Music EdTech

YouTube in the Classroom

2011-11-09T16:45:00.002-06:00

This past January, I presented a clinic session at the Illinois Music Educators Association All-State Conference in Peoria, Illinois. The topic was using YouTube in the Music Classroom. Though geared toward K-12 music educators, the content can be applied to any classroom. Everything from the presentation is covered in the Web site I created to accompany my presentation.

Web site: http://youtubeintheclassroom.weebly.com/
Handout: http://ferdonmusic.com/imea2011_youtubehandout.pdf
My YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Kipmusic2345?feature=mhee (check out the playlist titled "YouTube in the Classroom" - lots of helpful videos )

Promethean Training Web site

2010-12-11T15:14:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know I keep saying I will blog more but then school started and my new semester at Boise. Enough said.

Fall semester I took EDTECH 554 - Managing Technology Integration in Schools. The class is winding down and I thought I'd post a link to one of my projects. The final project for the class was to plan a professional development opportunity and the topic I chose was Promethean Training. My district has invested in Promethean Boards and Learning Response System devices and even the most experienced of us has only had Promethean technology available in our classrooms for a bit over a year. I participated in some training sessions in fall, 2009 then got a board in spring, 2010. Meeting a variety of training needs seems to be a commonplace issue, so I developed a series of training modules that would be appropriate for individuals with quite varying degrees of prior experience and training. Should you use any of the training modules, I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts about them. As always, I hope they prove to be useful to someone, someday, somewhere!

Here is the link: http://pbtraining.weebly.com/

New Web site!

2010-08-07T01:44:00.004-05:00

My Boise classes are over, for a few weeks at least, and I've started working on two new Web sites. I used Weebly for the first time this summer, for a thematic unit project for my technology integration class, and decided to use it for two Taekwondo Web sites I'm creating - one for my children's Taekwondo Master, and the other for my son's coach.

Weebly is a very intuitive tool and using the two column element allows you to get a bit fancy with layout. For the most part, I stuck with the standard elements, but I did change CSS to add my own banner and match the colors of the blue stripe and title text to the banner. If you know CSS, it's easy to modify and if you don't, you've got plenty of options. I used the free version of Weebly for my thematic unit and Master Chang is using the pay version. With the pay version you have your own domain name - a definite plus for a business Web site and at $34/year it is very reasonably priced. If you're an experienced Dreamweaver user, Weebly probably will be too limiting for you, but for everyone else, Weeby is a great option to look at if you're considering putting together a Web site.

The first of the two sites is 95% finished, we're just waiting for some bios and pictures of instructors. Here is the link: www.changstkd.com. The other site will be for the Morton Grove location and will have a similar site structure and some common text.

Getting Stereo Sound in GarageBand

2010-08-06T22:17:00.002-05:00

I had a question come in from my YouTube channel and thought I'd put the answer here. When recording vocals, sound was coming out of the left speaker only but he wanted stereo. Here are my suggestions for troubleshooting:

First, check your microphone. If it's not a stereo mic, it can't record in stereo (use both L and R speakers). If you're not sure if it's a stereo mic, click on the Real Instruments tab then look at the bottom where it says "input source." If it is a stereo mic, you will see something like "Stereo 1/2 ..."

If you have a stereo mic, but you're not getting stereo sound, then the problem is likely (hopefully!) your track pan. The track pan determines how much of the sound goes to the left and how much to the right. When the track pan is pointing to the 12-o'clock position, you will get equal amounts of sound to both sides.

Track pan all the way left sends sound to the left speaker only. Place your mouse cursor over the little button and rotate the dial to the desired location.

If track pan is at center/up and you're still getting sound only from the left speaker, check the speakers (make sure it's this song, not the equipment). If the speakers are fine (you played a different song in GarageBand and got sound from both sides) and the track pan is all the way up, we resort to drastic measures. Try copying and pasting the audio into a new track. For this track, set the pan all the way to the right. This would be a cheating way of getting stereo, but just might give you the sound you're looking for.

