Full Pitcher Forums

Integrating Technology in the Curriculum

Audrey — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:07:47 GMT

I have recently had several requests for help and advice that are at least partly answered by my publication, "Music Technology & Curriculum Access", so it seems appropriate to save myself some time and post a little plug for it here.

This study was published in 2001, so it clearly does not describe the lastest software and hardware. It does, however, deal with principles of learning and classroom teaching which are the same whatever equipment is being used. It considers two important questions:

1) Does the technology necessary to address each and every area of the music curriculum exist?
2) Can the relevant technology be incorporated into normal classroom practice?

I conducted several investigations, in order to find answers to these two questions, including:
a) bringing together components to form computer-based systems for the use of particular individuals/groups with severe physical disabilities
b) using identical equipment with groups of varying levels of physical/intellectual ability.
c) creating 'virtual instruments' to facilitate live performance and documenting their use
d) analysis of class performances to identify the points at which technology was contributing to differentiation
e) individual case studies
f) identifying a number of software packages suitable for class teaching and analysing them, in terms of physical and intellectual access
g) authoring original, computer based, teaching materials and 'test-driving' them in the classroom
h) initiating both individual and group music sessions in a nursing home for young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties, entering observations of the sessions into a keyword database and analysing them in terms of the National Curriculum.

In the book you will find sections on composition, performance, concept development and the role of the classroom computer.

See also the website at http://www.musicedutech.com

Best wishes,
Audrey

Forum: Music Technology in Education

Simple Audio Recording

Audrey — Thur, 03 Apr 2008 19:00:11 GMT

A subject which seems to crop up frequently on teachers' mailing lists is the need to find a simple and convenient way of making recordings in the instrumental lesson. There isn't time for the fiddling with microphones, monitors and feedback, etc. that usually accompanies a recording project. Well, for this teacher, the problem has just been solved by the CD-2e portable recorder. This portable device records, at the touch of a button, to CD or an SD card. It also has other features very useful in the instrumental lesson or practice situation. See my blog for a description:

http://fullpitcher.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/useful-machine-for-teachers-and-community-musicians/

Anyone got an equally simple solution?

Audrey

Forum: Instrumental Teaching

Music Tech Teachers for Disabled in Sussex

ulrichburke — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:25:35 GMT

Dear Anyone.

I have Cerebral Palsy. I am a classically trained musician, which means I know harmony, sight-reading, notation and am not bad on theory.

I have Reason 3.0 and Kontakt, but I can't get the hang of using either of them, even though I've studied their textbooks ad nauseam.

Does anyone know of anybody who could give me a few lessons in either Reason or Kontakt. I'm in Sussex but I can travel via train and bus (don't drive) to anywhere where there's a reasonable amount of accessibility. I don't honestly think I need masses of lessons, just a few to pull together all the bits I HAVE worked out into an overall knowledge of how the software thinks/works.

I'm trying to write New Age music - gentle piano'n'strings or flute'n'strings, maybe a few gentle pads. I've an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Soundcard, 1 gig RAM, 200 gig hard drive spare. I have to use a notation package because of the disability, so the master plan is to create MIDI files with the notation package, import the files into Reason or Kontakt and use their beautiful sounds to play the music on. Except everything sounds like it's had a mike shoved up its (censored) and is then played full blast, and I'm out of ideas as to why. Right now, I'd LOVE one hands on lesson, rather than a 'Had you thought of trying this' type answer, though I'll try anything anyone says, as I've been batting my head against this one now for years and it's beginning to really seriously annoy me!!

Yours in hope

Chris.

Forum: Instrumental Teaching

Spring Fun

Audrey — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:40:19 GMT

Want some music with a "Spring" theme? Check out the Spring Fun page on the Full Pitcher site. There you will find Flash music, lyrics and ideas for sharing the songs in mixed ability groups, at home or in the classroom.

www.fullpitcher.co.uk/spring_fun.htm

Forum: Class Music Teaching

Spring Fun

Audrey — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:39:22 GMT

Forum: Family Music

Family traditions

chopinbag — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:44:23 GMT

Does anyone else in the forum have any family traditions of making music together?

My great-grandma was a concert pianist, and she used to play piano duet arrangements of the Beethoven symphonies with my grandma. Then my grandma played with my father, and later on I played with him. We still use the same, ragged edition that my great-grandma originally used!

