Music Technology in Education

Working for Korg has been a dream come true so far. I have always been a huge fan of the full line of Korg products - everything from the M1 to the Kaossilator and their full line of amazing tuners! As an employee, I get a bit of a discount on gear, and I have made quite a few purchases in the last four months. One of my recent purchases was the Korg padKontrol. While I already own the microKontrol (which has 16 pads on it) I love the feel of the larger pads on the padKontrol. They are completely touch sensitive, and unlike other MIDI pad controllers on the market, every square millimeter of the square pad is active.

I have been using my padKontrol with some of my favorite sequencers, including GarageBand, Reason & Logic. What is great about the padKontrol is that when you use it with the software synthesizers (particularly the drums) you can play the instrument with a much more humanized feel. There is something very different about playing the pads instead of playing keys on a MIDI keyboard controller. Each pad on the padKontrol is assignable - you can select any pitch or sound for each pad. When I played one of the Whirly’s in Logic, I assigned the pads to a dorian scale and had a ball making music in a non-keyboard environment. The sensitivity of the pads is amazing. I especially like the flam and roll feature that really makes your drumming sound human. Finally, the X-Y pad gives the padKontrol a Koassilator feel and the combination of the pads and X-Y pad is a terrific way to perform with this great instrument.

From a pedagogical standpoint, I believe that the padKontrol opens up some wonderful opportunities for those “non-music makers” in your school. I personally feel that there is no such thing - every child is musical - they just might have some obstacles that get in their way, like knowing how to play a traditional instrument. I used the padKontrol with some middle school students this week and they had a blast with it!

Check out this great video demonstration from YouTube to see what the padKontrol can do.

I welcome your comments and questions.

This past weekend, Barbara Freedman, from Greenwich, CT, invited me to a live streaming broadcast of a session that she was presenting at PodCamp 2.0 in NYC. Although I have heard of live streaming video sites before, this was the first time I actually logged on to an event to watch. She used a website called UStream.tv to broadcast her session. I was amazed that the website allows anyone to create a virtual TV channel for FREE! I decided to set one up to see how difficult it was.

In short, this is one of the easiest things to set up - even easier than creating a blog! Simply sign up fr a free account, enter some preferences (what video camera and microphone your computer has) and you’re finished. You simply click “Broadcast Now” and the site does the rest. You can send out an invitation to your friends and/or contacts to watch your show live. The great thing about the site is that it archives your shows so that if people miss the live broadcast they can always watch the video at a later time.

I believe that this site has some pretty big implications for education. Teachers could broadcast their lessons to students who are not able to be in the classroom. Distance learning could be greatly enhanced by teachers recording actual lectures to students around the world. It is also a great way for students who attend the class to review what was covered later in the day or week. Conferences of all types could be broadcast over the web so that others could virtually attend (even if a small fee was charged). Students could create simple TV shows and/or podcasts as assessment opportunities. The possibilities are endless.

I urge you to check out the site, create a free account, and start streaming video today.

I am thrilled to announce that SoundTree is now a corporate sponsor of the Vermont MIDI Project Opus Concerts. As you are probably aware, I am a HUGE fan of the work that Sandi MacLeod and Anne Hamilton have done with the Vermont MIDI Project. I believe that it is the single best illustration of technology in music education. If you’ve never heard of the Vermont MIDI Project, please go and visit their website.

This Wednesday, April 30th 2008, I will have the very distinct honor of attending my first ever “Opus Concert” at the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph, VT on behalf of SoundTree. As the Managing Director, one of my first actions was to contact Sandi to become a sponsor. The Opus Concerts (this is the 16th one) are incredible opportunities for students in the program to write for a specific instrumentation group and have their pieces performed by professional local musicians - many from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. On this concert, 19 students will have their compositions performed by either a string or woodwind quartet. In addition to having their pieces performed, the students also have an opportunity to rehearse and conduct the musicians in preparation for the performance. I can’t wait to finally see this process live.

If you are in the central Vermont area this Wednesday, I urge you to attend the concert. Tickets are only $5 for adults and $3 for students. The concert is at 6:30pm and the open rehearsal session starts at 12 noon. I hope to see you there!

TI:ME President-Elect and good friend of mine, Amy M Burns, has just joined the blogosphere and I would like everyone to take a moment to visit her blog and welcome her. Author of “Technology Integration in the Elementary Music Classroom“, Amy’s new blog - titled “Elementary Music/Music Technology Blog” will most certainly become a vital resource for elementary music educators who are looking for effective ways of integrating technology in to the music curriculum. She has already posted some great information, and I know that her expertise in elementary music education will make her blog THE place to go for great lesson ideas, tricks & tips, curricular integration strategies, and more!

Welcome Amy!

I read on Wired.com today about a very interesting upcoming event in Detroit, MI. The story is about how Asimo, one of the most well known robots (which is made by Honda), will conduct the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on an upcoming concert. The concert is more of a kick-off commercial for a long-term partnership between the orchestra and the car manufacturer who has donated $1 million dollars to the “Power of Dreams” education fund.

Honda will film the event, which takes place on Tuesday, May 13th. Attendees will include students from the Detroit School of the Arts. When the film is posted on their site, I will post a link to it here.

So what do you think? Shameless commercial? Interesting idea? Can a robot actually conduct a professional orchestra? What genius is programming it? Will the musicians actually follow it? Is this good for classical music? Has the Detroit Symphony “jumped the shark”? I’d love to hear from you.

