As you may know, I am a huge fan of Wikispaces. I have set quite a few for my music program, and they have added a very powerful component to my music program. I have been showing my wikispaces to anyone who’ll look at them, and I must say I’m proud of them. Last night however, I got an email from Wikispaces that included a “Wikispace of the Month” titled bbamusic. Intrigued, I logged on to it. It is amazing. My pride instantly withered when I saw how far a music educator can go with a wikispace.

The Burr and Burton Academy is in Manchester, Vermont, and the Performing Arts Department has created a wikispace that takes full advantage of every feature the site has to offer. Fantastic graphics, a Flash-enabled menu, and many more visual and audio elements make this website the best wikispace I have seen yet. The directors of the program have put together an informative website about their program, complete with PDF documents containing their curricula, parent support information, a calendar of events, and a fantastic Wiki Tips page to help you learn how to “trick out” your Wikispace. I highly recommend checking out the site to get an idea of what is possible with a Wikispace. Hats off to the directors! You’ve done a spectacular job.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Recently on the TI:ME Discussion Board, a member asked if there was a good source of Keyboard Ensemble literature for younger students.  Within a few minutes - usually the case - a TI:ME responded with a website address containing many wonderful compositions written specifically for keyboard ensemble.  The site, called SoSpace, is run by two musicians and composers from Texas - Jim & Susan Ogilvy.  They have assembled a group of composers - including themselves - and the Music Store section of the website has over 150 compositions for all age levels and difficulty levels.  Users can hear samples of many of the scores.  Each arrangement runs around $40 and comes with a disk, score and parts for your group.

So why play ensemble literature in your lab?  Why not!  Music technology labs are often centered around keyboards and students often need to learn some basic skills in order to utilize notations and sequencing software.  Incorporating ensemble music will help the students learn how to play their instruments in an ensemble atmosphere, something that can be missing from the technology experience.  You don’t need to disassemble your lab and drag the keyboards out on stage to use the music - use it your lab!  Check out the website and listen to the music.  You just might find something you’ll like.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

The New Jersey Chapter of TI:ME had a very strong presence at the NJMEA State Conference this past weekend, and we are looking forward to growing our membership over the coming months. I was able to meet many technology-minded music educators at our booth, and the three sessions that I presented showed me that there is a very strong interest in technology here in New Jersey. If you’d like to access my presentations, click HERE and then click on the NJMEA link.

We had a small, but very productive chapter meeting on Friday evening and the educators who attended were very enthusiastic about what we are doing in the coming months. A very special thank you to the TI:ME Executive Director, Mr. John Dunphy, who was at our chapter meeting.  It is a testament to his passion for State Chapters that he made the trip to be with us.

I am pleased to announce a very exciting Professional Development opportunity being offered through TI:ME NJ. On Saturday, April 14, 2007, I will be teaching a hands-on workshop at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ titled Podcasting TI:ME NJ Website and click on Courses. Six hours of NJ PD time are available by taking the workshop. The fee is $25 for TI:ME members and $40 for non-members. Lunch is included.

We are also thrilled to announce that TI:ME NJ will be offering three TI:ME Courses this Summer (TI:ME 1A, TI:ME 1B & TI:ME 2A) at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ through the Villanova University Summer Music Studies Program. Registration for the courses is now open and space is limited, so register today! There is also a fabulous workshop being held by the TI:ME 2005 Teacher of the Year - who is also the NJ Chapter Secretary/Treasurer - Amy Burns. This workshop is focused on utilizing technology at the elementary level, and workshop attendees will be using her soon-to-be-published book on the topic. For more information about her workshop and how to register, click HERE. And believe it or not, plans are already in the works for our 2nd State Conference to be held in October. Last year’s event was such a success, and we are looking forward to bringing you an even better event this year!

If you are interested in becoming a member of the TI:ME NJ Chapter, all you have to do is join TI:ME today and you’re signed up! There has never been a better time to join - we have an amazing Grand Prize Drawing for all of our members on April 1st, so sign join TI:ME today!

I welcome your comments and suggestions - especially on this snow day!

MENC has a terrific feature of their website that can be useful to any music teacher seeking advice.  Too often a music teacher is isolated within a building and getting advice from an assigned mentor may not be helpful as many are not music teachers themselves.  So where can one go for good advice about teaching music?  MENC’s Ask The Mentors.

There are four discussion boards that are located on the main Ask The Mentors page: Band, Chorus, Orchestra, and General Music.  Each discussion board allows users to post questions - everything from classroom management advice to suggestions for appropriate repertoire.  Once a question is posted, other MENC members have the opportunity to respond, and many do.  Aside from the monthly mentors who are assigned to answer questions, many MENC members take the time to help out fellow music educators.  One can read all of the questions and answers to see if the question has been asked before.  It is truly an online music education community.

