New blog series, coming soon..

   Wow! My first conference season is turning out to be quite an adventure. Very very busy, but it has been so exciting to finally meet some of my tweeps for the first time live and in person! I’ll be at several more conventions between now and May so be sure to stop by and say hi at the Quaver booth, and if I’m not there I give you full permission to cause some Quaver mischief in my name. 

Topic of the week? QR Codes in the music classroom.

A great way to start taking your use of mobile devices in your lessons to the next level beyond experimenting and simple substitution. You would need a QR code scanner on your device which is easy to find on any app store (there are many out there that all work great), and access to such QR code makers as www.qrstuff.com. The QR codes download as a picture and you can save and print as necessary.

  With these QR codes you can link videos to students performing concepts they are learning, link to MP3s of compositions, maybe even scans of worksheets or information on what they are learning. It is a direct link to that content, leaving out typing the address or searching on a search engine for the content.

Try this activity right away-

Interactive Wall:

• Using the camera app, have students video tape themselves performing various musical topics such as how to sing Piano or how to move Largo.
• Upload them to an unlisted YouTube playlist and create a QR code using the link to each video.
• Print out each QR code and pictures to accompany then decorate a nearby blank bulletin board.
• Every time someone uses the board they just have to scan the QR code to see each video!

Sharing my students work when I taught was always important. Not only did it show the world what my students were doing, but it also gave them more pride in what they did knowing others were going to see it. We often video taped and recorded performances and we also Skyped and sent our recordings and links to others to view and comment on.

     I always and still think it is very important to share work because it inspires other music educators AND shows the community what you do in your music classroom and how important it is. Social media is a great way to quickly give hundreds or thousands of people a quick glance into the daily goings on. The new trend out there is to start a classroom Twitter account and share from there. I have even seen teachers allow students to take over the account, tweeting about what they learned for the day.

      From displaying work on bulletin boards to social media accounts, sharing is really caring. Showing the world how awesome your classroom is. Don’t be afraid to share!

3 sites to try out:

YouTube–  Did you know that you can upload videos to YouTube and keep them out of the public eye? The “Unlisted” option when uploading will hide your videos from everyone except those with the link. That way you can film projects, performances, even cute moments and send links to the people you want to see them, keeping the videos still tucked away. I use YouTube a lot to store my videos so I can share with whom I need or would like.

Facebook Music Teachers– Music Teachers sharing with other Music Teachers in a closed and safe group. It is a great way to get others to see your work and get ideas for their own classroom, but also to get feedback on the great things you do!

School Social Media accounts-  Not all districts have social media accounts such as Facebook or Twitter, but if yours has one, that is the best place to share student work and the on goings of your class! I had a rule of “No faces no names” on my personal account but my district could share! If your district does not have any accounts, what are you waiting for?

How are you sharing?

I hear from two types of teachers, those who have interactive boards, and those who don’t, though the latter had slowly started to diminish because they are becoming more and more a staple in the music classroom. Administrators and tech departments are seeing a need and finding a better use of them in music. Why? because music teachers are awesome, creative, and can come up with the coolest ways to use them. If you don’t have one but want one, as I’ve said before, show your administration you have a need! Talk about how you would use it, show how your lesson would be improved, maybe even come up with a list of cheaper alternatives to present that will work equally as well.

With the ability to interact with what is projected on the screen, teaching, composing, and creating music have never been so much fun and with the tools now available, music teachers can now push the boundaries of what technology can do in the classroom. Doing things from creating beat boxing groups to writing notes and pressing play, and even immersing yourself in a game of identifying musical symbols. The possibilities remain bound only by one’s creativity.

Smartboard – One of the most well known interactive boards, Smartboard has the ability to be hooked on the wall, on a stand, or you can go with a Slate. You can create your own Smart Notebook files to do with classes and even use others that are shared on websites such as the Smart Exchange. 

If you’re looking for a great go to book about how to use a Smartboard in the music classroom check out my friend and superhero Amy Burn’s book Help! I am an Elementary Music Teacher with a Smartboard!  

Promethean–  These are absolutely gorgeous. With a crystal clear picture, sensitive touch, and ability to have more than one student using it at the same time, this board is amazing to see in action. Did you also know that it reacts to your touch not by touching the screen but by sensors placed around the front of the screen? Too cool right?

Mimio– A cheaper alternative to a Smartboard or  the Promethean Board. The Mimio attaches directly to a whiteboard and plugs into your computer which also has to be plugged into the projector. Very useful, especially if you tend to switch rooms every year and want to take it with you. They can be easy to set up as well once you get acquainted with it.

Wii-mote Board – A really cheap way to get an interactive board if you are tech savy enough! Using a wii-mote and an IR Pen you can use the available software to interact with your computer. Can be easy for a Mac user, little more difficult for a PC user but still completely doable! I sometimes will travel with my Wii-mote and IR pen to presentations just to show how easy it is to create an interactive board with a little creativity and brain power.

Splashtop– Did you know I never had an interactive board when I taught? I had an iPad though, and by downloading the Splashtop Streamer and App ($4.99 in the App store.) I was able to turn my iPad into a giant remote for my computer. I would walk around wirelessly and have students interact with what was being projected on the screen.

What do you use in your classroom? If you do not have one which would you want to use?

