Oh the things we will do!

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that my school (the one I teach music at) is quite small – approx. 180 students in 9 classes over 6 grades. We don’t get a lot in terms of technology, usually the bigger schools get the cream of the crop, but we are starting to see some new things come into the school. I was told this week that our school will be getting LCD projectors installed into several classrooms around the school. I spoke up about how fantastic it would be for me to have one in the music room. Well. I’ve never seen such shocked faces in my life. “What in the world would you use an LCD projector in the music room for?”  Well. I told them. And guess what? I’m getting one

I can’t wait to get it set up and start sharing the ideas and lessons that I will be using in collaboration with the new LCD projector! I would love to hear your thoughts, though. Do you supplement your lessons with PowerPoint? Notation softward? Fill me in! 

ask and you shall receive

This week I’ve been doing some serious thinking and planning for what’s to happen after Christmas. I’ve decided to create some stations around my music room for various times throughout the year. I asked around, and I did a little digging in storage areas, and I came up with some great stuff!

#1. A Second Computer

I already have a computer at my desk, but I wanted to set up a basic technology station. As I’ve mentioned before, my school is fairly behind the times when it comes to technology, but I’m determined to use what we have to its fullest potential, and try to find ways to get more into the school!. Anyhow. I asked around and found out that we do have some computers laying around the school that are not in use. One of the teachers helped me set it up and hook it into the school network today. Ta-Da!

#2. Listening Station

I’ve got a large stereo system in my room, but I do not have anything for concentrated, small-group listening. I’d noticed that other classes around the school had headphone hubs and 6 nice pairs of headphones, each individually controllable. Again, I asked around and found that there was one complete set – headphones and all! – just lying in storage. I got permission to use that! Then, I looked around for a second CD/Tape player that I could set up the listening station with. I found one – brand new – in the basement and got permission to use that. Listening station complete!

Now, here are two questions for all of you out there

#1. What other kinds of stations do you set up in  your music room?

#2. What software do you use with elementary students? I’m thinking audacity, notation software, I own one copy of Groovy Shapes…What else?

Please comment and let me know your thoughts!

Halloween Sound Effect “Tableaus” using Audacity & free sound samples

We had a Halloween activity day for the whole school. I was in charge of a “music” station. For 5-7 minutes each, groups of 4-6 students would visit me and I had to find something fun, engaging, and QUICK!

We are slightly technology-challenged (as in lack of equipment) at my school, so I’ve seen it as my duty to start introducing a few new things to the students. Here is what I used:

• My personal laptop
• A 27″ external monitor (also could be done with LCD projector, but ours was in use so I made do with the monitor)
• A set of laptop speakers
• “Audacity” – a free audio recording program (get it here)
• A collection of free “halloween” sound samples that I downloaded onto my computer  – i.e. wind, rain, footsteps, thunder, screams, ghost sounds, howls, etc) (get them here)

I had the students sitting on mats around the monitor. Since we only had 5 minutes to complete the activity, I had prepared cards in advance with each sound effect written on them. I had 3 different types of footsteps, so they went on one colour card, and were each numbered, “F1″, “F2″, and “F3″. Those went into one pile. Then, on another colour card, I numbered my scream sound effects, “S1″, “S2″, etc. I did this with each type of sound effect I had downloaded specifically for this project.

I had each student in the group pick one sound effect, and that was the one I would use in their “tableau” (I should also mention that I had opened each of the sound effects that could potentially be used in one window so that as each student chose their sound effect for their group, I just located it in the first window, and then copied and pasted into “their” window.

Some sound effects we had lasting for the entire tableau  (about 15 seconds) – i.e. wind, rain, etc.

Other sound effects were used more sparingly – i.e. a scream, thunder crashing. In these cases, I would ask the students where they would like that particular effect located – at the beginning, middle, or end.

We ended up with some pretty cool sound effect scenes! And it actually worked for 5 minutes. If I had more time with the students, I would have them manipulating the sound samples themselves, adding effects, moving them around, etc. Now that they all have been introduced to the program and have seen how it works, I may be able to do this in a lab setting later on.

Here is one example of a grade 6 group’s finished product. I think they did a great job!

I want this…

Today was our area’s PD day for music educators. I sat in on a couple of sessions by a Roland representative who talked about recording in the music classroom. I just about drooled over all of the gagets that he brought with him! The one that I loved most was the EDIROL R-09HR

It’s a top-of-the-line digital audio recorder that’s got the best sound quality out there – internal stereo mic, SD memory…lots of things that I don’t even pretend to understand. The Roland rep. did some live recording with this little machine and I was completely astounded by the quality that played back – it was unbelievable. I think I might just pick one of these up for myself!