Music Notation Software

Every music teacher is not a piano major. Some are voice majors while others focus on strings, brass, or percussion instruments. When these teachers are expected to start a choir, they may have problems finding an accompanist or feel inadequate when it comes to proficiency with a keyboard. Sometimes a music score will add a an instrument in addition to the piano accompaniment, like a flute, French horn, violin, or double bass. Unless, you are well-connected in an urban city, it is highly unlikely that teachers will find a professional to play these parts while they conduct the choir. Ideally, that is what would happen in the ideal situation.

When the ideal situation does not exist, music notation software is the next best alternative. The major two companies are finale and Sibelius. Both companies offer educational and professional versions of their software. Teachers can either input the notes by hand, play the piano part from a synthesizer connected to the computer, or scan the music into the computer. Next the teacher would choose the appropriate instrument to play the staff, choose the sound (s)he likes, set the tempo, and deal with any dynamic changes. In addition, voice parts can be played with the voice parts or without to be used during rehearsal. Just a little bit of preparation can make a music teacher's ensemble rehearsal that much easier.

finale software includes finale, finale Allegro, finale PrintMusic, finale SongWriter, finale Notepad, and finale Reader. http://www.finalemusic.com/default.aspx

Sibelius professional software includes Sibelius 6, Sibelius First, Sound Libraries, PhotoScore Ultimate 6, AudioScore Ultimate 6, Scorch, and Sibelius Internet Edition. Educational software includes Sibelius 6, Sibelius Student, Sibelius Student Network Pack, Groovy Music, Sibelius Instruments, Sibelius Starclass, Sibelius Compass, Musition 4 and Auralia 4. http://www.sibelius.com/products/index.html

Assessment

I recently read the ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report Digital Dilemma by Gerald C. Van Dusen. In discussing quality and effectiveness of distance education, he discussed six types of assessments - summative or formative, formal or informal, quantitative and qualitative.

Students in my school system must take formative assessments every few weeks. A formative evaluation is an ongoing process that is used to assess instruction at all points of a course while a summative assessment evaluates the effectiveness of a course after its completion. Weekly quizzes would be considered a formative assessment while a comprehensive final exam would be a summative assessment. Using a backward design model and the curriculum, my plan is to create different types of assessments to use throughout the year and tailor my teaching to my assessments to make sure that all bases have been covered.

Formal assessments uses grades from texts, quizzes, term papers, etc. to evaluate student achievement while informal assessment evaluates student learning by via participant observation in group discussion or when answering questions. Music teachers do a good job of informal assessment, but we have to do a better job of formally assessing student performance. Colleagues encourage us to go down our class roll, record the objective, and mark the names of students who cannot perform the task to make it easier on the teacher or uses a system of marks to identify mastery and non-mastery.

Quantitative assessments can me statistically calculated and analyzed. Multiple choice and true-false tests are examples of quantitative assessments. Qualitative assessments allow students to reveal their depth of knowledge by forcing students to use higher level thinking skills. Essay questions, evaluation rubrics and projects are examples of qualitative assessments.

With the knowledge of the types of assessments available to music teachers and the creative ways in which we can assess student performance, formative and summative assessments, the addition of formal assessments to informal assessments, and qualitative and quantitative testing, can do more to bolster our claims that we are teaching students the fundamentals of music based on the curriculum.

What does this have to do with technology? I plan to explore websites, music software, etc. that can aid music teachers in assessing behaviors and assignments where students must use technology to show musical competence.

ePortfolio1

Elementary music teachers in my school district mainly teach three things: 1) singing, 2) folk dance, and 3) instrument (percussion) technique and playing. In addition we teach students steady beat, rhythm, iconic and traditional notation, make connections with history and culture. How can we prove and teach these things in our classroom?

Here are a few suggestions.

1) Pre-test and post-test. A end of the year test from the previous year and the list of skills with the skills to be learned from the current year. These tests can also measure progress from one nine or six weeks to another. Utilization of an eGradebook with a rubric, student grades, and objectives should be proof of student learning.

2) Audio recordings. Solo singing is an objective in our curriculum. Without having students identify themselves (a seating chart can do this), go down the roll and have students sing a part of a call and response song, e.g. "Pizza, Pizza Daddy-O", where the other students must respond. An audio recording should be acceptable. The digital recording identifies seconds and minutes. Beside a class roll, the teacher can identify at what point in the tape each student sang. Student performances on instruments can also be recorded.

