Playing the Organ is a little like Web 2.0

Incorporating Web 2.0 tools has been a goal for me at school this year. The fact that I am so slow to incorporate these tools places me at the bottom of the food chain of educational technology bloggers. My experience this year has reminded me of a distant time when my husband was studying Organ Performance at Syracuse University. I had been playing the piano for a long time, but certainly not at the level of a keyboarding student at Syracuse. I thought it would be fun to learn to play the organ, too, and Will O. Headlee who was the head of the Organ Department obliged by offering me lessons.



I was thinking how Web 2.0 is very like my experience on the organ. Being a listener or receiver of the beauty of the instrument is what the Internet has been about...but now it is interactive and messy and like an automic reaction as people contribute their gifts....So it was for me. I would contribute, my meager talents to the long line of those who played at this console.

I don't know why Headlee decided to extend himself for me. Perhaps he thought it would be interesting to teach someone so lacking in gifts. Perhaps it was a chance to hone his skills on someone who was a rank beginner. In any case, once a week I went for my lesson on the Magnificent Holtkamp that dominated Crouse Hall. I let my own embarrassment interfere with what might have been a really remarkable experience. I was so embarrassed, I would get up to do my practice on the majestic instrument at 3:00 a.m. on Friday mornings. I wanted to be certain that no one to heard me.

It is not so different now. I deal with teachers who feel embarrassed because they are coming late to the table. I want them to know that there is a place at the table for them and for me. We are all late to dinner. Me because I have been out of the loop for the past seven years, and they because they were not being propelled into technology by our district. They are just beginning to experience some of the blessings that will make them want to be more proficient users.

With luck we will all have a Will O. Headlee of technology who rather than make fun of our foibles will consider it an opportunity to learn and hone her own technology teaching. Above is the Holtcamp Organ being played just this January....It still looks and sounds as awe-inspiring as I remember it!