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.