A few days ago for class, we were assigned to find some useful sites/tools for a SMARTboard within a music classroom. I went on google to see what nifty websites I could use, and wound up finding this site for kids created by the San Fransisco Symphony, called the Music Lab. It has a couple of good lessons and concepts to use for Elementary to Grade 7 beginning band programs, and ranges from the basics to harmony.
The site is complete with many silly little flash animations which should keep your kids amused while they're learning these musical concepts. There's also a link to different instruments within an orchestra, and opportunities to compose a peice of music!
If you want to check out the lab, click here!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Cellphones and my Anxieties
Lately, I've felt as though my school-life has begun to tear at the seams. I have been doing the best I can to keep myself organized, however, there is always the little things that seem to slip my mind. I think one of the biggest things that has been making me feel like this though, is the amount of contact I've had to keep with people. Often when arranging meetings, I often prefer face to face, and if it slips my mind, I'd just go straight to emails, not having a cellphone on hand at all. Now, however, it is becoming more difficult for me to remember, or even sit down and email. And if I don't respond to an email in time if I see one, there's no way to cll me, which makes things even more difficult.
As my time on earth has passed, the need for a cellphone increased tenfold. When I was younger, I had told myself that I wasn't EVER going to get one. I saw all my high school classmates with their own, spending a ridiculous amount of time with them in class, texting away and fooling around, not showing any respect towards the teachers at all. It wasn't a big deal to have a cell phone to me then, anyways. It wasn't like anyone wanted to contact me.
Now, it seems more than ever, EVERYONE needs to get into contact with me, or I want to get into contact with them. There was a point in time when I had a pay-as-you-go that my grandfather had no use for anymore. As soon as I brought it with me to university, people were sending me texts and calls out the yinyang. And the minutes expired every month. If I wasn't out of minutes and I didn't have time to put on more, it became frustrating because people were always trying to call me.! Now that this year's reached the half-way point, I am getting a little frustrated, as I always need to send somebody an email, and it's always in a short amount of time. I've been hassled by friends before about not having a cellphone and now, I'm starting to feel the need to conform.
As a music educator, being easy to contact is incredibly important. And now that it's come to an age where cellphones are an absolute requirement for EVERYONE, I'm noticing how not having one's affecting my life and everyone around me. But the question is, can I find a cheap way to have one, without putting myself into debt or the need to walk miles to put money on it? Is it really worth it to put yourself into debt over a tiny little machine?
As my time on earth has passed, the need for a cellphone increased tenfold. When I was younger, I had told myself that I wasn't EVER going to get one. I saw all my high school classmates with their own, spending a ridiculous amount of time with them in class, texting away and fooling around, not showing any respect towards the teachers at all. It wasn't a big deal to have a cell phone to me then, anyways. It wasn't like anyone wanted to contact me.
Now, it seems more than ever, EVERYONE needs to get into contact with me, or I want to get into contact with them. There was a point in time when I had a pay-as-you-go that my grandfather had no use for anymore. As soon as I brought it with me to university, people were sending me texts and calls out the yinyang. And the minutes expired every month. If I wasn't out of minutes and I didn't have time to put on more, it became frustrating because people were always trying to call me.! Now that this year's reached the half-way point, I am getting a little frustrated, as I always need to send somebody an email, and it's always in a short amount of time. I've been hassled by friends before about not having a cellphone and now, I'm starting to feel the need to conform.
As a music educator, being easy to contact is incredibly important. And now that it's come to an age where cellphones are an absolute requirement for EVERYONE, I'm noticing how not having one's affecting my life and everyone around me. But the question is, can I find a cheap way to have one, without putting myself into debt or the need to walk miles to put money on it? Is it really worth it to put yourself into debt over a tiny little machine?
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Two great music websites for students!
Happy Sunday, everyone! Hope your week was less stressful than mine!
One of the assignments we had this week, was to design a website for either a specific class, or just a general classroom website. I had designed a website for the latter, and when looking for interesting musical resources on the web, I had found two interesting websites that students may find really handy!
Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary
Occasionally there will be times where a student will find a term in their music, or during a rehearsal or lesson that isn't clear to them. That's where this will come in handy! Not only are there definitions, but many listening examples and images to demostrate the term further if necessary! Also provides definitions for chords and instruments, but unfortunately, not composers, which is a shame, really. ):
Ricci Adam's Musictheory.net
This site has not only many animated lessons, but many ear training excercises to test their skills in identifying chords and intervals, as well as tools to calculate chords and intervals as well as a pop-up window piano! There are also apps for these exercises you can purchase on an iphone as well! How cool is that?
