Music Is Not for Insects

Last night my son showed me the video review (see below) of a hot new video game called Rock Band by MTV Games. I am familiar with the video game Guitar Hero and have played it at the local electronics store (with out much success) and thought it was nothing more than a fun game and an exercise in coordination set to music.

But after watching the video of Rock Band, I was wondering if this kind of technology could really be used to teach music. There can be as many as 4 players in your band- Each player uses a controller in the shape of a guitar, microphone or drum set and has to “pluck”, “sing”, and “hit” in time with the music and lights that appear on the screen.

Check it out and tell me if you think this kind of technology could be used to teach an aspect of music…rhythmic accuracy perhaps? I do think the multi-player approach to “making music” is what sets this game apart.

Thanks to Hans Feldmeier and his post at etwinning e-digiskills blog for turning me onto Screencast-O-Matic so I could show you this cool tip in Garageband. The audio makes me sound like I have a lisp, and the video is a little wonky, but it’s a decent on-line screencast tool in a pinch:

I have been trying for the last few hours to get a demo video embedded into this post from the SmartMusic web-site. I really wanted you to see Wynton Marsalis describe the cool features of this software in his inimitable style.

When I first heard about this program, I thought it was a glorified digital recording program and I figured what I had available to me with Garageband would suffice. After taking a class on the various features of this program, I was convinced that SmartMusic could be a very powerful tool for encouraging my instrumental students to enjoy practicing, to maximize their skills and to provide almost immediate feedback and assessment.

The base subscription rate is $100 a year for your first computer, then $25 per each additional computer or $25 for a student subscription that gives your students access to all the features of the program at home. This is the powerful part of the program and allows kids to receive immediate feedback from the computer when they play and then have an email of their practice sent to the teacher.

Accompaniments and exercises from all the popular instrumental music methods are included in SmartMusic- over 30,000 titles and nearl 50,000 exercises. If that is not enough, you can create your own files using Finale to create your own exercises.

Intelligent Accompaniment is what really sets this program apart: imagine playing along with a pre-recorded accompaniment and as you slow down or speed up, the accompaniment will stay with you. I have tried this, and it works. Now you can turn your kids loose in a practice room with a “virtual accompanist” who will keep up with your tempo changes.

There are so many features, I encourage you to check out the web-site and watch the SmartMusic flash videos and the video endorsements from Wynton Marsalis.

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Insect Band, originally uploaded by Baggage Reclaim.

How can we keep from singing?

Since today was a Veteran’s Day Holiday, I heard a re-broadcast of a story on NPR about this book: This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin.

The web-site for the book has some fun interactive features including mp3s of the songs mentioned in the text.

I’ve just started the book, but here are some of my favorite quotes from the introduction:

Nowadays there is a great emphasis on technique and whether a musician is “good enough” to play for others. Music making has become a somewhat reserved activity in our culture, the rest of us listen.

Music listening, performance, and composition engage nearly every area of the brain that we have so far identified, and involve nearly every neural subsystem.

It’s a shame that many people are intimidated by the jargon musicians, music theorists, and cognitive scientists throw around…in the case of music, music experts and scientists could do a better job of making their work accessible. That is something I tried to accomplish in this book. The unnatural gap that has grown between musical performance and music listening has been paralleled by a gap between those who love music (and love to talk about it) and those who are discovering new things about how it works.

Preach it!!

I dare you to look away…Giant Steps indeed!

This is an excerpt from Public Radio International’s Opensourse with Christopher Lydon.

This show aired back in June, but it’s implications for arts education in this era of NCLB is worth considering.

Christopher Lydon interviews the former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and Humanities teacher Abdi Alli in a fascinating look at the importance of the arts in education and our lives.

I hope this less than 5 minute excerpt will convince you to listen to the entire program:

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo and this link from his “Teacher’s Page”.

Soundjunction is a great interactive music site-

“SoundJunction is the award-winning site for listening to, exploring, discovering and creating music.

Listen and explore: rock, classical, jazz, African, drum ‘n’ bass, pop, fusion and much more…”

I just finally got my head around Web 2.0 and now people are talking about Web 4.0h. Yikes!

Great summary post of this lifestreaming-micro-blogging-twittering-linking type concept over at Mashable

I have been looking for an inexpensive digital-recorder that meets the following requirements for use with my students:

Portable

Expandable storage (media card)

Records in wav and mp3 format

Easy to Use

There were several on the list, but the Zoom H2 really can’t be beat.

For $199 (less with my educator’s discount at my local music merchant) the H2 has all of the above and 4 built in mics allowing you to record in a number of unique situations using a front 90 degree pattern, rear 120 degree pattern or both:

And a built in bonus is the ability to use the H2 as a USB mic and an audio interface with your favorite digital audio software (in my case, Garageband).

It’s sounds great and is really easy to use out of the box.

In depth review here: O’Reilly Review Zoom H2