Week 7 - Productivity and Professional Development

Being a traveling music teacher, technology has really aided in my productivity.  I have concert programs, worksheets, and music notation created and saved on my laptop.  Email keeps me informed of all the schedules and information for each school as well as communicating with parents.  I played an audio track for one of my orchestras today and next week I will show a YouTube clip of whale songs.  I use both Google Drive and Drop Box so I can work on my documents both on the school-issued laptop and on my personal laptop.  I can even use my husband’s Windows PC at his office, go “into the cloud”, and access my documents.

I find it curious that I have been reading a book about using technology.  In fact, that was the joke around the teacher’s room, reading a book to learn about applying technology.  Technology changes so fast that I thought a book would be up-to-date for only a short time.  While this may be true of a few parts of the book, “Music Learning Today” by William I. Bauer, it is a great resource for me.  I have been seeing the Google+ icon in various places, but I did not have the time to research it.  Here it is in chapter 8 (Bauer, 2014, pp. 178-179)!  Thank you, Dr. Bauer.

Also this week we were to explore Microsoft’s OneNote.  The Mac platform was just updated in March.  Reviews were so positive and enthusiastic; I was getting excited to start trying this app.  Unfortunately, the Mac version is very bare bones in comparison to the other platforms.  Because the Mac version is so new, there are no tutorials or reviews that I could find.  Even Microsoft training videos are only of the Windows platform.

This week, the juxtaposition of learning about technology, from a book or online was not what I was expecting, but I learned more than what was in the book or online.  Makes you think.

OneNote

Well, OneNote for me is a flat note.  I was excited to have an app that could help me organize my teaching “papers” in the cloud.  Dr. Bazan’s enthusiasm for this app was contagious, as well as the reviews I read online before I downloaded the app.  Then, my tribulations with OneNote started.  I could download the app on my iPad, but neither my personal computer nor my school laptop would support it.  Luckily, my personal computer had a free upgrade to iOS 10.10.  So I upgraded my operating system to iOS 10.10.3 (It was already at 10.9.5) and that took a few hours.  My school laptop, which would be the main devise I would use OneNote for Teachers, still cannot support it.  I finally was able to open OneNote approximately 36 hours after I received the assignment.  While I was upgrading and downloading, I tried to view some of the videos at onenote.com.  It took 3 more days before I found the videos.  I also tried searching the Web for tutorials, tech support, or any other helpful site.  There was nothing for OneNote for Mac because it is so new.  Any site, page, or blog that I found was for an older version, for PC, or Windows phone.

By this time I’m a bit frustrated, but I gather my enthusiasm and dive into OneNote.  The Mac version of OneNote is nothing like the OneNote for other devises.  The Mac version is a very “bare bones”.  I have a screenshot of my Grade 3 notebook from my personal computer below.  There is only Home, Insert, and View available on the ribbon for Mac.

Ribbon of Mac OneNote

Window users have much more to choose from.  The picture below is a screenshot from Microsoft OneNote for Teachers training video

Window ribbon with more tasks avaiable

While I cannot do everything that my Window-using peers can in OneNote, I can start to organize an entire year’s curriculum in one place.  I can add links to other websites, documents, audio tracks, and even YouTube.  It is very simple to do that!  I can also be patient and wait for OneNote for Mac to catch up with Windows version. 

An entire year of curriculum in one place!

Week 6 - Responding to Music

Thinking of listening and responding to music led me to three thoughts this week: what to listen, how to listen, and how to respond.  Bauer’s text and our assignments gave me a few new tools to assist me in bringing better and more interesting activities to my classes.  The chart of “Responding to Music Activity Types” starting on page 122 is a wealth of activities with suggested technologies organized by specific curriculum areas.

Spotify is a new tool that helps me with the first thought, to what to listen.  I like that I can choose music, put it in a playlist, and then share the playlist with my classes.  There are quite a variety of genres and it is easy to use.  While I was searching for some sonata and concerto tracks, I found some tracks that students could play along.  The piano accompaniment was louder than the solo, although unlike Music Minus One, the solo could still be heard.

