I have been working on a book about copyright for the past five years. For those of you who have attended my sessions about copyright, you probably remember my mentioning this fact and you may have even wondered - what ever became of it? I am proud to announce that it is finally finished, and will be published by Hal Leonard in early 2009 - perhaps even the beginning of January. It is titled The Teachers Guide to Music, Media & Copyright Law, and it is already available for pre-order on sites such as Amazon.com and Hal Leonard. I wrote it this past summer with the help of two editors - David Moser - a well-known expert on music copyright law, and my good friend Rob Cohen - who helped me make it a bit more readable. I am really looking forward to the book’s release and I am also anticipating speaking about the subject quite frequently in the future. It was a tremendous undertaking (especially when trying to work full time at SoundTree while writing it) and I am thrilled that it is so close to coming to fruition. A huge thank you to the folks at TI:ME for believing in the project and helping me get it published.
Once it comes out, there will be a companion site to the book located at www.copyrightbook.net. The site isn’t live yet, but with the rate of change in the copyright law, it should prove to be a valuable resource in keeping all of the information current. When you get a copy of the book, let m know what you think!
Today I am presenting two sessions on behalf of SoundTree at the Nebraska Music Educators Conference on the campus of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, NE. The sessions are titled Music Technology Lab Basics and Podcasting in the Music Classroom. I am excited to be here in Nebraska (although it is very cold this morning) and I am very much looking forward to meeting all of the music teachers that attend my sessions. If you’d like to access the special landing page that I created for the conference which includes all of my session materials, click HERE.
If you attended my sessions and have any questions, please feel free to email me.
Today I am presenting two sessions on behalf of SoundTree at the Iowa Music Educators Association Conference at Iowa State University in Ames, IA. I will be presenting Podcasting in the Music Classroom and the Music Educators Guide to Copyright Law. All of my session materials are located on a special SoundTree landing page, which includes my PowerPoint presentations, links to useful websites, and a podcast of the complete session. Immediately following my sessions today, I will be making the drive from Ames to Lincoln, Nebraska, where I will be presenting two sessions at the Nebraska Music Educators Conference. More to follow….
To celebrate the launch of our new web site and the upcoming holiday season, SoundTree would like to extend a 10% discount on all orders purchased through the SoundTree online store from now until December 24th, 2008. Enjoy a 10% saving on hundreds of classroom-tested, teacher-approved technology products for your classroom. As always, every order includes FREE ground shipping.
There are some truly fantastic products on the store. Be sure to have a thorough look.
Visit store.soundtree.com to browse our catalog of products. Please use coupon code “Holiday08″ in your online cart to apply the 10% discount.
Offer Expires: 12/24/2008
Coupon Code: Holiday08
I found this very interesting video on the merits of effective technology integration across the educational spectrum on Amy Burns’ fantastic blog.
A wonderful follow up for Did You Know 2.0
So what do you think? What are your reactions to this video? I strongly recommend sharing it with your colleagues and your students. It might open up a very important dialogue. A better version of the video appears here.
Two weeks ago I purchased Wii Music for my Nintendo Wii Video Game Controller. I mainly purchased it for me, but my two young daughters absolutely love it. Here is a video of them playing some of the games:
I truly believe that this video game has tremendous potential IN THE CLASSROOM! Here’s why. There are three main sections of the game - Lessons, Jams & Games. The Lessons part of the site not only gives users a tutorial on how to use the controllers to make music, there are some fantastic lessons that illustrate various aspects of music - from style to keeping a steady beat. The Jam section allows users to choose from a wide variety of instruments that the user can “play” using the unique Wii controllers (a nun-chuck and the Wii Fit pad are great). Users can select from a wide variety of songs as well to jam along to. After each jam, the game asks you to rate your performance. You can even make a video and select cover art so that you can show your performances to others later. The last section is called Games, and I believe it is the best part of the game. There are three games: Mii Maestro, Handbell Harmony, and Pitch Perfect. Mii Maestro converts your Wii controller to a baton. You control tempo and dynamics by waving your controller. Handbell Harmony is the perfect tool for music teachers who teach Handbell Choir. It is basically Guitar Hero for Handbells - very cool. The Pitch Perfect game asks users to choose which Mii is playing a higher or lower note, and the questions get tougher as you progress through them.
I love Wii Music. I would strongly recommend adding it to the holiday shopping list of anyone who likes music and owns a Wii.
I am very pleased to announce the relaunch of the SoundTree website, located at www.soundtree.com. After months of planning and designing, our Market Development Manager Brad Smith has done a fantastic job of creating a more modern, focused, and easy-to-navigate site that is specifically geared toward informing our customers of exactly the types of solutions that SoundTree can provide. Our solutions include: Music Education, Pro Audio, Video, Dance, Language Labs, and Classroom Technology. Each solution has a dedicated micro site that explains exactly what types of services we can provide. In addition to our solutions, we have a greatly improved Articles and Lesson Plans section that is targeted for each solution. Two new sections of the site include our Support section and our Web Training section.
The support section includes an FAQ section as well as a Tutorial section that includes vodcasts about the various Korg products and software titles that we include with our labs. There is also a Live Support section where our customers can have a live chat with Greg Davis, our Technical Support Specialist, who can even take over a customers computer remotely to diagnose any issues that they might be experiencing. Our Web Training section will host online courses this coming Spring, including the first-ever online TI:ME course that will include graduate credits from Five Towns College.
The staff and I are very excited about this long-needed overhaul. Please visit the site and let me know what you think!
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