Music Technology Training: Musictechtips (from my PLN)

This site has a lot of pertinent information for music educators. The web author has linked several blogs that include some really pertinent information. The blogs cover a good number of categories in teaching including elementary education, music technology, and theory. The blogs are categorized to help narrow what you want to learn. In the elementary education blog, for example, the author has categorized her blogs based on some of the lessons she has taught in her classroom. Her personal experiences with the music lesson contain reactions from the kids. This helps to separate "armchair theory" lessons that don't work from lessons that actually work with kids.

The entire website is organized this way, which makes it easy to find useful information and links to high quality sites. I feel that this is a good resource that is easily accessible for every music educator, technologically savvy or not.

Assistive Technology

Soundbeam, a device that converts movement into sound, is a piece of technology that can be used in classrooms with special needs students. This is a wonderful way for kids that are quadriplegic or have cerebral palsy or other disorders to make music and to experience the process of music making. Soundbeam can convert the smallest movements into sound, so as long as you can move, you can make music.

IDEA, however, has not delivered on the promise that it made in 1975 to fund 40 percent of the educational costs for disabled children. Since then, the level of federal funding has never risen above 19%. Local and state governments have been forced to deal with the resulting financial impact. Federal funding has not kept up with the growing population of children with special needs.In spite of all that has been done in recent legislation, special education students need the support promised to them that is long overdue. With 40 percent of the funding of special needs children being met by the government, perhaps SoundBeam could become a fixture in every school.

Please consider asking your senator to vote to increase IDEA funding to 40 percent.

Music and the Brain: Dr. Daniel Levitin on the six types of songs that created human nature

These podcasts, which are sponsored by the Library of Congress, explore the relationship between neuroscience and music. According to Dr. Levitin in his new book, there are six forms of music that encapsulate human interactions: friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion/ritual, and love. These forms of music, in their own unique ways, have created and shaped the course of human civilization. The evolution of music is a window into the evolution of human civilizations. Music, for example, is most always linked with some sort of dancing, which has roots in sexual fitness. Social change as a result of music (rock in the 60s, for example), has changed the recent history of humankind.

Dr. Levitin's research on anthropology, music, and neuroscience results in a thought provoking discussion of the under-appreciated role of music in human history.

Copyright and Fair Use, Digital Citizenship

Most everybody has been influenced by modern technology in the past ten years. The world has changed so staggeringly fast that students who enter college to pursue technical degrees will have (almost certainly) learned mostly obsolete information in their fields by the time they graduate. This means that educators are teaching skills to students whose jobs have not been created yet. According to "Digital Citizenship: Addressing Appropriate Technology Behavior", by Ribble, Bailey, and Ross, inappropriate use of technology, modeled by teachers to students, has sent the message that it is not important to practice social responsibility when it comes to technology. I think that part of the reason behind this behavior is in the lack of precedence of this digital era. Here is an interesting video on the pace of change in the world today:

As a responsible educator, we must verse ourselves in the use of these new technologies with the goal in mind of teaching a student to be competitive in the global arena.

Exposure to more media than ever before in more formats (websites, text, video, etc.) has led to the creation of copyright and fair use laws that govern the intellectual property of others. It is always important to credit any source you use, including books, videos, and websites. If you intend on using intellectual material for noneducational purposes, you must obtain a copyright. This website has specific information on the fair use of information from the internet for use in the classroom.

Music and Instinct PLN

Music Instinct , on pbs.org, is an interesting website of clips and articles from various specialists in music and science. The articles and discussions focus on understanding the human instinct for music, from a music therapy perspective, to the science and evolution of music.

Music and the Neanderthal's Communication can be found here.

Here is the discussion of music therapy for infants.

There are many other related topics on the site, from performances of music across cultures to bird songs.