3) Video recording. Video can best show students dance. While audio performance can reveal the quality of a student's performance, it cannot show if students are performing using proper instrument technique. Here is where video can be helpful. With students dancing in a group and standing in staggered formation, the teacher can place the video in a position in the classroom where student's faces are obscured. Student instrument and dance technique can be placed on video tape as evidence of performance objectives.

Final performances which include 1/3 of the class playing instruments, 1/3 of the class dancing, and 1/3 of the class singing would be ideal. Everybody would be engaged in the process. Once one group finished singing, they could move to instrument playing, then to dance. Three performances can successfully document all students performance in a matter of time. Of course, this takes planning on behalf of the teacher to make sure that students learn dance, song, and instrument parts during the grading period.

State of Music Ed in TN

This past week I learned that starting next year, music teachers will have to prove and show student progress in music classrooms. This information will have to be submitted to the state department to be evaluated. If a teacher does not receive good ratings for two consecutive years, that teacher's tenure will be revoked.

Obviously, the types of evaluation to be done will be electronic either via spreadsheet, audio or videotaped student performances, grade book, etc. As of now, we don't know what the State plans to accept or what we need to prepare. This blog will explore in the next few weeks ways teachers can utilize e-portfolios to document student assessment.

In addition, teachers who do not teach subjects tested by TCAP scores like math and science will have the school's TVAAS scores count toward 35% (initially) to 50-51% (currently) of our evaluation scores. This was revised due to the RACE TO THE TOP funds received from the Obama administration. Needless to say, teachers at all levels will need to cooperate with each other to find ways in which we can support the instruction in the tested grades while making sure our students gain the knowledge they should know in our classrooms.

Using eCourseware

For college professors of music ensembles.

During the five years I spent as a gospel choir director of a university gospel choir, I tried to think of ways to utilize eCourseware in my classes. I used the site to provide students access to documents, engagements, grades, websites, and voice parts.

Documents. Teaching an undergraduate class, I always found myself furnishing lyrics to students who were absent or lost their lyrics. I found it helpful to provide the first sheet for students in the rehearsal and place the document on eCourseware site. I also used to site to give students access the the course syllabus and code of conduct I used to govern student behavior. Students had continual access to this information.

Engagements. Gospel choirs are often asked to sing on and off campus. In my initial syllabus, I put the dates, times, place, call time, and performance time on the syllabus. Some times, I knew of an engagement but didn't have any specifics and had to put TBA on the syllabus. At other times, people would ask you to perform after the semester had started. So in addition to sending email, I would place it on the eCourseware site so that students saw it when they first logged on to the page.

Posting Grades. Attendance, performances, and singing tests were the basis for the grading in my class. The eCourseware site made it easy to put the grades on the website. The time consuming part was putting the grades in weekly as the semester progressed.

Voice Parts. Because of copyright, I did not place songs on the website for students to access. I had every intention of recording vocal parts as I taught them in class and placing them on the website so students could review their parts at their leisure. I also had the intention of recording voice parts of a spiritual or difficult classical song using a digital recorder and placing them on the sits so students could listen to it before I introduced it in class. Even though I did not execute my original plan, the eCourseware site can easily handle this capability.

Websites. There are some websites that I used on a regular basis to aid me in my search for gospel lyrics and music. I placed these links on the website for students to access.

Teachers of music ensembles do not have to be neglect technology available to them. One simply needs to rethink the function of teachers and figure out how to do make their job easier and give students more access using technology.

SMART Board

I can't take credit for the technology statement I made yesterday. I must give credit to Charlie Tighe, a music education from the Atlanta Metro area who did a SMART Board workshop for elementary music teachers during a SMART Board workshop. Boy was I jealous! I wish I had one of these in my classroom.

It's hard to do a SMART Board workshop with over 100 teachers with only one computer, projector and SMART Board. He preferred the SMART Board over its competitors because it doesn't require a special pen to use. Anything can be used to write on the SMART Board.

The presenter was able to sync his music files to the actual presentation. In one example, he placed an instrument picture with an MP3 sound file. He suggested that MP4 files are great for entire sings for recordings that you want to play independent of the visual. This change can be done by going to the Preferences Menu in iTunes.

