Students in my TI:ME 1A course at the Dr. Henry Wise Jr. High School in Upper Marlboro, MD were asked to write short lesson plans that incorporated notation software.   These veteran teachers, few of whom had used notation software before taking the class, did a wonderful job integrating technology into their lesson plans, and I was very impressed with the ideas they came up with.  To read their lessons, click HERE.  Please take a moment to comment on their lessons while you’re there!

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Finale 2007 is the latest version of this highly popular notation program. The new features included in Finale 2007 are certainly worth the upgrade expense. These features include: full support for Macintosh Intel-based computers, improved human playback, linked parts, integrated Kontakt Player 2, the Band-In-A-Box harmonization tool, and the ability to orchestrate from condensed scores or parts. If you are currently using a version of Finale older than 2005, you won’t believe the amount of new innovative features Finale now comes with. The Garritan Personal Orchestra library of high quality sounds comes included with the purchase of Finale and utilizing those sounds is quite easy. The Studio View gives users a great recording studio interface to use when orchestrating and mixing the finished composition. The Tempo Tap feature allows users to manually tap the tempo and tempo changes throughout the score.

Finale 2007 also includes great fixes to some minor problems with previous versions. When you have a software program this advanced, you are bund to find some quirky things, and Finale has listened to their users and fixed them. Among other fixes there is now a Simple Entry shortcut for laptop users, you can now control-click an area of music to copy, and for MacBook and MacBook Pro users, many of the problems that the Intel-based processors had are gone.

I always recommend upgrading to the latest version of any software that you use on a regular basis. By upgrading to Finale 2007 you are not only staying current, you are getting some really powerful features that truly enhance the composing experience. To download a demo of Finale 2007, click HERE.

Specs: Hybrid (Mac/PC) MSRP: $350.00/Academic ($119.95 to upgrade from Finale 2006 - $169.95 to upgrade from all other versions)

For the next seven weeks I’ll be teaching TI:ME courses and music technology courses around the country.  This week I’m teaching a TI:ME 1A course at the Dr. Henry Wise Jr. High School in Upper Marlboro, MD through Five Towns College and SoundTree.  The facility is without a doubt the nicest school building I have ever seen, and the Music Technology Lab is beautiful (though quite warm!).  I have created a blog for the students in the class to continue the discourse outside of class time, as well as a resource page on my homepage.  Please take a moment to read what the students have written in response to the questions that I have posted.  I’m sure that you will find their answers as insightful as I do.  As has always been my experience here in Maryland, the students are excited to learn about how technology can be integrated into the music curriculum, and I am looking forward to a great class.

Connect With Music is a new website created with the generous support of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) by three music technology experts (Tom Rudolph, Stefani Langol & myself) from the Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME) and three exemplary classroom teachers (Jason Finn, Katy O’Malley & Valerie Ordway). On this website you will have access to 30 free interdisciplinary lesson plans that utilize multimedia, music, and technology to aid in the instruction of Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science at the middle school level. Included with each lesson plan are all of the associated materials to implement the lesson successfully, comprehensive scoring rubrics, links to standards in music, technology, and each subject area, and many useful links that enhance the lesson plans. While each lesson plan can be taught on it’s own, there are many that are linked together, providing each subject area with multi-faceted, classroom-tested, technology-rich interdisciplinary lesson plans. It is our sincere hope that you use these materials in your classroom, and that you share this new resource with your colleagues and administrators.

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Project Goals: 1. Creation of a Multimedia-based Interdisciplinary lesson plans integrating music into three core subject areas at the secondary level: language arts/reading, mathematics, and science. Each subject area will have ten lesson plans that will integrate music into the subject area instruction. These unit level lessons plans will be comprehensive in scope, and take up to five class periods to implement and complete.

2. Improving Students’ Mastery of Standards in technology, core subject areas, and creating, performing and responding to music. For this project multimedia is defined as “a computer-based information delivery system that uses a variety of media in a rich, interactive environment.” The variety of media includes text, graphics, photography, virtual reality, animation, video, music, sound effects, narration, and 3-D modeling. The delivery systems are web-based, CD, or DVD, using tools such as PowerPoint.

