Elementary Music/Music Technology Blog

From Monday to Wednesday of this week, I taught a TI:ME 1B class at Suitland High School, specifically in their Center for the Visual & Performing Arts. (Jim Frankel taught the final two days due to a family commitment–thank you Jim!) I had a wonderful time teaching these 10 educators because they dove into each assignment and project with such devotion and commitment. They all created wikispaces, blogs, podcasts, and powerpoints for their music classrooms. It was a joy to see and hear. Their passion for teaching music and learning new ways to enhance their current lessons made it a privilege to work them this week.

We created a blog for them to answer specific questions about the content of the class and how it would affect their music classes. To read their responses, please check out the blog at http://suitland.musiced.net and click on the comments.

Now I am preparing to head to the NECC conference in Texas. I will be presenting about the Groovy Music Series from Sibelius. If you are attending, please stop by and say hi.

NECC 2008 - San Antonio

Next week, I will be in San Antonio with Sibelius at the National Educational Computing Conference. If you attending, please stop by and say hi. Written by Amy Burns

The following is posted by Josh Morgan to give you more information at NECC:

I’ll be at (National Educational Computing Conference) NECC 2008 in San Antonio with Sibelius, Freepath, Riverside and Curriculum Advantage.

Want to meet anyone from the above companies? Drop me a note at josh@morgandorado.com. Member of the media? We’re always happy to talk with you and we’ll have users there who can help you out with anything you are working on.

A few things to try an attend:

EdubloggerCon - Saturday - the unconference before the conference - I don’t get in until Sunday night so I’ll miss but you should be there!

Music Playground - Wednesday 9:30-2:30. If you are interested in creating music using your computer, this is the place for you. Check it out. Would love for anyone attending or thinking about attending to post a note on their blog so we can spread the word! Sibelius will have two stations there showing Groovy Music on a SMART Board and some basic ProTools in the other station.

Jason Hubbard who is leading the Music Playground has put together a list of helpful links on Delicious. Written by Josh Morgan

For the next three days I am teaching a TI:ME 1B course at Suitland High School in Maryland. If you have never taken a TI:ME course and would like to learn more about integrating technology into your current music curriculum, then I highly encourage to to take one of their numerous workshops. When I acquired a music lab at my school, I did not know a thing about music technology because when I graduated college, it was just beginning to take off, but it was not a requirement for a music education degree. That has changed in the last decade. When I needed to understand and learn how to integrate technology into the music classroom, I began taking the TI:ME workshops with such experts and leaders of music technology such as Dr. Scott Watson and Dr. Tom Rudolph.

The TI:ME 1B course is one of my favorite courses because as a participant you get to audition numerous educational music programs, educational music websites, create a podcast, a blog, a website, and further your knowledge of powerpoint. As a teacher of this course, you get to show the participants how to create and use all of these applications so that they are applicable to their classroom settings.

A blog was created for the course so that the participants could answer a question about the topics we covered that day in class. Please check out the blog at: http://suitland.musiced.net/

I will also continue blogging on this site 2-3 times a week throughout the summer. I sincerely hope that you will keep reading and leave comments about how your summer is going!

A continuous discussion that I have heard and read several times is whether a teacher should have accounts and be actively present on such social networks as FaceBook or MySpace, or other social networks that their students use and their administrators could access.

First, FaceBook and MySpace are two examples of social networking websites that, most likely, your students are using on a regular bases. I have found it taking place in middle school (grade 6) and above. For a great article about some of FaceBook’s features and its history, please check out Andy Carvin’s weblog on the subject on pbs.org.

Second, numerous educators, including music educators, have blogged about the topic and there have been split decisions on whether teachers should join these networks. I have seen some of the abuses of FaceBook and My Space, as I have seen students get bullied on these websites. However, as I read other responses, I can find some benefits from networking on these sites. Check out these three blogs and the comments. The teachers and parents who comment on them do give you more insight into the topic. I feel that Carol gives you a good approach to the subject of social networking in the school system.