He used the screens to reveal and show certain things. He grouped words chains created by students to be used to teach rhythm. I really like the interactive nature of the SMART Board.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od452Bswyw0

The link above shows you how a music educators uses the SMART board to teach music fundamentals to elementary school children. Like Mr. Tighe, her initial presentation before a crowd didn't go as anticipated so she posted what she intended to do for them on YouTube.

Finally, always remember: "The SMART Board is to aid in making music, not to take the place of making music." -C. Tighe

Rule for Technology

My mom hated for my dad to fix anything. He would start a project with the best of intentions, and half-way through he would get discouraged and find a quick fix solution by using - you guess it - duct tape.

"The way technology works is inversely proportional to the number of people viewing the presentation at a given time."

Needless to say, I thought I had at least 10 blogs scheduled by now, but I see that I haven't. I'll speed them up to daily until I can get caught up. Thanks.

I thought I left the days of duct tape behind when I went to graduate school. In conducing class, the video tripod didn't work. Just like the men in this pic, the men in the class stood around the tripod to try to figure out how to remedy the situation. They found a quick fix solution by using my dad's favorite remedy - you guessed it again - duct tape. Duct tape and technology: You can't live with it. You can't live without it.

Using the iPod

About 2 years ago, our music supervisor had the foresight to buy elementary school teacher in the school system an iPod with the music from 2 music series from grades K-5 already loaded. Prior to using the iPod, teachers used CD players and had to switch CDs for every different song used during a lesson. This could be time consuming for the music teacher who had a habit of sitting things down and forgetting where he/she placed them. This has revolutionized my teaching.

My co-teacher was fortunate in that he was one of the first to receive a Bose sound dock. This sound dock can be charged and transported to any location without having to locate an electric plug. And boy does that sound dock emit some tremendous sound.

I on the other hand received the second round of sound docks. Mine is a JVC. I looked online for a picture, but I couldn't find one. That says a lot. Unlike my coworker's, my sound dock does not charge so it must be continually plugged into an electrical outlet. The sound it emits is not nearly as loud as my co-worker's Bose sound dock.

The downside is I don't have control of my iPod. The other music teacher does. I once cleared all of my songs out of my iPod unknowingly when it was in my pocket and I had to travel from room to room to teach while the building was being painted. My co-worker loaded all of my songs in a matter of minutes. In the near future, I plan to load all the music on my school computer and configure my iPod myself so that I don't have to use the circular dial to find the songs I need. That is time consuming and sometimes aggravating. In addition, I can't delete previous playlists from my iPod by hand. Whenever I figure out how to control my iPod from my own computer, I'll blog to let you know how I did it. Wish me luck!

Auditions

Most people hate to hear their recorded voice on a tape recorder. But for students who wish to perform in festival choirs and honor choirs, auditioning is a reality. I bought a simple handheld digital audio recorded from BestBuy. You press the red button to record, the stop button to stop, and the arrows to rewind to the desired track and play back the audio.

The student who is auditioning holds the recorder in his/her hand and sings into the recorder. When they are finished, I play the recording back for them. I ask the student if s/he is please with what s/he hears. If s/he tell me no, I allow them to rerecord. If s/he is pleased, the audition is complete. In this way students have performed according to standard and evaluated his or her own singing. If the student was not pleased, s/he made the adjustment necessary to improve his/her voice without any feedback from the teacher. This is what all teachers aspire for this or her students.

Ring Tones in the Classroom

In November, I was sent a hilarious ring tone of the spiritual Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Stayed on Jesus. The voice on the ring tone sounds like Alvin the Chipmunk singing in a gospel style. At the end of the ring tone, the voice starts an church-style exhortation one would hear in an African American church. Every January, I teach the freedom Woke Up This Morning to my third grade students. When I heard the ring tone, I immediately knew that I would use it to help me teach the song in January.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9c9R4QUChg

Compare the ring tone on the Youtube link with the words in the PowerPoint picture.

This year after introducing the song and the form, I played the ring tone from my cell phone. I connected my phone to the iPod via a cord and let the students hear. They were so busy laughing that they missed everything the Alvin-like voice said. They asked to hear it again and again and again. Once the students finished laughing, I explained to the students that a freedom song is a song/spiritual from the African American church where a word has been changed so that it could be used during the civil rights struggle. I proceeded to ask the students what word was original word and what is the changed word. They responded, "Jesus." I asked them what was the word changed to and they responded, "Freedom."

