OneNote Reflection/Review

       As I started getting familiar with OneNote, I definitely started noticing some similarities between OneNote and what I use on my Google Chromebook.  The ability to conveniently share, view, and edit documents between students and teachers is very useful and can be found in both OneNote and Google docs.  I also noticed that within those documents there is probably more flexibility with OneNote in terms of being able to include other forms of media (videos, links to sites, etc.).  Sometimes when I insert some type of media in a Google doc and share it, that link or video may not always open.  It is no longer an issue now when I do it but OneNote can include pretty much any type of media in its documents or worksheets, allowing for easier access of information for students.

       Google drive is what I used to share assignments, videos, recordings, etc. with my students.  When I was exploring OneNote, I saw that Microsoft also uses this drive concept, as displayed below:




       Taking things a step further with OneNote, students can compile all of their documents and files into a digital notebook.  With software programs like this, students of the future may not even have to carry paper-based notebooks anymore!  They will have access to all the notes that they take in this type of digital format.  And just like Google docs and drive, all the files and documents in OneNote can be accessed from any computer or tablet with an internet connection.

       I can see how OneNote can be an excellent teaching tool but I highly doubt that my school district will adopt this program.  We are a Google-based district and just last year, all teachers and students have been working with Chromebooks and learning how to use that software.  But if I'm being completely honest, I think OneNote does have some very valuable features in its program.  Even if it is a bit similar with Google software, both students and teachers would benefit from using both programs.  Unfortunately, all schools within a district must operate using the same programs.  We cannot have one school using Google software and the other using Microsoft software.  Therefore, I don't think OneNote will be utilized in my Google-based school district any time soon.  In the meantime, I hope to continue familiarizing myself with OneNote and perhaps one day I can put my knowledge of that program to good use.  I do enjoy using Google drive and docs with my students and they find it fairly easy to use as well.  Thank you for the opportunity to explore OneNote.

Reflection - Week 7

       After teaching for 9 years, I've noticed how technology has become more and more commonplace in education.  It wasn't always this way, however.  I can actually recall in my first or second year of teaching (2007-2009 roughly) many instances where technology would have been useful but it wasn't implemented.  For example, quarterly grades and progress reports were still being done via penciled-in bubble sheets for each student in my classes.  Of course, now everything is done online but keep in mind, 2007-2009 isn't all that long ago!  I had left that position and got a new job that uses more technology.  One of my former colleagues at my old job told me that eventually they started doing their grades and progress reports online.  To be fair, it didn't take all that long to fill in the bubble sheets for grades.  But there is certainly a difference in how quickly it can be done on a computer, especially when you have the option of importing grades over from your pre-existing grade book.

       This is one of many examples where technology can help educators do their jobs as efficiently as possible.  Staying organized is crucial to a successful classroom.  I still occasionally do paper-based assignments but I keep them neat and tidy in the band room.  Having become a Google district last year, my students and I have become quite familiar with Google docs and the exchange of assignments through Google drive.  My colleagues and I have built a music department web page where we post upcoming concerts, dress rehearsals, and assignments.  For my jazz band, I have a separate page with links to videos that help students with beginning jazz improvisation.  I also have a listening list that used to be made up of Youtube videos but I plan on using Spotify to organize playlists for my jazz band students to listen to.  This is an excellent way to help stay in touch with both students and parents regarding concerts and other venues.  Many times I will receive calls or emails from parents asking about when the next concert will be and I often tell them right there, but then I'll remind them to check out the music web page for all of this information.

       Since we're on the topic of communication, there is an app that is very useful in helping students and parents stay on top of their band schedules.  It's called 'Remind' and it can be downloaded through the app store or Google play store.  Basically, it is an app in which you can organize a list of phone numbers (these can be parent numbers or student numbers if you're on a field trip) and then you can send out a text message to all the people on that list.  The best part is that your personal phone number is not listed!  As long as your students and their parents have this app installed on their phone, they can receive messages from you and they won't be able to actually see your phone number.  When my colleagues and I did our annual 6 Flags band and orchestra trip, this app was the star of the show!  Once we hit our first check-in time at 2:30, I sent a message to my band kids, "Time to check in!!" on the Remind app and within minutes, they started coming over to check in with their chaperones.  It is so convenient to be able to round up your students with the push of a button!  I strongly recommend this app, especially for field trips.

