We recently learned about interactive white boards in our KSU music technology and education course. This week I happened upon an infographic at EduDemic that shows educators how to use their IWB beyond what has been taught in the past. It is most useful by showing you what other applications and websites can be used and how to best apply them to your classroom.
8 Ways To Unlock The Power Of Your Interactive White Board
Friday, December 6, 2013
Google Lit Trips Used for Music, Too!!
Google Lit is a program that allows English and History teachers to create lessons using Google Earth that allow students to travel through their lessons. If students were to read "Around the World in 80 Days", a teacher could create a trip using Google Lit that allows the students to take the same trip and see where the characters actually traveled. Imagine being able to move from the Deep South to the North along the same trail that Harriet Tubman used on the Underground Railroad.
This idea can also be used in a general music or music history course when learning about the lives of various composers. Knowing that J.S. Bach traveled for work much of his life is an important fact of how he worked and composed but being able to make that trip with him, from city to city, allows the students to understand what it was like for him as a composer, performer, and educator. Following Antonin Dvorak on his travels through the United States and out to the Grand Canyon while listening to his "Grand Canyon Suite" will resonate more with students then simply reading about his travels.
What a way to use a program that the students already know about.
Have You Looked At Google Lit Trips Lately?
This idea can also be used in a general music or music history course when learning about the lives of various composers. Knowing that J.S. Bach traveled for work much of his life is an important fact of how he worked and composed but being able to make that trip with him, from city to city, allows the students to understand what it was like for him as a composer, performer, and educator. Following Antonin Dvorak on his travels through the United States and out to the Grand Canyon while listening to his "Grand Canyon Suite" will resonate more with students then simply reading about his travels.
What a way to use a program that the students already know about.
Have You Looked At Google Lit Trips Lately?
Friday, November 29, 2013
Orchestra and Football
In a recent music tech class, made up of more non music students than music students, we had a debate over whether there are similarities between a music ensemble and a sports team. Being stubborn high schoolers, it was hard to get any point across before I was interrupted by a non-sensical point and eventually gave up. Truly, no one wants to argue with a freshman boy who's world is only football and who is unwilling to listen to anyone else. Today, I came across this news clip from CBS that validates my (and my music students points) of a football team being similar to a symphony orchestra. Wynton Marsalis spoke with Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, and Alan Gilbert, maestro of the New York Philharmonic, comparing the two seemingly different disciplines to change the minds of the audience. I'll have to show this to my class when we resume on Monday and see what they think.
What Do Tom Brady And The Conductor Of The New York Philharmonic Have In Common?
What Do Tom Brady And The Conductor Of The New York Philharmonic Have In Common?
DIY Fingering Chart
Even though I am not a band director, I did have to learn how to play and teach the woodwind instruments while in my undergraduate program. It has been many years since then and if you asked me what fingers are needed to play a certain note I would have no idea what to say. Today, I stumbled upon a website that has an interactive fingering chart that can be customized by instrument, size, and color. Students can create fingering charts for notes that they are having trouble with, and can then save and print them. When we begin full orchestra in the spring I may have to use this site myself.
Fingering Diagram Builder
Fingering Diagram Builder
Thursday, November 21, 2013
El Sistema Right Next Door
This week is not so much a post about music technology but more about a wonderful program coming to New Jersey, only one town over from where I live.
El Sistema, if you don't already know, is a music program designed to teach instrumental music to children from low-income households and in high poverty areas. Originally started in Caracas, Venezuela, children and families sign up for private and group music lessons with the goal of not only learning an instrument but to improve upon their lives through music. Starting with only 11 students in Venezuela in 1975, the El Sistema program has risen to world acclaim and now has over 400,000 students in programs in cities like New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, and can be found in countries like Australia, the United States, and Brazil.
Living in Hoboken, New Jersey and teaching in a suburb near by, I get to see and teach students from a wide variety of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Hoboken itself has a wide variety of school options considering the entire city is only one square mile in size. From the public school district to your choice of four private schools and two charter schools, families (who mostly work in New York City) have a wealth of programs to choose from. Up the road (and pallisades) is the neighboring town of Union City, where the population is made up predominantly of minority home and lower income housing. The public school district recently built a brand new high school, but money has not been reinvested into the lower grade schools and their fine arts programs. Through the NAfME news feed I found out that Union City is the home to a new branch of El Sistema, providing a quality music education for the children who may not ever be able to learn to play an instrument and better their outlook for the future.