I hope this helps!

Tech Integration Tips

2010-07-28T15:45:00.009-05:00

Yes, I know I keep saying that I'm going to blog more regularly, then I get caught up in my Boise Classes. Just for fun, here is a link to graphics I created this summer for EDTECH 506 - Instructional Message Design. Feel free to use anything you want. Like the other content I have created for my EdTech classes, these will live on the Boise State server until after I finish my degree program. I only have four more classes to go, but none are offered in the summer, so that means two more years. At some point between now and then I will move them to my non-Boise Web site. And now, on to the real topic for this post.

A friend is interviewing for an elementary music teaching position and I put together a few tips, should the topic of technology integration come up in the interview. Here they are ...

Share what you’ve done and what you want to do:

What technology are you comfortable with for personal and professional use?
Check out NETS for Teachers to see where you fit on the continuum.
What technology (equipment, software, online) was available in your previous position? How did you use it?
What technologies are you familiar with that were NOT available in your previous position? Discussion with other music teachers, workshop topics, etc. may have given you a peek into other possibilities.

Take advantage of free online tools. Consider:

Curriculum - Determine what curricular goals and objectives need support then choose the most effective tool. Considering tech tools first (choosing a new fun thing then trying to find an educational application for it) is putting the cart before the horse.
Terms of Use – Some sites are only for those 13 and older.
Platform - Online, free download, Mac/Windows.
Privacy - No personal information! Some online tools need e-mail accounts for each user/student.
Tracking - Some allow teachers to set up “classes” and track student progress.
Logistics - One computer w/projector vs. mobile lab vs. computer lab/separate location. Balance benefits of tech with impact on class time, but remember that there will be fewer bumps farther down the road.
Integrating technology in the music classroom is about much more than just music tools. Many tech tools that are part of the “regular” classroom (blogs, wikis, for example) apply to any subject area.

Benefits of technology use in the classroom:

More possibilities for differentiation of instruction.
Illinois Learning Standards - Goal 26A: Understand the processes, traditional tools and modern technologies used in the arts.
Multiple Intelligences – Flexible means of interacting with content and expressing understanding.
Authentic Learning – Use of tools that are commonly used by practicing musicians/composers. For example, computer-based composition instead of pencil and paper.
Global Connections (Illinois Goal 27):
- National Geographic World Music
- Putumayo Kids
- World Music Network
- YouTube (safety features: create own channel, use safe mode, embed player)
- SafeShare.tv (for YouTube videos only, allows editing of in/out points, masks all
content except the video itself).

Professional Development Opportunities:

Many districts offer training for specific equipment (interactive whiteboard, for example) and tools (district-hosted Web sites and blogs).
Find people/groups to follow – See what others are doing and think about applications to your own classroom. When you find someone you like, see who they are following.
Blog/Website/Wiki: Carol Broos (lives in Gurnee, teaches in Northfield - Golden Apple Recipient, frequent presenter at tech and music conferences, lots of links to follow)
Blog: High Techpectations (Lucy Grey)
Blog: Educating Educators (general tech for teachers)
Organization: Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME, resources, conference, newsletters, classes)
Online tutorials for specific software/tools (example: GarageBand)
Workshops, conferences and classes (TI:ME offers specific, sequential training)
Technology Integration in the Elementary Music Classroom
- 2008
- TI:ME / Hal Leonard publication
- Detailed lesson plans
- If I could only buy one book, it would be this one
Technology Guide for Music Educators
- 2006
- TI:ME / Thomson Course Technology
- Very helpful if you are working with hardware – covers types of equipment and set-up
- Does not include newer technologies (iPod, open source/free tools).
YouTube in Music Education
- 2009
- Thomas Rudolph and James Frankel / Hal Leonard
- The majority of the book deals with consuming YouTube content (creating an account and channel, etc.) but there is also useful information about creating and posting videos (including a great section on copyright).
Music Technology Workbook: Key Concepts and Practical Projects
- 2008
- Paul Middleton and Steven Gurevitz / Focal Press
- A great deal more technical than the books listed above.
- Mostly MIDI with some info on recording and mixing. Most appropriate for advanced middle school or high school MIDI Music Labs. I would suggest reading this only for those working in an advanced composition lab situation.