My little girl is only 1.5, but I'm hoping that one day we'll sit down together and play the same duets as her great-great-grandma did!

Throughout the generations, the young player has always taken the treble, and progressed onto the bass part when their offspring have managed to join in!

I'd love to hear about other family traditions!

Forum: Family Music

Solfa & Pre-schoolers

Audrey — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:27:44 GMT

Someone commenting on my blog post, Sol-fa, So Good! asked about materials for parents to learn sol-fa with their pre-schoolers. I think a lot of people might be interested in my reply, so I'm also posting it here:

Any pre-school music group describing its sessions as based on Kodaly or Colourstrings principles will be using tonic sol-fa. Parents will usually be encouraged to learn with their little ones and to continue the fun at home.

Colourstrings Music Kindergartens began life as the pre-instrumental programme of the junior music school at the East Helsinki Music Institute. Everyone was astonished at the effect the programme had on the musical development of the young participants and the standards they went on to achieve in the Institutes junior ensembles. There is now an excellent training programme for people who wish to teach the programme and classes are available in many different countries.

Songs in the Singing Rascals books and tapes have been selected from those which over the years have proved appealing and easy to learn. They are presented in child-size hardback books which are beautifully illustrated and children adore them!

Dr. Gza Szilvay, Head of East Helsinki Music Institute and Compiler of the Singing Rascals series says in his introduction:

The Singing Rascals books are intended as a means of helping parents, grandparents, kindergarten and nursery school teachers, and all those who have children in their care, to create stimulating and purposeful moments with them The series is supported by a parallel series of audio tapes on which infants sing and young children perform the melodies, but no cassette, however good, can replace the lap and guidance of the close relative or friend.

These same sentiments inform my own GridPlay: Creative Explorations, Level 1 software resources, which owe much to my experience of using Colourstrings materials with pre-schoolers.

For more information about Colourstrings, visit www.colourstrings.co.uk . I would recommend starting with the Pentatonic book. The audio is now available in CD format from www.westcoastmedia.co.uk . I cant recommend these resources too highly.

Forum: Family Music

video - wind controllers "my breath my music"

Ruud — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:11:15 GMT

Youtube video's - wind controllers

We want to invite you to see some of the video's that we put on youtube

The'll show you why our program is called My Breath My Music.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xEIHlgyh1Yc the Yamaha WX5 - Marleen

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hrXt5GkEtfU the Yamaha WX11 - Richard

http://youtube.com/watch?v=W_SIUHeYw2I the Magic Flute (our own product) - Glenn

http://youtube.com/watch?v=J44oaQ13Qbk the Magic Flute - Donovan

Ruud van der Wel

www.mybreathmymusic.com

Forum: Music & Disability

Simple tunes to play.

Ruud — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 08:48:23 GMT

Simple tunes to play.

I have a collection of very simple tunes. I collected them over the last 5 years.

Most of my students can only play with one hand.

Sometimes I just use parts of songs. All events are in one octave only.

Most tunes are played with just 4 or 5 notes. I want to share them with others and I want my collection to grow.

This is a list of 20 songs I play with my students:

We will rock you

Mary had a litlle lamb

Pease porridge hot

Super trooper Abba

Money Money Money Abba

This land is your land

Every breath you take Sting

Ode to joy

Go tell aunt Rhody

Sonata Mozart

No Limits 2 unlimited

London Bridge

Country Roads JohnDenver

Oh when the Saints

The Rose Bette Midler

Kum Ba Ya

The first of Mahler
The lion sleeps tonight

Going home

Another brick in the wall Pink Floyd

Suggestions for other songs are very welcome!!

