FIU professor to teach music appreciation in virtual world


luisgomez

Second Life will begin offering the course in classical music Spring 2010.

Luis Gomez, adjunct music professor in FIU’s School of Music, has been selected to teach a music appreciation online course in the virtual world called Second Life. The course, MUH 1011, will launch Spring 2010.

Second Life is a virtual world with millions of users, or residents as they are known in the program, around the globe. Users choose an avatar, or alter ego, to represent their chosen digital persona.

The music appreciation course within the Second Life environment will allow students to explore the sound landscape of the music world through guided tours and musical instruments and communities. The objective of the course is to introduce students to the world of classical music. The students will recognize and discover the main characteristics of the instruments of the symphony through first-hand experience.

“The idea is to teach music in a master and apprentice style,” Gomez says. “The course will allow students to gain command of music terminology, historical context of the lives of the most important composers in the history of music and virtual playing dexterity by students with the wide variety of instruments of the symphony.”

Course activities include individual interactions with instruments used by an orchestra and virtual playing activities that will train the student to uncover the main characteristics of each instrument. Students will also be able to visit – using three dimensional modeling -places and times in history that pertain to various composers.