Music Is Not for Insects

It’s my first weekend home without thought of school on Monday. In spite of my feeling guilty about not posting anything really thoughtful for awhile, I am relaxed and looking forward to some time off from students.

I am also doing something I haven’t done in ages: watching TV on a Saturday morning. I stumbled upon a great show that wasn’t animated or involved inane plot lines over-acted by hyper teenage “kids”.

DEFINITELY NOT CARTOONS-

From the Top at Carnegie Hall is a show on PBS that highlights exceptional young musicians. The performances are jaw dropping, but it’s the format of the show that really has me excited.

In addition to some of the finest performances of classical music you will ever hear, each show is a story about the performers; a hip, cool, thoughtful, insightful and behind the scenes look of each performer. Concert pianist Christopher O’Riley is the perfect host who introduces us to each kid and their unique story in a relaxed and documentary style fashion. It’s refreshingly “un-masterpiece theater” in it’s approach.

THE POWER OF A GOOD STORY-

As each story unfolds, you see the kids practicing, talking about their families, interacting with their friends and before they even perform you realize: “Hey! These kids are normal!”. Normal in the sense that they have similar lives to kids and teenagers anywhere. Most live in modest homes; they listen to all kinds of music; they have homework and worry about their grades; they hang out with their friends and even wear cool clothes and watch TV.

GREAT MUSIC FOR ALL-

Even though the performers have exceptional musical talent, they are not weird, unapproachable, or somehow privileged. The producers and editors of the show have done a magnificent job of debunking the myth that “classical” music is unapproachable or only enjoyed and experienced by adults who can afford tickets to the symphony or opera. As you get to know these kids, the power of story reveals a profound truth: the transcendence of musical performance can be experienced by anyone.

DEFINING AN EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE-

As a music educator, my initial reaction to this show could have been, “There is just no way kids can be this good. I’ll never work with kids at this caliber….woe is me; I hate my job! I could have been somebody other than a teacher of ungrateful losers…self-loathing, etc.” But it was impossible to feel this after I got to know these kids by watching them eat pizza, tell some jokes, and see them interact with parents. It wouldn’t be fair. Their exceptional performance was not born out of some freakish accident or circumstance unrelated to my own experience. I was inspired to do my best and be as passionate about music (or anything) like these kids.

WEB-SITE RESOURCES FOR YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS-

I believe your students will have the same reaction to these performances. You can find all of the TV shows on-line at the From the Top website. There is also a link for podcasts and some great teacher resources.

I am thankful the producers of From the Top at Carnegie Hall decided to include more than just performances by exceptional musicians. That alone would have been enough for you and me, lovers of great music. But I think our students would have been unimpressed or confused about such great performances. It’s the story and relationship developed between the performers and the viewer that creates a rich experience. In this way the exceptional performance is not weird.

Ok- maybe Google docs can’t save your life, but it will surely save you time.
And it’s much more than an online alternative to Word and other word processing programs.
(If you already use Google docs, skip ahead to the NEW SURVEY FEATURE section)

For example: you are in charge of editing the district honor band/choir/jazz program for the upcoming festival.
BEFORE GOOGLE DOCS: send out an email with an attachment of the program to your colleagues for review and revision. Then you wait for a reply email with an attached document from 3 or 4 colleagues. Oh wait- Joe Smith at Central High doesn’t have Word on his computer and can’t read your document. Oh shoot- you can’t remember which revision you sent to Mary Jones at West High. @#$! I can’t find those stupid emails…who did I send the final revision to? I have to search through my sent items- wait I’m at home and can’t log-on to my district email.
AARRRGH!

AFTER GOOGLE DOCS:
You create the draft program for the district festival in Google docs. Then you share the document allowing others to become collaboraters.

You send one email to the people with a link to the document.

Then when your invitees receive the email, they will be directed to the document via a link where they can add, revise and make changes to a document on-line.

No more stacks of emails and confusing attachments.

NEW SURVEY FEATURE-

Now this is really cool! Here is an excerpt from the Official Google Docs Blog:

…we’ve noticed that, in some cases, you want to collect just a tiny bit of information from dozens, scores, or even hundreds of users or more. Some of them are Google Docs users. Some of them are not. Either way, you don’t always want them all mucking around with the whole spreadsheet and you’re tired of telling those new to Google Docs that they don’t need to switch to Gmail just to use Docs (huh? you didn’t know that either?).