I hope that you find this new website useful in your teaching next year. Please share it with your colleagues. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Today is the last day of the school year for me and I’m about to head off to teach seven straight weeks of technology and TI:ME courses around the country.  The end of the school year is always a busy time for me, but I always look toward what new things I’ll be able to do with my students next year, and the necessary software and harware that I’ll need to accomplish those new teaching ideas.  Thinking ahead to next year always gets me excited - it is what inspires me to keep doing what I do.  Here is my list:

1. Upgrade the lab to Sibelius 5.0.   I am really excited about the new features included with Sibelius 5.0 and I’ll certainly take advantage of the Idea Bank feature with my Young Composers Club.
2. Purchase a SmartBoard.  I’ve never taught with a SmartBoard before, but I think that it is an invaluable tool for teaching software applications and for creating class activities using a single copy of a software title.
3. Purchase the GarageBand Jam Packs.  If you’ve been using GarageBand for some time, you know that new loops are always appreciated.  I’m planning on purchasing the basic Jam Pack and the World Music Jam Pack.

I also have to set aside some funds to make repairs to the equipment that was broken during the school year.  My students are always careless with the headphones.  Koss has a fantastic lifetime warranty program that allows me to send in the broken headphones with a $6 per piece shipping and handling fee and receive a brand new set of headphones in return.  This year I’m replacing 8 sets.  I’ve already sent them in, and by August they’ll be back in my lab.  If you have Koss headphones, I strongly suggest taking advantage of this warranty - it saves tons of money.

In addition to my teaching and planning, I’ll be spending every evening this summer completing a book that I’m writing for TI:ME titled The Educators Guide to Music, Media & Copyright Law.  The book will hopefully be out in January of 2008 - stay tuned.

Thank you for reading my blog this year.  When I began back in September I didn’t think that I’d have enough material to do a daily music technology blog, but there have been many things to write about.  I don’t see myself slowing down anytime soon either!  I’m planning on continuing my daily entries this summer.  Hopefully I’ll see you at one of the many places I’ll be teaching, but if I don’t, please keep reading and commenting.  Have a productive, relaxing, and safe summer!

Best,

James

If you’ve never heard of Guitar Hero, a game for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console, it’s like Dance, Dance Revolution; but instead of moving your feet to the correct squares at the correct time, players utilize a guitar-shaped controller (resembling a miniature Gibson SG) that has them press the guitar frets, chords, strum button, and a whammy bar all at the correct time. There has been a great deal of press about the game, and the Wikipedia entry is quite detailed. (For a funny video of two players rockin’ to Iron Man, click HERE). I was introduced to the game by my good friend Stefani Langol this past March, and I must admit, I’m a huge fan now. There are many different skill levels and songs to choose from, and simply by playing the game, students learn the guitar licks (certianly rhythmically speaking). Many of my students have recently bought Guitar Hero II and are eagerly anticipating the release of Guitar Hero: Rock The 80’s in few weeks. Although the guitar parts aren’t exactly the same as if you were playing a real guitar, I think that the game has some powerful uses in music education.

While learning the guitar correctly takes years, I believe that games like Guitar Hero will introduce many young people to the guitar and to rock music. The students who play Guitar Hero know many classic rock tunes, and many of the songs included in the game repertoire were recently performed in the Battle of the Bands at our school. What do you think about Guitar Hero? Do your students play it? What do they think about it? What are the possibilities of including other instruments like EWIs and MIDI controllers? Can you imagine Trombone Hero? Should we as music educators embrace video gaming as a possibility for instruction?

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Podcasting is a contraction of the words iPod and broadcasting. I like to think of podcasting as TiVo for the radio. Many radio stations now podcasts their daily broadcasts so that you can download them and listen to them whenever you want. Missed your favorite NPR show? Log on to www.npr.org and download it. The iPod can be used as a device to listen to the show – although you can also listen to it on your computer, or any other MP3 player. Most podcasts are available for free at the iTunes Music Store, but you do not need to have iTunes to download podcasts from individual websites. Contrary to what you might think when you see the word iPod, podcasting is possible for everyone, whether or not you are an Apple computer or iPod user.