This website really delves into the substance of music in the world around us. To me, understanding the "why" in music (and human nature in general) is as critical as the "how".

technology, learning styles, and teaching (blog on readings)

How People Learn (and What Technology Might Have to Do with It)

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

WebQuests for Music Learning

Technology has changed a lot in the past 30 years. When my parents were my age, they communicated primarily through phone calls (but long-distance calls were expensive) and snail mail. In my generation, communication, even over long distances, is taken for granted because of the abundance of communication technology that exists at our very fingertips. There is some evidence that the fast paced world of technology has made us smarter. Obviously, this has changed our culture and the way people learn, especially the digital natives. Because people learn differently, teachers have to teach differently, using the tools of the age. Digital natives need educators who will use technology to enhance learning. One of the biggest differences in the learning styles of the two generations, from what I gather, is that digital natives are used to learning by trial and error, while a digital immigrant will reference a book or instruction manual to gather information. Digital natives, therefore, are fuller participants in the active learning process than their digital immigrant counterparts. "Edutainment", while not practical in some classrooms, is entirely useful in a music education classroom. "Edutainment" can use the "language" of the digital native, in the form of computer games, to drill many important elements of musical knowledge.

Juilliard/Carnegie Hall National Music Achievement Program--interesting

I looked on Google Reader today and found a posting about a survey that Juilliard/Carnegie Hall is sending out. The survey asks music teachers about the plausibility of creating a National Music Achievement Program. I took the survey and I was interested in what the program might offer to my private students. I often wonder about how other private horn teachers tackle the issues that I face while teaching. This forum might offer insight to me about approaches I could use to better convey ideas and concepts.

The program would include the following characteristics:
• Students would be evaluated by regional, reputable adjudicators using a pre-defined syllabus and repertoire list
• Evaluations would be available several times per year in each area
• Evaluations would be based on instrument performance
• The evaluation would consist of 8 different performance levels, from beginner to advanced students
• Students would receive a numeric score at the end of the evaluation
• Students would be able to access their ranking in relation to other students across the country

The achievement program aims to benefit students and teachers in several ways, including:
• Motivate students to continue studying music by offering clear development goals
• Enable students to understand their skill level on a national scale and gain recognition for passing each grade level
• Help teachers track the development of their students
• Offer teachers materials to support their instruction

As a private teacher, sometimes it is difficult to find out about every opportunity for my students. I have the internet, yes, but I end up finding out about most everything from other private teachers. This program might really have merit. You can take the survey here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/Home_Landing.aspx?sm=OkFJcLNZHIpqFhs3B7pZGw%3d%3d

Multimedia text, sounds, and World Wide Wave Forms

Using text and sounds in websites can make it simple to disseminate knowledge and music to many people, including students in classroom settings. Once you learn the basics, you can have a do-it-yourself publicist, and a place to store and share information with people.

Text is the graphic representation of sound. On computers, a number is assigned to each letter on a typewriter. This binary code is recognized by the computer and translates the keystroke to a letter or number. The system is called ASCII. There are different types of ASCII including plaintext, RTF and HTML. HTML is the best one to use when creating webpages because it looks the best on the computer screen. There are also different kinds of fonts. These different kinds of fonts are monospaced, which occupy the same horizontal relationship from one letter to another, serif, which has ticks on the bottom of the lettters to help the reader, and sans serif, which does not have the ticks. There are also different font standards, including postscript fonts, which look good when printed, and truetype.

A minimal amount of understanding of sound is required for use in websites. Sounds, as we all know, are series of vibrations in the air. Analog recordings measure the voltage produced by the sound onto a recorder device. Digital recordings convert voltage changes into numbers for use by a computer on a website or itunes. The higher quality the sound, the more digital space it takes up. There are two kinds of formats used for sound: RAM, or random access memory, and AIFF, which is ideal for multimedia CDs. Apple makes something called quicktime that is an ideal multimedia tool for sharing video, audio, MIDI, text, and animations. These can be used in conjunction or separately, in any way, which makes Quicktime very flexible for music educators.

