Music Technology Presentation

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Posted on 29th September 2009 by Andy Zweibel in Professional Development

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I had the opportunity on Friday, September 25th to see a presentation on the use of Music Technology in the Classroom. The presentation was given by Radio Cremata, the music technology teacher at LaSalle High School here in Miami, FL. Cremata is also a Doctoral Candidate in Music Education at Boston University, and is pursuing his degree through a case study based on music technology. I did live updates to my Twitter stream during the presentation, which I have pasted below in chronological order. You can also see the original “tweets” by viewing the tag #musictech, which I included in all my posts. Below, find the pasted updates, as well as some major ideas that Cremata discussed:

Twitter Stream – The Updates

  • Morning, everyone! This morning I’ll be live-tweeting a presentation on #musictech from our weekly #umiami Music Ed forum! Stay tuned!
  • Today’s #musictech presentation: Radio Cremata-”Maximizing Your Student’s Musical Potential: Strategies for Teaching Music With Technology”
  • Radio Cremata just started his presentation off right-saying he’s hoping for a ‘Canes win tomorrow!
  • “Music is Evolving, but Music Education tends to be behind the Evolution of Music”
  • Reason: Electronic Music Creation Program -Allows students without musical training to create music
  • Technology Program:”Reason” helps teach how a Mixing Board works (visual mixing board, front and back, on the screen).. way cool!
  • This guy can beat-box, too! He’s an a-capella aficionado
  • Cremata is showing an example of how he teaches students to create drum patterns, when they have no musical experience!
  • “My goal is to make them un-afraid, so they can love music”
  • In “Reason,” you can look at the back of the mixing board, and drag/drop cables on your screen to re-wire!
  • The class that Cremata uses “Reason” in is entitled “Sound Engineering”
  • Cremata moves on to a demo of “Music Ace Maestro” to teach students with no experience how to read music!
  • EarMaster Pro – Ear Training software
  • Uh oh! We’re getting tested… the last level of the “Extended Harmony” lesson in EarMaster Pro!
  • Another software demo: eMedia Piano & Keyboard Method
  • Jazz Piano MasterClass with Miles Black helps teach Jazz Piano… not very interesting interface, but it teaches well!
  • Cremata gives every child he teaches in his classroom high-back leather chairs, so they “feel special” and are more motivated
  • Programs that Cremata calls “creative software”- GarageBand, Logic, Reason, ACID Pro
  • Cremata is modeling how he teaches the blues using ACID Pro
  • “Music is supposed to be FUN!”
  • Cremata has a project to remix the #umiami fight song in ACID Pro! WAY cool!
  • “Our goal is to maximize students’ opportunities to grow” – Radio Cremata
  • GREAT presentation from Radio Cremata on using Music Technology to enrich students’ music education! Thanks for coming, Radio!

The Software

The following is a list of software programs that Cremata mentioned during his presentation, with links to the websites of the programs.

Quotes

Quotes from Mr. Cremata’s presentation:

  • Music is Evolving, but Music Education tends to be behind the Evolution of Music
  • My goal is to make them un-afraid, so they can love music
  • Music is supposed to be FUN!
  • Our goal is to maximize students’ opportunities to grow

The Study

As part of his doctoral work, Mr. Cremata is doing case studies on collegiate music students and their experiences with music technology instruction. If you are interested in participating in this study, which will take no more than 15-20 minutes of your time, please email him at rcremata@yahoo.com. Any offers to participate would be greatly appreciated, I’m sure.

What do you think of some of the things Mr. Cremata is doing in his classroom? Do you have other ideas for integrating technology into the music classroom? Share them below in the comments, so we can continue to advocate for music technology!

Front Page Image – Flickr Photo

4 MORE Ways to Stay Active Over the Summer

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Posted on 16th July 2009 by Andy Zweibel in Professional Development | Tips and Tricks

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Last week, the post 5 Low-Stress Ways to Stay Musically Active Over the Summer listed ways to stay active in music over the summer without the stressors of the school year.  The post was received fairly well, and there has been some great conversation that has been taking place in the comments to that post, including a number of additional ideas for ways to extend this list. Thank you for everyone who shared their ideas–I encourage everyone to take a part in the conversations that take place in post comments. The posts are only half the conversation; let’s keep the conversation going past that!

Anyway, on to the list! I will continue my numbering from the previous post, so first up is number 6…

6. Perform Your Instrument!

Summer is a great time to be able to perform your instrument in a much lower-stress environment than your typical college-level performing ensembles. There are two great examples of this. Brian Liporto (find him on Twitter at @bliporto) points out that playing in a community band is a great way to stay active and keep your chops in shape. Also, playing in community bands is a fantastic opportunity to experience new repertoire. Another summertime option is playing for musicals. Many local theater guilds and companies perform musicals in the summer, and Music Education students make great additions to the pit orchestra for these shows. The theater company gets a solid player who has been actively playing for a while, and you get the chance to keep your chops up, learn a bit about what it’s like conducting for musicals (if that is something you are interested in), and just have fun!

