I am so happy that we are covering this topic because I love the concept behind it. Musical recording is the theme for this weeks readings. This is such a cool idea and I wish that I was introduced to it sooner.
Before I go into the music recording, I would like to say that the PDF of the technology strategies by MENC is such a wonderful guide.
Anyway the two articles that are related to this week's topic are on two different aspects of recording. One was on how to do the recording, and the other one discussed what you should see when you record and what it all means. I think that this was one of my favorite weeks to read. I know nothing about recording and would like to.
The first article I read was by Tim Clukey. This was the article that dealt with the general reason and methods to why music is recorded. I feel that this is an article that everyone should read because it deals with such great information.
The article starts out talking about why music is recorded. It demonstrates how important it is for students to hear themselves and appreciate their own work. This is such an important facet in music. If you do not love how you sound, or think that you need to work on something, you would never know without recordings.
Next the article focused in on the technology and equipment needed for recording. (The rest of the article delves deeper into recording) This is so essential for music educators to know. You should know what you are buying, and where to get what you need. I feel that many educators are not as proficient as they should be in this area.
The last point that I would like to tell about the article is the section on copyright. Many people do some stupid things that cost them lots of time and money, and copyright infringement. Before doing anything that could get you in trouble with the feds, you should check it out first. Make sure you have all originals and rights to do what you are doing.
The other article by Scott Watson is all about seeing recording music. There actually may be more to this article, but what loaded on my computer detailed what you should be looking at when you look at recorded sound.
The article gives an example of the same phrase of a piece of music played two different ways. The two examples are shown side to side and the difference is amazing. The levels that are hit on one are completely different than the levels of the other.
This could actually such a valuable tool for teaching students. If you have visual learners, you can actually show them what their sound looks like. How cool is that? You are actually seeing sound, it is like synesthesia for people who do not have it!
Anyway the article goes a little more in depth, but I could not make out the letters. I did see a section on recording vinyls, which I would love to know how to do.
In conclusion, I am very glad to be learning about recording. I believe that if I am to be a successful band teacher, I need to be educated in as many music related subjects as possible. And since recording is so important to music everywhere, it is imperative that I know about this.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
PLN Week 7
http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/school-administrators-the-real-world-have-the-ever-really-met/
This is a link that I got off of the Blog "So You Think You Can Teach" that I thought is such a good topic. Why are school administrators so out of touch with the school teachers?
Growing up with two teacher parents I have seen the best and worst of the administrative part of education. And I know that when an administrator is in touch with the people that they oversee, everything runs more smoothly.
The reason I bring this point up is because of a cycle that I noticed. If the best performers make the best educators, then by association shouldn't the best educators make the best administrators? I mean, once you understand how your employees work, you become more knowledgeable and your work environment improves tremendously.
However contrary it is also a little known fact (that I have found from my parents) that it is in fact the worst teachers who become administrative staff. I think that this article shows just some of the things that administrators should be aware of. There are too many situations that teachers should not have to deal with. Those situations would not exist if the administration would properly do their job.
Despite some weakness in the articles arguments for bad administration, I felt that the article raises some awareness to what is going on in our schools.
This is a link that I got off of the Blog "So You Think You Can Teach" that I thought is such a good topic. Why are school administrators so out of touch with the school teachers?
Growing up with two teacher parents I have seen the best and worst of the administrative part of education. And I know that when an administrator is in touch with the people that they oversee, everything runs more smoothly.
The reason I bring this point up is because of a cycle that I noticed. If the best performers make the best educators, then by association shouldn't the best educators make the best administrators? I mean, once you understand how your employees work, you become more knowledgeable and your work environment improves tremendously.
However contrary it is also a little known fact (that I have found from my parents) that it is in fact the worst teachers who become administrative staff. I think that this article shows just some of the things that administrators should be aware of. There are too many situations that teachers should not have to deal with. Those situations would not exist if the administration would properly do their job.
Despite some weakness in the articles arguments for bad administration, I felt that the article raises some awareness to what is going on in our schools.
Friday, October 2, 2009
PLN Week 6
http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/see-there-is-hope-after-all/
This is a link to a blog that I found on my PLN this week. It is actually a link to another blog that a teacher wrote. This aforementioned teacher wrote this blog when she was inclined to quit her job. One of the last posts on this blog was on how to overcome that feeling to quit. In no particular order they are:
1. Don’t give up, even when you feel absolutely useless. We all feel that way at times.
2. Surround yourself with positive people.
3. Avoid negativity like the plague.
4. Learn something from everyone with whom you come into contact.
5. Enjoy the journey.
I thought that these are good pieces of advice, and I want to thank one person in particular for sharing them with me. Brad Hruska, who now teaches in the Perry School system, told me these things last year. I am very happy that I was able to meet Brad, because I look up to him as a music teacher.
I feel that these pieces of advice are common sense and actually are applied to life. I feel that if you do these things in your life, anything that you do will be worth it.
