Elementary Music/Music Technology Blog

I wanted to share an article about my music classroom that recently appeared in the The Courier News of NJ. The Courier News came to my classroom to interview me, my students, take pictures of the music being created in the classroom, and promote the enhancement of the elementary music curriculum with technology. I hope that you will read the article and get a glimpse of my classroom.

Click here to read the article.

Please leave a comment and share about your classroom. I love hearing about the musical experiences that are going on in other teachers’ classrooms!

By now, many elementary music teachers have either heard the term podcasting, thought about the advantages of podcasting, or have done some podcasting in their classrooms. At my school, the tech department will give out annual grants to our staff that encourages us to add a technological tool to our current curriculum. When I applied this year, I wanted to experiment with podcasting because I was finding it difficult to assess my youngest of students because of their limited reading and writing abilities. This podcasting project was a wonderful success in which my students adored doing it and I felt that I could assess them accurately and easily.

The definition of a podcast is “a contraction of the words iPod and broadcasting” (Frankel, 2007). You can download and listen to a radio broadcast or any audio broadcast on an iPod, computer, or any mp3 player. Most podcasts are free and can be found on individual websites or iTunes.

In my 1st grade classroom, I wanted to assess the students on their knowledge of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and their rhythmic comprehension of quarter and eighth notes. During this unit, we had listened to Peter and the Wolf narrated by Leonard Bernstein, moved to the music, drew the characters and the instruments, explored the instruments at www.sfskids.org, and watched the Disney cartoon version of the story. At the end of the unit, the students were grouped and given a character from the story. They would then write a two-measure rhythm pattern in 4/4 time to play as the rhythm of the character. Once I checked the rhythms, they would choose a classroom instrument to play the rhythm and represent the character. Once that was complete, the students told me the story and I wrote it down. Then, we opened Apple’s GarageBand, pressed “Create a new podcast episode” button, used the Blue Snowball microphone, and began recording. I narrated the story with what the students had told me to say. They played their rhythm patterns when their characters were present in the story. After class, I scanned their pictures into iPhoto and used them in the podcast. I also found musical excerpts of Peter and the Wolf with no narration on iTunes, so I used it as background music. I then put it on my website. The results were wonderful. And, I could assess them on those skills. To listen to their podcasts, please click this link: 1st grade podcasts.

While you are there, please also check out my 2nd grade podcasts of The Life and Music of Beethoven.

If you do not have GarageBand because you own a PC, try Acoustica’s Mixcraft 4. A very similar look and feel to GarageBand at an affordable price. I do not know if you can add the artwork, so the podcasts might just be pure audio, which is fine.

If you do not have a website to publish the podcasts, try podomatic.com — “PodOmatic podcast portal: Create, Find, Share Podcasts! Get your free podcast hosting, free podcast creation, podcasting tips, free podcast tools, and more.”

There are other wonderful sites of elementary students’ podcasts. Here are a few:

Radio WillowWeb: Radio WillowWeb is produced by students and teachers at Willowdale Elementary School.
ColeyCast: Recorded by the students, each broadcast highlights some of the exciting things they are learning in their classroom, Room #34.
Radio Cambridge: Podcast by elementary students at Cambridge Elementary in San Antonio, Texas.
Dr. Frankel’s Podcast Page: Podcasts from his students at the Franklin Avenue Middle School & Presentations at Conferences. It was listening to his podcasts, reading all of his podcasting articles, and with his encouragement, that I finally dove into podcasting with my students.

If you have created podcasts with your students, please leave a comment and a link so that we can check them out! As always, I welcome your feedback.

Frankel, J. (2007, June). Tech Terms: Podcasting. Retrieved March 17, 2008, from http://jamesfrankel.musiced.net/category/tech-tips/

I hope that you have the day off to observe the holiday and what it means to you.

In addition, if you have this day off from school, take the time to rest. If you are like me, you still have at least a few more concerts/grade plays/informances/graduations to go, along with writing progress reports/report cards. Take this day to relax and reflect on your school year.

My colleague has performed webquests with her older elementary music students. A webquest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by students is found online.

One webquest she has performed is the following: The students were given a composer or performer from an era to study. They were given various websites to use to answer the questions about their composers. These questions are ones such as “When did the composer or performer live?” “Name 5 pieces that your composer wrote or name 5 songs your performer recorded” and others.

The students researched the composer in the computer lab. They then used Microsoft PowerPoint to make a slide presentation to present the facts about their composers. The powerpoint presentation had to have contained at least two pictures of the composer, one sound clip, transitions between slides, a title slide, and all of the answers to the questions, either presented in complete sentences or bullets.

As with any lesson that involves the internet, please test all websites before you use them in a class or ask students to visit them.

This ends (for now) my series of lessons that would benefit from taking place in a computer lab. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

To continue with this series, this blog is about lessons that can be performed in the computer lab that involve software. Again, I am not encouraging every elementary general music class to be conducted in the computer lab. I am encouraging a class here or there that utilizes, reinforces, and/or assesses the musical concepts that you have been teaching in your music class.