7. Improve a Specific Skill Through Practice

If you, like many Music Education majors, don’t have as much time to practice during the school year as you wish you did, summer can be a great time to focus on your performance skills. Specifically, summer is a perfect opportunity to choose a specific skill to improve upon. For example, if you are a clarinet player, you may want to focus your summer practice on improving finger speed. As a trumpet player, I am trying to focus my efforts in the practice room this summer on a weak aspect of my playing: endurance. Whatever you choose to focus on, don’t short-change the rest of the aspects of your instrument! Without maintenance, you may come back and have the best range in the studio, but if your tone quality and lip flexibility have been neglected, you will not have done yourself a favor in the end.

8. Learn and Collaborate Online

With the advent of Web 2.0, there is a wealth of information available on the internet related to the field of Music Education. While tip #3 in this series referred to networking using Social Media, the internet also provides an opportunity for learning and collaboration through blogging. If you have ideas to share, start your own blog! If you’re more interested in reading other people’s ideas, check out Dr. J. Pisano’s list of 100 Music Education Bloggers for some great reading material. If you’re in the middle, consider trying to contribute to an already existing blog as a guest poster (shameless plug-MusicEdMajor.net is looking for contributors!). However you spin it, blogs are a great way to learn more and focus your ideas and thoughts regarding specific topics.

9. Get a Job in the Field

What better way to stay active in music over the summer than to make it your job? Summer jobs are a part of life for most college students, but instead of flipping burgers or selling shirts, why not sort music or teach camp sessions? There are usually plenty of jobs to do around your School of Music, and while it might not be extremely exciting (I’m filing music for the instrumental music librarian all summer), there may also be opportunities to teach at camps available. As Matt pointed out in the comments to the original post, working at a summer music camp can be a great way to get experience in a diverse set of tasks, from administration to individual, small, and large group instruction. You may even have a chance to work on becoming proficient at a secondary instrument! Whatever you end up doing, it can benefit you in multiple ways: not only are you getting experience in music, but chances are you’re getting paid too!

More Ideas?

Do you have other ideas for staying active over the summer? What do you do to keep your chops and mind in shape? Join our conversation by leaving a comment below! Also, if you haven’t already, check out the first part of this post, 5 Low-Stress Ways to Stay Musically Active Over the Summer!

Should I or Shouldn’t I? Things to Think About for Graduate School

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Posted on 14th July 2009 by Kelly Brinton Nelson in Guest Post | Professional Development | Tips and Tricks

This summer I embarked on one of the most challenging– and nerve wracking– journeys of my life: graduate school to pursue a masters degree in music education.  This post outlines some of the questions that I had previous to starting this program.

Why go to graduate school?

Teachers are expected to be constantly learning and growing.  While professional development and workshops are wonderful ways to add to knowledge, graduate school is a concentrated path of study in one topic.  Also, in many states, obtaining a graduate degree will increase the salary of a teacher.  Lastly, if career goals include teaching college later on down the road, this may require some form of graduate degree.

What are the differences between graduate and undergraduate study?

What I have noticed as a graduate student is that my professors have higher expectations of us graduate students than they have of undergraduate students.  They obviously expect maturity.  I remember the first few days of graduate school I would just try to crack jokes and stuff, and everyone would just look at me strangely.  Professors expect us students to have a certain amount of knowledge coming in, since usually the graduate program is the next level of what we studied as an undergraduate. Instead of telling me to read something or to work certain problems, I am expected to do those things myself.  Also I am expected to be able to do research on my own.

What I have also noticed is that professors are more understanding of what is going on in graduate students’ lives.  Graduate students come from all backgrounds and walks of life.  They can bring unique experiences but also have different life situations to work around.

Should I go straight out of college, or should I wait awhile?

I have known colleagues that have done both.  There is no definite answer, but I think it really depends on your needs and your attitude toward education.  Personally, I decided to go teach for a while before even thinking about a graduate degree.  Graduating from college was a stressful time– I had just gotten married and I was broke!  No way could I afford graduate school!

Also, going to work really helps one realize what he/she wants to get out of graduate school.  Teaching for four years helped me realize my strengths and weaknesses as a musician and a teacher, so when I could finally start school I knew what to work toward. I also had experience that I could share with my classmates and professors that I may not have had straight out of college.

Some of you may be ready to begin graduate school right after earning your Bachelor’s degree.  There are some definite positives to this.  It can be harder to go back to school after having a job for awhile, and even harder if you have a family, bills and other obligations.  If you are still young without any of these obligations, and you are ready for it, it may be worth looking into graduate school.  Also, the knowledge you obtained in your undergraduate program is still fresh on your mind.

Should I look into an online program or on-site program?

Again, this is up to the needs and attitude of the student.  There has been a rising trend with entire degree programs being offered online.  Even some on-site programs offer online classes.  Online programs are great for people who are working and going to school at the same time.  For the most part one can do classwork at any time it is convenient.  Depending on the school, sometimes tuition is less with an online program.  Currently the only three schools I have found that offer a program online are Boston University, East Carolina University, and University of Southern Mississippi.

There are many different on-site programs.  Your average program is full-time for two years.  There are some summer programs, especially for teachers, that are even more convenient.  I am in a program at Appalachian State University that takes four summers to complete.  The classes meet for six weeks every summer.

Making the decision to go to graduate school is not one to be made lightly.  Hopefully the above comments will be helpful in helping you decide.

What about you?

Are you a graduate student (or do you have a graduate degree)? What considerations did you take before getting a graduate degree? Are you an undergraduate student with additional questions about grad school? The conversation does not have to stop here! Please leave your thoughts in a comment and this topic can be discussed further!

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