GarageBand - Editing software instrument tracks

2009-11-02T18:24:00.014-06:00

I know it's a shock, here I am posting two days in a row! Now that my tutorials are on YouTube, people are watching them and sending back questions. As questions come through my YouTube email, I will post them here as well.

Question:
When I record a software instrument, how can I edit where it begins and where it ends? Example: I click add new track, I click software instrument, I use the grand piano and record something. I double click it and the track editor comes up, and want to delete the time it took for me to press the button to stop recording. How do I do that?

Answer:
When editing green tracks, you can to split the track then delete the section you don't want to keep. Here is what I would do:

1) Make sure the track isn't locked. Locking frees up your processor, uses less power, and saves your track from unintentional changes. Locking is good if you have finished editing that part and you want to save power, but locking is bad if you want to make changes. If the track is locked, the lock icon will look like this:

2) To unlock, click the padlock. When it goes to gray, you can edit the track.
3) Place the playhead/cursor at the spot where you want to cut.
4) From the menu, choose edit>split.
5) Click outside the track (so it's not all bright green anymore) to deselect the recording.
6) Click on the section of the track (now separate from the rest) that you want to delete. It will turn bright green.
7) Press the delete key or choose edit>delete from the menu.

Hopefully, that will work for you! Keep those questions coming :-)

GarageBand Tutorials Have a New Home!

2009-11-01T22:38:00.004-06:00

Yes, I know ... I keep saying I will post more often, but life keeps getting in the way of that. After my summer classes at Boise, I left the next day for a family vacation in Oregon. I came back and had two weeks to pack my oldest off to college, shop for school supplies and clothes for the other two kids, unpack my classroom, and get ready to teach new curriculum to six grade levels (485 students now). The first day of school was my first day for my fall semester Boise class. Needless to say, I have gone through my entire quota of Jolt mints (caffeine is my friend) with several weeks left to go in the semester.

I digress. One of my assignments for Boise this week was to do a video response to a discussion question classmates put on YouTube. I created a YouTube account in 2008 but didn't do anything with it and now I was inspired. I've been holding off moving my GarageBand tutorials off the Boise server because I didn't want to go over my limit on my Yahoo website account. Problem solved - I uploaded my lovely GarageBand Tutorials to my YouTube channel. People have somehow found my Guitar Roadtrip and GarageBand Tutorials (they send me nice emails) and I am hoping that more people will find the GarageBand Tutorials now that they are on YouTube. I had to do some editing on my web pages when I moved them over to my ferdonmusic.com site but it was fun. Of course, I really should have been doing lessons plans, but I couldn't resist!

Here is a link to the new home for my GarageBand instructional materials: http://www.ferdonmusic.com/garageband/intro.html, and my YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/Kipmusic2345. If you hurry you can see me in my chicken hat on YouTube. But you can bet your buttons that my Accessibility video will be yanked off YouTube the second this class is over! Better hurry ...

GarageBand '09

2009-08-11T23:50:00.011-05:00

This summer I took the next two classes for my EdTech masters at Boise State and one of them focused on instructional design. For my final project, I designed instruction and created materials for music teachers to learn GarageBand '09. I am happy to say that the class is over (I have a few weeks to breathe before the next class begins!) and those materials are now online. Each lesson includes a video tutorial, step-by-step instructions, additional information that related to the lesson, and supporting documents. I plan on adding more lessons to the site and future additions will likely focus on an aspect of the software that goes beyond the basics.