       I personally believe that when it comes to any school, that school's music department is the public face of that school.  The way the kids behave and carry themselves, how they follow directions during a concert, pretty much any performance is an opportunity for students to display themselves at their very best.  By doing so, they are representing the school that they are from.  That's why with public relations and music advocacy, teachers and administrators need to be mindful of how their programs come across the general public.  I've posted videos of concerts and other performances on Youtube and on the department web page and I do it so people know what goes into each concert.  The hours of practice, commitment, and working together all pays off in the end.  Students become better people as a result of their musical experiences and that is why we do what we do.  Of course, I have to get signed permission slips from students' parents to be able to post those videos but I want them to be able to see those performances, especially parents who could not attend certain concerts.  Just last year, I got a call from a parents thanking me for posting the band portion of the Spring Concert on the department web page so she could still see her children performing even though she was unable to be there.  It's moments like that where I am thankful that technology is around to help me do my job better.

Reflection - Week 6

       Being able to truly listen to music is a skill that all people can develop to varying degrees (Haack, 1992).  Musicians absolutely must have a keen sense of listening in order to be effective performers and artists.  People who are non-musicians can still listen to music and develop an ear that's on the same level as musicians.  There are a number of colleagues I work with every day who are amazing when it comes to interpreting or analyzing different pieces of music as they listen to it.  My mentor in the B.E.S.T. program has not played his trumpet in several years so it's safe to say that he no longer performs.  But when I put on a song that is very complex, he can point out the form, structure, and key changes almost instantly.  One of his favorite musical artists is Frank Zappa and if you've listened to any of his music, you would be hard-pressed to find anything remotely simple in any of his highly-complicated works!  I actually wasn't a big Zappa fan until I worked with my B.E.S.T. mentor and he pretty much turned me onto Zappa.

       The concept of hearing versus listening to music is an interesting one to me, mainly because I'm of the belief that everyone listens to music.  But it made more sense to me when it was broken down and I realized that hearing music can be reserved for passive-type activities venues where the music isn't necessarily the center of attention.  Prior to teaching, I was a performer for several years and most of my gigs were concerts and performances.  However, there were also quite a few parties, weddings, etc. where we played but we were simply providing background music.  This definitely harkens back to how music is an essential staple of all cultures.  Whenever there is an important event or ceremony, music is always provided to make that event more authentic and meaningful.  That being said, I'd like to share a quote I read recently, although I don't know who said it:

"Music makes everything better.  Think about it; when you eat out at a nice restaurant, when you attend a birthday party, when you go to a wedding or bar-mitzvah, when you go out for a run, there is always music.  If music can make everything better, why is it usually the first program to be taken away from public schools?"

       I may not have gotten the quote exactly word-for-word but it rings true nonetheless.  But going back to hearing vs. listening, it's important that students understand the difference as well.  When I assign students specific songs or musicians to listen to, I usually require some type of reflection or written report that shows their thoughts or opinions on the music.  The most common reflections I've received from my students are related to how the music makes them feel.  My students almost always write something about how the song(s) make them feel happy, sad, mellow, energetic, etc.  Over the years, I started being more specific and on the assignment, I would write down, "Please share your thoughts on the assigned listening.  You must write about at least 2-3 musical concepts within the song(s) you listened to.  These concepts can range from dynamics and tempo to form and time signature."  Once I started setting this kind of standard, the reflections I received from my students were more about the musical elements at work, not about how the music makes them feel.

       Just last year, my school instituted a new policy in which students are allowed to listen to their iPods or music on their cell phones during lunch time.  Since I have cafe duty every day, I saw this policy in action.  I was completely and utterly amazed at how much music was being shared!  Students were trading iPods, sharing ear-buds, and showing music videos, which I thought were non-existent!  The last time I saw a music video was back in the late 90s-early 2000s on MTV.  Of course, the music that was being shared wasn't traditional music-class type of music.  They weren't sharing Bach concertos or the nocturnes of Chopin.  They were sharing what they already listen to on the radio.  That's why it is crucial for music teachers to teach students about music that they wouldn't normally listen to.  My students always complain, "why can't we play something we know for the concert?"  They're referring to songs by Adele and Justin Bieber and whatnot.  The reply I always give is, "You kiddos already know that music inside and out.  In music class, the purpose is to explore music that you don't know.  Music class is meant to expand your horizons and teach you about music beyond your iPods."  One great moment I had with a student was right after his jazz band audition on electric bass.  I usually ask my students what type of music they listen to, kind of like an interview within the audition.  When I asked about his music, he pulled out his iPod and there were all these great jazz bassists like Paul Chambers, Charles Mingus, and Jaco Pastorius on there.  That made me very happy to know that, even outside of the classroom, he is using technology to listen to music that most teenagers would hardly listen to.