Compressing audio files is necessary to free up disc space on the computer to store many files. It is easier for people to download music if it is compressed, because it takes less time. File compression uses something called a codec to minimize file sizes. It does this by getting rid of redundant, barely perceptible, or imperceptible audio to make the file size smaller. A MP3 coder changes the audio file further to minimize the file space. It may be "lossy", or lose some parts of the audio when it is compressed. Embedding audio in a separate file is a good way to get music across without downloading the music to the users hard drive.

PLN Teaching Scales and Such

http://musicmattersblog.com/2009/10/26/monday-mailbag-teaching-scales-and-such/

There are two ways to teach scales. One is from a book, which is the way I was taught, and the other way is to teach from a theoretical approach (using half steps and whole steps). In teaching my students, I find that teaching scales from a theoretical perspective helps the student begin to understand the underlying structure behind all of the scales. This can be extended to all types of scales--pentatonic, minor, etc. I think that this approach has a lot of merit because scales can be broken down to explain all kinds of theory. When you move around the circle of fifths, for example, you always add one sharp or one flat to the key signature. This is a pattern that you can explain to students, and if you write it out, it is easy to see and understand. With beginning students, I think it is best to explain scales in this way (pattern recognition in the circle of fifths and in whole and half steps) so they can start to see patterns in music. I think that memorizing scale patterns is good in itself to get the physical aspects worked out for the sake of facility in difficult passages, but learning the scales in this way is limiting for the student.

reflection on week 9 reading

Dr. Bauer's article on setting up and using a delicious account were extremely informative. I used the article to guide me through the process of setting up my delicious account. I also used the article when I was searching for pertinent articles. The step by step instructions really helped me through the process. The commoncraft video was also really useful for explaining the concept of social collaboration online. As a class, we already have 950 pertinent and useful articles that I can use now for ideas when I teach privately, and for later when I'm teaching in a public school setting. I have already discovered some really cool resources that I look forward to using, like the smithsonian digital archive. Using this technology in conjunction with a music lesson could really bring a lesson to life.

PLN Lesson Games

http://www.google.com/reader/view/?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-ww-ww-bk&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=google+reader#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fmusicmattersblog.com%2Ffeed%2F

This thread talks about using practice games in private lessons. I use games in my private horn lessons to introduce lots of ideas. Two websites that the thread mentions are HowtoPractice.com and The Penny Practice game. Since I try to integrate as much music theory as I can into my lessons, I play a major, minor, or modal scale and have the student try to guess what mode the scale is in. When they guess, I'll play a song in that mode to get the mode into their ear and incorporate it into the piece that we are working on that week. I'll also notate a few rhythms that the student is having trouble with, and have the student come back to me the next week with a 4 or 8 bar composition. I use noteflight for this, and since noteflight is a lot like a game, the more technologically inclined kids show me a lot about the program. The ones that don't are impressed by the notion that they can use a composition software, and then they tell their friends and parents about it. I have one student in particular that has written an entire etude based on one of the rhythm patterns that he was having trouble with. Now, he can pretty much read and play the rhythm flawlessly.

CAI, SmartBoards, etc.

These articles are very useful for any music teacher in any discipline. The ideas presented in the CAI article touch on a variety of standards that every state probably has. The software that I learned about will be infinitely useful to me when I enter a music teaching situation. Each of the pieces of software mentioned in the article can be used to address a variety of state standards, from technology to history to theory, and beyond. When I was a theory student, I was a passive learner. I copied down information, listened to the teacher, did my assignments, and passed my tests. But I never really got excited about learning the information. I can definitely imagine playing theory games with my students to get them to understand the information in their own way. Since each student is an individual with their own unique learning style, learning has to happen in a variety of ways. This software has different learning styles built in. If you have a visual learner in an auditory environment (like a music classroom might be), it might be frustrating for the student to try to visualize things like phrasing, and legatos. If you can use a piece of software to show your visual learner what those things might look like, the idea can become a part of that student. Making More Music might be a good piece of software for that learner.

