Audio Recording Using Logic

For this project, I used a Shure SM58 microphone, which is an SM57 that has been modified for vocals. I thought that making this recording, although a simple thing to do, was fun and easy, and could be utilized so well in a classroom. For me, especially for women's music, this would be a great way to give examples of the sounds I'm looking for. Also, in a general music setting, this is great for teaching pieces in rounds, like the example in the video. I think that as I go through teaching, I would like to become more and more familiar with these sort of techniques, and it could also be so much fun for students. This could be a fun, end of the year activity.

Web Apps and Such

In class last week, we dsicussed musical activites, games, etc. that can be accessed online, and one that I have found is called and I have found that it has some really neat games on it that I think would be appropriate in a middle school clasroom setting. http://www.sfskids.org/templates/splash.asp is another link that I have found helpful especially for younger students, and although a lot of the sounds are not exactly ideal representations of their instruments, there are a number of fun games and learning tools on here that I think could be used well in a classroom. http://www.virtualpiano.net/ is a link to a virtual piano that I know could be used for a number of classroom activities, including learning the note names in relation to the piano keys, learning about chords, etc. http://www.pandora.com/ Pandora radio is a web app that I use often. Although the classical music is not the greatest here, I find that so many other styles are easy to search, and I like that it tells you why it chose which pieces it did for your playlist. It tells you which characterists your pieces share with the ones that it chose. http://soundcloud.com/ I know we use soundcloud often when we put choir recordings on our study site to listen to, so this is definitely a useful tool. http://hypem.com/ Hypem is an app that I had never heard of, but I wanted to look up at least one new app for this blog so that I could check it out and see if anyone else gets any use out of it. It seems like something that I wouldn't use very much, but maybe I'm wrong... its a way to look at other music blogs, so there could be some hidden vaue in it. Also, in class we discussed NoteFlight. It is something that I don't think I"ll use yet, because I do have Sibelius on my computer, but I can definitely see the value in it (I mean it's free, and what college kid doesn't like free stuff?). It looks lise something that students could potentially learn to use as well, should I be lucky enough to end up in a school where we have access to computers for things like that.

Carol Burnett Presentation Using Glogster

Carol Burnett Presentation Using Prezi

CAROL BURNETT on Prezi

Kids and Technology (2.3.12)

In class this past Friday, we got into a discussion (almost an argument, really)about kids' use of technology, and how much is appropriate. I, just like everyone else, have a number of opinions on how children should be using technology, but in this particular blog, we are discussing technology in the classroom. Do I think kids should have cell phones before high school? No. Do I think that kids should be on their gaming systems at home for hours and hours on end? No. But I'll have no control over that as a teacher; those are the parents' decisions to make. I know that in my classroom, technology will be used as a learning tool and a privilege. I think that an excessive use of technology is one of the reasons that we live in such an "I-want-it-and-I-want-it-now" society, and the younger generations are suffering from it even more than we are. I will use technology at the times that I feel it is appropriate in the classroom, and if I think that it will help the students to better understand a praticular concept (and I do have a number of ways planned in which I think that technology will be used in my room). However, kids aren't entitled too the use of technology. It is a privilege and I plan to treat it as such. I feel that in a music classroom, this is less of an issue, though. The best way to learn music is to dive right in and sing it (or play it, in other cases than my own), and technology can't replace that. We can listen to recordings (which I do plan to do), but the only way for the students to truly know their parts is to sing them themselves. In class, we mentioned ways to get the word out about performances. I think that there really shouldn't be a need for even more ways to remind students. I plan to give a list of performance dates at the beginning of the semester, post the dates online, give handouts, send emails,and remind the students in class. If they can't keep track of the performance dates with all of those resources, then that is beyond me at that point. I will be a music teacher, not a babysitter. I will give them all of the resources to find the information that they need, but if their excuse for missing a concert is "It wasn't on my Twitter page," then the fault is theirs, and they need to learn that the real world doesn't revolve around their Twitter account. As a teacher I think it is my respnsibility to help prepare students for the next stages of their lives, and handing them all of the information on my class via their personal social networking accounts doesn't do that. If we had and extra even or something over the summer, then I would be willing to maybe dive into those other ways of communication, but for the regular school year, I just think that it's unnecessary. Maybe that's an old fashioned view, and I do plan to keep an open mind, but as of right now, that's the way I plan to run my classroom.