Teaching students how to listen is always an interesting challenge.  I use listening maps in my elementary classes, I make some and find others to use.  My students can also create a listening map.  But my middle school students need a different way to create a listening map.  Soundcloud could be a tool for students to create a map or call chart right on the track.

How to respond to music can be as dull as writing an essay.  Searching through the book’s accompanying web site lead me to Fakebook.  It is one activity from Classtools, a collection of online games, quizzes, activities, and diagrams.  There are so many different activities on this web site.  I had an enjoyable time investigating all the different tools!  The web site also reminded me that I need to find other ways for students to show their response to listening using 21^st century tools.

Week 5 – Instructional Design and Technology

The reading this week was informative and interesting.  But what got me excited were the chapter notes on pages 192 – 193 as well as the book’s companion website (http://digitalmusicking.com).  There is a wealth of information available about assessment and instructional design.  At the end of this week, I am only partway through the information!  Four topics that I have started to investigate are portfolios, 21^st century skills, Understanding by Design, and Universal Design for Learning.

I have always thought that an eportfolio would be a great assessment tool for the string program in my school district.  A website I found through the companion site is Electronic Portfolios | Dr. Helen Barrett.  It is packed with any information you could possibly want or need concerning eportfolios.  The site has online video and podcasts, refereed online publication, conference proceedings, conference presentations, online workshops, and online teacher development courses.  (Sound familiar?).  Luckily for me, eportfolio work will happen this summer, so I have time to process some of this information.  I say some of the information, because there is page upon page of information.  Great site!

Understanding by Design (UbD) or backwards design is one way of designing curriculum that I would like to learn more about.  I found Understanding by Design® framework - Videos, Articles, Resources, Experts in chapter 7 especially helpful.  The information is organized by Overview, Books, Articles, DVDs, Online Learning, Events, Experts, and More.  UbD information will be quite useful as I undertake designing a webquest, which is designed with an essential question as the basis for the webquest.

Everyone is talking about 21^st century skills, but what are they and how can I incorporate them in my music classes?  Two notes from chapter seven helped me answer that question.  The first, http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_arts_map_final.pdf , is a skills map that explains 21^st century themes within the arts classroom.  Scott C. Schuler, MENC former national president worked on this document, so you know that the music learning will be top notch!  The second site, http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets-s-2007-student-profiles-en.pdf?sfvrsn=4, has a document of “Profiles for Technology (ICT) Literate Students”.  The profiles are organized by grade bands, and within each profile are examples of learning activities.  These learning activities are related to one or more of the following standards;

                              1. Creativity and Innovation

                              2. Communication and Collaboration

                              3. Research and Information Fluency

                              4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

                              5. Digital Citizenship

                              6. Technology Operations and Concepts

Just today, I was meeting with a college student, the college supervisor, and my department chair about a pre-practicum placement for the fall.  The student is required by the state to use a lesson planning guide that neither my department chair nor I had ever used before, Universal Design for Learning (UDL).  An UDL website is the first one listed on the companion website!  The national office for UDL is about 40 miles from my home in my own state.  I will be able to research this set of principles for curriculum development before I host the pre-practicum student so I will be able to guide the student.

Bauer, W. (2014). Digital Musicking. Retrieved April 15, 2015, from http://wibauer.fatcow.com/digitalmusicking/chapters/chapter-6.html

Bauer, W. (2014). Digital Musicking. Retrieved April 15, 2015, from http://wibauer.fatcow.com/digitalmusicking/chapters/chapter-7.html

Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press.

Chromatik and SmartMusic

This week I explored two different computer programs, Chromatik and SmartMusic.

https://www.chromatik.com

 What it is

Chromatik advertises itself as a “full catalog of free sheet music” and it certainly is.  Once you sign up, you have a wealth of sheet music to play.  The 41 different genres range from “The 60’s” to “Indie”, “Chart Toppers”, “Classical”, and “Faith”.