Reflection - Week 5

       When it comes to instruction, I've always stood by the old saying, "The ends justify the means."  With the end always in mind, I try my absolute best to construct lessons that work toward those end goals.  I suppose I'm a fan of backward instructional design, but it is challenging when teachers must make changes to their lessons in order to adapt to any obstacles that sometimes come up.  Effective teachers must always have a back-up plan to make up for lost practice time, rehearsals, or class time.  Even now in my 10th year of teaching, I feel pressured at times when there are field trips scheduled right before concert dates.  I've found that the best way to make the most out of the time I have with my students is to develop a foundation of assessment tools that are both fast and efficient.

       Assessment is one of those realms in education that can be approached a number of ways.  The more traditional approach would be to use pencil-and-paper worksheets or exams.  As music educators, we know that a student's progress on an instrument cannot always be measured this way.  Student knowledge of music theory can sometimes be assessed through written work or tests but often times in a music classroom, students display what they know through doing.  Being a hands-on learner is probably why music appeals to me.  Of course, I still use assessment tools like rubrics and grade sheets, especially when I hold auditions for jazz band and section leader chairs.  But I usually try to provide feedback to my students through some form of listening or discussion.  One example would be when my students perform at their winter and spring concerts.  The day after their concert, we listen to their performance and the entire lesson is built around reflection, both from an individual standpoint and an ensemble standpoint.  Students can either share their thoughts through discussion, or they can write down their reflection and hand it in.  This type of self-assessment can be used after the concert when there is time to spare, but in the weeks leading up to the concert, assessment needs to be done quickly.

       During our combined 8th grade band rehearsals this year, I started doing an activity that I learned when observing a conductor working with some of my students at Eastern Regionals.  They had just played through an entire piece and afterwards, she told the students "Ok, very good.  Now, take 30 seconds to a minute, turn to your neighbor, and talk about one thing that you did VERY well!  After that, discuss one thing that you would like to do better."  I took it one step further in my rehearsals by asking my students who would like to share their brief discussion.  This struck me as a fun, fast, and effective way for students to assess themselves as individuals.  Teachers can modify this activity so that students would discuss how they did as an ensemble.  Sometimes students are a bit shy to talk about themselves but they are more likely to share their opinions if they are referring to the collective whole.  One more change I made towards the end of last year was to record their combined rehearsals so that they could listen to their performance without playing.  It's amazing what students hear when they are not concentrating on playing their instruments!

       Using more technology for assessment and instructional design is something I'd like to do more of.  My students and I use our Chromebooks a lot, from recording practice sessions to completing work and submitting via Google docs.  They also use them to complete projects, echoing the project-based-learning approach from the text.  However, I would like to implement either SmartMusic or MakeMusic next year.  SmartMusic will supposedly be compatible with Chromebooks for the 2016-2017 school year as a web-based platform.  You can read more about this here:

http://www.smartmusic.com/blog/makemusic-acquires-weezic/

       So far, I've used the technology available to me in my school district and even though we just became a Google school last year, I am confident that we will find new and interesting ways to teach music with Chromebooks in the classroom.

Chromatik and SmartMusic Review

       As music educators, one of the biggest challenges we face is making sure our students have access to necessary information, both inside and outside the classroom.  In the classroom, this is not so tough because we are there to help our students and facilitate the learning process.  However, this becomes harder when students are at home.  With the proper devices and technology, software programs like Chromatik and SmartMusic can become very powerful teaching tools for students whether they are learning at school or studying at home.