This is a link to a blog that I found on my PLN this week. It is actually a link to another blog that a teacher wrote. This aforementioned teacher wrote this blog when she was inclined to quit her job. One of the last posts on this blog was on how to overcome that feeling to quit. In no particular order they are:
1. Don’t give up, even when you feel absolutely useless. We all feel that way at times.
2. Surround yourself with positive people.
3. Avoid negativity like the plague.
4. Learn something from everyone with whom you come into contact.
5. Enjoy the journey.
I thought that these are good pieces of advice, and I want to thank one person in particular for sharing them with me. Brad Hruska, who now teaches in the Perry School system, told me these things last year. I am very happy that I was able to meet Brad, because I look up to him as a music teacher.
I feel that these pieces of advice are common sense and actually are applied to life. I feel that if you do these things in your life, anything that you do will be worth it.
Readings for 9/28-10/2
Once again, MIDI is the focus of this weeks reading. This week focused in on "sequence stration", which is basically orchestrating parts using MIDI sounds. At first this sounded interesting to me, but really it is just common sense.
The author Scott Watson is an elementary band director in the Philadelphia area and uses sequence stration for his own bands.He talks about how to correctly use MIDI sounds to their fullest advantage, so you can have music that sounds real, but is just pre-programed noises.
Mr. Watson also talked about how to orchestrate MIDI parts correctly. Many of the ranges that MIDI gives instruments are incorrect and often sound terrible. He suggests stick to the instruments natural range, and you should not run into problems. Watson also suggests to use multiple octaves such as a bass sax a soprano sax and an ocarina. All of the MIDI sounds are similar, and will add a nice texture to you composition.
This is all nice and well, I am for MIDI use, but this is getting a bit over done. I feel like people are trying to take the human out of music. Yes, I believe that MIDI can help composers "hear" the parts they are writing, but beyond that I am having trouble seeing a proper function for it.
There is something special in hearing another human pour out their soul with their instrument, and MIDI is taking that away. I would rather hire a professional to play a part, rather than hear a computer play something back to me.
I really am trying to keep an open mind on the MIDI issue, but I am having trouble adjusting to the idea. I like that music is a necessity for human interaction, and a staple of society. I feel that we are taking the feel out of music when MIDI is used.
The author Scott Watson is an elementary band director in the Philadelphia area and uses sequence stration for his own bands.He talks about how to correctly use MIDI sounds to their fullest advantage, so you can have music that sounds real, but is just pre-programed noises.
Mr. Watson also talked about how to orchestrate MIDI parts correctly. Many of the ranges that MIDI gives instruments are incorrect and often sound terrible. He suggests stick to the instruments natural range, and you should not run into problems. Watson also suggests to use multiple octaves such as a bass sax a soprano sax and an ocarina. All of the MIDI sounds are similar, and will add a nice texture to you composition.
This is all nice and well, I am for MIDI use, but this is getting a bit over done. I feel like people are trying to take the human out of music. Yes, I believe that MIDI can help composers "hear" the parts they are writing, but beyond that I am having trouble seeing a proper function for it.
There is something special in hearing another human pour out their soul with their instrument, and MIDI is taking that away. I would rather hire a professional to play a part, rather than hear a computer play something back to me.
I really am trying to keep an open mind on the MIDI issue, but I am having trouble adjusting to the idea. I like that music is a necessity for human interaction, and a staple of society. I feel that we are taking the feel out of music when MIDI is used.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Week 4 PLN
On my PLN I saw an article that was not music sensitive, but I thought was pretty pertinent. Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have become a staple in the youth of the world. So how do educators deal with their own social network accounts?
The article that I found gave a few tips and hints at what any teacher can do with their social network accounts and why they should do so. Of these were when can you start adding your "student friends" to your group? The most common answer is after the graduate (assuming that you teach high school). The reasons for this were solid. You do not want to have legal issues with pictures of yourself, or for that matter your students. Also you do not want to have friends that are too young, so that you shade away from acquaintances that are closer to your own age.
Overall I feel that social networks are very important. They connect people that would otherwise have a hard time doing so. It is a great way to explore your interests and share them with others. However as educators we do need to be careful. Our career is so important that we need to always be looking out and not find ourselves in sticky situations.
The article that I found gave a few tips and hints at what any teacher can do with their social network accounts and why they should do so. Of these were when can you start adding your "student friends" to your group? The most common answer is after the graduate (assuming that you teach high school). The reasons for this were solid. You do not want to have legal issues with pictures of yourself, or for that matter your students. Also you do not want to have friends that are too young, so that you shade away from acquaintances that are closer to your own age.
Overall I feel that social networks are very important. They connect people that would otherwise have a hard time doing so. It is a great way to explore your interests and share them with others. However as educators we do need to be careful. Our career is so important that we need to always be looking out and not find ourselves in sticky situations.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Readings 9/21-9/25
MIDI! MIDI! MIDI! MIDI! MIDI!
That is the theme for this week, I just felt that I had to chant it. But the reading this week were focused on what MIDI actually is. And i can tell you that I am only a bit more enlightened, and a lot more confused.
