Social networking is an association of people drawn together by family, work, friends or hobby. It is a getting together of people who have a common interest or affiliation wherein they can interact and keep each other updated on the latest happenings in their life and lifework or activities. This is where people stay connected through the exchange of ideas, opinions, information, knowledge and projects currently worked on.
It is a very helpful tool in enabling people to connect like never before - especially with people from all over the world. This kind of networking has brought humans closer to each other and has broken a lot of barriers like distance, culture, race and language, to name a few.
My interest is in Choral Music and Choral Pedagogy. Social networking is very important to me as I need to stay in touch with colleagues from different countries as choral repertoire is very varied and numerous, with composers and arrangers always coming up with new works. Another important content area I am so interested in is Choral Pedagogy or the science of teaching choral singing. I am particularly interested in teaching children's choirs and boys choirs.
The treble voice is one I want to learn about as much as I can. Since there are no other musicians specializing in this area here on Guam, I rely heavily on social networking for resources, training and the latest news and events. Musicians will agree with me that it is always best to share their work and ideas to fellow musicians as this allows us all to grow musically and it also expands our network of friends.
I am using Facebook to keep in touch with fellow musicians who are now in different parts of the world, and i am also subscribed to egroups for Choral Conductors so I can be constantly be informed about Music events like workshops, repertoire lists, pedagogical methods, festivals and competitions all around the world.
I would be looking for discussion groups, organizations and people who have similiar interests like mine. They could be music teachers, former college advisers, choral conductors, old colleagues from college and choristers who would be interested in rehearsal and performance techniques, repertoire building, vocal teaching methods and music events.
Social networking allows musicians on the internet to exchange audio files, sheet music, research work and articles, videos of performances, festivals, competitions and rehearsals which have been so difficult to obtain before social networking was invented.
I love social networking! It just seems like there's never enough time to check out all the messages and keep in touch with everyone. It's overwhelming but very rewarding once you are able to gather new information which can prove to be very, very useful and beneficial to those we work with and mentor.