Jim Frankel

Carol Broos

Teachnology.com

As for me, I am on the fence. I know of teachers in my school who are on these networks and I have heard the comments that the middle schoolers have said about their FaceBook or My Space pages (some kind and some not).

What are your thoughts? Should teachers be active on these networks? And…are there educational benefits to these networks? I would love to read your comments on the subject.

Last week, the 8th graders graduated from our school, the kindergartners earned their diplomas, and the students in kindergarten through grade five participated in a ceremony that had them literally “moving up” from their current grades to their next grades. All of these ceremonies were beautiful and enriched with music and tradition from our school.

One item that made me nostalgic was the fact that these 8th graders were PreK Youngers (the 3-year olds class) when I first started teaching at the school. These students studied general music with me from PreK Youngers to grade three. Many of them continued to study private flute or clarinet with me through their fifth through eighth grade years. In addition, out of the 47 8th graders that graduated, 34 of them performed in extra-curricular music activities. This was a wonderful class, one which was musically-talented and one which I am very proud.

One final reflection, when this 8th grade class was in third grade, they created an original CD of compositions which contained very simple melodies utilizing the notes B A and G. One of the students asked me if he could record lyrics to his song. At that point in time, I had never thought about adding this aspect to the lesson because I was not sure how to record a singing voice. Since this 3rd grade boy wanted to sing, I activated the internal computer mic, set the levels so that it would not feedback, and pressed record in Digital Performer. The 3rd grade boy sang his lyrics on pitch and very happily. It was a joy to see and hear. Since then, I have given the option to the students to sing with their compositions and the results have been wonderful.

I hope that your end-of-the year musical activities have gone smoothly and quickly. And if your school has already ended, I hope that you are taking a well-deserved rest!

Continuing with my posts on how the nine national standards from The National Association for Music Education (MENC) can be enhanced by technology in the elementary general music classroom, today I approach standard #4.

Content Standard #4: Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.

Achievement Standard #4b: Students create and arrange short songs and instrumental pieces within specified guidelines.

A couple of years back, I composed a research project that involved these content and achievement standards with second graders. Briefly, they composed a four-measure B Section (to a four-measure A Section that I composed to make an ABA song) using Finale NotePad (a free software that is a watered-down version of Finale), whole, half, and quarter notes, and the notes of a C Pentatonic Scale. They were extremely successful with placing the correct notes on the correct lines and spaces of the treble clef staff and placing the correct rhythms in a 4-meter. One of the observations that I made was that when I had students compose with the traditional methods of pencil and staff paper, some will try to put five or six beats in a measure that is in 4-meter time. They will state to me that they do this because there was still space left in the measure (they drew their notes very small). However, when these same students used Finale NotePad to compose, the program would beep at them when they tried to place more than four beats in a measure. Since they were used to computer and video games beeping at them to let them know that they cannot proceed, they had no issue with Finale NotePad beeping at them to let them know the same thing. They would continue by placing notes and rhythms in the next measure.

The students would then listen to their compositions, critique them, and make any necessary changes. Once they liked their melody, many of them would tell me that they did not have a song. As one student put it “Mrs. Burns, it is like I have a taco and my melody is the meat. But, I don’t have the cheese or the shell, so my melody is not a song yet.” After being blown away by this second grader’s observation, I then realized that some of the students wanted to “complete” their songs. Therefore, I created a Latin and a Southern Rock rhythm section to accompany their melodies. I created these accompaniments using GarageBand. The students had the option of having the Latin band accompany their melody, or the Southern Rock band accompany their melody, or having their melody play solo.

The results of these three second grade classes’ compositions can be found here: 2J 2H 2R

The students received a CD of their composition. The very next morning, I had two parents come to my classroom and tell me how much they enjoyed their children’s songs, that their children told them everything about the process of composing a song, and that they had to play the song 20+ times in the car’s CD player.

My music curriculum was now in the homes and cars of the students. I have continued this project with other second grades and the results have been wonderful and successful.

Have you ever used composition software to make the composition experience a more successful one for your students?

While I was reading about the newest 3G iPhone on the apple website, I then went and visited the iPod portion of their website to see if the iPods have been updated. While reading about the iPods, it reminded me that I have been asked by numerous music teachers about the iPod and which would be the right iPod for his/her music classroom.