I think that SMARTboards are a great asset in any classroom. With the SMARTboards, you can project your computer screen so that everybody can see what you are doing. This is a great idea for a visual learner. Instead of describing an idea, you can show them what you mean with the aid of some of the software mentioned in the CAI article. In a music classroom, it can be used with theory and history. I think that having this technology at your fingertips is great, but it falls on the teacher to present ideas in exciting ways. That's where the other forms of technology help, like the CAI software.

The article about using one computer for an entire classroom has good ideas, especially for budget conscious school districts. (Which ones aren't, right?) The article puts emphasis on the software that you can buy for the one computer in your classroom. This is more economical and realistic than putting a dozen or more computers in each room. For kids that don't have computers at home I think that having only one computer per classroom isn't fair, because they don't get the same learning experience that kids with computers at home do. Since computers are such a great learning tool, the kids that don't have computers should have a priority over kids that do have computers at home. Cycling kids through computer stations is a good idea, but it makes learning technology frustratingly slow for the kids that don't have computers at home. Since computers can be such a great tool for learning music, I think that having only one computer in a music classroom is unfortunate.

PLN blog on a new book

Minds on Music: Composition for Creative and Critical Thinking (MENC/Rowman & Littlefield)

This is a new book that looks to expand composition instruction for all students, pre K-12. This book includes an argument for teaching composition and includes activities for all levels of composers.

The Q&A I read addressed some ideas in the book, including an argument for constructivist learning in the classroom (child led composition as opposed to teacher led composition assignments). This fosters a sense of ownership of the composition by the student. The teacher should be the support structure instead of the "question answerer".

It looks like this book would be helpful to a teacher who is daunted by the prospect of teaching composition. It seems to address some of that anxiety and also addresses some of the decision making processes that are so important to educating independent minds.

readings for the week of 10/5

In the 'Picture This' article, Scott Watson talks about using simple audio editing software to let students visualize their sounds. This helps students realize what they need to work on, or how to sound better through a concrete visual. It helps the students realize and correct mistakes, almost intuitively. In addition to the visual aspect of the audio recording software, the software is also used to play back sounds so that the student can realize aurally what they need to work on. This technology may also help raise student enthusiasm about music making.

In the Capturing your Sound article, the author talks about the benefits of using sound engineering software to help students in a variety of ways. It can help a student realize quality of sound. It can also help a student realize progress. It also serves as a relatively inexpensive way for students to preserve their performances for enjoyment in the years to come.

These inexpensive ways to use recording technology fit into the Technology Strategies for Music Education because they can fill a variety of needs. For example, if a teacher uses the audio editing software, he or she can fulfill all of the grade requirements for the MENC achievement standards.

When schools face budget cuts, creative teachers can use some of these inexpensive technologies to fulfill the standards for music technology. A little bit of ingenuity can go a long way to make learning environments fun and rewarding for the students.

PLN Classics for Kids--can't stay away from this site.

http://www.google.com/reader/view/?hl=en&tab=wy#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2Frss%2Fpodcast.php%3Fid%3D510237

I really really really love this series. If you haven't heard any, I would highly recommend listening to these little kid-friendly 5 minute podcasts. They teach me something new every time. In this one, Naomi Lewin, the writer of the podcasts, extends the Hungarian theme of the past few weeks of broadcasts with this 5 minute introduction to the Kodaly method. She describes solfege and uses examples from The Sound of Music to illustrate the syllables for solfege. She interviews a solfege instructor who describes the hand signals for the syllables. She also breaks down rhythmic elements and melodic elements. She then uses folk melodies to illustrate the Kodaly method, using the syllables. Then she extends the elements of the Kodaly method into classical music.

I love, love, love, love NPR! I am so happy that these podcasts are out there on the Web, accessible to everyone. If I had kids, I would definitely expose them to these little musical examples that cover a wide variety of classical music accessibly.