       Chromatik can be installed on mobile devices like smart phones and tablets but it can also be accessed on a computer or laptop through its website.  Signing up is free but of course, there are more features and benefits if you upgrade your subscription.  Once I created my profile, I noticed I only had 3 plays per day, which can be upgraded to unlimited plays.  Navigating through the program is fairly simple and there is a huge catalog of music to choose from different eras ranging from The Beatles to Adele.  I chose "Eleanor Rigby" for my first play and I was astounded by the number of options I could pick from!  As a woodwind player, I chose alto saxophone and within seconds, I was looking at a page of sheet music transposed for alto saxophone.  When I hit play, I could hear the song as I was reading along with the sheet music.  The recording was played by a piano so an alto saxophone students can't really use the audio to develop timbre or articulation skills.  But being able to hear the notes, rhythms, and pitches while practicing is a huge benefit to this program.  Afterwards, I chose trumpet and again, the part was transposed perfectly.  Being able to transpose music in just a few clicks is invaluable to music teachers.

       The sense of community is very strong with Chromatik.  There are dozens of user-posted recordings and videos of songs from films, musicals, and traditional repertoire.  One minute I was watching a child in a pirate costume playing the theme from "Pirates of the Caribbean" on piano and the next minute, I was listening to a flute student playing "Danny Boy."  I really appreciate this implementation of technology and with cameras already built into most tablets and computers, anyone can share their work and receive feedback from fellow musicians around the world.

       As a concert band and jazz band director, the only downside I noticed to this program was the limited number of jazz artists.  I had no problem finding music from classical greats like Bach, Mozart, or Brahms.  But when I started searching for jazz musicians, the only person I found was Charlie Parker.  When I clicked play on the song "Dexterity," there was no video or recording to play it back.  Chromatik certainly has an enormous catalog of pop music or classical music, but I probably can't use this program much with my jazz band students.  Aside from that, I think Chromatik is a phenomenal way to guide students when they are searching for recordings to listen or practice to.  Other resources like YouTube can be useful as well but Chromatik helps students to focus their research and transpose music to fit their respective instruments.

       When I started looking into SmartMusic, I noticed the "MakeMusic" icon at the top of the web page.  Last year, I participated in a MakeMusic workshop and I learned about the possibilities of using this program with my students.  SmartMusic is very similar to MakeMusic in that it is a software program designed to assess student progress and performance by recording the student playing along with the music displayed on the screen.  This can only work if a student is practicing with a device that has a microphone.  Most tablet devices already have built-in mics so the hardware of today can certainly accommodate this program.

       Chapter 6 of Bauer's "Music Learning Today" centers in on the importance of assessment.  During a lesson, teachers can use a number of different rubrics to track the progress of their students.  Recording performances during class is another way that teachers can assess his/her students and provide feedback.  In some cases, students can assess each other as they practice.  When students practice at home, they may not always be able to tell if they are playing the correct notes or rhythms.  Sometimes, they may spend too much time on a piece of repertoire and not enough time on building fundamentals.  With SmartMusic, teachers can encourage what I like to call focused practicing.

       SmartMusic allows teachers to create their own musical assignments through its easy-to-use notation software.  I can write a simple 12-bar blues solo or I can write an 8-measure percussion rudiment.  Once it is written, the next step is to share it with my students.  They can listen to what I've written and when I share it as an assignment, students are required to submit a recording of themselves playing what I assigned.  My students always leave my class knowing what I expect them to practice but SmartMusic helps to reinforce what I assigned to them for their daily practice.  This alone makes this program fantastic, but it gets even better.

       As a student plays along with the recording, SmartMusic can actually detect when a student plays a wrong note or misses a certain rhythm.  Furthermore, it shows that student what he/she played incorrectly by displaying a wrong note (it is colored red) in the exact place where the student made the mistake!  This can encourage students to take tuning up more seriously and it can also show students how important it is to stay on top of building fundamental skills by practicing scales, exercises, or etudes.  Teachers can also set a limit in regards to how many recordings can be made, preventing students from constantly trying to re-record their performance in order to achieve a better grade.  By doing this, students will put in more practice so that when the time comes for them to submit their assigned practice recordings, they will be ready to do their absolute best.