1. Sibelius Groovy Music: There are numerous ways that you can use Sibelius’s Groovy Music Series to reinforce or assess basic music skills. One way is to utilize the explore mode by reinforcing your lessons that involve sound, rhythm, and pitch. For example, if you are teaching your 1st graders about fast and slow music, you can use the Groovy Shapes lesson in the “explore section>rhythm>fast and slow” to reinforce the concept. In this lesson, the students listen, identify, and match music that is fast, slow, getting faster, and getting slower. At the end of the lesson, they create tempo changes in the create mode. Another way is to have the students solely utilize the create mode to create music in certain forms, to create music with certain tempos or dynamics, or to create music using the musical elements of rhythms, melody, chords, arpeggios, and bass lines.
2. Harmonic Vision’s Music Ace: The 48 lessons found in Music Ace Maestro can be used to to review such musical concepts as the musical alphabet, notes on the treble or bass clef staffs, rhythms, notes on the keyboard, pitches, tempo, beat, and key signatures. For example, if you are teaching sixteenth notes to your students through traditional methods of singing, performing on instruments, and movement, you can then take your students to the computer lab and reinforce the concept by having them perform lesson 37 of Music Ace Maestro. The game that they would perform at the end of the lesson will assess their understanding of the concept.
   
3. Apple’s GarageBand: Apple’s GarageBand can be used to arrange musical loops to create a song. Depending on how your computer lab is set up, students could write lyrics and record themselves singing to the songs that they created, or they could compose a melody line and record the line using their instruments (such as recorder, Orff, or their band instruments).
4. Finale NotePad: Finale NotePad is a freeware notation software offered by MakeMusic. If you have permission to install software, or you can ask your tech department to do this, then you can install this on any computer in your school. This freeware is very limiting in what it can do, however, for younger elementary, this is beneficial because it allows your elementary students to feel success when they compose. You can use this software as a composition tool to have the students compose a melody in a specific form, to have the students arrange a pre-composed song with different instruments, or to have your students notate a traditional melody.

On a side note, I recently held a workshop at a school where I was not permitted to download software demos from the manufacturer’s website and install them on their computers. However, I was allowed to install the software demos from a CD. Therefore, I downloaded the demos to my laptop, then put them on a thumb drive (CD would work too), and then installed them onto the computers. If your school has a similar policy, this might be a possible solution for you.

Questions for you: If you have had music class in a computer lab, what software have you utilized successfully with your students? In addition, what issues did you run into by holding music class in a computer lab and how did you resolve them?

Thank you for taking the time to comment. It means a lot to me and I learn a lot from you!

This week, I will blog about how a computer lab can be an excellent tool for your music class. If your school has a computer lab, this room can serve as a great place for your students to be assessed or reinforced about musical concepts, or to create music. Although it can be difficult to reserve the computer lab because it is used often, it is also beneficial when you can utilize it a few times a year to enhance your curriculum.

This blog is about websites that are useful in the elementary music classroom:

1. San Francisco Symphony-sfskids.org: I have used this website to reinforce the instruments of the orchestra with my elementary students. I like this website for many reasons, but one that stands out is the fact that the students can look closely at and listen to the orchestral instruments. My students love flipping the instruments upside down and right-side up. There are more items that make this website educational. For example, the music lab lets the students explore rhythm, pitch, composition, performance, dynamics, tempo, and more. When the students go to the computer lab to use this website, I will try to have the website all ready to go on the computer so that the students can use it immediately. If not, then they will login to their student or classroom accounts and access the site. Many times, I will give them a sheet with screen shots on it so that they have to find the items on the website. For example, I will give them a sheet with screen shots of the orchestral instruments. The students must find and listen to the instruments and then check them off on the sheet. To see an example of this, please check out a lesson titled “Teaching the Instruments of the Orchestra to Young Students” found in the teaching resources>lesson and projects>elementary section of SoundTree’s website.
2. The New York Philharmonic Kidzone: The New York Philharmonic Kidzone has some excellent games and pages that enhance the learning of musical concepts. Two of my students’ favorites are the page that lets them rearrange musical compositions with instruments they choose and the scavenger hunt page, which allows the students to search for items that will assist the musicians of the philharmonic.
3. Carnegie Hall Listening Adventures: This unique site offers a wonderful way for students to experience some of the great compositions of our times, such as The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, by Benjamin Britten and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9. Many teachers have used this in the music classroom and they have stated to me that they adore this site. The students love to accompany the character of Violet as she journeys through the jungle to collect all of the instruments in Britten’s piece.
4. Other excellent and educational websites are: DSOkids (Dallas Symphony Orchestra) which has a separate section for students and teachers. The website has some wonderful musical games and information about composers and music history. Jazz/PBS Kids GO!–nice jazz site for students.

These websites are just a small sample of the music sites that are available for elementary students. What are some of your favorites?

