Blog #19: Reading Reflections for 11/2/2009

Texts referenced in this post: “Mulimedia Basics: Text” & “Multimedia Basics: Sound” byDr. Estrella Jorgenson
“WorldWideWaveForms” by Thad Brown

There were parts of these readings that were comprehensible for a digital immigrant such as myself. Much of the “Text” article by Dr. Jorgenson made sense. I now know what many of the font terms I’ve seen in past mean, such as Sans Serif, Postscript, and TrueType. I understand that a word processing program takes the keys I type and assigns a binary number to it in a language that can be understood by all computers. I was not aware that RTF and HTML were related. I assumed that HTML specifically pertained to websites but this is not the case. HTMLs are word processed documents and I wonder if it’s possible to type reports in the form of HTML as opposed to a Word document. I guess I’m still a little confused on the differences between the various file formats.

I enjoyed reading the “Sound” article as well, which began fairly basic. It described what exactly sound is and how it is picked-up by the human ear vs. how it is picked-up by recording devices. Sound waves are transformed into pictures of the electronic voltage they produce. With cassette tapes, these pictures are printed onto a magnetic tape and the picture is eventually read back by the stereo. However, digital recording is different because they actually assign numbers to the voltage signal and no picture is created. Another term I’ve apparently been confused about is kilohertz, which actually refers to the quality of a recording and not the amplitude. Kiloherz refers to the amount of sound which is being picked-up every second (frames/sec.). The article became slightly too complicated for me after this; however, the author’s overriding point was that recordings of higher quality sound take-up more space.

I was not aware that Apple’s QuickTime was a free application. This software could certainly have many benefits for music educators but I’m looking forward to understanding the technology better. I have enjoyed taping my teaching endeavors since being here at Case but I have struggled to actually post the video clips onto my eportfolio. I was never trained how to do this and I have always had to ask for help from a friend. I wonder, however, if I will have access to the technology that will allow me to post videos online after leaving school (Case). I know I certainly cannot play mini DVs from my own computer. Dr. Jorgenson also suggested that I browse shareware.com which I now intend to do. I was confused, for example, rather or not MoviePlayer was a free application or if it was part of QuickTime or if it was an entirely separate package all together.

Thad Brown’s article discussed how recording software encodes sound. He explained the term which occurs when audio codecs simply eliminate sounds that have the same harmonic content of another, louder sound. It essentially takes away the softer sounds that are “not needed.” This seem alright, but it’s unfortunate that some of my performers might get cut from the performance simply due to the recording process. The subsequent discussion about MP3 files and the use of CBR or VBR was a little confusing but I think my main concern is that whatever sound clips I post on the internet can be heard by any listener who accesses the link, regardless of what type of computer they have. It’s not worth the work of posting the music online if people cannot actually play it. At one point in the article, the author mentioned the HTML code for embedding a sound file. I was excited to realize that I already know how to do that from this week’s tutorial!

PLN Blog: Dallas Symphony For Kids Site

http://www.dsokids.com/
I had a blast reviewing internet resources for music educators while completing the social bookmarking assignment. Everyone should try the link above, which will bring you to the Dallas Symphony Kid's site and click on 'Games.' It's a blast!! You can play Beethoven baseball and actually create a baseball team of composers. The other notable game is Composer Time Machine, in which a time machine actually "spits-out" composers of various eras. The composer stands-up and states an interesting fact about him/herself, and the player needs to place the composer in the appropriate historical era. The fact which the composer mentions actually has nothing to do with the era he/she represents, but it's cute. The web site also includes tutorials on basic music theory and brief biographies of the big name composers in the history of Western music. DSO For Kids has also posted information about all of the orchestral instruments along with sound clips to accompany both the instruments and the composers. This would be great for very young students (and apparently for me as well).