The first reading by Dennis Mauricio and Steve Oppenheimer was actually extremely helpful and gave some really good information. I was actually interested in what they had to say. Mauricio and Oppenheimer made it very clear what MIDI actually is and made it very easy to understand.
However the other article by Dr. Estrella was very confusing and went way too deep into the specifics of MIDI. If that was the abridged version, then I am very frightened to see what the actual version looks like.
This article just went way to in depth for me. A lot of the vocabulary that it used was very technologically specific. What I mean by this is that you had to have to knowledge of technology to understand what the article was trying to say. As for me, I have no experience, so I was completely lost.
As for the concept of MIDI itself, I am actually quite impressed. I feel that it is a wonderful tool that many music educators can use to their advantage. Although MIDI dies have its disadvantages, it appears to be quite functional.
I strongly believe that I will have a use for MIDI in my classroom. I do not think that it will run my curriculum, but as a teaching aid I think it is very worth it.
That is the theme for this week, I just felt that I had to chant it. But the reading this week were focused on what MIDI actually is. And i can tell you that I am only a bit more enlightened, and a lot more confused.
The first reading by Dennis Mauricio and Steve Oppenheimer was actually extremely helpful and gave some really good information. I was actually interested in what they had to say. Mauricio and Oppenheimer made it very clear what MIDI actually is and made it very easy to understand.
However the other article by Dr. Estrella was very confusing and went way too deep into the specifics of MIDI. If that was the abridged version, then I am very frightened to see what the actual version looks like.
This article just went way to in depth for me. A lot of the vocabulary that it used was very technologically specific. What I mean by this is that you had to have to knowledge of technology to understand what the article was trying to say. As for me, I have no experience, so I was completely lost.
As for the concept of MIDI itself, I am actually quite impressed. I feel that it is a wonderful tool that many music educators can use to their advantage. Although MIDI dies have its disadvantages, it appears to be quite functional.
I strongly believe that I will have a use for MIDI in my classroom. I do not think that it will run my curriculum, but as a teaching aid I think it is very worth it.
Readings 9/14-9/18
I can honestly say that I am confused. The article by Peter Webster was very interesting and easy to read, but I felt that he did not cover his point well. His "teaching strategies" for the teacher were not creative at all. Everything that he mentioned I felt has already been done, or common sense. I felt that as a future educator, I would have done what he mentioned without reading his article.
The article does have a saving grace. The section on what students can do was phenomenal. Here the teacher would have to give the students creative ideas like write their own etude or score a film (which I have done, and loved it). This section was so fun to read and made me think of even more ideas that I could do with my students.
The reason why am confused is that the article was so "bipolar". I felt that the teaching strategies were actually in the "helping students" sections. And that the actual teaching strategies was just more of an administrative way of using technology. As a teacher my goal is to help my students have a deep and personal relationship with music. I think that is why I connected so well with the second part of this article. It gave me awesome ways to help out my future students.
The other article that I found very interesting was the Vermont MIDI Project. This idea is just so cool, I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am about it.
What makes this Project so special to me is that it came from the east coast, and more importantly New England. Many east coast states have good music programs such as North Carolina, but New England states lack in this area. The focus is more on sports and academics. So, I am excited to see that a New England state has come up with such an innovative way to have students learn music.
What I really like about this idea is that students get to have their music performed as well as recorded. I know that if I got a chance to have one of my pieces recorded by professional musicians, and then recorded, I would be so ecstatic. I am happy that this program exists so students can get that feeling of wonder and amazement.
I am very happy that this article was brought to my attention. I feel that it gives music a push in the right direction. Music is just as important as anything else that the schools can give our youth (in my opinion the most important). Seeing people get creative and push the limits of their thinking is very inspiring, and I can only hope that I can do the same when I am a music educator in the field.
The article does have a saving grace. The section on what students can do was phenomenal. Here the teacher would have to give the students creative ideas like write their own etude or score a film (which I have done, and loved it). This section was so fun to read and made me think of even more ideas that I could do with my students.
The reason why am confused is that the article was so "bipolar". I felt that the teaching strategies were actually in the "helping students" sections. And that the actual teaching strategies was just more of an administrative way of using technology. As a teacher my goal is to help my students have a deep and personal relationship with music. I think that is why I connected so well with the second part of this article. It gave me awesome ways to help out my future students.
The other article that I found very interesting was the Vermont MIDI Project. This idea is just so cool, I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am about it.
What makes this Project so special to me is that it came from the east coast, and more importantly New England. Many east coast states have good music programs such as North Carolina, but New England states lack in this area. The focus is more on sports and academics. So, I am excited to see that a New England state has come up with such an innovative way to have students learn music.
What I really like about this idea is that students get to have their music performed as well as recorded. I know that if I got a chance to have one of my pieces recorded by professional musicians, and then recorded, I would be so ecstatic. I am happy that this program exists so students can get that feeling of wonder and amazement.
I am very happy that this article was brought to my attention. I feel that it gives music a push in the right direction. Music is just as important as anything else that the schools can give our youth (in my opinion the most important). Seeing people get creative and push the limits of their thinking is very inspiring, and I can only hope that I can do the same when I am a music educator in the field.
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