BP8_2009122_Tool#3(IndabMusic.com)

User created screenshot

http://www.indabamusic.com/

Indabamusic is a Web 2.0 tool that allows musicians to collaborate on music projects. A musician records his or her audio tracks. He or she then invites friends or even complete strangers to submit additional tracks that have been recorded to this composition.

As an teaching tool this would be a great asset. Students can safely create in the privacy of their home or a practice room before submitting their part of a whole composition. I say safely because composing is a very personal process and many times unwanted constructive criticism would hamper the flow of creativity. Most creative efforts are works in progress.

That being said, once a student submits their work. The other students would give helpful constructive criticism using a composition Rubric. Students would be able revamp their own parts a total of three times before the piece is “done”.

The networking aspect of Indabamusic would allow the student compositions to be shared with college-level composition majors, as well as professional composers and arrangers. Being able to get feedback from various viewpoints that extend into the working world would be a great asset to the students.

The main hindrance would be the acquisition of audio recording technology for the student. It’s not expensive, however, it would require an investment on the part of the parent or the student.

I would’ve loved to known about this tool months ago. A music student who is a senior in the advanced group, headed up by a different director, came to me to write an arrangement for her song. (The other director and I are friends, and we work with each other’s students, allowing each of us to use our strengths.). She recorded herself singing and sent me the file. I wrote the arrangement and delivered it to her. She said that there were some changes. And I went back… you see the process.

Indabamusic would’ve allowed her to record her track, have me write the arrangement to and line it up with her singing. And then we would’ve been able to collaborate with almost instantaneous feedback, versus burning CDs and such.

I’m looking forward to referring my composition students to music collaboration tools such as Web 2.0 tools such as Indabamusic.

BP9_2009122_FlickrLesson

user created graphic from Screenshots of Flicker and Microsoft Words Clipart Gallery

Okay Science Teachers this is as an awesome lesson!

http://www.wikiteach.org/index.php/wikiteach/action/lessonplan/?WTSESSID=0e92a7c24f1a09ca4bb5c29fab2ee548&/1/iVar/279

The creator of the lesson uses digital camera to take photos of cells and tissue samples as seen under a microscope.

The students are taught how to properly use a microscope.

The students are taught how digitally photograph the microscope samples.

Students then upload the photos to Flickr and tagged the photos with the appropriate descriptions.

Lastly, the students compare similar tissue samples for looking for photos with matching tags.

This lesson could be easily adapted for almost any subject area.

Physical Education - students upload photos of various callisthenic exercises (push-ups, pull-ups, etc). These photos are tagged with the targeted muscle groups for each exercise. Student would then have a resource to use when tested on which exercise develops a specific muscle group.

Music – Students upload photos of various instruments. The photos would be tagged according to instrument type (brass, woodwind, percussion, string), instrument range (bass, tenor, alto, soprano), uses in music genres (jazz, classical, rock, etc.), etc.

Art – Photos could be uploaded of various art techniques (tessellations, perspectives, etc.), tagged with those techniques, and used for comparison and contrast.

Math (Geometry/Trigonometry) - Students upload photos/jpeg graphics of formulas. Students upload photos of graphs. Students would tag both sets of photos with the name of the graph (parabola, hyperbola, etc.). Students would be able to develop an Online Flash card system.

English – Students upload photos/jpeg graphics of sentence types/writing errors (imperatives, declaratives, exclamatory, interrogatives, fragments, active voice, passive voice, double-negatives, proper/improper subject-verb agreement. Students tag photos/graphics with correct type of sentence/writing error, and compare similarities.

NOTE ON TAGGING: If you use double-quotation marks around two words, Flickr records it as one tag. Blue Moon = 2 tags blue, moon, but “Blue Moon” = 1 tag, Blue Moon.

As a part-time photographer, I used to simply think of Flickr as a nice online sharing network for photographers, after this week’s reading and this Blog post, I really beginning to see the versatility in so many Web 2.0 tools.

BP2_2009121_RSSFeeds

feed://www.musicedmagic.com/bca-rss-syndicator.html

Chad Criswell’s feed, Music Ed Magic, collects information from various authoritative Music Education sites and blogs (such as MENC). The “footwork” that Chad has put into this collecting the information on this site gives me a great repository for the various facets of music education.

feed://debbiecavalier.berkleemusicblogs.com/feed/

“Music, Education, and Technology” is authored by Debbie Cavalier, the Dean of Continuing Education at Berklee College of Music’s online extension school, Berkleemusic. Berklee is one of the forefront music schools in the world. Dean Cavalier’s articles on technology in music education are priceless as they are gathered from real-world situations.

feed://feeds2.feedburner.com/MusicTechnology

“Music Tech” is authored by Dr. Joseph Pisano’s. He pulls information music education and technology from various places around the globe. Since I emphasis cultural diversity in my classroom his “Monday Morning Music Mix – Education News from All Over” posts are great sources of information.

feed:http://amymburns.musiced.net/feed/

“Elementary Music/Music Technology” is authored by Amy M. Burns. Her postings consists of using cutting edge technology to reinforce the elementary music classroom. Posts from PodCasting in the elementary classroom to how to use Skype to prepare for concerts are something very “FullSail-like.”

feed://jamesfrankel.musiced.net/feed/

“Music Technology in Education” is authored by Dr. James Frankel. His posted information has a heavy emphasis on the technological aspect of music education. He shares his personal experiences from conferences, software developing and more.