The Nutcracker

The week before Winter Break brings excitement and the thought of the Nutcracker. At this site you can read an interactive story with your students. I project it on the board and have them follow along while I read. This meets the "listening to reading" idea in reading.

http://www.abt.org/nutcracker/index.html

Check it out and enjoy! I've found YouTube videos to add to the experience of the different dances. When talking to boys about music after elementary I find that they think it's too girly or not macho enough. I point out the strength training they have to do and how much control they have to possess in ballet.

Nelson Mandela

This past week we lost a humanitarian by the name of Nelson Mandela. The National Association for Music Education posted on Twitter this link from NPR Music which shares his life through music. Could be a very powerful culture piece. n.pr/18qgdAw 

Mendeley - Students of all ages!!

Okay guys! This post has my nerdiness at an all time high. Mendeley is a free download that allows you to save articles and other papers (ones that you have written). The next part is really cool. Are you ready? It's going to be legend wait for it... ary! Here you can save your articles - it will cite them for you and you can also upload your papers. It will cite those and create a bibliography or works cited page for you! I just downloaded it today, so there will be more to come, but check it out. This has the capability to collaborate with others in your discipline!

Click here to check it out!

Overcoming stage fright

Edutopia had an article referring to stage fright and education students. I know that even as a semi experienced teacher I get nervous before a big class/observation/or a presentation. I also know that my students get the same way before performing at a solo contest. The article gave 9 tips to overcome this stage fright and trick our brain into almost "faked confidence". When I'm teaching I use the phrase "Fake it till you make it" - meaning that nerves can get in the way, but you you have to perform like you intended to make any mistake and that you stay in the character of the piece.

Here is the link to their page - http://www.edutopia.org/blog/overcoming-classroom-stage-fright-todd-finley

If you want to, perhaps you should consider teaching confidence and techniques to create confidence.

Virtual Choir

Eric Whitacre is known for his compositions and most recently has been known for his Virtual Choirs. Via TED talk you can hear Mr. Whitacre speak about his Virtual Choir project and shows examples. In this video you can see a live virtual choir through the use of Skype and a live choir. This is a crazy thing to do thinking of the chance of delay and other uncontrollable features.

Click here for the TED Talk.

To take this a step further, my choirs struggled with the thought of singing a foreign language. Thank goodness I found Mr. Whitacre's virtual choir of the piece Sleep. Here he is the sun - heliocentric, with orbs/planets representing different countries with different singers. They are all connected through a golden thread that flows from one planet to another. I shared the though that people in Italy don't sing English... Nor do people in Germany - why can't we sing in a different language... Silence! It was perfect!

Click here for Sleep by Eric Whitacre.

Other Virtual Choir performances are available. Most recently he has composed a piece "Fly to Paradise" that he invited individuals to participate in. We recorded videos and uploaded them. To do this we would record a video of us singing the part and listening to the whole group via tracks through ear buds. This was such a cool thing to be a part of. This piece has been remixed and put into so many different forms.

Click here for Fly to Paradise by Eric Whitacre

Mary Poppins - Autism Awareness

Here's a video of Mary Poppins performed for children with Autism. This video shows how the company made accommodations for children with autism by correcting light cues etc. This was originally access through NBC Learn K-12, but here's a YouTube link to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrb-opIcMWw

Artistic and the Common Core

I know that teachers cringe when they hear "Common Core", but I'm choosing to remain optimistic. Looking through blogs and posts I found an article with lessons plan ideas for elementary and applying music to the common core. I think that since music is the "catch all" discipline it is fitting that we can apply the common core the easiest. We easily teach every subject in the matter of a class period! Check out the article below to find more.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/music-and-common-core-karin-nolan

Digital Citizenship - Something to think about

This cite in my Feedly showed me what really is digital citizenship. In the age we live in, everyone needs to know how to use the Internet in an ethical manner. This cite reminds of of how to teach digital literacy, etiquette, health and wellness, etc. This website gives several ideas of how to do it!

http://www.edudemic.com/teaching-students-digital-citizenship-skills/

Music as Protest?

Esperenza Spaldin, a bassist and vocalist, wrote a piece and created a music video about the closing of the detention camps at Guantanamo Bay. This could be a great discussion of how music can be used in protest without being the protest that people think of... for example the 60's. Watch the video and see how it could be used in your classroom.

http://vimeo.com/79294714

KUNO tablets and Curriculum Loft

My school is in its 2nd year of KUNO and Curriculum Loft implementation. On the general discussion board of our Technology and Music Learning class I have attached a presentation regarding the implementation and what the pair of KUNO and CL could offer your school. Let me know if you need it and I can also send it to you directly. Thanks and have a great Monday!!