       Unfortunately, I was unable to implement MakeMusic in my classroom this past year mainly because we do not have Apple tech at our school.  Instead of iPads, we have Chromebooks.  Other programs like Soundation, SoundCloud, and Audio Tool are available on Chromebooks but SmartMusic and MakeMusic are only available on iPads.  If these programs become available on Google Play, I will immediately start planning lessons and units with SmartMusic.

       Both Chromatik and SmartMusic are amazing tools for instruction and assessment.  For students, they are intuitive, easy to use, and quite accessible to most students if they have the proper technology.  I strongly recommend both programs for use in music classrooms across the country.

Reflection - Week 4

       This week's reading definitely shows that technology and media have a very strong influence on our everyday lives.  How people receive information has changed drastically over the years.  Television and newspapers were pretty much the only way people used to keep up to date on the news and current events.  Today, the internet has made information so much more accessible than it used to be.  Aside from news, people can research how-to videos, powerpoints on how to properly prepare a research paper, check the weather, and of course, learn about music.  People can look up different songs or genres of music and within minutes, they can download that song onto their phone, computer, tablet, etc.  Music educators can take advantage of this and implement different kinds of instructional software into their lessons.

       In the past, I have recorded myself playing scales and repertoire on various students so that they can listen to their part as they read it.  Each student has a Google account and I can send them these recordings via Google Drive so they can receive their recordings on any device connected to the internet.  My teaching style revolves around modeling and hands-on learning.  If they are at home listening to my recordings, they are only getting the audio part of it.  When they are in my classroom, I will play a different instrument almost every day so that each section of players can both see and hear how they must play.  When modeling, I always emphasize proper posture, embouchure, and hand positions (or drumstick grips for my percussionists).  The next step would be for me to record video segments so that my students learn the visual and musical concepts that we are working on in class.  Unfortunately, I do not have a webcam at the moment but I plan on using my iPad next year to do videos for my students.  They still have access to apps for metronomes and tuning so I encourage them to use those in addition to the recordings.

       The concept of structure and setting boundaries within the area of creativity is something I strongly believe in, at least in the beginning of the learning process.  When I teach my jazz band students how to improvise, I will often limit the number of notes they can pick from the blues scale.  By doing this, they can free their minds from the pressure of choosing the right notes and focus more on style and rhythmic applications.  After they've gotten the hang of it, I will let them choose from a larger set of notes, lifting the constraints that were placed earlier.  Depending on how experienced they are, the limitations will differ from one year to the next.  Just last year, I had a strong jazz band and we were able to go beyond traditional blues and get into pentatonic scales, modes, etc.  A few years ago, the jazz band played well but were extremely shy when it came to improvisation.  We had gotten into the pentatonic scale but that was it.  Since the jazz band is an audition-only group, I use my Chromebook to record each audition and carefully assess each student's skill level.  It is imperative for the music educator to evaluate his/her students' abilities at the start of the school year.  One of the most challenging parts of teaching music is making adjustments to lessons that play to the students' strengths while encouraging improvement in areas of weakness.  Careful assessment of student skill can certainly assist music teachers who face this challenge.

       Bloom's Taxonomy breaks learning into three definitive realms: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.  If I were to pick the way that I learn, I'd go with psychomotor mainly because I'm a hands-on learner.  Consequentially, my teaching style involves a lot of physical work.  Sometimes I'll have my students stand up and stretch before we warm-up, I do breathing exercises with them, and we often clap or stomp our feet when we learn about rhythms.  By its nature, playing an instrument requires a strong foundation of motor skills.  This doesn't mean that cognitive and affective learning aren't as important when it comes to music.  As previously stated, when I model for my students, I do more than just play the music.  I try to impart as much knowledge as I can regarding technique through my modeling.  As far as reading music goes, I'm glad that Bauer mentioned Suzuki and Gordon because I support their style of ear-before-reading.  Much like the spoken word, children learn to speak by listening to others speak long before learning how to write.  The same goes for music and without a proper foundation of aural skills, learning how to read, decode, and notate music may be more difficult.  Many factors play into how students learn and teachers must always be aware of these factors.  Implementing technology is perhaps the best way to adhere to how students learn in this day and age.