How does the iPod benefit the music classroom?
First, any mp3 player can benefit the music classroom. It does not need to be an iPod. I tend to lean towards the iPod because it is user-friendly, it can be used on a MAC or PC, and it works easily with iTunes, which is a free digital media player application for MAC or PC.

Second, an mp3 player or iPod benefits your classroom in many ways:

1. You no longer have a stack of CDs cluttering your space because you can import your CDs to iTunes, make a playlist for each class or grade that you teach, and then click and drag that playlist to your iPod.
2. You no longer have to change CDs during class because the songs will be contained on the iPod.
3. You can plug your iPod into a stereo system, or any speakers that you purchase from Staples, Best Buys, etc., or you can play it through a boom box by purchasing the FM transmitter adapter. Therefore, the iPod is easily adaptable to any teaching situation, whether you teach in music classroom or on a cart.

Stats:
If you do decide to purchase an iPod for your classroom, which iPod is right one? There are four basic iPods: The iPod Shuffle, the iPod Nano, the iPod Classic, and the iPod Touch.

• The iPod Shuffle comes in 1GB (240 songs) for $49 and 2GB (500 songs) for $69.
• The iPod Nano comes in 4GB (1000 songs) for $149 ad 8GB (2000 songs) for $199.
• The iPod Classic comes in 80 GB (20,000 songs) for $249 and 160 GB (40,000 songs) for $349.
• The iPod Touch comes in 8G for $299, 16 GB for $399, and 32 GB for $499.

What do the differences in these iPods mean for music teachers?
The iPod Shuffle is the smallest of the iPods and has no screen. It is not helpful for a music teacher because you cannot read the title of the musical piece that is being played. This makes it difficult for the music teacher to select a song during class.

The iPod Nano is a great iPod for a small music budget. The 8GB Nano holds 2000 songs, which is more than enough for one year of elementary general music classes. It also can play videos, games, and store photos, but they will cut down on the amount of songs it can hold. It has a screen so it makes it easy for the music teacher to read and select a musical piece for class. You can also quickly set the repeat function by the press of a button (new feature–the older iPods did not have this feature so assessable). This is nice if you have your students practicing a recorder piece that you would like them to repeat over and over again.

The iPod Classic is a wonderful iPod for a larger music budget. Similar to the Nano with its ease of use, its differences comes in size and storage space. If you want to put your entire school’s music library on your iPod, including your Silver Burdett or McGraw-Hill CDs, then the iPod Classic is the right fit for your music classroom. Since it can hold up to 20,000 (60GB) or 40,000 songs (180 GB), you will enjoy the fact that your music library can be contained on one iPod. Finally, it also can play videos, games, and store photos, but they will cut down on the amount of songs it can hold.

Another excellent feature of both the iPod Nano and the iPod Classic is that you can connect a $50-$60 microphone to it and turn it into a voice recorder. Now your iPod not only plays music, but it is also an assessment device. These microphones are made my Xtreme Mac MicroMemo (now only found on Amazon), Griffin, or Belkin.

The iPod Touch has functions that are similar to the iPhone. You can play music, videos, connect to the internet through WiFi, store your photos, and check your email. Though these functions are wonderful for personal use, they do not lend themselves to a music classroom. In addition, there is currently no microphone that will fit this iPod. For these reasons and the fact that it is the priciest of all of the iPods with a small amount of storage space, I do not recommend the iPod Touch for a music classroom.

Recommendation:
Therefore, I would recommend the iPod Nano for smaller music budgets and the iPod Classic for larger music budgets with large music libraries. The accessories that would be required would be speakers to amplify your iPod.

Do you use an iPod in your music classroom? If so, which one?

Continuing with my posts on how the nine national standards from The National Association for Music Education (MENC) can be enhanced by technology in the elementary general music classroom, today I approach standard #3.

Content standard #3: Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

Achievement standard: 3d. Students improvise short songs and instrumental pieces, using a variety of sound sources, including traditional sounds, nontraditional sounds available in the classroom, body sounds, and sounds produced by electronic means.

