Noteflight in Use

Choral Warm-up for intermediate students

This warm-up can teach a variety of lessons. The syllables sung are do mi fa sol and ti. This can teach pitch in general, but they also create the tonic and dominant chords. It is also written in 6/8, which could aid in coating a piece later on in the class. As almost every warm-up does, this piece also create chords to let the teach help the class tune together.



Warm-up Sheet music


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PLN: You-Tube

PLN: You-Tube

While this one seems quite obvious, there is much to be said about You-tube. In my high school, it was blocked, so students did not waste class time watching irrelevant videos during class time. Now that I think about it though, there are many benefits to using You-tube in the classroom. If you are performing a piece, you can look up recordings and even videos of high level orchestras that have performed it. This gives student she ability to listen to expensive, professional orchestras without the cost and hassle of a field trip. Also, you can have student's parents upload videos from concerts. This can be an opportunity for reflection and possibly even celebration. The children can watch and hear themselves play in a performance setting and either listen for "things they can do better" or be proud of the final product they have produced. There are also many videos of things rarely done that are interesting to musicians. There is a video of a man beatboxing while playing flute to inspector gadget, or the videos of the Acapella group Pentatonix, who take modern songs and sing them sans instruments, or even the countless videos of 4 year olds playing the mozart concerto on violin you've been studying for your senior recital. These videos, while genuinely enjoyable also pose new questions and experiences to students which might make them more interested. While You-tube is still a place where "Charlie Bit Me" can become a global phenomenon, it also can provide children with musical resources outside of their limits.

RR: Midi

Reading Reaction: Mauricio and Oppenheimer

This article began to explain the difference between a Midi and Digital Audio. Basically, it said Midi is better to create non-authentic tracks. You can easily transpose and change the instrumentation. Midis also take up about the third of the room of digital audio. I though the article was very interesting but I'm still baffled at when to use which one. Personally, I don't like the sound of non-authentic music, so I feel like I would never choose Midi. This article made it seem like Midi is so much better. This article answered many question, but it didn't go much in depth at all.

PLN: Noteflight

PLN: Noteflight

Note flight is a compostitional tool on the internet. It is virtually free (allowing you to make 10 scores under one email without charge). For $49.99 you can buy the program, which allows you to do little more than change the color of pieces on the score and make more than ten pieces. This is such a fantastic tool because it does the same as finale and sibelius, but doesn't cost $300. I used note flight this week to arrange a piece for my acapella group. It was so easy to use and extremely convenient in its set up. In the classroom, this can come in handy in so many ways. From arranging songs and cannons and warm-ups, you can always use sheet music in class. The ability to make your own is so helpful. This is the most useful tool we've had so far.

PLN: Soundpainting

PLN: Soundpainting

            Soundpainting is an unique tool. It is basically just the improvisational layering of sounds and instruments with little to no form. It is purely creative and expressive. The reason I think this is a great educational tool is because it can be used at any age level. It is just as easily done with preschoolers as it is in a college lesson. Another major plus of this form of creation is the broad spectrum it enables to create. Soundpainting has been demonstrated in special needs classrooms around the world. It is truly an all encompassing musical tool. It is the easiest way, in my opinion, to begin to introduce or expand upon Bloom's higher level thinking, like create. Hopefully, I will be able to try this or even to take a class on it in the future in order to fully understand it. I have attached the URL which does a much better job explaining than I do, but also shows links and different performance clips. The website is very informative and I've been exploring it for days now. I hope it sparks more minds than just my own.

"I envision Soundpainting as a viable methodology for improvisation and composition within public school and private school-venues, K-12. Soundpainting gives music educators an alternate tool for composition and improvisation, one different form traditional jazz and technology-based methods."
                                                Dr.Jody Kerchner, Department of Music Education
                                                                                                 Oberlin Conservatory

http://www.soundpainting.com/

PLN: CPDL

PLN: CPDL

The CPDL is the Choral Public Domain Library. It is hundreds of thousands of songs that have either outdated their copyright or never had one. These songs are amazingly useful tools, because you do not need to buy the rights and such. Great educational uses could be for sight-singing or practicing harmony in all ages. This is a way to save money effectively, and still have valuable resources. The only negative is that the material isn't of the highest quality. They wouldn't be able to use for performance settings, but as previously mentioned, they work great for a classroom lesson setting.

Choral "Wiki"