Ruud van der Wel

www.mybreathmymusic.com

Forum: Instrumental Teaching

How to make an arm support

Ruud — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:56:06 GMT

Our Occupational Therapist Marieke van der Togt, designed an armrest for Marlon. The first goal was to let Marlon eat his own sandwich again. And with success, if Marlon uses a fork he can eat on his own.
But that is not the only benefit, he also can use the armrest for getting access to the keys of his musical instrument.
I made a guide at http://userpage.googlepages.com/armsupport

Ruud van der Wel
http://www.mybreathmymusic.com

Forum: Music & Disability

Fun with Keyboards

Audrey — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:47:12 GMT

Many families have an electronic keyboard lurking in a cupboard and rarely, if ever, used. More often than not, the keyboard was purchased for a child, who soon lost interest when they found their dream of magically playing the piano unrealised. An electronic keyboard often has a wealth of features that remain unexplored. These can form a great resource for family music-making, so its time to dust off the manual! If you cant find it, try visiting the manufacturers website - most now have a library of old manuals for download.

Nearly all keyboards have a function which sets each key to produce the sound of a different percussion instrument. This may be called "Keyboard Percussion" or simply "Percussion". Several people could each play a single key, so forming a family percussion band. Or, perhaps, one person could play a drum-kit to provide a rhythmic backing.

Quality of sounds vary from one keyboard to another but there is usually an attractive bell sound. On higher-quality instruments "Tubular Bells" sounds particularly good. This is less good on cheaper instruments, on which "Vibraphone" is a better alternative. These sounds can make effective introductions to Christmas carols and many songs featuring bells in the lyrics.

A trumpet sound is often useful but, if the quality is poor on your instrument, try "French Horn" or "Trombone", which is often less raucous.

You may have an "SFX" section of voices. If so, look for "Bird Tweet" and "Seashore", which can make an attractive contribution in many songs. "Synth" voices sometimes make a good wash of sound, even when played by someone melodically and rhythmically challenged.

If you have sheet music with chord symbols on it, someone might create a bass-line by playing the note after which the chord is named (usually, note names are marked for the bottom notes of the keyboard). Note names are marked to assist beginners in using the 1-finger chord facility found on most keyboards. This may be called "Chord Sustain" or there may be dedicated switches to set it. With this switched on, one key sounds a whole major chord (written with just the letter name, e.g. "E") and two adjacent keys, pressed simultaneously, sounds a minor chord (written as a letter with an m after it, e.g. "Em").

Quite often, keyboards have all kinds of presets, as well, that do fun things.

So, take a fresh look at that dusty keyboard!

Forum: Family Music

Classroom Jazz Starters

Audrey — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:41:11 GMT

Here are a couple of great resources for introducing jazz in the classroom:

"Jazz in the Classroom"
Practical Sessions in Jazz & Improvisation by Eddie Harvey (Pub. Boosey & Hawkes),

is aimed at the 10-14 age group (KS2-3). There is a Teacher's Book/CD and a Pupil Book. Eddie Harvey's approach really works well with this age group and teachers new to the genre can enjoy learning along with their pupils in a relaxed fashion. The exercises and arrangements are suitable for playing on tuned percussion, keyboards (white note only) and other melody instruments.

For college and 14+ (KS4), "Creative Jazz Education", by Richard Michael and Scott Stroman (Pub. Stainer & Bell), is an excellent resource. This book also comes with a CD. The introduction to this material says "Good teachers need not be greatly experienced in jazz (though it could certainly help), but must be willing to be 'leaders in learning', directing the group firmly and learning with it. They must put pride aside and trust their ears, even if it means (and it will) making mistakes. Only in this way can a comfortable, exciting and trusting atmosphere be created."

Anybody got further recommendations to share?

Forum: Class Music Teaching

Starting To Teach Jazz

Audrey — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 00:59:07 GMT

Teachers who are just starting to teach jazz, or thinking about doing so, may be interested in a recent posting on the blog, "Jazz Improvisation For Beginners".

Forum: Instrumental Teaching

Jazz Flute for Beginner

summersong — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:40:54 GMT

Are there improvisation resources suitable for someone who has played flute for just 15 months (average progress)?

Forum: Improvisation

Getting involved in group improvisation

Audrey — Thur, 01 Nov 2007 23:59:08 GMT

In the UK, Contemporary Music for Amateurs (CoMA) is an organisation that provides many opportunities to experience group improvisation in a variety of styles. Each summer, there is a residential course offering workshops and performing sessions of improvised music. Throughout the year, local ensembles are involved in performing new music, frequently composed or improvised by group members. Sessions are open to both beginners and experienced improvisers. See CoMA site for details.

Can anyone recommend an organisation like this in another part of the world?

Forum: Improvisation