Interesting Convergence Yesterday

I had a concert last night and my Personal Learning Network helped me with it in an interesting way.


It was time to set up for the concert and that included an audio recording of the event.  Where to put the Zoom?  Turns out that @pisanojm was doing a session at Midwest on recording.   @Zweibz7 was at the event and live blogged the session.  The placement for the Zoom got mentioned in Andy's coverage.  Got some great tips and a good start on a recording last night. ( I still need to tweak the levels for the best sound...had a few problems with headroom.  Next time!)


If you haven't run across @pisanojm or @Zweibz7 I would sugguest following them on Twitter.  They can also be found at the Music PLN site if you don't/can't  use Twitter.  http://musicpln.org/




Wish I was at the Midwest clinic (maybe next year.)  But when your PLN takes care of you like mine does, it is almost like being there.

YouTube in Music

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8676380.stm


YouTube in Music Education

YouTube has popped up in my PLN over the last couple of days.

Did you know that YouTube now gets 2 billion hits a day?

To get traffic like that, you must be filling a need.  I don't think that it is all entertainment based.  YouTube in some ways has become our "go to" place to see how things are done.

I've used this in my classes.

Want to show kids how Mission:Impossible could sound?  Search YouTube and there is the BBC Big Band recording with Lalo Schifrin himself at the piano.  The Limp Bizkit version  is there too.  (Does this piece really work in a simple meter?)  Wander around a little bit and you can find the Swingle Singers covering it.  There is a gamelan version and a bunch of ensembles, school and garage bands.  The version that has me curious is the OST Angklung version.  Angklung?  I must have missed that lecture at college.  But that's ok, Wikipedia will have an article on how they work.

Interesting.  Learning by wandering around a little bit.  There are other directions my curiosity could have taken.  Each noun mentioned in that last paragraph could have been a little side track on the way to becoming an expert.

Some people need a little bit more structure for their classes.  Sometimes the language in the comments isn't sanitary enough for your classroom.  (You DO PREVIEW these materials, right!?) For those times, I would suggest that you use the button and copy the bit of code there.  Use that code to put the videos you want right into a web page (Moodle page, Wiki page, Blog entry) without the comments.  Then send your students to that page instead of YouTube.  Same movie without the worries and more focus on what you want the kids to see.

I haven't even mentioned the learning possibilities of posting your own work on YouTube.  Authorship easily generates higher level thinking.  Are you doing that with your kids?

There is a book for YouTube in Music Education that I know I will be reading this summer for even more ideas.  My PLN is recommending it and I am looking forward to digging in next week!