Piano Sight Read App for Apple

Often parents want their children to take up an instrument... well not band ones because those start in 5th grade, what about strings - nope, they start in 4th grade, I want my child to be a percussionist... well I must have them learn piano. That's fine and dandy until you learn that piano's are expensive and your child needs to practice. This app allows for slight piano instruction/guided practice. I'm not suggesting that this is a replacement for a piano, but this can buy time till a piano/keyboard can be purchased. The app can also aid in practicing while students are traveling on family vacations.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sightreadplus/id635326147?mt=8

To Proscratinate? I'll do it tomorrow.

So often we find ourselves or our students on social media, or even us... on FaceBook, Pinterest, YouTube, and many more instead of doing what we should be doing. Now I'm there with all the procrastinators, but this is a site with some great ideas for self control. http://www.edudemic.com/procrastination-tools/ this gives Chrome extensions and other downloads or web add-ons that prevent you from spending too much screen time on your leisure sights and allows for more productivity. Good luck! :D

Study Boost

Study boost enables students to study using their mobile devices. Let's be honest - all of our students are obsessed with their phone, this could help teach technological responsibility and allow teachers to use text messages to their advantage.Try this out folks! https://studyboost.com/

Bicycle Built for Two - NoteFlight

The Bicycle built for two exercise: http://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/c08d9799612bb8d0a5d37c549a1a273e50564a42

This program is great! Normally I use the concerts at the end of the year to be a student's final project with the whole reflection piece, however... now I can use this program to have my students work together on composing their own music, sharing it with me and their peers. It is relatively user friendly and free, which is the best part. 

How to Embed Quizlet Flashcards Into Wikispaces

Here you can create flashcards in Quizlet - which I need to check out more. This allows teachers that have Wikispaces to embed their flashcards and the students can choose study mood. For us music teachers, this can help with music literacy. Our elementary students can review music terms this way and even our older students can utilize it to learn their terms and better prepare for final exams - if you give one besides your concerts and a quick survey.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/11/how-to-embed-quizlet-flashcards-into.html#.UnvQt40jiMU

Quaver's Marvelous World of Music

Quaver's Marvelous World of Music allows for teachers and students to experience music online. To use this site, you can access http://www.quavermusic.com/infocenter/QuaverApproach/Index.html and go from there. Choose to sign up as a teacher and you can get lesson ideas and videos etc.!

NotateMe

http://techinmusiced.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/notateme-more-thoughts/

Is the link for an app that allows for music notation, specifically interpreting hand written score notation. This can then be scanned in and it will recognize your handwriting and convert it. The app is still having work done to it, but I think this could be cool. This could be purchased for only a few iPads or Android tablets and a teacher could develop a learning station for composition specifically.

Bang! Rhythm Game

Thanks to Crissy Barton I've found this game and it may be a great option for my students! I try to reward with a points system when they get to play a game in class. This could be a fun new game that gives a little change to freeze dance. http://colorinmypiano.com/2012/12/06/bang-rhythm-game/

iReal Pro

Ever want to work on a piece, but can't quite play it? Some choral directors struggle with the need to play the piano or accompanied a certain piece. This app allows for vocal teachers to help with accompanying, especially vocal jazz ensembles to work on improvisation. The app is a $7.99 download and may be a purchase that the school would allow, I'm not for sure on sharing rights/copyright. I would love to find the Android version - so if anyone can find it or share that would be great!

https://techinmusiced.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/ireal-pro-has-arrived/

Alchemy Smart Binder

Alchemy Smart Binder is an online lesson builder that allows teachers to add materials, add estimated times, add digital resources), differentiate between what work is intended for home use and in class use, change the order of content (even in the middle of the lesson), and it can provide student progress reports. Here also teachers can align standards and lessons to the Common Core. This can be a great resource. I think an awesome part for co-curricular teachers is the ability to create specific standards based on what the lesson is and create your own.

The link is here! This is a great resource! http://www.alchemylearning.com/

Kaizena - Google Doc Comments

While looking through my Feedly I found this resources called Kaizena. This add on allows for individuals to add verbal comments for grading. My school, like many others use Google or Gmail. this allows for documents to be shared to multiple people and edits can be performed by them. This program allows for the editor to select a portion of the document, highlight it, attach a comment, verbally address something, and share it back with that changes made. This would be a great resource for those working in groups from a distance. Instead of conference calls this allows the user to edit and make comments in their own time. Should be a great resource!

Since I'm not exactly sure how to share my Feedly with my readers here's the link that I have for the resource: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/10/add-voice-comments-to-google-documents.html#.UmsRLSQjiMU

Thanks and Happy Friday!!

Technology for Music Teaching and Learning

It has been a long while since I've posted on this blog and I need to get back to it. Thankfully in my Masters of Music Education program through Kent State University I have the reason to restart and rejuvenate this blog! I am enrolled in a course entitled, "Technology in Music Teaching and Learning". I will be in this course with a dear friend, Kayla Schmitz too!  Here I will be posting course materials - homework etc. and plan to use this as a great way to help my instructional practices. I know that this is a short post, but more will come!