The lessons and tutorials may be found at: http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/ferdons/503/garageband/intro.html --- UPDATE, 11/1/09: The tutorials can still be accessed through this URL, but can now also be found at http://www.ferdonmusic.com/garageband/intro.html. See my November 1st post for more info!

Once I am finished with my degree (May, 2011) I will move my GarageBand webpages to another site but they will always be linked here in the sidebar. I hope the tutorials will be of use to as many people as possible, so please feel free to pass along the link.

New and Improved Website

2009-05-20T00:16:00.005-05:00

I have a few weeks between semesters at Boise State and have been revamping my classroom website. I have been able to move to more consistent page styling using external style sheets (css) which was my main goal. I have had fun making images (using Fireworks) for banners, titles and buttons but my favorite additions to the site are from Google. I added a calendar using Google Calendar and a translating button. Here are some links if you want to check it out:

Kipling Music Website
Google Calendar Getting Started Guide
Google Translate (click on "Tools" to get embed code to put the gadget on your page).

Now, have some fun translating :-)

Back Again

2009-04-22T21:00:00.002-05:00

I keep thinking I will write regular blog posts then I have music shows and homework for Boise State. There is a brief lull - I expect it to last several minutes - so here is a quick post. I recently discovered Switch and it has become my current favorite audio conversion tool. It's free and very easy to use - drag and drop, select file type from drop-down menu and click "convert." You can visit the Switch website for additional information. Downloads for a variety of operating systems can be found toward the bottom of the page.

Tutorials

2009-02-12T23:54:00.006-06:00

I have discovered the joy of screencasting! In my EdTech classes at Boise, instructors have created tutorials using a process called screencasting. In screencasting, computer software captures what is happening on the monitor and records audio commentary. In this type of tutorial, the viewer will see and hear step-by-step instructions for completing specific tasks on the computer. Of course I had to try it out.

I recorded my first tutorial while using GarageBand to edit a song for my upcoming 4th grade music program. For a first try, I think it turned out pretty well. Blogger only allows uploading of image files so, for now, I put my beautiful 13 minute tutorial on File Dropper. It may move, but for now the tutorial can be accessed via the following address: http://www.filedropper.com/editinganaudiofileusinggarageband. When you click on the link, it will take you to the File Dropper website. You may need to scroll down a tad, but you will see a button that says "download." Click on that and the movie will download to your computer. While I am happy to share, we really don't need copies of the tutorial on each viewer's computer, so my next task will be to figure out how people can view it without downloading.

If you are a Mac user and would like an introduction to audio editing, please check it out and let me know what you think. If there are topics you would like to suggest for future screencast tutorials (Mac or PC), please let me know. I am eager to play :-)

The Only Thing Better Than Blogging

2009-01-27T22:15:00.006-06:00

The only thing better than blogging is blogging with Pooh Bear! I was on delicious and one bookmark led me to another and before I knew it, I was on a page with my favorite bear. There are some good tips on writing blog posts and, of course, you can never go wrong with Pooh Bear! Here is the Winnie the Pooh Guide to Blogging.

I'm Back!

2009-01-27T12:23:00.003-06:00

When I started my Music EdTech blog I was determined to add posts on a regular basis. I've been pretty good about posting answers to questions that people have sent my way and, until recently, did fairly well at adding other tidbits on a fairly regular basis. Then a couple months ago they changed the date for our curriculum adoption. We went from spring to January 26th. YIKES!! Because I am the department chair I got to do lots and lots of things to keep our process moving along. The presentation to the Board of Education was last night so it's back to a somewhat more normal schedule. YIPPEE!!! Now that the bulk of the work is behind us I am very glad the date got changed. We were likely more efficient than we would have otherwise been and now I can focus more on my very fun Music EdTech blog.

Do you have a question or some techie thing you've been thinking of trying? Send me a comment or email (contact section in the sidebar) and I would be happy to help. Tomorrow I am off to the Illinois Music Educators Association All-State Conference in Peoria, but my trusty MacBook will be with me so I will be, as always, compulsively checking my blog for comments!!