How to use

All you need to do is sign up for a free account.  Choose a piece to play from the list of genres or search by artist or tune.  

You choose one of 25 instruments and the notation appears in the correct clef, range, and an appropriate key signature.

Each piece is synced with a YouTube video; you can play with or without the video.  The toolbar is located at the bottom of the window with the usual buttons; play, pause, fast forward, backward, repeat, and a flag option.  Another wonderful part of the toolbar, when you hover the cursor over it, the playback is marked with each page number.  Even with a DS or DC repeat, the pages are marked on the playback, so you can easily find the page you want to play.

Platforms

Chromatik is available on Web, Android, iOS and Amazon devices!  I explored Chromatik on my Mac laptop, but looking at the available platforms on the website, I found something that could be quite useful.  On an iOS devise, like an iPad, you can play the tune, upload your own sheet music, record yourself, and track your progress.  I have not been able to verify this, but if so it could be truly a great tool to use in school.

Personal experience and potential usage

I enjoyed using the sheet music, there were so many pieces of such a variety I could find multiple pieces.  I did like the YouTube videos chosen to sync with the pieces, there was an authentic style in the playing, most often from the composer or original performer.  I enjoyed listening to the different genres and seeing the notation.  It would be a great teaching tool, showing my students one possible interpretation against the written notation.

I was not as impressed with the jazz genre pieces.  The pieces were notated in a jazz font, which were appropriate, but my concern is with the videos.  The YouTube videos that I saw were from a jazz-learning channel.  They were play-along tracks, without a melody.  The stylistic component was missing, but as a play-along it would work.

I would use Chromatik for myself in learning new repertoire, and just to enjoy myself.  I unfortunately cannot use this site in school.  The adult language in the lyrics is changed to asterisks, but not in the video.  I could not recommend this to my students.

Chromatik – Explore Free Sheet Music Collections and Play (https://www.chromatik.com) Retrieved April 11, 2015.

https://chromatik.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/204735915-What-features-do-you-offer-on-this-platform-

https://chromatik.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

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http://www.smartmusic.com/

 What it is

SmartMusic advertises as an “Interactive Music Learning Software” program.  Teachers can subscribe for a personal account, practice room subscriptions, and have students subscribe.

SmartMusic advertises on their website

• Create and send assignments that students can do at home with a student subscription, or with a practice room subscription at school.  Student subscriptions are just $40 per year.  Practice room subscriptions are $44.
• Track, collect audio recordings, grade, and learn more about each student’s progress.
• Create a portfolio of each student’s work to share during parent/teacher conferences.
• Document achievement and measure student growth.

 

(http://www.smartmusic.com/findmusic/)

How to use

SmartMusic has a myriad of music, method books, solos, and ensemble music in their library. 

Students can practice their music and much more.  A microphone will most likely be needed to input a student’s playing, available for purchase through the website.  The software can assess the playing for immediate feedback, something a student would find very helpful. SmartMusic can help me create assignments, keep track of scores, and document student growth.

There are online tutorials for both educator and student, which are very helpful.  Some are only available with a paid subscription.

Platforms

SmartMusic is available for Mac, iPad, and Windows.

Personal experience and potential usage

I have little experience with SmartMusic due to the cost.  I would like to be able to track student progress in their performance and keep a portfolio of their progress.  If the budget issues in my school resolve, I would love to have SmartMusic as a part of my classroom.

SmartMusic http://www.smartmusic.com/products/educators/ (Retrieved April 9, 2015)

http://www.smartmusic.com/

Week 4 Performing Music with Technology

As I am typing this entry, I am attending National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Eastern Division Conference in lovely Providence, Rhode Island.  I’ve already been to the pre-conference sessions and I am looking forward to a full two days of learning.  I have met some friends and am looking forward to seeing a Kent State MMME peer in person!

