Webquests, and all the work they entail on the part of the creator: it's all coming back to me. I like webquests a lot, and I always meant to use them more in my teaching, but now I am remembering why exactly that hasn't happened, up to this point. Making one of these things is no quick or easy task. I want to make a good one, something I can be proud of (unlike that Soundation composition) so this is going to take real focus on my part for the next 24 hours.
At any rate, I know that a good webquest is a powerful teaching/learning tool. Given that there is such a large amount of already existing webquests available on the web, I think it would be smart to search what's already out there and use any that I think are worthwhile in my lessons this school year. No point in reinventing the wheel, after all.
The sites search this morning was cool, but also somewhat overwhelming. I found my attention split amongst so many different sites and ideas that it became difficult to really tell what was worth bookmarking and what wasn't. I did love the Isle of Tunes site, and I am curious to try the Plinking site with my students. On the whole, it reminded me that there is a wealth of great music learning sites out there, and I should make a point to regularly integrate them into my lessons.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Three Music Websites I Will Use
1. Isle of Tune isleoftune.com
This is an addictive, fun way to introduce composition to students. Harkens back to "Sims" and "Rollercoaster Tycoon," with delightful and silly sounds. It's a unique way to visualize music, not something you come across every day.
2. BSO Kids http://www.bso.org/brands/bso/education-community/children-families/bso-kids.aspx
It's simple but fun; basic games that reinforce concepts like recognizing music notation via "Catchy Tuba," or matching instrument sounds/composition genres via "Music Memory."
3. Auralia- via www.musicfirst.com
Auralia helped me a great deal with ear training when I was in college, and I'm happy to see it is available in the Cloud via Music First. Introducing this to my middle school students is something I would really like to tackle this year; I did something similar in Toledo, but with good old fashioned paper and pencil. Even that was engaging for my students, so I hope that this would be equally successful.
This is an addictive, fun way to introduce composition to students. Harkens back to "Sims" and "Rollercoaster Tycoon," with delightful and silly sounds. It's a unique way to visualize music, not something you come across every day.
2. BSO Kids http://www.bso.org/brands/bso/education-community/children-families/bso-kids.aspx
It's simple but fun; basic games that reinforce concepts like recognizing music notation via "Catchy Tuba," or matching instrument sounds/composition genres via "Music Memory."
3. Auralia- via www.musicfirst.com
Auralia helped me a great deal with ear training when I was in college, and I'm happy to see it is available in the Cloud via Music First. Introducing this to my middle school students is something I would really like to tackle this year; I did something similar in Toledo, but with good old fashioned paper and pencil. Even that was engaging for my students, so I hope that this would be equally successful.
Reflection on Day 2
I am glad we set up Personal Learning Networks because that is something I want to make use of in my career. Strangely, as we were setting it up, I guess I must have just been "going through the motions" because now I don't quite remember all the juicy details of what exactly my PLN consists of at this point. The key, then, is to actually use it; read articles, post things, etc. I had a folder of bookmarks related to music education dating back several years, and I never looked at them. Saved them for "later," whenever later was supposed to be. Some of those sites I added to my PLN- what is that, Feedly? OK, now I'm getting Feedly and Diigo mixed up. What's the difference? I have to go back and use both of them, they're getting jumbled in my memory. At any rate, I often feel 1) isolated as a music teacher, and 2) Out of touch with what is going on in music education. So I hope that by making a habit of PLNing daily I will alleviate those problems.
Soundation I expounded on yesterday; I will just add that with some time, I've recognized that what I was experiencing yesterday was what a lot of people experience with technology. It reminded me to be patient with students, and understanding of their frustrations.
Soundation I expounded on yesterday; I will just add that with some time, I've recognized that what I was experiencing yesterday was what a lot of people experience with technology. It reminded me to be patient with students, and understanding of their frustrations.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
A Reflection on Soundation
Soundation: No.
Intent: I set out wanting to just compose something in a Latin style, with solos and a variety of timbres and flavors. That did not happen. The program very quickly kicked my intent to the curb, due to the very restrictive amount of loops. Boo to only a handful of loops. And then the MIDI files- awck! I chose a MIDI file at random in the end, because none of them sounded good. Finally, just to use another kind of sound, I added some squawking birds. Not my original intent, not at all. Ridiculous. So the final project is an imposter, it exists to make me look like a fool.
Technical Issues: This program has WAAAAAAAY too many kinks and drawbacks for me to want to use it with my students, yet. I say yet, in the hopes that the creators will eventually release a version that doesn't make me nuts. As I stated before, the loops library is pitiful. And what is this nonsense about the pitch or timing stretch? Why can't it just adjust? I tried to use loops of contrasting tempos; I tried the pitch option, the time stretch option, and just doing nothing, and it always sounded awful. The MIDI files are BOOOO. Cutting the loops was something I attempted with an actual interesting idea in mind, but I found the cut/edit result to be so nonsensical, I gave up. I could not tell what chunk of the loop I was cutting out, and then once it was gone the remaining parts of the loop just automatically squished together, which was not at all what I wanted. Grrr. I had to save, reload, reopen several times because it just started doing things at random that I could neither understand or stop. The whole thing just made me appreciate Garageband that much more.
