Saturday, November 28, 2009
PLN - "Synthtopia"
Synthtopia is a site devoted solely to electronic music. It covers all types of electronic music, including trance, classical electronic music, dance, and synthesizers, and features many informative links, articles, and posts.
Monday, November 16, 2009
PLN - "Impro-visor"
This week, I found a free Java software known as "Impro-Visor," a music notation program designed to help jazz musicians compose and hear solos similar to ones that might be improvised. The objective is to improve understanding of solo construction and tune chord changes. It can also be use to create accompaniment backing tracks. This website also includes various useful documents on jazz improvisation - great for use in middle/high school theory/jazz classrooms!
Reading Reflection - "Assistive Technology"
There is no doubt that the use of "assistive technology" falls into the diversity of learners outcome that we are all so familiar with here at Case Western Reserve University. Assistive technology devices, or mechanical aids which substitute for or enhance the function of some physical or mental ability that is impaired, help us, as educators reach out to all learners with different needs and learning styles - not necessarily "disabilities" or "handicaps". These two previous words often imply that certain students are not able to do something, when in reality, they just do them differently and have different needs, which we as effective educators need to cater to.
How is this relevant to music and the world of music education?. We, as human beings, are inherently musical creatures. Culturally, socially, emotionally, psychologically, and intellectually, music is deeply intertwined into our genetic fibers and whether or not we choose to pursue it as a career path, every child should be exposed to it in order to hold an appreciation of it. And every child means - every child, even children with mental and physical disabilities. Luckily, technology is beginning to facilitate this.
Soundbeam, a device that converts physical movement into sound. Using ultrasonic sensors, the SoundBeam system "detects the speed, gate and distance of even the smallest movements you make with anything from a fingertip to your entire body. These ultrasonic signals are converted by the SoundBeam controller into MIDI information that can then be processed by a sound module, keyboard, or sampler." Because you don't need to be musically trained to use Soundbeam, it allows students with special needs to create music in a different way. They only need to be able to move one part of their body to be able to take advantage of this technology. It can even be connected to a music notation program like Sibelius to convert these sounds into a real-life composition!
In general, I think Soundbeam is an extremely innovative and inspiring tool in the world of music education. Too often do we hear horror stories of children discouraged to participate in musical ensembles because they have certain disabilities that some think may "hinder" the quality of their top performing ensembles. With the development of technology like this, special needs students are getting greater exposure to and have a fighting chance to keep participating in upper-level music courses and ensembles.
How is this relevant to music and the world of music education?. We, as human beings, are inherently musical creatures. Culturally, socially, emotionally, psychologically, and intellectually, music is deeply intertwined into our genetic fibers and whether or not we choose to pursue it as a career path, every child should be exposed to it in order to hold an appreciation of it. And every child means - every child, even children with mental and physical disabilities. Luckily, technology is beginning to facilitate this.
Soundbeam, a device that converts physical movement into sound. Using ultrasonic sensors, the SoundBeam system "detects the speed, gate and distance of even the smallest movements you make with anything from a fingertip to your entire body. These ultrasonic signals are converted by the SoundBeam controller into MIDI information that can then be processed by a sound module, keyboard, or sampler." Because you don't need to be musically trained to use Soundbeam, it allows students with special needs to create music in a different way. They only need to be able to move one part of their body to be able to take advantage of this technology. It can even be connected to a music notation program like Sibelius to convert these sounds into a real-life composition!
In general, I think Soundbeam is an extremely innovative and inspiring tool in the world of music education. Too often do we hear horror stories of children discouraged to participate in musical ensembles because they have certain disabilities that some think may "hinder" the quality of their top performing ensembles. With the development of technology like this, special needs students are getting greater exposure to and have a fighting chance to keep participating in upper-level music courses and ensembles.
Reading Reflections/GIMP
"When students take [digital] pictures and actively use them for purposeful knowledge, you have a dynamic combination for engagement and active learning." -R. McNear
Students love taking pictures as much as they love being in them. While most students aren’t aware of the different types of graphics, they can understand how it’s much more convenient to save pictures onto a disk which can be popped into a disk drive and transferred to a computer right away, as opposed to taking pictures with a regular camera, sending film to be developed, getting the pictures back, and then discovering that half of the pictures they took weren’t usable. They also realize that they have saved the trouble of scanning, saving, and doing a lot of editing of photos, since this is all done on the camera itself. They also learn that pictures can be easily viewed on a screen or Smart Board, or emailed as attachments.
Using digital photography helps the student become more involved in the classroom. The process becomes a cognitive one as the students reason and plan what pictures to take and why those pictures are needed. Random snapshots are okay sometimes, but the students quickly learn to be selective when using the camera. However, for us as teachers, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by new technologies and terminologies; but more significantly, it is more important to feel comfortable with the techniques used to enhance teaching and learning through photography than to understand all the settings on a camera.
On another note, I have found GIMP to be an extremely powerful image editor. with layer and vast range of graphic format support, over 100 built-in special effects, image coverting, all the basic tools like cropping, rotate/flip, pencil, brush, etc. to more professional tools like magic wand, blur/sharp and much much more. And that's just the start - buried deeply in this applications menu and floating tool bars is a dozen of expert sets of configuration tools to fix/retouch even the best of all images. It can make professional looking 3D images or animations in just minutes under a master users hand. GIMP is truly a powerful imaging program amongest Photoshop and other heavily priced products.
The only thing complaint about this application that I am able to forsee is that it's not aimed for the average computer user who may find this program somewhat difficult to use due to the lack of friendly interface, too advanced/complex features and absence of a built-in tutorial or help files. Otherwise, I am very glad to have discovered this program!