I came across an interesting post on Miikka Salvuo’s blog today referencing a video that was created in 1967 about the future of education. It is amazing how accurate the futurists’ predictions were. I urge you to check out the video for yourself and see what you think. While the version of the Internet is certainly archaic in retrospect, who could have imagined in 1967 that education today would rely so heavily on it. I also like the X/Y buttons/standardized assessment portrayal as well (how true is that in today’s education?).

Show the video to your students, see what they think. Have a conversation about the types of differentiated instruction they prefer. Ask them if they would ever want to learn two days a week in the comfort of their own home? Their immediate response might be “YES!” but I believe it would be interesting to dig a little deeper with them. List the pros and cons. Does it look like James is having fun learning? Is that important? How can this be related to music education? Can it?

I welcome your comments and questions.

I justed posted a podcast containing two compositions that we recorded yesterday with the Kaossilator Orkestra at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ.

The structure of the first piece is based on Morse Code. After giving the students a drum loop, they spelled words using the Kaossilator from Korg. This is the third time we have rehearsed together as a group and I am finding that having a system like Morse Code (giving the students a tactile direction) is more successful than some of the other pieces that I have written out for them.

The second piece is based on Braille. We chose the word “Rainbow” because there were 7 students yesterday. Each student was assigned a letter from the word and then given direction on how to create each letter using Braille.

I was very pleased with the results as the pieces are more controlled than some of the ones we tried in earlier rehearsals. The concept of the Kaossilator Orkestra is becoming clearer as we move forward. Personally, I am thrilled by the possibilities for this type of group in the school setting. What do you think? Could you see an ensemble like this in your school?

Before reading any further, if you haven’t already seen the video, take a moment and watch a great video on YouTube called iBand. They have a few other videos as well that you might be interested in.

What do you think?

I believe that this is another example of how music is changing and how it is the students that we teach that will reshape the way music educators approach performance ensembles in the future. That might seem like a bold statement, but I am a firm believer that the technology shown in the video makes music making very inviting for students. While the tune might not be the best composition ever created, it shows how innovative kids can be. Take two iPhones and a Nintendo DS and Voila! you’ve got a band. Instead of fearing that traditional performing ensembles will die because of technology (a huge over reaction) I believe that music educators have an opportunity to bring performance experiences to many more students than those who are currently a member of a performing ensemble at school. Ask yourself how many students (what percentage) in your school are members of the band, chorus, or orchestra? 10%? 20%? 30%? Even the best music programs in America would be fortunate to have more than a 50% participation rate? What about the vast amount of students who will never have an opportunity to perform? Sure, you might have a Battle of the Bands once a year to showcase some of the millions of kids who play guitar, bass, drums or keyboard. I’ll bet that many of the students who are not performers at school are closet performers at home, using the same technology that the iBand uses. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have every student performing? Do you think that technology could make that happen? Websites that offer free software downloads that contain music making opportunities level the playing field in terms of socioeconomic status. Are the iBand members musical even if they are not playing “instruments”?

I’d love to hear from you and your students. Perhaps you could show the students the video and get their reactions. Have them post their comments here! Are you an iBand fan?

For those of you who have spent any time with me in the past three months, you know that I am a HUGE fan of the new Kaossilator from Korg. You can listen to some of the compositions that I have made with it as well as a recording of ten middle school students in what I call the Kaossilator Orkestra on my podcasting site.

Recently a friend of mine sent me a link to a fantastic album created by Gary Kibler from London called “The Yellow Album”. It is perhaps the best illustration of the music making capability of the KO1. What Gary has done is nothing short of miraculous. The KO1 is a dynamic phrase synthesizer that uses a touch pad to create music. There are no keys at all and it is not that easy to create a melody without any mistakes. Here is the description of the Yellow Album from Gary’s site:

“The Yellow Album” is the first full-length album produced and performed entirely on the Korg Kaossilator device. No other effects, EQ or sounds were added. The audio was digitally recorded directly off the unit and the only external editing performed involved simple volume balancing. The musical challenge was to attempt to make the two-bar loop limitation of the on-board phrase recorder sound less repetitious by playing the touchpad live, solo-style, over the loops during the recording.

I strongly recommend visiting his site and downloading the album today. It’s completely free, and it is really good!

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Today I am in Milwaukee, WI at the MENC National Conference. It is always great to see so many of my friends at this conference, and catch up in all that has happened since the last conference. Yesterday, however, there was a buzz about two things: the new MENC website - completely redesigned, and - unbelievably to me - the announcement that the 2010 Conference in Kansas City has been canceled - meaning this is the last MENC National Conference for the forseeable future! I find this fact very hard to believe. I have been attending this conference for nearly 20 years and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the networking and learning through the various sessions and performances that have taken place. I have presented numerous times at this conference, and always felt that it was one of the premiere events at which to do so. I am sad to see it go.

Perhaps it is a sign of the times in education - so many conferences, so little money for professional development, no paid release time - that has brought MENC to this situation. I have been to many other conferences however that are vibrant and brimming with teachers (Midwest Clinic, TMEA, FMEA). My hope is that MENC finds a better way to address the needs of their membership - perhaps through lobbying efforts in Washington DC, or harnessing the success that these other organizations have had. Educators are professionals, and our national organization should be there to support them.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.