Recording devices

A theme I have seen with my musical student peers is our agreement on using recordings for educational purposes. The use of video recording seems preferable. The reason being is video recording shows the physical aspect of playing a piece, anyone who has taking problems of performance will know, the physical is crucial. Posture indeed affect sound. Technique is key in any musician's field, this is only something you can reflect upon if you play in front of a mirror or you asses your recordings. The mirror is actually better but if you find yourself in a practice room without one, those Iphone are a handy tool.
Besides the physical aspect the aural is of course important. One should listen for dynamics and articulations, think of what message they are getting across what mood they set. Musicians should listen for mistakes as well as think of improvements, maybe bring out the bass a little more, use more staccato attacks or legato. How long was the piece, did you keep tempo the way the music describes? what can you add?
For a composer this tool is great. A composer can use his or hers mind's ear add melody lines from different instruments. Composers can wonder maybe a different key, a use of other simple or complex meters would add flavor, maybe more extensive or more simple chord use. Is this chord progression expressing my ideas the way i want ? Truly video recording allows for critical reflection which really can make musicians more aware of choice they once didn't even notice they were making, that goes for mistakes as well. reflecting really allows musicians to grow and having a documented video recording that helps one reflect in every way a musician can is just fantastic.

Music Lesson (Rhythm)

http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=f1fd4d44-c170-44a9-814e-a122289cbaa2

         This lesson is teaching rhythmic notation, or in other words symbols for how long a note is played. This contains the basic quarter notes, half notes, dotted half notes, and whole notes. A whole note is 4 beats (counts), a dotted half is 3 beats (counts), a half is 2 beats (counts), a quarter is 1 beat (count) .These rhythmic notations representing how long a sound lasts within a piece of music also has a counterpart which represents how long silence should last in music. These are called rests and they follow similar mnemonics as their sounding counterpart: A whole note rest is 4 beats (counts), a dotted half note rest is 3 beats (counts), a half note rest is 2 beats (counts), a quarter note rest is 1 beat (count). After that is explained the lesson provides an exercise where the student can apply their knowledge and begin to compose!

      This lesson has no attachment to any song or piece of music which is bad and good. It leaves a lot of space for composition but also lacks a foundation, something earlier grade levels may need. An idea to give this lesson foundation is to give the students an example of music they are familiar with and then using what they have learned, compose a rhythm in that style. This gives context and an appreciation for a teachers students music.

Canvas Remix shakespeare and music

            The process of remixing the canvas was tedious at first it didn't really have any of the material from the first remix when I clicked the remix button at the top right. I don't know how to transfer a widget otherwise so I began taking my idea to incorporate Michelle Fernandes's awesome canvas on Shakespeare and compliment Shakespearian composing with the musical composing we did in my last canvas. I really love what I came up with. You will not believe how much musical lyrics have been written with inspiration from William Shakespeare. Michelle had done a compare and contrast, and reflected on the twelfth night. I have two songs titled "star crossed lovers" inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. We are to compare them and other music to Shakespeare’s lines and quotes to see how the musical composers incorporated Shakespeare. I wanted to broaden Michelle’s idea for Shakespeare just so I could use more quotes from different musicians that were already in songs. Students will see how they could use Shakespeare as inspiration in their compositions.

            From my content I added musical composition, different styles of music and from her content I used compare and contrast, written composition, and of coarse Shakespeare. The students will be both reflectively writing about lyrics and shakespeare's writing. The website did not let me remix her page so I simply linked her page in a widget. I added her essential question to my remixed canvas and made sure that my unit could still answer that and meet her NJCCS and well as mine. I added some resources to her two widgets of resources. I put up two different music video's instead of the she's the man one and the twelfth night so that students could focus a little more on just Shakespeare’s overall writing and also to relate Shakespeare a little more toward the music side of the lesson. Since students will be reflecting on music and writing two very personal things, I wanted to leave that room to use whatever quote or music lyric related to Shakespeare they wanted, this way students will have a greater chance to choose a Shakespearean idea that is more relevant to their lives beyond the idea of one piece.

http://www.play.annenberginnovationlab.org/play2.0/challenge.php?idChallenge=2768&mode=view 

Podcasting and music technology take Lessons Beyond the Classroom

        I feel a strong confidence towards podcasting technology as the more utilitarian choice than the latter. Teachers can make it so Podcasting gives students a sense of responsibility. It can have students verbalize and communicate in a way where they are the instructor. They are can be in a place where they must and are probably more inclined to want know the content knowledge for the reasons:  It's with technology which is fun, I have to teach the class, I feel some pressure to sound knowledgeable In front of people,It's for school, I want to make a good impression on my peers. These are pressures similar to the ones we feel in the real world.

            Along with the wonderful knowledge of learning about recording programs like Audacity or Garageband and all the doors that can open for teachers and students, the students get to hear themselves! Students have probably never really heard themselves before, most people are surprised if they hear their messaging machine and respond with a " Is that what I sound like?". These kids are probably the same way, this would open their eyes, or rather their ears, to how they sound. They will be more interested about inflection, articulation, how their point is coming across etc, for the reason its themselves they are listening to. This generally will make people more interested and self conscious and aware.I think Podcasting is probably a little nerve wrecking for kids, but speaking fluently and in a manner where they are seemingly knowledgeable, confident, and content savvy to a certain extent about the topic is a crucial part of socializing and networking for their futures. This will help in relationship building, speech. Speaking well is a great social skill that help people gain confidence and opportunity. Podcasting and music savvy can help open many doors for students.

Wiki spaces

http://bbamusic.wikispaces.com/home This wiki is a great demonstration of how an educator(s) can create a wiki space to help give students information and material they can access whenever they have a connection. The ability to edit on the same page makes a lot of sense in that collaborating educators can edit pages accordingly, at their convenience. The access ability and convenience is really unparalleled. In this particular wiki, from burton Academy of music we can view the multiple uses of their wiki. They hold prime examples of good educational material. They have several sections of pages organized for students to work on technique, posture, practice techniques/tips, warm ups, even how to breathe. They have sections split up into vocal and instrumental. The concert dates and rehearsal dates for each section is on their from their last program. They have different online classes with materials or links to the materials needed. They have portfolios of their faculty and storage of all the music on the page and for their programs. Creating one of these wikispaces for myself or using this specific one would be wonderful in the future. It's multiple resources making it very tab worthy. The organization and collaboration this inspires is a wonder.

Unit Plan Canvas

I found the process of creating a canvas difficult, mostly because I'm not use to the way the page is set up. Once I got an idea of what icons were I slowly figured out how to apply them to the canvas. Each icon has it's own set up with headers, links, and uploads so it was a little confusing but I think after saving it and looking at how it lays in the canvas you can tell the idea gets across. I like having a lesson plan lay out like this. The terms they will be learning are the first thing they see mainly "C major scale" and "Tetrachord" just in case they forgot what the lesson is about or needed a refresher. The standard that meets 1.3.5.B.3 is right at the bottom along with the others. Canvas will be great for visual learners. I like that students can see the CCS that they meet by doing this lesson, also having the extra resources will definitely help students gain another perspective on the same idea's presented in class. If they missed how to use note flight the music composition software there is a tutorial video for them. If they forgot where the C major scale is on the piano, or the proper fingering for that scale there is also a video tutorial for that. There are even tips for composing from the link http://www.haydockmusic.com/composing_tips/writing_melodies.html If anything was missed in class there is a plethora of resources for the students to use and do their assignment. Link: http://www.play.annenberginnovationlab.org/play2.0/challenge.php?idChallenge=2366&mode=view#network6