The following link is to a program that is used at the school where I am currently student teaching. High Touch, High Tech comes to the school to teach students about the science behind technology. The students seem to enjoy this program and usually excited when they come. This week the students are learning about electricity.

http://www.sciencemadefun.net/

Interactivity #5

     I interviewed the instrumental music teacher in Stillman Elementary School about the use of NETS in the music class room. He had heard of the NETS but said he was not very familiar with them. Teaching instrumental music is very different from teaching in a regular classroom. The main focus is proficiency on your instrument. There are computer programs and different technologies you can use to help, but he keeps his music classroom very traditional.  He did say that he was interested in trying the Smart Music program in the future.
     The elementary school provides technology programs such as "High Touch High Tech" for the students.Stillman Elementary tries to keep up to date with their technology. The teacher I interviewed said he wasn't sure though if they implement the NETS in the curriculum though.
     I was not surprised by what my teacher had said in my short interview with him. In instrumental music there is only so much you can do with technology before it gets to the point where it becomes distracting. There is practical technology uses such as microphones, electric keyboards, and amps, but the most important part in instrumental music is getting the students to physically play their instrument. In general music however there is more room for creativity with technology such as using music related ipad apps.



Google Spreadsheet Link:

 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Av4kpwwiNg77dHYwakFpeEQ2OGZsbTBSVk5JcHJKdXc#gid=0

Music, Nature, and Technology

In the video above, Diego Stocco combines music and nature with technology. Most of Diego Stocco's musical compositions are inspired by nature. He uses objects, such as the tree in this video as his instruments. His creative use of nature is fascinating but what makes his music unique is his use of technology. If you watch the video you can see how he sets up tiny microphones that are able to capture sounds made by the tree that otherwise wouldn't be able to be heard. While recording, he also uses a loop that records and replays a desired section. When watching the video, listen to how he uses the loop to layer the sounds little by little. This allows Diego to create one tree into a tree orchestra.


Music is everywhere. What can you find in your back yard to make music?

A Little More John Cage

Here is a little more of John Cage.

John Cage iphone/Droid App

On a train ride to Manhattan I was discussing with a friend the music of John Cage. His music is very out of the ordinary and sometimes hard to understand. Many people debate about whether or not some of John Cage's music can actually be categorized as music. I have always wondered if discussing the music of John Cage would be something interesting for a general music class. The work of John Cage is based mostly on his unique philosophy of music, and I think it is important for my students to see different perspectives and ideas about music making. During our conversation my friend asked if I have ever seen the John Cage phone App for prepared piano. I had never heard of this App and when he opened it for me I spent 15 minutes of our train ride clicking around and exploring the different sounds. What a cool App! A lot of school districts are starting to use ipads in their classrooms. If I were to work at a school who had access to any type of ipad I would definitely use this App in my general music class. The app even allows you to record and play back your own compositions! I think this will be a great way to introduce my students to modern music.

Here is a youtube video of the App itself:

And here is a video describing the actual prepared piano of John Cage:

The following is a link with information on getting the App
  http://johncage.org/cagePiano.html

Smart Music

http://www.smartmusic.com/

I have been trying to decide if this program "smart music" would be a valuable resource for my future student's education. From this video it seems like the students enjoy using the program but how much are they actually learning? Could this be distracting in the classroom? This program is one of the most popular methods right now but it still makes me think what is wrong with traditional music education? I don't believe that this program is bad or unnecessary, but I do believe that you can accomplish the same thing without this fancy technology.

Interactivity #4

Beatlemania Lesson Plan:  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_4kpwwiNg77RTg5b0JLem1lZjA/edit?usp=sharing

Google Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Av4kpwwiNg77dHYwakFpeEQ2OGZsbTBSVk5JcHJKdXc&usp=sharing


"Beatlemania" was a lesson I wrote last semester during fieldwork for an 8th grade Rock and Roll History class. When I first wrote this lesson plan I was very uncomfortable using the smartboard in the classroom so I tried to limit my smartboard use as much as possible. The amount of time it took for me to fiddle around with it took away too much of class time. I was however comfortable enough to use the smartboard to play youtube videos related to our discussion topics.

I am currently student teaching at the same school. The students I had last semester have rotated to a different course so my Co-op and I have a brand new set of students. I chose this lesson plan because I had the opportunity to teach the lesson again. Why not use this opportunity to modify a lesson plan that I will actually use? I actually taught my modified lesson plan in class and it went very well. The students were excited to see their handwriting blown up on the big screen. I think it was something that they didn't expect. They knew that we would be using the posters to start discussion topics, but when I told them I would scan their images and put it on the smartboard they didn't believe me.

The first time I taught this lesson I tried to fit everything into one 45 minute period. The students enjoyed the carousel activity because they got to draw fun pictures and write stuff with markers, but because of time constraints the real discussion I wanted got lost. I decided that a two day lesson would be best. After looking at their finished posters I realized that they also didn't meet the expectations that I thought they would. Their comments were undeveloped, they didn't react to other students opinions, and the pictures they drew had little to do with the information I presented to them. When I modified my lesson plan I decided it would be best to explain what I wanted from them by using Facebook as an example. Most of them have probably been on Facebook before and know what it is like to write on a friends wall or comment on pictures. I wanted to let them know that they are allowed to write down reactions to other people's comments. With the new group of students they were able to understand what I wanted from them by using the Facebook example.

After some practice, I became a little more comfortable with the smartboard so I decided it would be really great to figure out a way to get scanned images of their posters to put on the big screen. This is what really made the discussion part of my lesson stronger. The students were excited to see their handwriting and pictures up in front of them. I made sure to let them know I was putting their images up on the screen and reminded them that everything they wrote is anonymous and will stay anonymous if they wish.  With out having these scanned images, the students would have never been able to choose what topics they wanted to talk about.

A student of mine taught me how to make a Prezi using www.prezi.com. I used this website to organize the scanned images and videos. Putting videos on the prezi was a relief because the students always want me to click on the videos that pop up in the sidebar. This allowed no distractions! The following link is the actual Prezi that I made for the class.

http://prezi.com/a910xts3pcoa/the-beatles/?kw=view-a910xts3pcoa&rc=ref-31264905