Speedlinking - 27 May 2008

This is one of the busiest weeks of the year for me, with precious little blog time until later in the week. In the meantime, here are some recent articles from around the blogosphere on practicing, networking, and using technology:

• If you're looking at using social media to expand your professional horizons but aren't sure of the rules of the game, take a look at ReadWriteWeb's Social Media U: Take a Class in Social Media. If you want to make Facebook your entry point into social networking, another ReadWriteWeb article on How to Make Facebook Useful Again points the way to using the service as an efficient, professional-looking tool. If you're look at using social media as a teaching tool, Steve Hargadon recently wrote about using Ning, Netvibes, and Pageflakes to aggregate quality content in your field (I recently created a Netvibes page to aggregate content for a workshop I gave at Eastman).
  
• Need to get more organized? Take a look at Web Worker Daily's Perfect Productivity System to see what works for you.
• Ah, practicing. It's getting down to the wire for many musicians taking RCM/NMCP exams this May and June. If you still need some inspiration, check out Rhona-Mae Arca's links to piano exam tips. Emily at The Stark Raving Cello Blog wrote about 4 Cello Articles of Faith that apply to much more than cello playing.
• But what if you're just starting out on the journey? Natalie Wickham polled her students to see what practice advice they could come up with for new students and got some extremely insightful ideas.
• Ah, the musical life. Marsha Lederman in the Globe and Mail looks at Robert Silverman's career and the road not taken.
• Looking for an alternative concert venue? Try Second Life, where Jeremy Denk played earlier today. Mike Janssen of Scanning the Dial looks at what radio might gain from this adventure. (Update: Marty Ronish writes about the experience of seeing a concert in Second Life.)