If you want to check out my website, click here! It's a little shabby because I'm not a teacher yet, but maybe I'll use it in the future and be able to build upon it once I for sure know what to do!
Check out the websites even if you aren't a musical person! I'm sure you'll enjoy them! :D
Edit: Oooh, this just in! I did some more snooping into the Virginia Tech Music Dictionary, and there's a whole LIST of composers with biographies! By all means, use it too!
One of the assignments we had this week, was to design a website for either a specific class, or just a general classroom website. I had designed a website for the latter, and when looking for interesting musical resources on the web, I had found two interesting websites that students may find really handy!
Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary
Occasionally there will be times where a student will find a term in their music, or during a rehearsal or lesson that isn't clear to them. That's where this will come in handy! Not only are there definitions, but many listening examples and images to demostrate the term further if necessary! Also provides definitions for chords and instruments, but unfortunately, not composers, which is a shame, really. ):
Ricci Adam's Musictheory.net
This site has not only many animated lessons, but many ear training excercises to test their skills in identifying chords and intervals, as well as tools to calculate chords and intervals as well as a pop-up window piano! There are also apps for these exercises you can purchase on an iphone as well! How cool is that?
If you want to check out my website, click here! It's a little shabby because I'm not a teacher yet, but maybe I'll use it in the future and be able to build upon it once I for sure know what to do!
Check out the websites even if you aren't a musical person! I'm sure you'll enjoy them! :D
Edit: Oooh, this just in! I did some more snooping into the Virginia Tech Music Dictionary, and there's a whole LIST of composers with biographies! By all means, use it too!
Monday, October 8, 2012
"It just blows my MIND... y'know..."
During the summer, I had decided to check out scenes from the Green Day rock musical American Idiot, being the little drama nerd that I was. And then I had stumbled into videos of interviews of Green Day themselves. One of the videos was this one:
Okay... it's not super deep and profound like I thought it was in the beginning... But somehow, my mind interpreted Billy Joe's ridiculousness into an interesting thought. There were many apps for instruments and music making that had been developed... And I'm sure someday that there will be the opportunity for people to submit their own works into the internet.
But... Where would that leave all the professional musicians? How would they be able to pay the bills if everyone else was making their own songs and listening to their own music...? If technology advances far off... Will musicians be considered a profession anymore?
"He says he wants to do the same thing for... the book industry that he did for the music industry... And I'm not sure if that's FOR the music industry or TO the music industry. So I'm not quite sure when enough is enough."
To me it's almost as if he's thinking that CDs and books will somehow become obsolete. Maybe I'm looking too much into this, but the way I interpret it, it seems like he's nervous that the iPad will put him our of a job... (no pun intended :P)
Even with our students in schools, how will we be able to get them interested in playing the actual instruments that have been supplied by our schools or rented by music shops when they have the musical tools on the iPad. Especially since we haven't been properly trained on the functions?
Well... those are my questions for the day... Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you're stuffed with turkey.
Okay... it's not super deep and profound like I thought it was in the beginning... But somehow, my mind interpreted Billy Joe's ridiculousness into an interesting thought. There were many apps for instruments and music making that had been developed... And I'm sure someday that there will be the opportunity for people to submit their own works into the internet.
But... Where would that leave all the professional musicians? How would they be able to pay the bills if everyone else was making their own songs and listening to their own music...? If technology advances far off... Will musicians be considered a profession anymore?
"He says he wants to do the same thing for... the book industry that he did for the music industry... And I'm not sure if that's FOR the music industry or TO the music industry. So I'm not quite sure when enough is enough."
To me it's almost as if he's thinking that CDs and books will somehow become obsolete. Maybe I'm looking too much into this, but the way I interpret it, it seems like he's nervous that the iPad will put him our of a job... (no pun intended :P)
Even with our students in schools, how will we be able to get them interested in playing the actual instruments that have been supplied by our schools or rented by music shops when they have the musical tools on the iPad. Especially since we haven't been properly trained on the functions?
Well... those are my questions for the day... Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you're stuffed with turkey.
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