Using a digital audio program/sequencing program such as PG Music’s Band-in-box, Apple’s GarageBand, Acoustica’s Mixcraft 4, Sony’s Acid Music Studio, or loop-based programs as such, the teacher creates a 16-measure accompaniment (4 measures for introduction, 8 measures for improvisation, and 4 measure for coda) that the students will improvise to. Depending on your curriculum and age-group, you can have the students use rhythm instruments to improvise rhythmic patterns to the accompaniment. In addition, you can use Orff instruments, recorders, electric keyboards, or guitars to have the students improvise short songs to the accompaniment that you created.

This lesson is enhanced with technology because the teacher uses technology to create the accompaniment track. This accompaniment track frees up the teacher so that he/she can guide the students’ improvisations as opposed to the teacher playing the accompaniment on a piano or Orff instrument while the students try to improvise.

Have you ever enhanced an achievement standard-based lesson with technology?

Continuing with my posts on how the nine national standards from The National Association for Music Education (MENC) can be enhanced by technology in the elementary general music classroom, today I approach standard #2.

Content standard#2: Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

Achievement standard 2e: Students perform in groups, blending instrumental timbres, matching dynamic levels, and responding to the cues of a conductor.

My first instinct when writing this post is to write about a lesson that can occur in a keyboard lab. There are elementary schools that have keyboard labs, however, after careful thought, I wanted to take a different approach and use technology to enhance this achievement standard by utilizing Orff instruments and one electronic keyboard. When I teach a lesson that involves my classroom instruments, I like to add one electronic keyboard to enhance the sound, especially the bass sound in an Orff ensemble. To purchase a bass xylophone, you might pay up to $925. If you decide to purchase bass bars, you could be paying $500+ for one bass bar. If you use an electronic keyboard to supplement for bass bars or a bass xylophone, you could pay as low as $129 for a Yamaha keyboard. An electronic keyboard could be a more economical solution for a music classroom with a limited budget.

When I want to achieve this standard, I will use a lesson from one of my favorite Orff resources, “Strike it Rich” by Jeff Kriske and Randy DeLelles. Due to copyright legalities, I cannot go into the details of the lesson. However, when I want to utilize a lesson from their book that contains an ensemble working together to achieve balance, I will add an electronic keyboard to enhance the bass xylophone and/or bass metallophone part. I like to do this for two reasons:

1. It increases the bass sound in the ensemble.
2. The student who plays the electronic keyboard must listen to be able to blend with Orff instruments. This is a great skill to teach and reinforce. The student must play in a way that does not overpower the other instruments and also find the right volume so that the timbre of the keyboard’s xylophone sound (or vibes, which is the sound that I will use) blends in with the Orff instruments.

If you are trying to increase your classroom instruments and your budget limits you, then I suggest looking into an electronic keyboard. It is another way to teach listening and blending in an ensemble atmosphere and successfully achieve standard #2e.

The Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME) has a section open to all titled “In My Humble Opinion” (you can find it under “Resources”). In this section you can find numerous articles written by such authors as Peter Webster, Steven Estrella, John Dunphy, Lee Whitmore, Don Muro, and others. These excellent articles cover a variety of topics that include music technology in education, performing with music technology, and how to fix certain technological bugs in your computer, to just name a few.

This month, Dr. Scott Watson, educator, clinician, author, and wonderful composer (my elementary band students love his music!), has written an article titled “The Interesting Intersection of Modern Art Criticism, Music Education Technology, and Philosophy’s Hegelian Dialect!” In this article he writes about the the Hegelian Dialect: “two opposites - such as Good and Evil, Mind and Body, or perhaps even Finale and Sibelius! - are first argued back and forth. Eventually, however, in many cases a synthesis is achieved in the pursuit of truth.”

I highly recommend that you read this article because he dives into MAC vs. PC and Finale vs. Sibelius in a way that makes sense and without getting too involved into the logistics of each program. In return, you will come away from this article wanting to further your own research about the two platforms and the two notation programs.

To read Scott’s article, click here.