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.