround sound while supporting low latency and minimum packet loss to create a true life-like learning environment for both teacher and student.

What we have been able to accomplish through the experience of Internet2 networks for music education, collaboration and performance is just a first step in how this technology will be used for those purposes in the future. It is unique, not only because it is building relationships between institutions and among music educators, professionals and students, but it is building bridges between engineering, science, technology and the arts and humanities. It reinforces the very real relationship between science, art and humanities and how critical it is that they work together for the future of education, learning, science and the very future and growth of humanity itself.

Tom Snook
CIO
New World Symphony

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