My only criticism of the site is that while there is a technology discussion board, it is not linked to from the Ask The Mentors site.  You’ll have to select the technology discussion board from the menu on the side of the main page.  Maybe one day.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

A few years ago, the 7th Grade music curriculum at the school where I teach covered “World Music” - or more appropriately, music of different cultures.  In preparing materials for the course, I found that locating good online resources on world music was often rather difficult as many sites were purely commercial - trying to promote products rather than providing good content.  There are however, a number of exceptional sites, including one that I found quite awhile ago called DanceDrummer.com.  For a full listing of links that I have used, please visit the links page on my website, and click on the World Music category.

DanceDrummer.com was created by a musician named Kevin O’Sullivan as a part of his Fulbright Scholarship studies that took him to Ghana for a year to study African drumming.   The site is filled with great videos and pictures of traditional African percussion instruments and there are many different rhythms displayed and performed to teach students (and teachers) the traditional rhythms used in a African drum circle.  The performance videos are a perfect way to illustrate African drumming and dancing.  There are also some virtual instruments that the students can play by clicking the mouse on the image of the instrument.  There are detailed instructions and videos on how to play each instrument as well.

This website is a great resource for an music educator who would like to provide their students with accurate information about African drumming.  I strongly recommend checking it out.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

DRM, PowerPoint & Fair Use

If you’ve ever tried to insert an audio file that you purchased from the iTunes Music Store into a PowerPoint presentation, then you know that you can’t do it - or can you? All of the files that are sold on the iTunes Music Store come with a protection known in the music industry as DRM - Digital Rights Management. Music files on iTunes are formatted as Protected AAC files. These are basically MP3’s with encryption that forbids them from being copied onto more than five machines. Most music lovers are not fans of this system, as it restricts the devices that you can play your music on - specifically, any song that you purchase through iTunes will only play on your iPod - unless you circumvent the DRM. Apple founder Steve Jobs has posted his thoughts on the rationale behind imposing his FairPlay DRM system on iTunes customers. In a nutshell, FairPlay is a part of iTunes to appease never record industry executives who are concerned about piracy.

There are a number of applications available online to “crack” the DRM on iTunes songs, including the well known Hymn Project, and an application called Blaze. Both of these applications have had legal issues with Apple who is desperately trying to crush these applications. Most iTunes customers know that there is an easier, if not costlier way to break the DRM on Protected AAC files. By making a playlist that includes Protected AAC files and burning them onto a CD, iTunes users can change their iTunes preferences (under the Advanced menu option) to use the MP3 encoder when importing files. Once that has been changed, users simply insert the burned CD and import the files as MP3s. Once in the MP3 format anything can be done with the files, including copying them and saving them to other MP3 playback devices. This is also the way to use those music files with a PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint only plays MP3 audio files - not Protected AAC files. So the question is, is it legal or even Fair Use to “crack” the DRM on an iTunes music file for use in the classroom?

The answer is simple - NO. It is technically illegal to remove the DRM protections from an audio file. While it is certainly Fair Use to use a song that you purchased through the iTunes Music Store for your class, you are technically only allowed to play the file through iTunes. Sounds crazy right? I have done an extensive amount of research on this question, and I have found numerous sites that clearly state that circumventing DRM is illegal, so even if you are using the files legally, you can’t convert them to make your PowerPoint presentations (or any other type of multimedia format) easier to use with your students. It is interesting to note here that this problem does not exist if you use Apple’s presentation application Keynote. You can easily play iTunes files in a Keynote presentation - even if they are Protected AAC files. Word to the wise: use only legal MP3 files with your PowerPoint presentations or convert to Keynote. If you want to use iTunes files, exit your PowerPoint presentation and play the files through iTunes - it’s a Fair Use and it’s legal. Are copyright laws making you crazy? You’re not alone.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

One of my favorite conferences of the year is the NJMEA Conference in East Brunswick, NJ. I have presented numerous sessions over the years here, and it feels like I am home when I’m there. I get to catch up with many of my colleagues, and there are always some great sessions

This year the conference is extra special for me because it is the first time there will be a TI:ME New Jersey State Chapter presence at the conference. For those of you who don’t know what TI:ME is, it is the Technology Institute for Music Educators - a national organization made of up technology-minded educators with a mission to provide effective professional development through courses usually given during the summer at universities around the country. I am proud to serve on the Board of Directors for TI:ME, and as the President of the New Jersey Chapter.