The Joys of Social Bookmarking

2009-01-27T11:56:00.005-06:00

I have recently discovered the joy of delicious. I had heard about the whole social bookmarking thing but always thought, "I like my bookmarks just fine the way they are, thank you very much, and I don't need one more thing to do." Then I actually tried it, and guess what? I liked it! I know that I have just barely stuck my foot in the door of social bookmarking but have quickly come to realize the tremendous wealth of information available with just a few quick clicks of the mouse. For those of you new to the idea, here is an excerpt from the Social Bookmarking page on Wikipedia: "In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, and can be saved privately, shared only with specified people or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination of public and private domains. The allowed people can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, or via a search engine."

The feature I thought I would like best is that my bookmarks could be accessed from any computer with Internet access. In the past, I would bookmark something wonderful on my MacBook at home, but when I got to school, I would have to go back and forth between two computers to get the URL or send myself links. Not a good use of time. Being able to access my bookmarks from any computer is a tremendously wonderful feature, but I've discovered that what I like best is checking out what sites other people have bookmarked. Looking for information about technology integration? You can see bookmarks that every delicious user has tagged "technology integration" or check out bookmarks for a specific user. Many bloggers are now putting links on their blog that allow you to add that person to your network. If this all sounds like a foreign language, take heart - the whole thing is very intuitive.

While this may save you time when you are doing research, you still have to evaluate each bookmarked site. Just because someone else likes it doesn't mean it's good, but it certainly provides a narrower search than typing your search terms into the Google searchbar.

Did I peak your interest? Here is a link to a website that lists what they say are the Top 30 Social Bookmarking Sites.

Open Source Web Design Software

2008-12-29T20:53:00.000-06:00

A recent EDTECH listserve email asked recipients to recommend free web design software. The overwhelming response, so far, has been Nvu. Those responding cited several features, including ease of use, availability of support/forums, and multi-platform (Mac, PC, Linux) format, in their recommendations. For more information and download, visit:

http://www.net2.com/nvu/

Adding a Link to Your Blog

2008-12-09T23:47:00.000-06:00

Do you want to add a link to your blog, but you're not quite sure how to do it? Here are the steps for adding a link on a blogger.com site. Other blog creation software/tools will be very similiar:

Open your post in "edit" mode, or select "new post."
Type in the text as you want it to appear on your blog.
Find the URL (website address) that you want to link to.
In your blog post, highlight the text that you want to turn into a link.
Mouse over all those cute little icons at the top of your editing window. One of the little pictures will say "link." The image probably looks like a small link on a chain. Click on it.
In the little window that pops up, copy/paste in the URL for the page you want to link to.

Want to be a little bit tricky? Right click on your snazzy new link. Hopefully, you will see a whole list of things - select "Open link in a new tab." This will keep your visitors from navigating away from your page.

Ta Da!!!!

Troubleshoot Blog Audio Problems

2008-11-28T19:14:00.000-06:00

Are your students having trouble getting audio files on your blog to play on their computers at home? You will find a detailed post on my school blog: http://blog109.org/communities/kiplingmusic/archive/2008/05/22/33456.aspx

If you are a Firefox user (if not, it is worth investigating!!!!) you can easily add plugins by visiting https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:7

FYI - Plugins allow your browser to display various graphic formats and play multimedia files.

Music K-8 KidTunes

2008-11-28T18:58:00.000-06:00

Many music teachers subscribe to the Music K-8 magazine, published by Plank Road. This wonderful resource includes teacher tips as well as a huge variety of original songs - including seasonal songs and songs for recorder and boomwhackers - that kids absolutely love! These songs are now available for download in a format similar to iTunes. Parents set up accounts for their children and kids can select and download songs to play on their computer or MP3 player. Avoid the temptation of posting Music K-8 audio files to your blog or website - send your students to K8 KidTunes instead. The composers/publishers will get the credit they deserve as we model for our students the importance of following copyright laws.