Sequence stration

These articles describe MIDI techniques to make better sounding MIDI recordings and playbacks. In Watson's article, he uses the word 'Sequence-stration' to describe the technique of layering instrument sounds to produce more accurate MIDI sounds. One major drawback of MIDI is that the MIDI files sound tinny, nasal-y, fake, etc. etc.. Sequence stration addresses this problem by layering MIDI sounds to make the sounds more realistic. He uses 'timbral alchemy' to describe what he does with the MIDI files. If he wants to add a warm quality to a string quartet's lower voices, he uses a low register horn sound for the cello instead of the standard MIDI cello file. He also describes ways in which you can layer MIDI sounds together to create new and surprising sounds.

I think that this is an interesting way to create better sounding MIDI. I have not experimented with it yet, but I think the idea has potential to create more realistic MIDI sound files. One big problem that I perceive with the 'sequence-stration' is inherent to sounds that are created by a computer. I don't hear the natural overtone series, ever, in any digital MIDI files. The MIDI sounds dead to me. The overtone series is a phenomenon that happens in nature. For example, the trilling of a bird activates a host of other sound waves that occur in nature. This is part of the reason that birds, humans, dolphins, insects, dolphins, etc. can communicate with each other, and part of the reason why it is so easy for humans to hear the difference between digital files and sounds in the environment and in nature. I think that when people just can't pin down why it doesn't sound right, this is the reason. Can a MIDI file create a perfect fifth that is completely in tune and resonates with all of the natural overtone series? I don't know. It might. I'll have to try it. But I have a feeling that a bird wouldn't mistake a mating call created by the MIDI for the real deal.

PLN blog I read about why you shouldn't become Facebook friends with your students (obvious, but he had some good points)

http://www.google.com/reader/view/?tab=my#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Ffeeds2.feedburner.com%2FSoYouWantToTeach

As a teacher, I think that it is really important not to cross a certain line with your students, especially if your students are near your age. It can confuse boundaries and make uncomfortable situations for all parties. It is especially important in a private lesson setting. We've all seen Mr. Holland's Opus, right? Remember the girl who wants Mr. Holland to go with her to NYC, and Mr. Holland has the deaf kid at home and is frustrated with his life and almost leaves his wife and kid? That Mr. Holland, he got all the way to the bus station before he realized what a dufus he was being! And this isn't just a story, kids! I think we've all heard of this happening in real life. Anyway, I think it always falls on the teacher to be the responsible adult, which means not messing kids lives up. So, stay far far far away from your student's facebook pages. Maybe when they have degrees and both of you are adults the student can stop calling you Mr. or Mrs. so and so. Until then, its only appropriate and conscientious of the teacher to make boundaries very clear. It is also important to be sensitive to the student's emotions and feelings, but the teacher is also an example to the student of psychological health.

MIDI readings

MIDI is basically a digital piece of software that is useful because it can recreate sounds inputted by the user using a piano keyboard with digital output. It can also recreate sounds inputted by computer keyboard. The sounds that MIDI creates are the same in any application because MIDI is a standardized system. A useful analogy is the player piano. The player piano "reads" the pinpricks on a piano roll and corresponds the correct note with the configuration of the holes on the piano roll. Similarly, a MIDI device "reads" the inputted pitch and timbre and plays a corresponding sound.

This is really useful when there are a lot of sound files to store; the memory taken by the MIDI file is only about 1/10th of memory taken by a digital file. Transposing is also no problem for the MIDI. If one uses MIDI to transpose a song from the key of A to the key of Bb, for example, MIDI transposes the pitches correspondingly. This has no impact on the quality of the sounds, as they are the same across all platforms. This is also one of MIDI's drawbacks. The quality of sound that MIDI produces is undesirable and should not be used to illustrate timbre to a beginning student, for example.

I think that MIDI makes up for this in ease of use compared to a digital audio. As technology gives us more computing power in smaller bits, I think that digital audio will be preferred over MIDI because of the nature of music education and performance. To me, there is no way, MIDI or digital, that can replace the sound of a human being playing an instrument, no matter how far technology in general progresses.