El Sistema, if you don't already know, is a music program designed to teach instrumental music to children from low-income households and in high poverty areas. Originally started in Caracas, Venezuela, children and families sign up for private and group music lessons with the goal of not only learning an instrument but to improve upon their lives through music. Starting with only 11 students in Venezuela in 1975, the El Sistema program has risen to world acclaim and now has over 400,000 students in programs in cities like New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, and can be found in countries like Australia, the United States, and Brazil.
Living in Hoboken, New Jersey and teaching in a suburb near by, I get to see and teach students from a wide variety of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Hoboken itself has a wide variety of school options considering the entire city is only one square mile in size. From the public school district to your choice of four private schools and two charter schools, families (who mostly work in New York City) have a wealth of programs to choose from. Up the road (and pallisades) is the neighboring town of Union City, where the population is made up predominantly of minority home and lower income housing. The public school district recently built a brand new high school, but money has not been reinvested into the lower grade schools and their fine arts programs. Through the NAfME news feed I found out that Union City is the home to a new branch of El Sistema, providing a quality music education for the children who may not ever be able to learn to play an instrument and better their outlook for the future.
UNION CITY MUSIC PROJECT GIVES AT-RISK KIDS SOMETHING TO SING -- AND PLAY -- ABOUT
Cheats for Edmodo
In the world of social networking, sometimes the only way to get our students to remember something is by meeting them on their own turf. That is where Edmodo comes in. It looks like Facebook in color scheme and lay out and has a lot of the same features. However, in order for students to join a particular class, or "group", they must be provided the class code by the teacher. Students can send and receive messages, post to the group wall (which is then moderated by the teacher), and receive, turn in, and see their grades on the site. As always, there is an accompanying app that is free for both droid and iPhone. I use Edmodo to post recordings of concert pieces, send and receive assignments for my music tech class, and studetns are able to quickly communicate with me when they forget my email address. Edmodo has become a tool that we all use on a regular basis and the students feel that they are on their home turf with the social networking layout that they have come accustom to.
Here is a great infographic from Edudemic that makes Edmodo even easier to understand.
The Teacher's Cheat Sheet For Edmodo
Here is a great infographic from Edudemic that makes Edmodo even easier to understand.
The Teacher's Cheat Sheet For Edmodo
Friday, November 15, 2013
Hook Theory
This week, while browsing through the various blogs and sites that are in my RSS, I was sad to see a lack of posts and links that I wanted to write about. I then turned to one of my favorite resources, the String and Orchestra Teachers group on Facebook but, once again, found nothing. Either it was a slow week in music technology and education or I was looking for something so amazing that I was not pleased with what I was seeing. Luckily, Facebook it self has become a personal learning network for me simply because I am friends with so many other music teachers and general educators and by scrolling through my news feed I am privy to links and sites that my friends simply find interesting, funny, or educational.
This week and friend of mine stumbled upon a website called Hooktheory. What a wonderful music theory resource for students. Hooktheory makes song analyses and writing easier than ever by breaking down the chord progressions of popular songs, analyzing chord progression trends, and making it easier than ever for students to actually see where the chord changes are in their favorite pop tunes. My favorite aspect of the site is that they group together pieces and songs with similar chord progressions and can also show predictions for what chord will follow based on trends in music. Students can also go into the editor mode and create their own songs by using chords and their inversions, changing keys and modes, and adjusting tempos into something they find pleasing and saving their work. Not only is this site available on any web browser but there is also an app for the iPad. While only in the early BETA version, this site is fun to play around with and shows students the connections between their favorite songs and how to take what they love and write their own music.
Hooktheory
This week and friend of mine stumbled upon a website called Hooktheory. What a wonderful music theory resource for students. Hooktheory makes song analyses and writing easier than ever by breaking down the chord progressions of popular songs, analyzing chord progression trends, and making it easier than ever for students to actually see where the chord changes are in their favorite pop tunes. My favorite aspect of the site is that they group together pieces and songs with similar chord progressions and can also show predictions for what chord will follow based on trends in music. Students can also go into the editor mode and create their own songs by using chords and their inversions, changing keys and modes, and adjusting tempos into something they find pleasing and saving their work. Not only is this site available on any web browser but there is also an app for the iPad. While only in the early BETA version, this site is fun to play around with and shows students the connections between their favorite songs and how to take what they love and write their own music.
Hooktheory
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