Client Services

2008-11-28T17:58:00.001-06:00

Looking for more than helpful hints? Do you want a website but want someone to set it up for you? Here is a website I created for a local children's author using RapidWeaver (Mac software). After developing and publishing her site, I taught Mary to maintain and update it herself.

HTML Tip #2 - Embedded YouTube Video

2008-11-28T14:53:00.001-06:00

There are many wonderful videos on YouTube that can be used in the music classroom. Whether you are comparing different performances of the same piece, exploring instruments and voices, or investigating unusual instruments, there are many YouTube videos that will correlate to your curriculum. The problem is that you never know what else will show up in that window when you play the video for your students. Solution: embed the video on your blog or website. Not only will you have control over content your students will see, but they can find everything in one location - your blog or website!

Once you have selected the video you want to use in your lesson, it's time to open the "embed" box in the upper right corner of the window on YouTube.

Next, click on the "customize" button to select the size, color and other settings for your player.

When the next window opens you see several options for player size and color. You can also choose whether or not to include related videos - I always un-check that box. If your students click on one of the related videos then all of ITS related videos pop up. So much for controlling the content your students will see!

Once you've chosen your embedding options, copy the text from the embed field and paste it into your website or blog post.

Ta Da!

HTML Tip #1 - Link Tip

2008-11-28T14:23:00.000-06:00

Don't let visitors leave your site! When you add a link to your website or blog, the default setting will likely open the new page in the same window. You don't want them to get distracted and not come back to you, so why not insert a teeny bit of code into your page? Here is what you want to add: target="_blank"

1. In editing mode, highlight the text for your link. This will help you find the corresponding information in HTML view.
2. Next, in your editing/compose window, click on something that says "Html."
3. Right after the URL (website address), type target="_blank"

This is what the html for a link to blogger.com would look like without the added code:
href="http://www.blogger.com/">blogger.com

Here it is with the added code:
href="http://www.blogger.com/" target="_blank">blogger.com

Ta Da!

Creating a Website

2008-11-28T14:11:00.001-06:00

You might think that making a website would be much more difficult than a blog. While websites can be as simple or complex as you would like to make them, getting your first website published isn't as difficult as you might think. The first step is to find somewhere to host your site. Many school districts and Internet Service Providers provide web hosting services at little or no cost. I published my first website five years ago using TeacherWeb. For a modest yearly fee, all I had to do was type in my text and my website was launched. Through TeacherWeb, members are now able to easily write and publish WebQuests. While I have now moved on to a website I created using DreamWeaver, that TeacherWeb site got me started.

Update, 7/28/10: There are lots more Web site creation tools available now. You might consider:

Weebly: Free hosting, attractive templates, very user friendly.
Googlesites: Allows for multiple administrators; very handy if you are creating the site with a colleague.

Creating a Classroom Blog

2008-11-28T13:52:00.001-06:00

Creating a blog is quick and easy and provides a wonderful opportunity to share information with your students and their families. The first blog I created for my classroom was hosted through my school district (gone now) but blogs are easily created on sites like this one, blogger.com. When I began my classroom blog three years ago, my posts were sometimes few and far between but over time I came to find more and more opportunities to use my blog for communication. In the second year, I used my blog to post links to Internet resources used in class. Not only did this make it easy to access resources, but students could easily access them at home as well. Now in my third year as a teacher/blogger I continue to find new information to share with my students and their families through the blog. It has taken awhile, but my students are now beginning to actually make comments - that means the blog has developed into what it is intended to be: two-way communication!

Update: 7/28/10
My old blog is gone (host discontinued hosting) and I have a new district-hosted blog. Here's a link. Like many school sites, the template is one that is used district-wide (same colors, graphics, layout, etc.) and I just type in my content. If you like to play, many blog hosting sites, like Blogger, allow customization.

Welcome!

2008-09-24T12:03:00.000-05:00

Do you have a favorite song? music website? game? Add a comment and tells us all about it!