PLN Classics for Kids NPR Hary Janos broadcast

http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2Frss%2Fpodcast.php%3Fid%3D510237

I listened to two podcasts: one about Zoltan Kodaly and one about Kodaly's opera Hary Janos. I really enjoyed them both. They are six minutes each. The podcasts are long enough to be interesting but not exhausting. This is important, since children are the intended audience. The podcast highlights the most important biographical details of Kodaly's life and the opera Hary Janos. The writer of the broadcast (Naomi Lewin) does a good job framing the context of Kodaly's life with different tidbits that might be interesting to kids. For example, she mentions that Kodaly wrote a lot of songs for children to sing and developed an entire method around his songs. She also asks active questions like "can you imagine what a musical sneeze would sound like?", then plays the first two bars of Hary Janos, which depicts a sneeze. In the interjections between sections of the music, she explains what the next passage is supposed to represent. I imagine an interested kid would really enjoy these podcasts. The Hary Janos suite is often played in a youth orchestra setting, and it would probably be helpful and add to the enjoyment of the music if this podcast was played to the kids before and during rehearsals of the piece.

Week 4 blog on readings

These articles are referenced in this blog:

• Notation Software and the National Music Standards – Bb (pp. 99-100, Technology Strategies for Music Education)
• Creative Thinking and Music Technology – Bb
• The Vermont MIDI Project – Bb
• Sibelius: A Comprehensive Guide… – Chapter 14

The Vermont Midi project is an internet based program designed for students in grades 2-12. The project allows the students to share their work regardless of their geographical location, because all of the feedback happens on the internet. The project was born in 1995 when a group of music educators met to discuss the National Standars for Music Education.

The most obvious tool for learning about composition is music notation software. The students write music in several stages and the mentors provide feedback along the way. When a composition is complete, the student can submit their work to the Vermont MIDI project to be performed by a professional ensemble in a sponsored event.

What a great learning experience for both students and teachers. This is using the internet to its full potential! There is no drawback for any music educator to participate in this project. If the teacher doesn't know something about the composition process, it is easy to find out when there are a number of willing collaborators on the other side of the world. Access to knowledge is easy in this forum for both student and teacher.

Creative Thinking and Music Technology provided me with a lot of teaching ideas. One of the most pertinent to me right now is the point that the author makes about putting an 'edge' on teaching strategies. When I teach, I find myself getting into a predictable pattern. Music technology composition software can help me help my students. I will show my students the Noteflight software and show them how to use the software in their private lessons. I will have my students think about what they need to work on in their lessons and have them use the software to create an etude or exercise, which I will print and add onto. I think it will pique my student's interests, too.

Chapter 14 in the Sibelius book also gave me a lot of good ideas. I am realizing that Sibelius is a really powerful tool that I can utilize to help me teach my students in a variety of ways. The plug in for the note names and fingerings will help my students memorize new fingerings and patterns. I often talk about emphasizing the tonic and dominant notes of the pieces that my students memorize. The highlighting and coloring notes plug in will help my students have a visual cue. As a horn teacher, I see students struggle with transposition A LOT. In the professional world, transposition is a skill that must be second nature. If a student is a visual learner, I imagine that using the transposition tools in Sibelius would make it a lot easier to understand transposition. The hundreds of worksheets/warm ups that I will be able to create using Sibelius will be invaluable to my students and myself.

I am realizing that there are a lot of practical and useful applications for educators in the field of music technology. There are powerful tools that I can utilize to be an example for my students so that they will be able to utilize the technology that I never learned as a student.

reflection on week 3 readings

The readings this week pertain to the many uses of music notation software in the classroom. Some of the most obvious uses include notation and composition.

For notation purposes, a teacher can use the software to write parts that are easily legible. Most of the software is intuitive, so it will be easy for the teacher to learn the basics of the software to notate parts quickly. The notation software can also be utilized to write more difficult parts for more advanced students or simpler parts for students who are still learning the basics. It is a challenge to continually push advanced players, so notating a clarinet part for an advanced trombone player would be an option with the music notation software. Conversely, it can be frustrating for a player to switch instruments, perhaps from the clarinet to the bassoon, and have to fumble over the part because it is too difficult. Another great use is easy and automatic transposition from one key to another key. This eliminates a lot of confusion if the band director isn't good at transposition.