Blog #17: Reading Reflections for 10/26/2009

Material referenced in this post:
“A Collaborative Approach to Collecting Online Music Resources” by Dr. William I. Bauer
“Wikis in Plain English” by The Common Craft
“Social Bookmarking in Plain English” by The Common Craft
“Searching the Web in Plain English” by The Common Craft
del.icio.us tutorials by Atomic Learning


I found both wikis and del.icio.us to be very understandable and extremely useful. I am looking forward to beginning both of these projects because I know they will manifest a large number of resources for music educators. I really did not understand what a wiki was until watching the videos. It seems like it can be a great way to collect information and facilitate ongoing discussions online as opposed to sending copious e-mails which may quickly become confusing. I enjoy the Common Craft videos because I am so behind in the field of online resources. I am thankful that they explain these tools in simple terms. During the video, though, I did find myself wondering how reliable wikis can be in terms of valid information on a topic. Can any internet user make changes to a wiki or are they password protected? In the camping video, it seemed like anyone could easily change a wiki. That’s why I think it would be important to click the “notify me tab,” so that the creator is sent a message every time a change is made to the Wiki.

Finding web pages that are appropriate and useful can be a challenge so I also found the “Searching the Web in Plain English” video to be helpful. I was not aware that if I type a “-“ sign next to a word in my search engine, all sites that include this word will be excluded from my results. I haven’t tried this yet, but I can imagine it being extremely useful. I think the key in all of this is social networking. A music educator should be concerned with what others have found on the web and I’m still slightly unsure of how to do this. I believe the tutorials mentioned that all of my bookmarks are public by default, unless I marked them otherwise. Does that mean that all other users can see my bookmarks or just those in my network? I probably need to read the assignment guidelines more carefully, but I also don’t quite know how to add users to my network. Dr. Bauer’s article stated that I should click the Network link and then type musiceducation. Will that include me into the network of any user who tags sites as musiceducation? Also – the article suggested that I use the tag “mued” for anything related to music education. Are all other music teachers, new to the del.icio.us network, familiar with this term? I’m also still slightly confused about RSS feeds. RSS feeds have to go to my Google Reader, correct? They are not notifications sent to my e-mail account(?). Are there different varieties of RSS feeds? I still love the acronym, though – “Really Simple Syndication.”

Overall, I am glad to have both a wikispace and a delicious account. I feel better knowing what these tools are and how to access them. My greatest concern at the moment, however, is that I may stop using them at the completion of this course. I going to practice working with both of these accounts throughout the semester so that utilizing such resources will become like second nature.

PLN: "Interactive Whiteboards: Using them in the Music Classroom" by Janice

http://www.musicteachersblog.com/2009/10/interactive-whiteboards-using-them-in-the-music-classroom/

This URL above is linked to the "Music Teachers Blog" designed to collect resources for all types of music teachers. Janice's post requests readers to send ideas for using Smart Board. At the bottom of the page is a link to an article about a teacher in California who is very enthusiastic about using the new tool in her classroom. She explains her ideas in very simple terms for those who are unfamiliar with the technology. She notes that a teahcer can be as creative as he/she wants - if you have much computer experience, great; but if you don't, it's still possible to put together extremely engaging lesson plans for the students. I am all for Smart Boards! I substitute teach at a poor elementary school in my home district (when I'm at home) and even this school of limited resources was able to find grant money to put Smart Boards in every classroom. The kids are absolutely enthralled with them! Students are so excited for every lesson. I hope that administrators will not exclude music classrooms when purchasing Smart Boards becuase they could be used in so many ways. It seems Janice also posted a video at the bottom of her blog but it was taken off for permission of use reasons. Let me know if anyone has any other teaching or learning experiences with a Smart Board.

Blog #15: Reading Reflections for 10/12/2009

Articles Referenced in this Post: “Computer-Aided Instruction” from Experiencing
Music Technology
“New Dimensions in White” by Chad Criswell
“SMART Boards in the General Music Classroom”
by Jennifer Mercer
“Automatic Accompaniment Generators” by John
Kuzmich Jr.
“One Computer Can Deliver Whole-Class Instruction”
by Kirk Kassner

There were a number of interesting ideas that came up within these articles. I enjoyed Kuzmich’s discussion of Band-in-a-Box and its use for teaching young instrumentalists. I was able to learn about this program in the music computer lab at Allegheny College and I hope to use it again soon. This software is able to create accompaniment harmonies for any student solo. The teacher only needs to put in the chord changes and choose a style. This application makes jazz improvisation much more accessible! Up to 40 loops can be selected so students can practice for several choruses. If I remember correctly, the software can also improvise its own melody to give the performer a few starting ideas.

