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Technology and
T e c hnology and

the Choral Artt
t he Chor al Ar

Kyle Hanson, editor <kyhanson88@gmail.com>

NAXOS MusicBox Review

by Kyle Hanson

Editor’s note: This article is an “out- verse activities for engagement like then Naxos’ MusicBox would spout
of-the-box” review, exploring the on- puzzles, quizzes, and various explo- the complete opposite end of the
line-based product MusicBox for the fi rst ration features. Naxos MusicBox is design spectrum. Its colorful, play-

time after receiving login credentials from tailored to support the education of ful icons gently float amidst the
Naxos. While the scope of this piece disal- children ages 4-12 alongside a guide sun-yellow burst of music notes,
lows for a full “unboxing” of the product, for a teacher or a parent, but the staff, and bright orange messag-

the intention is to provide an overview of a content is rich enough to support all ing. It is delightfully refreshing and
product and assess the delivery of the expe- levels of learning. Naxos has long speaks directly to the core audience
rience to the end-user. The author has not been a stopping-ground for schol- for whom this service was devel-
been paid or sponsored by NAXOS for this ars of classical music: those with oped.
review, and the contents of the article pure- an appetite for exploring thousands Once logged in, how does one
ly refl ect the fi rst-hand experience of the of carefully curated audio archives know where to begin? Each icon re-
author as a private home-user and not that and who have relied on Naxos for acts to cursor tracking, inviting the
of Naxos, the American Choral Directors these services for over thirty years. user to click and explore. For this
Association, or any employer of the author. Now this expertise can be delivered unboxing, an icon with deep for-
to kids, parents, and teachers in a est-green jewel tone catches the eye,
beautiful remake that brings fresh unlocking a portal to music from
Boasting 2020 Creative Child vitality to online classical music ed- around the world. Upon explora-
Awards “Product of The Year” and ucation. tion, there is a quick narrative to in-
catching the attention of conduc- When one thinks of a Naxos troduce ethnomusicological studies
tors as renowned as Marin Alsop, landing page, the first thing that in an encouraging, attainable man-

Naxos MusicBox is a leading-edge comes to mind is the iconic Greek ner. All one must do is click on a
classical music resource for those pillars with embedded Naxos’ ser- region icon to explore. These icons
looking for an attractive solution if font surrounded by grey, white, lead to another page that explores

for online-based music education. and royal blue—a page purpose- various field recordings from vari-
This robust educational resource fully designed to be taken seriously. ous regions supported with short ex-
has over 4,000 music tracks with di- If Naxos were an entrenched style, planations. The written language is

CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 2021 Volume 61 Number 11 71