I really enjoyed the reading this week.  Being an orchestra director in a public school setting, getting students to practice is ongoing work.  Chapter four, Performing Music, in Bauer’s text gave me so many topics to consider.

First, you need to know something about me.  I love referencing research in making changes to or decisions about my curriculum.  As soon I return home from the conference, I will be reading many of the articles Bauer cited in this chapter.  (Thank you Kent State for off-campus connection to JSTOR and other databases!)  Bauer has cited research about motivation to practice, technology and practice, modeling, feedback, and technology in the ensemble rehearsal.

If that were all, I would be a happy reader.  Bauer then gives examples of real-world situations and how technology can be used as a tool to help students learn.  For example, record the ensemble playing a section with dynamic changes.  Play back the recording for the aural learners to assess the dynamic contrast or play back the recording as an audio waveform for the visual learners to assess the dynamic contrast.  (I can’t wait to go home and try this one!)  How about video recording part of a rehearsal and have the students assess the bow strokes, posture or any number of executive skills.  Using technology as a tool to assist the students learning to assess themselves.

The different kinds of technology would be useful for different learning activities.  I will be using technology to create accompaniment tracks for orchestra pieces.  They can practice along with their part, without their part, or play along as a “Music Minus One” practice session.  YouTube videos that I have chosen with examples of posture, bowing, vibrato, and tone will enable the student to learn more meaningfully (Bauer, 2014, p. 85.).

The two tables Bauer has included in this chapter, the Common Curricular Outcomes for Music Performance Classes (Bauer, pp. 78 – 79) and the Performing Music Activity Types (Bauer, pp. 94 – 98) will be very helpful in bringing this information back to my department.  We are in the process of adding technology and revising report cards, both curricular processes that take time.  This information will help guide us along.

Week 3 - Improvisation and Composing

I spent a lot of time contemplating improvising and composing this week, from why to teach composing, how to guide improvisation, what software or apps to use, and much more. This is not the first course at Kent that has challenged me to include improvisation and composition in my classes. Technology has given my some of the tools I can use with my students. Two tools I discovered this week will be evident in my middle school orchestra rehearsals. The first is the SCAMPER technique (Bauer, p. 71). I have many students who want step-by-step directions. Asking them to improvise a variation of a melody is a daunting task to them. The SCAMPER technique is just what I need to guide my students. The SCAMPER technique is really just a way to organize thinking techniques. I will be using a different technique each week to guide my students in improvisation.  

• S Substitute  - Remove some part of the accepted situation, thing, or concept and replace it with something else. 
• C Combine  - Join, affiliate, or force together two or more elements of your subject matter and consider ways that such a combination might move you toward a solution.  
• A Adapt  - Change some part of your problem so that it works where it did not before.  
• M Modify -  Consider many of the attributes of the thing you're working on and change them, arbitrarily, if necessary. Attributes include: size, shape, other dimensions, texture, color, attitude, position, history, and so on.  
• P Purpose  - (Put to other use) Modify the intention of the subject. Think about why it exists, what it is used for, what it's supposed to do. Challenge all of these assumptions and suggest new and unusual purposes. 
• E Eliminate  - Arbitrarily remove any or all elements of your subject, simplify, reduce to core functionality  
• R Reverse  - Change the direction or orientation. Turn it upside-down, inside out, or make it go backwards, against the direction it was intended to go or be used. 
• R Rearrange  - Similar to Reverse, modify the order of operations or any other hierarchy involved.  

(http://www.ideaconnection.com/thinking-methods/scamper-00022.html)
The second tool is graphically oriented software such as Soundation or Garage band as a good first step to composing. Students need to have opportunities to create, with and without traditional notation. Soundation or Garage band allows a student to create without being limited by their notation literacy. They may not know how to notate a syncopated passage with hemiolas, but they know what they like! I left sub plans for my middle school orchestra students this week to create a sound track within Soundation or Garage band that will be used to practice scales and rhythm exercises at home. I am excited to see and hear what they created!