I was first introduced to SmartMusic through a high school band director I was observing. He was having his students come in on an individual basis to practice solo-and-ensemble pieces with the program. SmartMusic has 85% of the entire band/string solo literature available at the high school or college level. I don’t know how the program keeps track of all of that music but it provides a personal accompanist for every user. SmartMusic can respond to the musician by adjusting tempo according to the performance. Kuzmich also mentioned that more than 30 states are now allow SmartMusic accompaniments for solo-and-ensemble performances. As a school ensemble director, it would be relieving to know that I wouldn’t have to find an accompanist for all of my students. This software could possibly help me monitor practice sessions as would the iPAS technology; however, it seems that students would need to have the program on their home computer for this to happen. I’m not sure if this would be possible for everyone, considering that I still can’t assume that there is a computer with internet access inside the home of all young musicians. I have also listened to the Bruce Pearson’s Standard of Excellence CD accompaniment before and thought it was a great resource. It provided fun harmonies to accompany the exercises in the method book and also a number of full band accompaniments for the full band pieces. This would be convenient for the elementary teacher who was having difficulty conveying the style of a piece to the beginning ensemble.

I was impressed with the Interactive White Board articles and truly believe that this is one of the most innovative technologies implemented in school classrooms within the past decade. When I’m at home, I substitute teach at a poor, rural elementary school in my local district. Even this school, running on a limited budget, was able to get SMART boards for every single classroom in the building through a grant….with the exception of the music classroom. Teachers at the school are given in-service training on how to use these tools and they are utilized in every room. The students absolutely love using the SMART boards and are much more attentive during instruction. I can imagine that they might have several uses in the music classroom. A teacher could write different melodic lines using a notation software and ask students to unscramble it, or the teacher could select different graphics in order to display form on the board.

I was glad that Kassner attempted to tackle the issue of how to structure classroom activities with only one computer available, although I’m not sure if he offered any solid answers. As I’ve been learning about the several technologies which can be utilized in the music classroom, it generally seems that, realistically, the teacher must be the one to use to software in order to produce something to use during instruction. In order for students to all use a software program, there would need to be enough computers for everyone in the class. Kassner suggested that the teacher split the students into teams and give each a turn at answering a question on the computer. All other teams wait while it is not their turn. I really think that creating a game of jeopardy (with no computers) would be a more effective way to accomplish such objectives. The teacher would have the freedom of creating several different categories, which would cover more material during the game. I think this might create a more interactive environment in which all students would be more engaged. The learning stations seemed like a more feasible model for incorporating the computer into classroom activities; however, in this situation the teacher might not be able to monitor the progress of each individual. The solution, clearly, is that school boards need to provide computer labs for every music curriculum in this country. I believe in miracles.

Blog #14: PLN: How Music Teachers Can Manage Time Efficiently

http://www.menc.org/resources/view/teaching-music-current-featured-article

I’ve included the MENC site on my PLN because I rarely have time to log on and update myself about what’s going on in the world of music education. MENC recently alerted my PLN that the newest issue of Teaching Music has been released and that several of the articles are now available online. The link above will bring you to a feature article entitled “Change Your Tempo” which is about how music teachers, ensemble directors in particular, can manage their time to be more efficient. The notion of how to accomplish all that is required of a teacher seems a little intimidating to me as a pre-service teacher and I’ll take all the advice I can take. This article discusses both long-term curriculum planning and also daily lesson planning. Suggestions on when, where, and how to do those two tasks are provided. I particularly liked Manfredo’s suggestion at the end about how he set-up his to-do list. I plan on trying this.

