Elementary Music/Music Technology Blog

When I teach a music technology graduate course for music educators, I like to share with them some of my favorite websites that I use in my elementary music class. Here are a few:

http://www.sfskids.org - The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra’s website. There is so much here that you can use with one computer in your classroom. Have the students explore the instruments of the orchestra, compose a song together, play on the colorful keyboard, and more!

http://www.dsokids.com - The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s website just changed their look! I adore the games and the information that this website provides.

http://www.nyphilkids.org - The New York Philharmonic Kidzone is a place for kids to come and learn about the New York Philharmonic and about the instruments, music, musicians, and more. This is great for me because I teach an hour away from New York City.

Usborne Virtual Keyboard - A virtual keyboard that can be used in class. By projecting this keyboard onto a SMART Board or screen, and connecting the computer to a decent pair of speakers, you now have another instrument for your students to play in class.

Virtual Gamelon - A virtual gamelon that can be used in class. Also a wonderful way to learn about the instrument.

Smithsonian Global Sounds - Download and learn about traditional music from all aroud the world. It is a great resource for multicultural music.

http://www.tvokids.com/ - Even your youngest of students can make their own music with this program. The students love the musicians too!

http://www.artopod.com/groovelab/ - Make your own quality drum loops for free with GrooveLab.

http://www.themusicinteractive.com - The Music Interactive web site, which has wonderful music games, activities, and Computer Aided Instruction software for your students.

Carnegie Hall Listening Adventures - Learn about sound, music notation, text, and instruments of the orchestra through a series of interactive games. There are some portions of this website that take up a lot of time. However, if you utilize the games, it will not take up the entire class time.

http://www.classicsforkids.com/ - Classical music’s great composers come to life through music and stories. Wonderful podcasts too!

http://www.philtulga.com/resources.html - If you’re interested in connecting music to other areas of the curriculum, this page is for you! It contains links to all of my free arts integration resources, multimedia activities, and homemade instrument projects.

http://www.noteflight.com - Noteflight is a free notation program where you compose on the website

Creating Music - Morton Subotnick’s website which allows students to create music through finger painting on the screen. In addition, it has excellent listening games for young students.

Some tips for using a website in your classroom:

Where to begin? Sometimes a quick google search can assist you in finding an appropriate website to use in your classroom. Years ago, when I needed to find some new web music resources, I went to James Frankel’s site. There are some excellent websites listed there.

Always check the website before you use it in your classroom. Always, always, always! You need to see if the website is appropriate and does not link to something questionable. In addition, you need to see if your school’s server blocks the website for some reason.

If you use the website in a computer room where each student can access it from an individual computer, then it might benefit you to make a worksheet or “check off” sheet so the students know how to maneuver the website. In addition, the worksheet will spell out your goals for the students. If you are working with young students, then you can make a “check off” sheet from screen shots.

What are some websites that you like to use in your classroom with your students?

I just came across this interesting article by Aric Hesseldahl titled “The iPod is Dead. Long Live the iPod.”  This articles provides a wish list for the newest iPod Touch, which is estimated to come out this fall. However, it also gives, what I believe, to be an accurate assessment of how the iPod Classic, Nano, and Shuffle might meet their demise sooner than later. Take a read and let me know what you think.

MENC annually celebrates September 14th as National Anthem Day because it is the day that Francis Scott Key penned the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Though he originally wrote it as a poem inspired by seeing the American flag still flying at Fort McHenry, it later became our country’s national anthem in 1931.

This year, I was thinking about downloading one of recordings from MENC’s site and splicing it using Audacity or GarageBand. My students (grade 3 and up) would then have to put the song back together in the proper order. This could be done as a class project with the Audacity or GarageBand file being projected onto one screen, or in a computer lab where each student would work individually to edit the piece back together. Either way, it will be an excellent way to assess the students’ knowledge of the lyrics of the song.

Do you celebrate this day in your classes? If so, what do you do with your students?

Last year I posted an article about SMART Boards in the music classroom. I was thrilled when Heidi Anderson asked for permission to run it in the February 2009 edition of “The Bulletin.” I just received the link and read some of the other excellent music technology articles in this edition. If you click here you can read about a case study about iPods in the music classroom, how an elementary music teacher used Finale Notepad in her classroom, how teachers use GarageBand to assess and record, how to convert analog to digital, and finally an article about Wii Music in the classroom. The article that I wrote can be found on page 37. I encourage you to check out this edition of “The Bulletin”!

Last week, I taught “Integrating Technology into the Elementary Music Classroom” at Central Connecticut State University for their Summer Music Institute. The course went very well because I had 15 wonderful music teachers who worked diligently at evaluating music websites, evaluating software, utilizing web 2.0, utilizing digital audio, utilizing notation software, and finishing the week by  teaching a lesson plan enhanced with a technological aspect. It was a great week as I learned a lot from the teachers in the class. In addition, the Summer Music Insititute is an amazing program that offers a variety of courses from music technology, to Orff training, to vocal and instrumental, to general music and more!

We kept a blog and wikispace to track our progress and to post our works. Please check it out if you get a chance.

I caught this link from Joe Pisano and I had to read it. Take a read for yourself:

Would CNN have cared when Mozart passed?

Next week, I will be heading to Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) to teach the course “Integrating Technology into the Elementary Music Classroom.” I am excited to teach this course because I am very passionate about the subject, I have a full class, and I am teaching at the university that I earned my Masters of Science in Music Education.

We will be keeping a blog and wikispace to track our progress and to post our works. Please take a look at it during next week and feel free to leave us some comments.