  I will now officially declare it the most wonderful time of the year. I do love Christmas music, but I don’t like it playing until I’ve eaten my turkey and my pie. Now with 18in of snow on the ground and Thanksgiving officially passed. I’m dreaming of those magical sing-a-longs where the Night Before Christmas was always read, music filled your ears, and hot cocoa and cookies were a plentiful. I’ll always miss those, performances were always a rewarding time. I got to see my students show off their hard work to all their family and friends. Music is so much performance anyway, each show was like the end of a chapter and beginning of another.

    You might see the same show a hundred times, but its always different based on the music teacher that puts it on. We all have our different strengths, one might be good at props, one might be a master at stage movement, me? I was a pro at the digital portion. I could whip together movies, cut tracks, project in the coolest ways. It sort of upped the level of performance. I focused on the singing first and foremost but it was all up in the air after that. I had extensive experience as the Tech Director for my Mom’s Sign Language chorus she did for several years, so I took my knowledge from what I did there and experimented with my own shows.

There are 3 main categories I had of digital extras in a show: Projection, Lighting, and Audio.

Projection Ideas: It’s so easy to get creative with just a projector. Some of these ideas can translate so well into your classroom too.

• Back projection: Did you know you can flip your screen around and project backwards? No need to have that clunky projector out front and have to weave your way through the crowd to operate it in the middle of the show. Keep the projector behind stage and out of sight,put up a thin white sheet as your screen, and it will give you a cleaner image and not get into your performers eyes.
• Split screen: I did this once with a little help for a performance. Two projectors, two screens, projecting from one computer. It was fantastic, and let the audience on both sides of the room see the picture clearly without straining their necks.
• Backdrops: Instead of taking all of those hours painstakingly painting sets that may never be used again or feeling the pang of guilt asking a friend or colleague to do it for you, why not project your backdrop on to your curtains instead? Saves those long nights and you can change up the background for each song if you like!

design by Lundberg Graphics

Lighting:

• Black lights: You can do some pretty cools stuff with black lights and white clothes or glow in the dark paint. One year we had all white gloves and blacked out the gym, with the blacklights on, the students did a killer sign language routine just showing their gloves dancing by themselves. You can have masks, clothes, even puppets grooving along.
• Shadows: Creating an eye catching focal point by putting a screen up and having students dancing behind it. Change the colors, make it flicker, it will create a one of a kind experience.

Audio:

• Cutting up tracks: A perfect way to alleviate the stress of playing piano during the actual show or trying to find an accompanist who can play at the same caliber as you can. If a song I was having the kids perform didn’t come with a backing track, throwing it into audacity and inverting one of the channels to take out or quiet down the lead vocals was always the way to go. You can find instructions here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq_i18n?s=editing&i=remove-vocals
• Remixing: Putting together medley’s, showcase student work, be able to create your own back tracks for your show. More than once did I put together student compositions to play as people were walking in and redid some classic songs to give our show a new twist!

 As you go through your own holiday performances, think, can I use technology to make my life a little easier before the holiday break? Think simply, think creatively, and be festive!

I remember the days in elementary school, when the whole school would work on project together. We came together with an idea in mind and did a plethora of activities with different teachers all corresponding with that theme. In the end, we learned, we laughed, and we worked together to build one big final product that was over the top and awesome. Even when I taught, I had some spectacular specialist team mates who were a blessing to collaborate with. We did a few fantastic projects that incorporated all over our areas and what came out of it was wonderful. We completed products that were recognized as quality work within our district. It helped show everyone that the arts had an important place inside the school that could not only stand alone, but be able to work together flawlessly with any subject.

So what are some things that could be done? If you wanted to work together with your colleagues what could you do?

First it’s always about the overall theme and final product. What do you want the students to accomplish? What do you want them to learn and get out of it?

We always started by looking at test scores. NEWAs to be exact, and figured out where the students were struggling. We based the project over that theme. That is what all of our parts built around. One year it was reading graphs, another year it was stats and probability. Each of us built what we were going to do around that relation. You could link it to anything, maybe you want to work with your science teacher about sound or maybe you and your history teacher want to teach the Revolutionary war  together.

   I’m sure you’re thinking..how did I relate math to music.. It really is simple. Do you remember all those Facebook and Twitter post pictures where it relates music to every subject? Those really are true, it is so easy to relate music to math, science, history, english, and everything else when you think out of the box. Its all about thinking about the final product before the actual project. What do you want the students to get out of this experience? For us it could be 95% of students would improve between a pre and post test, or maybe 80% of students would score 90% or higher in a predetermined rubric. 

So what COULD you do? What are some simple ways to relate music to other subjects? You’ve figured out what you want them to know. Now its about what you want them to create using that knowledge.

•  Learning about the Science of sound? What about a science fair? Work with your science teachers at the same time relating sound waves, how your ear works and all that. You students could create science fair projects around the same topic and you could hold a fair together and judge for the top prize.
• What about creating an experience with your history teacher? I use to American Civil War reenact so I did a whole unit on Patriotic tunes and talked about fife and drum corps and how they were an important part to the military unit.
• What about studying different areas of english literature and relating to the music of the period? Students could reenact the music of that time or maybe do a report on how the arts influenced the time period relating to the culture and how music fit in.
• You could even have them studying poetry and take one of the famous poems they are reading and remix it into a killer song.  Whilst learning about the poet, pentameter, rhyming, all of the building blocks to a great piece.

There are many ways you can create a cross curricular project showing the relationship between music and many other subjects in school. It is a great way to show that music is an integral part in the school community and we aren’t going anywhere.

What activities would you do that could relate music to other subjects?