Educational Implications: Soundation itself can be used in the process of teaching and learning to drive students and teachers nuts and accomplish very little. Programs like Soundation- oh, say, Garageband- can be used to CREATE and COMPOSE. And MOTIVATE students to engage in music class. Any time I ever used Garageband with kids, it was always a hit. Even with the minor technical issues, it was overall a success and the kids liked their own musical work. But, Garageband is not in the Cloud. Soundation is in the Cloud. Frustrating.
Intent: I set out wanting to just compose something in a Latin style, with solos and a variety of timbres and flavors. That did not happen. The program very quickly kicked my intent to the curb, due to the very restrictive amount of loops. Boo to only a handful of loops. And then the MIDI files- awck! I chose a MIDI file at random in the end, because none of them sounded good. Finally, just to use another kind of sound, I added some squawking birds. Not my original intent, not at all. Ridiculous. So the final project is an imposter, it exists to make me look like a fool.
Technical Issues: This program has WAAAAAAAY too many kinks and drawbacks for me to want to use it with my students, yet. I say yet, in the hopes that the creators will eventually release a version that doesn't make me nuts. As I stated before, the loops library is pitiful. And what is this nonsense about the pitch or timing stretch? Why can't it just adjust? I tried to use loops of contrasting tempos; I tried the pitch option, the time stretch option, and just doing nothing, and it always sounded awful. The MIDI files are BOOOO. Cutting the loops was something I attempted with an actual interesting idea in mind, but I found the cut/edit result to be so nonsensical, I gave up. I could not tell what chunk of the loop I was cutting out, and then once it was gone the remaining parts of the loop just automatically squished together, which was not at all what I wanted. Grrr. I had to save, reload, reopen several times because it just started doing things at random that I could neither understand or stop. The whole thing just made me appreciate Garageband that much more.
Educational Implications: Soundation itself can be used in the process of teaching and learning to drive students and teachers nuts and accomplish very little. Programs like Soundation- oh, say, Garageband- can be used to CREATE and COMPOSE. And MOTIVATE students to engage in music class. Any time I ever used Garageband with kids, it was always a hit. Even with the minor technical issues, it was overall a success and the kids liked their own musical work. But, Garageband is not in the Cloud. Soundation is in the Cloud. Frustrating.
Reflection on Day 1
On Monday, we used Incredibox, started a blog, used Noteflight to transcribe "Bicycle," and started social bookmarking with Diigo.
Incredibox is new to me. I like it a lot. It is a great tool for teaching concepts around composition and form. It is very user friendly, but I do wish that it worked on smart phones- oh well. I hope to use Incredibox with my middle school students this year.
Blogging... yeah.
Noteflight is also very familiar to me. I use it a great deal. The cheat sheet of Noteflight commands is very helpful, I am glad to have that and will use it again in the future. It would be of interest to me to see the deluxe version of Noteflight, and see what other features are available to a paid subscription.
Social bookmarking via Diigo is new to me; I understand why and how it would be a useful tool, so I will try to use it and all it's features. Normally I bookmark websites I like via my browser Bookmarks, and into various folders, but I suppose Diigo would be a smarter way to go. It occurred to me that Pinterest is kind of used that way, too, via pictures. Also not necessarily organized very well. I like that on Diigo you can highlight text on the website and make notes about what exactly is of interest.
In total I feel like I am TPACKing pretty well so far.
Incredibox is new to me. I like it a lot. It is a great tool for teaching concepts around composition and form. It is very user friendly, but I do wish that it worked on smart phones- oh well. I hope to use Incredibox with my middle school students this year.
Blogging... yeah.
Noteflight is also very familiar to me. I use it a great deal. The cheat sheet of Noteflight commands is very helpful, I am glad to have that and will use it again in the future. It would be of interest to me to see the deluxe version of Noteflight, and see what other features are available to a paid subscription.
Social bookmarking via Diigo is new to me; I understand why and how it would be a useful tool, so I will try to use it and all it's features. Normally I bookmark websites I like via my browser Bookmarks, and into various folders, but I suppose Diigo would be a smarter way to go. It occurred to me that Pinterest is kind of used that way, too, via pictures. Also not necessarily organized very well. I like that on Diigo you can highlight text on the website and make notes about what exactly is of interest.
In total I feel like I am TPACKing pretty well so far.
Monday, June 23, 2014
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