The ring tone helped me effectively teach the meaning of a freedom song better that I ever could. So be on the look out for ringtones people send to you. You may be able to use it to connect with students on a different level and engage them in the lesson immediately.

Teaching Form

Form is the way a song is put together. Sections of music are labeled using the letters of the alphabet starting with A. If sections of the music are the same, those sections get the same letter. If a section is different, that section is labeled with the next letter of the alphabet.

When I type a PowerPoint, I place the label in the title bar and the lyrics below, usually in 44 font (sometimes bold). The labels may read Introduction, Interlude, Coda, Verse, Refrain/Chorus, Transition, Section A, Section B, Section C, Call, Response and so forth. I also duplicate the first slide and place it at the end of the song. It can be quite irritating to have to start the slide over again after the last slide has been advanced.

With the last slide showing the title of the song and its arranger, composer or country of origin. I ask the students what is the form of the song? How was the song put together? I have found that most students do not read the title bar, they simply read the lyrics. The students who read the title bar can usually answer the question.

My final suggestion is to place the form and definitions of terms at the end of the slide show. That way, the teacher can reinforce what has just been taught and the students will be able to identify the form of the song.

Creating Digital Materials

Whatever are teachers to do with all those transparencies they have from old curricula that they wish to keep? What about those aging manipulatives that are on their last leg? I have used an overhead projector only once and when the light bulb goes out, the teacher can find him/herself in a pickle if that technology is the primary instruction tool. If the teacher has technology in the classroom, the most reasonable alternative is to digitize those transparencies and manipulatives by scanning them into a computer. Teachers can take it a step further and create a PowerPoint or Adobe Acrobat file with all of the items.

The transparencies are from the music series "Share the Music" by McGraw-Hill.

I recently scanned the Listening Map Transparencies for the Share the Music textbook series for each grade into my computer. I merged the files together in an Adobe Acrobat file and store them into the computer. I did the same thing for a set of music rhythm cards I bought. By scanning the material into the computer, I can point to the rhythm, correct student mistakes, and say and play the rhythm with students instead of holding the card in my hand. Scanning all of those cards and transparencies was time consuming, but the convenience of being able to access files quickly and maintain classroom discipline is definitely a plus!

I scanned these music manipulatives I purchased into my computer. The color-coded manipulatives were saved into a slide show with the types of notes on the title page. In addition, I rotated the rhythm cards 180 degrees and require students to read the card and recognize that rhythms can be read forward and backward.

Displaying Lyrics

When I first moved to Memphis and became an elementary music teacher, one of the first things we were told to do was to create a visual for the lyrics of each song. During workshops I saw the creative handiwork of the presenters as they put so much care creating their visuals. The importance of visuals is not lost to me. The purpose is to increase reading fluency and comprehension in addition to connecting the visual words to the aural experience. A visual is a very effective way to represent the text in a classroom where there is no technology.

Fortunately, I have a teaching station in my classroom. My computer is hooked up to a television and the image on the computer projects to the television. Instead of using a visual, now I use Microsoft Office PowerPoint. No only is it a visual and aural representation of the words, students often ask to advance the PowerPoint. This reinforces the student's ability to read and follow the text. The only advice I give them is to press the advance button (right arrow or space bar) before the students finish the last sentence so they can be ready for the next slide. Teachers with SmartBoards can do this even more success.

In addition, a colored background, clip art, pictures, sounds, and moving graphics can add a lot to the overall appearance of a slide show. For example, if a song has the name of an unusual animal, a picture of that animal can be used to show students what they are singing about. In addition, pictures can tremendously assist students learn words when they are singing in a foreign language.

When I use the teacher station, I encourage students to sit on two oversized carpets on the classroom floor. This method of teaching will quickly show the teacher which students have vision problems.

Above are parts of the PowerPoint I created for "Rockin' Robin." I had to print the page, scan it, save it as a jpg file and upload it to the site. The graphic does so much more than simply reading it from a visual which would only have a few graphics or from a book.

Introduction

Greetings. This is my first time ever doing a blog. I have been putting it off for a while because I'm nervous about the whole experiment. Although it is an assignment for a graduate course, I hope to learn and discover a lot of things as well as help a lot of other educators more effectively use technology in their classrooms. I also hope to spark some creativity in the use of some unique materials to incorporate into the classroom. And who knows, I may just fall in love with blogging and do it on a more regular basis. We'll see.