Music notation software is also a useful compositional tool. As the student creates a piece, the playback feature allows the student to hear what they have composed. If the student is not familiar with the piano and wants to write a piece using more than one voice, the playback feature is an easy way to hear more than one voice at a time without struggling over piano technique.

awesome story I listened to on NPR.org (PLN)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112336166&ft=1&f=1105

This is an article about a school chorus made up of 10 and 11 year olds in Staten Island, NY. They have recorded several songs for YouTube and have become an internet sensation. They have also been featured on Nightline NBC. The chorus is led by an intense young teacher named Gregg Breinburg.

In my opinion, the musical quality of the chorus is exceptional. They spend hours and hours in rehearsal, and it really shows. They are aware of harmonies, blending, and pitch. These details are a natural outgrowth of their love for the music that they sing and the joy that they get from singing together. It is apparent in their sound and in their faces and body language as they sing. (You can check them out on YouTube; search PS 22 Chorus.) The songs that they sing aren't traditional. Their repertoire is made of up of Lady Gaga, Journey, Michael Jackson, and Coldplay, among other popular artists.

This teacher is really invested in his students. He jumps around in the videos, yells out encouragement in the songs, and expects as much from his students as he does of himself. He prompts emotion and feeling in the songs by asking questions: "I want a little more power, guys," Breinberg says. "I don't feel it! You are questioning the world! Didn't you ever wonder how did all this happen? I want to see it. I want to feel it."

In this school, nearly seventy-five percent of the students are on free lunch. This speaks to the socio-economic status and crime rates of the area. This ensemble, with the exceptional role model it has in Mr. Breinberg, could very well be the future of this Staten Island community. His focus on bringing out the very best in his students could change these children's lives permanently.

Personal Learning Network article reaction

http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Ffeeds2.feedburner.com%2FSoYouWantToTeach

In this blog, the author relates some of the ups and downs over the years in his teaching career as a band director. I liked the article because it did not gloss over the more difficult moments in his life; in fact, he even talks about some of his darkest days, where he suspects now that he was clinically depressed. I feel that the author is honest and authentic. I feel this way because reading a blog is essentially a diary entry that the whole world is open to. In other, more informal settings, it may not be appropriate to talk about some of the more negative things he has experienced in his career as an educator.

Through his career, he has been through several "stages"--many of them seem to be more about his emotions than in the development of his actual skills as a teacher. As he is forming ideas for what he wants to leave behind as a legacy in his life as a music educator, it seems that his emotional reactions are the most important things he remembers.

The first stage is his over-confidence as a new teacher. I imagine that, as a new educator fresh from Case, I will erroneously feel as if I am ready for anything. His realization that he doesn't have much of a clue in his career is the next stage that he enters. Then, he tries to use coercion and intimidation to get the behavior that he wants from his students. As he moves into a new district, he seems to have more tools under his belt to make his classroom run more smoothly.

After he decides to stop using intimidation and coercion to manipulate his students, he seems to come to a new realization about himself as an educator: that positive reinforcement and coming up with solutions for problems works for him AND works for his students. This is not an earth-shattering revelation (to me), but it is the most important thing that I read about in this blog. He had lost sight of his power to affect himself, his students, and the quality of his rehearsals. When he realized this, it sounds to me that his career seemed to get back on track. It also seemed to me that he was able to affect change in his life and in his students' lives.

TPACK article reaction/reflection

Technology in music education is an idea that I am not entirely comfortable with. In a very large way, this is due to the fact that I have not been exposed to very much technology in my own musical education over the past 18 years. Because of this, I am skeptical. Part of me figures that if I had a proper music education and technology had no part in it, then I must not have missed out on anything. Another part is anxious and scared of the change that I know I must inevitably take part in as a music educator.