Today I presented and attended the Maine Music Educators Association All-State Conference. I presented “Technology-Enhanced Elementary Music Lessons” in Little Hall at the University of Maine. I enjoyed the day thoroughly. The participants were wonderful and asked great questions. I also attended a couple of technology workshops on microphones and music library software. Both were excellent presentations. In addition, I attended the “Math of Rhythm” workshop by Tony Vacca, and I must say that it rejuvenated me. At the end of the school year, I tend to “run on empty” and attending a drumming workshop where I get to play and make music brings a certain happiness to me.

Finally, one of my favorite conductors from when I was in All-State was here: Anthony Maiello from George Mason University. He held two conducting workshops and directed the Director Band Performance.

If you attended my session or the conference, please leave a comment and let me know what you enjoyed about the conference!

Last year at the MENC Eastern Divisional Conference in Hartford Connecticut, I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Davis, the General Music VP of the Maine Music Educators Association, when he attended one of my sessions. He invited me to present this year at their conference from May 15 & May 16 at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. I will be presenting a session titled “Technology-Enhanced Elementary Music Lessons.” This session is focused on utilizing technology at the elementary level. Workshop attendees will receive lesson plans and see these lessons used with the students from my K-3 general music classroom (via DVD). If you are attending the Maine Music Conference, I hope that you will stop by and check out my session on Friday at 10:50 am.

After editing and contributing to a book of lesson plans that integrates technology into the elementary music classroom, I tend to find myself searching the internet for various lesson plans that will fit my music curriculum. There are many lesson plan resources out there and the lessons in them work well in the general music classroom setting. However, I have also learned that as with any lesson you use that someone else wrote for his/her classroom, you will almost always have to adapt the lesson to your classroom setting. This is true with any lesson that you use whether it be a technology-enhanced lesson, a Kodaly-based lesson, an Orff-based lesson, or any elementary music methodology-type lesson.

With all that said, there are many good lesson plans out there. Here are some resources that you can check out to find some technology-enhanced lesson plans:

1. TI:ME Lesson Plan Database: As President-elect of the Technology Institute for Music Educators, I highly encourage music teachers to join this fine organization. As one of the membership benefits, members can access the lesson plan database. These lesson plans are written by music teachers who take the TI:ME workshops and the numerous music teachers and technology gurus who belong to TI:ME.
2. SoundTree Teaching Resources: SoundTree has an excellent database of lesson plans written by music teachers throughout the country. These lesson plans also include all of the materials needed to accomplish the lessons, such as reproducible work sheets, sound examples, resources, etc.
3. MENC’s “My Music Class”: If you are a member of MENC, you can search their lesson plan database, titled “My Music Class.” When I search for “Elementary Technology” I find about 25 lessons plans written by music teachers. You can also rate the lessons and leave comments about the lessons. In addition, you can contribute your own lesson plans to the “music class.” When you contribute a lesson, it is reviewed by MENC and if accepted, you will be notified that your lesson has been added to their database.
4. Music Tech Teacher: Karen Garrett, the 2006 TI:ME Teacher of the Year, has numerous lesson plans that she utilizes in her grades 2 through 5 music classroom. Karen’s website has won several website awards from Golden Web Award to Best Buy Tech Awards.
5. Apple Education Resources: See teachers’ lesson plans and sample projects that utilize Apple’s powerful digital media tools of the iPod, iLife, iWeb, iPhoto, GarageBand, and other software and hardware applications.
6. Connect with Music: On this website you will find 30 free interdisciplinary lesson plans that utilize multimedia, music, and technology to aid in the instruction of Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science at the middle school level. Included with each lesson plan are all of the associated materials to implement the lesson successfully, comprehensive scoring rubrics, links to standards in music, technology, and each subject area, and many useful links that enhance the lesson plans. While each lesson plan can be taught on it’s own, there are many that are linked together, providing each subject area with multi-faceted, classroom-tested, technology-rich interdisciplinary lesson plans.

These are just some examples of lesson plan resources that you can find online. If you have a suggestion of other places to find lesson plans online, please feel free to leave a comment.

Last year, I was encouraged by another music educator to offer a summer course at my school in Far Hills, NJ. This hands-on course is aimed at elementary music teachers who are interested in integrating technology into the elementary general music curriculum. The course will include a survey of successful teaching strategies and lesson plans as well as an overview of hardware and software appropriate for the elementary level. The material covered in this course will be applicable to every teaching scenario - the teacher who teaches on a cart, the teacher with one computer in a classroom, and the teacher who either already has a classroom lab or who is interested in setting up a lab. Classroom-ready lesson plans, handouts, and software will be included.

This course was a nice success last summer, so I thought that I would offer it again. To see more details about this course, please check out my website. If you are a NJ elementary music teacher who is interested in integrating technology into your current curriculum, I hope that you will consider this class as an opportunity for a meaningful professional development.

If this is not the course for you for one reason or another, but you are interested in a music technology course for music educators, then I highly recommend checking out TI:ME’s summer workshops. They have a variety of course offerings from basic music technology to more focused studies such as notation software, music production, digital audio, and others, in various states and distance learning. Having earned my TI:ME certification levels 1 and 2, I can tell you first-hand that these courses are excellent and are taught by highly qualified TI:ME certified instructors.

If you have any questions about my course or the TI:ME courses, please feel free to contact me.