Blog #13: PLN: What age should a beginning teacher work with?

http://musicmattersblog.com/2009/09/28/monday-mailbag-best-age-student-for-a-beginning-teacher/

Above is a link to an entry in the Music Matters blog which is about what the best age for beginning teachers to work with is. The article mostly pertains to private piano teachers I believe, but the philosophies mentioned by the writer are still interesting. She notes that many non-musicians believe that their children, who are beginning their musical journey, could study and benefit from a less-knowledgeable teacher at first and then, should the child become more serious about the hobby, could “move-up” to a more proficient teacher later. How untrue that is! Beginning students are the most excited they will ever be about creating music because the entire concept is new to them. Young musicians should be placed with teachers that can impress and motivate them to become serious about pursuing the art. Not all teachers have a good understanding of how to work with students of young ages either. It takes commitment and passion to commit to helping the new student grow serious and learn the fundamentals of a new instrument. I’m glad that the author noted this. She feels that it might be recommendable for inexperienced teachers to work with students who have had a number of years of lessons as opposed to working with those who have not played before. She also notes that the personality of the new teacher is also an obvious consideration.

Blog #12: Reading Reflections for 10/5/2009

Articles referenced in this blog entry: “Capturing Your Sound: A Guide to Live Recording" By Time Clukey
“Tips and Techniques: Picture This” by Scott Watson
“TIME Technology Strategies” from Technology
Strategies for Music Education

I felt very discouraged after reading Clukey’s article about how to record school ensemble performances. I completely agree that recording students is an essential component of an adequate music program today. The second article by Watson mentioned that kids love hearing recordings of themselves, and this is so true. Providing recordings is a prime motivator for our students and essential for teaching them how to evaluate their own musical progress. However, Clukey promised at the beginning of his article that the procedure for recording concerts could be both very understandable for the educator and inexpensive for the educator’s budget. At no point in his writing did I feel that either of these statements were true. The author mentioned device after device after device necessary to record performances and the total expenditure was a few thousand dollars or possibly much more. I was also very unfamiliar with every piece of hardware, software, and procedure that the author reviewed. There were many words in the article that were left undefined such as Phantom power, LED meters, normalization, platform-specific wave form, and several others. I felt that Clukey’s discussion was way over my head which terrifies me as a future educator because I know that the ability to work with this technology is essential. I think I need someone to walk me through the process of using this equipment because I don’t believe I’ve ever handled any of the items mentioned under the ‘Building Your Recording Kit’ side bar on page 28. The author did note that local music stores can help teachers evaluate fair prices for the equipment and hopefully I’ll be able to utilize such local resources.

The information about setting-up the equipment did make some sense to me. I think that if one is going to expend the effort to produce a recording of a group’s performance, he/she might as well aim for a quality product. It is imperative that mics are placed far enough away from the audience so that general noise from the hall is not picked-up but also far enough away from the performers to ensure that sounds coming from all sides of the ensemble will be picked up. I’ve heard many band recordings where one microphone was obviously too close to a specific section, or even worse, too close to one specific player! It would be helpful for the director to schedule a sound-check and allow time to experiment with microphone position. It seems like the best situation is when the ensemble can rehearse in the same hall they perform in. The Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble I played in during my undergraduate work was able to do this so our director always had an accurate concept of how each piece would sound for the final performance. Even if the ensemble doesn’t rehearse in the same place they perform, having one performance venue would still familiarize the conductor with the reverberation and echo of the hall.

After reading the recording section of the document; however, the process of setting-up and tearing-down does seem extensive and time consuming. A busy concert week is always to be expected, though. However, the truth is, professionals go to school and earn degrees, even graduate degrees, in sound recording. I’m worried that I won’t have the resources to learn what I need to know about creating a polished recording. The editing (‘Postproduction: Transfer and Processing’) section of the article also put me at a loss. I feel completely unqualified to complete this kind of audio editing. I do not feel the author was speaking to someone on my level.

I did really enjoy Watson’s article, however, which explained how to visually display the sounds of student instrumentalists. Classes of beginners would love this and I completely agree with the author. Most people are visual learners and seeing the sound that they produce would illustrate the concepts of expressive style in ways that no other method could. The results would be incredible. It seemed like it might be difficult to have an entire group of beginners huddled around a computer to see the resulting sound waves, though. I liked Watson’s description of demonstrating first on one’s own instrument, displaying the “correct” picture on the computer screen, and then asking students to attempt to match it. This is an incredible form of feedback which allows students to see the differences between contrasting styles.