The TPACK article made me realize that I am not alone in my anxiety. In reading about the frequency of use of technology in music education, I was surprised to learn that so few educators utilize technology in their own curriculums, and even fewer students are utilizing the music technology that is available. I feel that these surveys of music educators must tell us something about the nature of music technology: that it is not yet user-friendly, and its usefulness is not readily apparent. It also tells me that music technology in the classroom is not valued by the people that provide the money for music software, computers, CDs, etc. etc. etc..

As the article states, technology should not be acquired just because it is "cool". It must also have the benefits that any good textbook must have: it must also be useful and beneficial to the student. As state departments are looking at budget cuts to music programs, every element of music education, including music technology, must have a transparent use. This means that every educator must be extremely knowledgeable on each piece of hardware and software that comes through the teacher's classroom.

In my understanding, TPACK is the integration of technology, pedagogical approaches, and the overarching element: the content of the subject matter. In this case, it is music. The focus on subject matter and content is, to me, the most important aspect of the TPACK. When the focus is shifted to content, the technology suddenly becomes less threatening.

Of course, as the article states, every element of TPACK is important. For me, the clearest way to think about the concept of the TPACK is in terms of its usefulness for developing a curriculum with meaningful content. For example: if a middle school music class has an assignment to compose a piece of music using basic 1-5-1 chords with the use of a piece of music software, the thrust of the lesson should not be on using the technology to struggle through a composition with a lot of frustration and hang-ups. That, in my opinion, would shade a student's view of composition for at least a while, if not a whole lifetime. The point of the lesson should be based on the composition process that will lead to a meaningful relationship with music in the students' minds.

I am relieved that 96% of students aged 9-17 are acquainted with technology using social networking sites. I am also relieved that many school-age students seem to be better than I am at navigating the web and finding information. This is a powerful argument for the use of music software in schools. If students are able to figure out how to use the software faster than even the "technological immigrant" teacher, the content of the lesson can be easily reached.

Bicycle Built for Two reflection, part 2

I feel that Noteflight could be an extremely useful tool for music educators. I found myself naming chords as I was notating them. When I felt fairly comfortable with the software, I thought about the quarters in the left hand of the piano part differently than I would have had I notated the music by hand. One reason for this is that I did not have to worry about the direction of stems or the formation of the notes themselves. The software was doing that part of it for me, so I was free to think about the notes within the chords. The most useful part of the software for me was that I was able to check the accuracy of my notation by listening to the chords go by in the context of the music rather than struggling with piano technique. If I had printed the music, it would have also been easier than notating the music by hand. This is because the printed version of the music would have been much easier to read than the hand notated version I would have created by myself without the help of a computer. For a student who is learning about chordal progressions, Noteflight simplifies the creation of a piece by eliminating the human variable of unclear notation. It is also useful (and faster) for developing a feel for writing chordal progressions.

Bicycle Built for Two reflection

http://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/c0820b4a3088164a7f9e5d283460a4c94461688b

Noteflight is the first music notation software that I have ever used. My initial reaction to Noteflight was that it was not intuitive. I had to watch the help videos two times before I felt comfortabl e enough to try copying Bicycle Built for Two. My main frustration with the interface was that I felt like I had to sift through tons of information before I was able to find out about what I was struggling with. My first problem was with the tempo text at the top of the page. I felt that I should have been able to click somewhere on the top left page to type the text, as in a Microsoft document. When I discovered that I had to go to a tab on the right hand side of the screen (the score tab) before I was able to click on the top left blank part of the page, I was frustrated when I wasn't able to type the text the first time, since the software only gave me one chance to type before I had to go back to the tab to "tell" the software what to do with it (again). Once I figured out that I had to use the tabs for almost every detail except for the notes themselves, I felt more comfortable. The first eight measures took me almost an hour to figure out. Once I was through copying the first eight measures of the piece, I was less frustrated with the software and I was able to go through the rest of the piece fairly quickly. I felt reasonably competent with the software by the time I was done copying the piece. A shortcut that I found useful was to use shift+note name to notate a chord.