TI:ME NJ began last year at the NJMEA Conference and this year we are planning some great events. First we will have a booth (#72) and we’ll be there to answer any questions you might have about becoming a member of TI:ME. Next, I’ll be presenting a number of sessions on Friday and Saturday, including Podcasting in the Music Classroom and To Burn Or Not To Burn: It’s Moe Than An Ethical Question - my session on copyright. Also presenting a session on Friday and Saturday is TI:ME NJ Secretary/Treasurer Amy Burns, who happens to be the 2005 TI:ME Teacher of te Year. Her session is titled Technology Enhanced Elementary Music Lessons. Amy will be discussing her upcoming book that is being published by Hal Leonard and TI:ME about utilizing technology at the elementary level - it’s not to be missed! Next, we will be hosting a TI:ME NJ Chapter Meeting at 5:30pm on Friday in the Hillsborough Room to adopt our Chapter By-Laws and to discuss future plans for the Chapter. All are welcome to attend this meeting. We will be announcing some very exciting opportunities for music educators at this meeting, including upcoming Saturday workshops and summer TI:ME courses being offered in NJ for the first time!

On behalf of Jill Marshall-Work - Chapter Vice President and Amy Burns, I invite you to stop by the TI:ME NJ booth to find out more about TI:ME and our NJ State Chapter. Hope to see you there!

While at the TI:ME National Conference in Columbus, OH last weekend, a presenter mentioned a website for band directors called BandFolio.com. Whenever I hear about a website that I haven’t visited I get excited - I love exploring new sites, especially if they are great resources. If you are a band director, then bookmark this one today. It is terrific.

The site has a number of very useful features, including method books, fingering charts, scale sheets, band music, solo and ensemble music, flash cards, clip art, and an easy to use website creator. The best part of the site - all of these resources are free! The site does have some pages that are linked to businesses selling instruments and gig bags, but the major portion of the site is dedicated to providing some excellent tools for music educators. The thing that I can’t get over while viewing the site is the amount of free music for your students. There are many different charts available - each complete with downloadable PDFs, and audio files. I also love the scale sheets on the site. You can download scales for every instrument in one file and print out what you need for your ensemble - very convenient.

One of the most frequent questions I get as a band director is how to effectively integrate technology into your ensemble rehearsals. While I admit it is not really feasible or practical to have an ensemble go to a computer lab instead of rehearsing for an upcoming performance, there are ways to use it as a tool effectively during rehearsals - using a projector to show students relevant sites, recording rehearsals, etc. Another way is to include links to websites such as BandFolio on a department website, along with other relevant sites such as MusicTheory.net, and Home Practice Online. And of course, you can always integrate SmartMusic into your curriculum. My point is, there are many different ways to integrate technology into your program. Using resources such as BandFolio.com is one of many effective ways to do so.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Of all of the applications of technology in music education that I have seen, the Vermont MIDI Project is my absolute favorite.  The reason for this is that this project epitomizes everything that is right with technology - especially in the music classroom.

Driven by a need to effectively implement the National Standards - especially Standard #4 - Composing - into their music curriculum, project founders Sandi MacLeod and Anne Hamilton obtained funding to create a website where students and composers used the tools of the Internet to learn how to compose.  The process of composition is often difficult for teachers and students to learn as so few are also theory/composition majors in their undergraduate experiences.  By using email, MIDI files, and discussion boards, the original project had students submit compositions as MIDI files through email to a handful of composers who would suggest revisions to the students.  Armed with these suggested revisions, students would begin the process of editing, revising, and posting new drafts until both student and composer felt that the piece was finished.  Once the piece was complete, the student would post the work on the website for all to hear.  A simple concept with beautiful results - students and teachers can trace the evolution of their pieces and see and hear the growth after going through the process.

Over the years the program has grown to include Sibelius, Scorch, and more and more schools.  The Vermont MIDI Project now had hundreds of student composers and many mentors from around the country.  They have also been featured in many publications.  Perhaps my favorite aspect of the program is the Opus Concerts that began a few years ago. The Opus Concerts happen twice a year, and they are the strongest part of the program.  Here students submit their compositions to be selected for a live performance with professional musicians from Vermont.  If a student work is selected by the mentors, it is performed at a live concert with the student often conducting he work.  It is simply amazing.

I strongly urge you to check out the site and read some of the discussion threads.  Students in grades 2 - 12 are composing some amazing things,  If you like what you see, think about starting your own website in your state.  With some initial funding, the structure of the site is pretty easy to recreate so that you can get students in your state composing too.  Hats off to the Vermont MIDI Project!

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

If you’ve ever had a puzzled guitar player in your jazz band, then this is a website to send them to when they have questions about how to play chords. Meet ChordFind.com.

I run into problems with students who read only TAB when I give them jazz ensemble charts. As a tuba player, I’m really not equipped to help them out if they have questions about how to play chords. While the student usually brings the chart to their private teacher (if they have one), it doesn’t really help them out during the rehearsal. They often sit there not plugged into the amp, strumming along in silence. In an effort to help these students out, I found a fantastic website to help them out. Users can enter any chord under the sun and get a visual representation of how to play the chord on a virtual fretboard. There are also numerous variations possible for each chord that users can view as well. Finally, once the user has the chord they want, they can click on MIDI and it will play the voicing shown. Pretty hip.

It’s an easy-to-use site, and I recommend showing it to your guitar players. I welcome your comments and suggestions.