UB Professor launches blog for music lovers
BY CHRIS HOGAN
Most students know that full time professors have hectic schedules and don’t have much time for other interests. For Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, the Director of the Music program at the University of Bridgeport started a music blog this past summer was an interest in which he never truly thought would be possible.
Dr. Johnson launched his blog entitled Sonic Labyrinth: Blog for the Eternally Cool in Classical Music last June 12. The idea of creating a blog didn’t come to be until the inspiration of one his colleagues Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Stephen Healey. In mid April, Dr. Healey decided to make his own blog on World Religions and the density of the blog truly inspired Johnson to create one.
“This (creating a blog) is another way of doing what professors have traditionally always tried to do which is teach,” Dr. Johnson said. “I was very attracted by the idea the of developing a digital footprint, which is leaving a mark of stuff that can be seen, searched or develop a small following in the field that I am most interested in.”
Sonic Labyrinth, which is also a video game for SEGA Genesis, is a classical music blog that Johnson writes in everyday. His posts deal with reviews and critiques on chamber, piano and orchestra music. For the past five years, he has done a lot of appearances on classical music in the class of fiction. Imbedding video is an important concept in every post because it allows the viewer to picture what exactly is being shown in a better perspective.
“Almost every week I am reviewing three different concerts which are six hours of real time classical music to learn,” Dr. Johnson said. “Some things I choose to write about are related to my own kind of private world of preparations of things.”
UB has over 80 countries that are represented from around the world, but his blog has been viewed by 52 different countries. According to Google Analytics, The United States is the top spectators, although places like Columbia, Finland and Portugal have also seen daily hits from readers. Each viewer reads an average of at least two pages of Sonic Labyrinth per visit.
Dr. Johnson is known for his energetic way of teaching and his thoughtful insights in music at UB. Writing music reviews for the newspapers including The Boston Globe, Hartford Courant, and Stamford Advocate are another part time job for him when he isn’t teaching. He is the founder of the First Year Seminar (FYS) program which was created in 2003. Johnson feels very positive about his blog since networking and the internet are big concepts in the media world today and strongly suggests people who are interested in writing should create a blog in order to become noticed by possible employers down the line.
“I like the combination of story and analysis that he (Dr. Johnson) has on the blog,” Senior Lecturer of the English Department Eric Lehman said. “It’s an education in itself to read his blog every day.”
Website for Dr. Johnson's Blog: soniclabyrinth.blogspot.com
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