Great Resource for New Teachers

I discover a useful resource nearly every time I look at my Diigo groups e-mails.  Today my attention was drawn to a Classroom 2.0 webinar’s gl*am site.  And from there I found the site, Inspiring Teachers.  Music education students should have a look around.  A section is dedicated to student teachers, for instance.  And if you look at the New Teachers area, you’ll find tips, articles, and other resources.  The current tip deals with engaging students in the classroom, for instance.

Happy exploring!

Summer Projects

In case anyone wonders what a professor does during the off months, here is my list:

• Full time mom of 3 age 5 and under
• Reconnect with my spouse and have a social life
• Garden (weed, plant, mow, water, harvest, etc.) my 1/2 acre property
• Play – profs need down time
• Practice – in a perfect world I would be practicing 4-5 times a week, but I haven’t had time
• Administrative stuff – even in the summer months people still need to get in touch with us
• Research – gotta find out what’s new and try to author an interesting article (not so much because I have to but because I want to)
• Perform – I have two gigs this summer . . . hooray!
• Prepare – I’ll be teaching diction for the first time, so I have been doing a lot of preliminary research and will start prepping the class once I get back from the NATS Conference
• Clean my office . . .

Google Earth and Secondary Education

I received an announcement about a blog post that has great ideas for how educators can use Google Earth.  How might you music education majors use Google Earth?!?!?!

AP IV: More with Aug 6ths

For those of you who are curious, here’s a link to a detailed explanation of the origins and uses of augmented 6th chords.  You’ll also find suggestions for chords to use before your Aug 6ths (for part-writing assignments).

Check out this useful resource too (also good for AP II folks) – Guide to Musical Examples in Grove Music.  (You may have to be logged in to the university system to view these.)

APII: Answer Key for Chapters 25 and 30

I thought I’d post the answer key for the exercises that you turned in last week.  I hope you’ll find this helpful as you prepare for your exams.  I recommend listening to the exercises again, perhaps with the answers in front of you.  Then listen again with your own homework in front of you so you can see where you went awry!

Answers for Chapters 25 & 30

AP IV: Harmonic Dictation Practice

A couple of you have asked for suggested external sites for practicing harmonic dictation.  Here are a few that looked good:

• A dictation from Colorado University that includes at Ger+6 and applied chord
• See the harmonic dictation exercises from U Mich which features applied chords and augmented chords

I also recommend Teoria.  Here’s a link to their Augmented Sixths Construction exercises and Harmonic Progressions exercises.

Additionally, go to the lab and work with the Auralia software.

If you find additional resources, please let me know.

AP II Mysterious Ticking Noise Project

Last class I assigned you a rhythmic transcription project.  Your job is to figure out a likely meter for the Harry Potter Puppet Pals in “The Mysterious Ticking Noise.”  The first character to enter is Snape and his “theme” begins at around :30 in this youtube video:

You are done with Harry’s “theme” by 1:30-ish on the video (before he starts arguing with Snape).

What I want you to do is figure out a meter, the rhythm that matches the meter, and the text underlay for each of the 5 characters.  This project will be worth 2 homework grades.  You may “consult” with your classmates on this, but I want you to do the majority of your work.

This assignment is due Tuesday, Feb. 16 IN CLASS.  Work turned in later will be accepted but with a penalty.  No late work will be accepted past 9:10am on Thursday, Feb. 18.  Please turn in a clean copy on manuscript or notebook paper.

If you have a question about this assignment, please post a comment here.

AP IV Eminem Project

I find the inner rhyme schemes of Eminem’s music to be quite interesting . . . so I’ve devised a homework project for you!

The chorus for Eminem’s song Lose Yourself begins at about 1:30 on this video clip.

What I want you to do is see if you can figure out the meter, rhythm, and text underlay for the entire chorus.  This project will be worth 2 homework grades.  You may “consult” with your classmates on this, but I want you to do the majority of your work.

This assignment is due Tuesday, Feb. 23 IN CLASS.  Work turned in later will be accepted but with a penalty.  No late work will be accepted past 9:10am on Thursday, Feb. 25.  Please turn in a clean copy on manuscript or notebook paper.

If you have a question about this assignment, please post a comment here.

EtherPad, a Cool Tool for Collaboration

I receive updates every day from Diigo - most of the time I ignore them, but I’m glad I didn’t today.  One user shared a link to EtherPad, a collaborative text-editing tool.  Here are some of the benefits:

• No account is required, a real benefit over Google docs, which requires everyone to have a google account
• You can customize your URL
• Unlimited editing history
• Easily track edits from multiple authors

The only disadvantages that I see at the moment are that it doesn’t support .rtf formatting and it’s “only” a text editor. 

However, the buzz has been good.  One testimonial on EtherPad’s front page reads: “EtherPad has killed wikis, whiteboards and to-do lists for everything from meeting notes to writing copy to issue tracking” —Drew Houston, Dropbox. 

I’ll have to keep this in mind for future on-line courses.  Let me know what you think of EtherPad!

I Could At Least Say Thank You

My colleagues and students probably don’t know how much I appreciate them.  I’m not sure I do quite enough positive reinforcement when I teach especially in the classroom.  When I’m teaching a voice lesson I do say a lot of “good,” “nice sound,” etc.  But when I’m in class, especially this semester, I say way too frequently things like, “Please be quiet;” “No, by now you know I don’t accept late homework;” “Excuse me, can I please teach my class.”

I have a senior in my freshman theory class.  I’d like to thank her for her hard consistent work this semester.  I’d like to thank her for keeping me on track with regard to the schedule.  (I call her my schedule TA.)

I have several 1st year students who are working their tails off in my theory classes.  They are struggling with the material and really setting themselves on a good course for success in the theory area.  I’m thankful to have students who work so hard.

I have several students who are a handful but are an awful lot of fun.  I can thank them for being enthusiastic (even when it’s disorderly).

Similarly, I have some amazing voice studio students.  Folks who show up ready to work every lesson and who have obviously been working hard in between lessons.  Every once in a while a student makes an amazing technical discovery, and that is very exciting for me.  I am thankful for those discoveries.

I have a few students who are really great about singing in voice area class and performing on extra recitals.  One student really “wowed” some young voice students at a community recital.  I am so thankful that she shared her talent with them and inspired them.

I am thankful to work in such a beautiful place and have a steady secure job.  I am thankful to have a great work environment overall, even though little (and big) things get me down from time to time.  I am thankful that I am treated with respect by my colleagues.

I am thankful for the people I have met through music associations like the College Music Society, the Association for Technology in Music Instruction, and the Music Teachers National Association.  I have learned so much from my colleagues and have enjoyed getting to know people at conferences this past year.