In addition to downloading individual radio programs, you can also subscribe to a specific podcast through the iTunes Music Store, or on an individual website. Podcasts use a script known as RSS – Really Simple Syndication – that automatically updates the latest podcast to your computer. Personally, I subscribe to a few different podcasts, and each time I log into the iTunes Music Store, my podcasts update automatically (you need to set this in your preferences).

What makes podcasting so exciting however is not the fact that you can download other people’s radiobroadcasts, but that you can create your own podcasts and have them available on the iTunes Music Store (and on your own website). Apple Computer released iLife ‘06 that includes two powerful tools for podcasting: GarageBand 3.0 and iWeb – a new web design title that creates the RSS feed for you.

For a step-by-step guide to creating podcasts, visit the Apple website, or you can read my article entitled Podcasting in the Music Classroom.

Are you looking for private students, but don’t know how to find students?  Check out a great site that allows you to register your profile as a private instructor: MusicStaff.com.  The site allows users to create a free personal profile that lists your rates, instruments, schedule, style and more.  People looking for lessons on a given instrument can search for instructors in their area, and find your listing.  For $25, you can upgrade your profile to the “premium level” that puts your profile in a priority location.  While I’m not sure whether I would recommend the site for teachers to send their students who are looking for lessons (I like creating my own private instructor database when students ask who they should study with), it’s a great place for teachers who are looking to pick up a few students.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

My school district is currently exploring the possibility of allowing students to bring their own personal laptops to school for use during class.  This is very different than the one-to-one computing initatives that some states are taking where students are issued laptops by the school district - each with the same software and restrictions.  When students bring their own personal laptops to school there are many different issues that are involved, including:

1. How can the students activity be monitored?
2. What happens if the students bring in objectionable material on their laptops?
3. What about equity issues: the haves and the have nots?
4. What logistical problems might be encountered?
5. How can the computers be utilized in ways other than note-taking/Internet browsing devices?

Some of these questions are easy to answer, while others are not.  Student activity is easily monitored when they log into the schools wireless network, and the students should be held responsible for adhering to the districts Internet acceptable use policy.  Logisitcal problems would certainly occur, and they wouldn’t be able to be a priority for the district tech staff as they are already working to keep the district computers up and running.  Equity issues in my district might not be as much of an issue as with other districts (Franklin Lakes is an extremely affluent area), but there would be students without computers and that would cause some issues that the teachers and administrators would have to prepare for.  My main question is how laptops from various platforms and brands could be used effectively in a classroom other than as a note-taking/browsing device?  While I have computers for those who don’t have one, what types of activities could I do in a music classroom that aren’t software specific?  Aside from Finale NotePad, there aren’t too many free cross-platform apps.  While there are many online spaces for students to learn musical concepts, what kinds of activities would be successful?

Do you have students who bring their personal laptops into your classroom?  What do you do?  Is it a good idea - or bad?  Why?  I’d love to hear from you.

If you are as excited as I am about the release of Sibelius 5 and would like to get an in-depth look at all of the new features, make plans to attend the upcoming Sibelius User Group Meeting this upcoming Monday, June 18th in NYC. The meeting, which will be hosted by Sibelius trainers Ernie Jackson and Robin Hodson, will take place at the Trinity Church office building (74 Trinity Place/2nd floor) at 7pm. Not only will all of the new features of Sibelius 5 be demonstrated, many of the new things that are going on with M-Audio & Digidesign will be discussed (Avid - maker of ProTools - now owns Sibelius). Enrollment is free and space is limited. Please RSVP Ernie Jackson at sibeliustrainingny@earthlink.net to reserve your spot today. If you can’t make it, there is another meeting on July 16th, or you can still enroll in the Sibelius course that will run as a TI:ME 2A course at my middle school during the week of August 6th - there are still 4 seats available! For registration information, click HERE.

Hope to see you there!