Students love taking pictures as much as they love being in them. While most students aren’t aware of the different types of graphics, they can understand how it’s much more convenient to save pictures onto a disk which can be popped into a disk drive and transferred to a computer right away, as opposed to taking pictures with a regular camera, sending film to be developed, getting the pictures back, and then discovering that half of the pictures they took weren’t usable. They also realize that they have saved the trouble of scanning, saving, and doing a lot of editing of photos, since this is all done on the camera itself. They also learn that pictures can be easily viewed on a screen or Smart Board, or emailed as attachments.
Using digital photography helps the student become more involved in the classroom. The process becomes a cognitive one as the students reason and plan what pictures to take and why those pictures are needed. Random snapshots are okay sometimes, but the students quickly learn to be selective when using the camera. However, for us as teachers, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by new technologies and terminologies; but more significantly, it is more important to feel comfortable with the techniques used to enhance teaching and learning through photography than to understand all the settings on a camera.
On another note, I have found GIMP to be an extremely powerful image editor. with layer and vast range of graphic format support, over 100 built-in special effects, image coverting, all the basic tools like cropping, rotate/flip, pencil, brush, etc. to more professional tools like magic wand, blur/sharp and much much more. And that's just the start - buried deeply in this applications menu and floating tool bars is a dozen of expert sets of configuration tools to fix/retouch even the best of all images. It can make professional looking 3D images or animations in just minutes under a master users hand. GIMP is truly a powerful imaging program amongest Photoshop and other heavily priced products.
The only thing complaint about this application that I am able to forsee is that it's not aimed for the average computer user who may find this program somewhat difficult to use due to the lack of friendly interface, too advanced/complex features and absence of a built-in tutorial or help files. Otherwise, I am very glad to have discovered this program!
PLN - Neihs Kid's Pages
This website is full of children’s songs! Links to the songs include a midi recording of the song and the lyrics, and the songs are categorized by topics, such as patriotic music, holidays, and musicals. There is also a section for “Guess This Tune” where teachers can quiz students on the songs they have just learned. Additional links bring the user to websites about the advantages to children’s songs. This website is great for elementary general music teachers, especially those who teach Kindergarten through 2nd grade. Having a list of excellent children’s songs is a great resource, and teachers can find their way around this site with a lot of ease.
Monday, November 9, 2009
"Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" Reading Reaction
Because I fall into this category myself, it is easy for me to observe that our current educational system is not always catered to today's students anymore. More than just our clothing style and physical appearances have changed - in fact, this permanent evolution is such a fundamental change that it is known as "the arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century."
What does this mean? Today’s students, K through college, represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology, having spent their entire lives surrounded by computers, video games, digital music players, cameras, cell phones, and many other tools of the digital age. Because of this, we think and process information fundamentally differently from our predecessors. Some think that because of this, our brains have physically changed, but it is certain that at the very least, our thinking patterns have changed. This can be seen in such things as turning to the Internet for information first, or in not reading the manual for a program because we have assumed that the program itself will teach us to use it. Today’s older generation were "socialized" differently from their kids, and are now virtually in the process of learning a new language. And according to scientists, a language learned later in life goes into a different part of the brain. Why is this all relevant? Because one of the biggest problems facing education today is that our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language.
With this being said, ignoring the fact that I am part of this generation, educators in general should find a way to embrace this new technology instead of shy away from it. Just as we need to be flexible enough to cater to different learning styles, we must also be aware and take advantage of the background of students and their use of technology, which is something that isn't going to diminish any time soon. In math, for example, the debate must no longer be about whether to use calculators and computers but rather how to incorporate them, from key skills and concepts to the multiplication tables.
In the end, it is HOW the information is presented that is changed because of this - the information taught itself is not what is dramatically different, but the means through it is taught is what must change to suit the lifestyles and personalities of different generations of people and their environments, keeping them as engaged learners.
What does this mean? Today’s students, K through college, represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology, having spent their entire lives surrounded by computers, video games, digital music players, cameras, cell phones, and many other tools of the digital age. Because of this, we think and process information fundamentally differently from our predecessors. Some think that because of this, our brains have physically changed, but it is certain that at the very least, our thinking patterns have changed. This can be seen in such things as turning to the Internet for information first, or in not reading the manual for a program because we have assumed that the program itself will teach us to use it. Today’s older generation were "socialized" differently from their kids, and are now virtually in the process of learning a new language. And according to scientists, a language learned later in life goes into a different part of the brain. Why is this all relevant? Because one of the biggest problems facing education today is that our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language.
With this being said, ignoring the fact that I am part of this generation, educators in general should find a way to embrace this new technology instead of shy away from it. Just as we need to be flexible enough to cater to different learning styles, we must also be aware and take advantage of the background of students and their use of technology, which is something that isn't going to diminish any time soon. In math, for example, the debate must no longer be about whether to use calculators and computers but rather how to incorporate them, from key skills and concepts to the multiplication tables.
In the end, it is HOW the information is presented that is changed because of this - the information taught itself is not what is dramatically different, but the means through it is taught is what must change to suit the lifestyles and personalities of different generations of people and their environments, keeping them as engaged learners.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
PLN - "Instrument Encyclopedia"
This website allows you to learn about the multiple facets of instruments you may not be familiar with - a great resource for instrumental instructors. You begin by expanding your search to alphabetical, geographical, hierarchical, and type of material. Hierarchical expands to percussion: idiophones, percussion: membranophones, strings, winds, and electronic. A virtual map allows you to click on an area to get a list of countries in that area; then, click on a country for the icons of each instrument originating in that country. Each search method soon leads to instrument icons, while are linked to descriptions and histories of the individual instruments. The site is beautifully illustrated and orchestrated by the University of Michigan.
http://www.si.umich.edu/chico/instrument/
http://www.si.umich.edu/chico/instrument/
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