Soundation Reflection and Review

Using software to compose and arrange music is something that I’m fairly familiar with.  Programs such as MuseScore and Finale have been very helpful in the past 9 years that I’ve been teaching.  Soundation is an online program that can be utilized from almost any computer connected to the internet and as long as you have that connection, you can access your account and start a new song to work on or you can continue editing a song you started earlier.
My composition, “Climbing Higher,” is a piece that starts with a few voices, but as it progresses, more and more parts join in to create a more complex piece.  It kind of represents my own progress in learning how to use all of these software programs that may be familiar to others but somewhat new to me.  At first, using Soundation was difficult because I had never used it before.  But after watching the tutorial videos and playing with the program itself, I finally started getting the hang of it.  The composition incorporates musical elements such as Form (it’s kind of an A-A-B-A form with an introduction and ending) and Dynamics.  For example, I used the volume display option to add a decrescendo just before the Bridge (B section) and towards the end of the Bridge, I put in a crescendo to build it back up into the A section.  The interesting part about all this is that I didn’t have to put in a crescendo symbol in the music; all I had to do was adjust the volume to fit the shape that I wanted it to fit.  Adjusting the yellow line to make a dynamic shape was easy and intuitive.  I hope that people who listen to this piece think of it as a song that starts simple, grows, and them comes back full circle to how it started.  The only musical difference is once it returns to the last A section, there are accompaniments and counter-melodies joining in that were not there in previous sections.  I’d like to think of this as a type musical scaffolding, adding and building off of the parts that were heard in other sections.
For the most part, Soundation was quite easy to use.  I took some time to watch the videos on their website to get an idea of how it works and what it has to offer.  The sound samples were easy to access and with a simple click, you can listen to each part to see whether or not it would fit with your current composition or arrangement.  Once you assign a part to either an audio or instrument channel, you can play around with elements like reverb or filter.  There were times when I felt like I was working in a recording studio, only I was in the comfort of my living room!  Being able to mute certain parts during playback is a huge advantage to me.  As more parts and voices join in, it can be hard to hear everything and obtain a sensible balance.  Muting parts and adjusting individual volume channels made a huge difference in balancing out my piece.  There were a few challenging moments, like when I was trying to stretch a part out or I couldn’t get my iRig piano/keyboard to work when I wanted to record a part for the Bridge.  But all I had to do was look up my issue on google and sure enough, there were numerous discussion forums and even a couple of videos showing how to fix the problem that I encountered.  There is certainly a sense of community within this program and there are always people out there willing to help me with my composition if I’m having trouble with something.
In regards to educational purposes, Soundation can definitely bring a lot to the musical classroom.  Due to the lack of notation in this program, Soundation is a great music-making tool for students who do not possess the reading and decoding skills of music that other students may have.  Band, chorus, and orchestra students are typically expected to know how to read music but for students who have never participated in an ensemble but would like to create music, Soundation should be at the top of their list.  Personally, I feel as if this program could be used more at the beginner level for music students.  If kids know how to read music, I would encourage them to use programs like MuseScore, Finale, or Noteflight.  All of these programs have immediate playback so students can listen to their work and observe how it grows and develops musically.  Kids can share their compositions and receive feedback from their peers, which I think is a great way for them to collaborate with each other.
As I was creating my piece, there were moments where I thought of how I would fit this into my lessons.  One example I thought of was to split my class up into groups of 3-4 students and each group would be working in their own “recording studio.”  Within their studio, every student would take on their own role (composer, arranger, sound engineer, etc.) and they would work together to create a piece of music.  For instance, the composer/arranger could assign certain parts to their respective audio or instrument channels.  Then, the sound engineer would listen to those assigned parts and make adjustments when necessary.  In my experience, giving a student a title like “composer” or “sound engineer” gives them a little boost in confidence and it makes them want to work harder.  At the end of class, each group will play their composition and the other groups will listen and share their thoughts on the piece they just heard.  This can turn the lesson into a living discussion forum and kids can talk about their original music in a safe and nurturing environment.  Feedback is imperative for students who want to improve their composition skills and even though I can give feedback as the teacher, students should learn how to give constructive feedback to one another.
I believe my middle school students would love to use Soundation in my classroom.  My band students already use MuseScore on some occasions so maybe they would enjoy Soundation.  Next year I will be teaching more beginning percussion classes so maybe Soundation would be a good fit for them since their notation skills are somewhat limited.  Overall, I really enjoyed using this program and my students will most likely enjoy it as well.