Enter the new Survey Tool. In conjunction with the Google Docs speadsheet forms, you can easily create an on-line survey that allows users to input data via a simple form that is then entered directly to a spreadsheet that you control. It is so easy to generate a simple form using fill-in-the blank or check box responses, or multiple choice according to your need. Immediate applications could include:

*Survey parents about your program with multiple choice items.

*Find out what pieces are your students favorites with a simple survey.

*Create a list of possible repertoire for an upcoming festival; create a survey; email your colleagues for responses; compile and publish the results.

More advanced applications could include:

*After uploading honor band or choir applicant mp3’s to an online hosting service like imeem, create a survey form with responses such as mp301, mp302, mp303 etc. to anonymously represent each applicant; email the form to your adjudicators who listen to the mp3’s and then score each applicant via the on-line survey. Each response entered on-line via the survey form is given a time stamp that shows up in your spreadsheet and each respondent can see what the other respondent, in this case adjudicator, has entered.

This is important for adjudicators who want to see if their score is in line with the other scores. Think about it: no more all day Saturday honor band/choir cd listening sessions- each judge could listen to and score applicants on-line from home.

Check out the links below for some screen-shots of the new survey tool and some other in-depth uses of this tool. How will you use this Web 2.0 goodness in your program. Comment below.

Google Docs Survey Tool

Google Spreadsheet Forms

Stop sharing spreadsheets, start collecting information

I am in the midst of a much needed mid-winter break with my family, enjoying some time with old friends and catching up on some leisure reading (”Leisure? What does that mean?”) and being blown away by a piece of juvenile fiction that really touched my heart.

A parent at my school recommended a book to me that she and her family read over Winter break. “You have to read this book!” I gave a polite nod and filed it in the back of my mind and forgot to follow up with the school librarian. Big mistake. For the next three weeks, this persistent parent kept asking me, “Have you read the book? What did you think?” I kept coming up with excuses week after week until finally our school librarian walked into my room and gave me the book with an exasperated look on his face. This parent had been dogging him too.

I finally read the book last night on the plane when I had my first free moment. In spite of this book being a piece of fiction aimed at pre-teen readers, I was struck by the honest and accurate portrayal of the life of a music edcator.

The main character is a 6th grade boy named Hart; a very poplular and well meaning boy whose “coolness” and charm get him out of most jams when he misbehaves. But a misfired rubber band at the neck of Mr. Meinert, the chorus teacher, lands Hart into an unexpected situation. The usually forgiving Mr. Meinert has just been given notice that funding for his position has been cut and he will no longer have a job after the first of the year. This mid-year lay off, and the pressure to have a winter concert ready with a group of ungrateful 6th graders singers pushes Mr. Meinert over the edge.

Unaware of the music teacher’s budget cut depression, Hart is chosen to replace Mr. Meinert who has declared that the students can produce the winter concert on their own.

What follows is a cast of characters that you will identify with; from the dejected middle school chorus teacher who has aspirations to become the high school chorus director; to the spouse encouraging her husband to quit right now because he is deserving of a better school and is much too talented to teach in this ungrateful town; and the administrator whose hands are tied as he loses another great teacher from his school due to budget cuts.

So, along with that parent that wouldn’t leave me alone, I say “You must read this book!” It will take you less than two hours (only 176 pages) and as you watch the lives of Hart and Mr. Meinert change in unexpected ways, I think you will be touched by the not too sentimental story of many music educators that you know. The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements.

What started off as a review post about the Flip Video quickly expanded into a larger discussion of using video in the classroom thanks to two excellent posts: One by Bob Sprankle at his bit by bit blog
and the other post (discovered in the comments on Bob’s post) by Matthew Needleman at his Creating Lifelong Learners blog

Now before you go and check out these two posts, let me give you my thoughts on my use of the Flip Video. I had been looking for an inexpensive (below $200) digital video camera to use with my music students. I initially purchased an Aiptek 720P HD Camcorder for about $150 at Target. While the video was excellent, the audio was unacceptable.

I was skeptical about getting a Flip Video, but you can’t beat Costco for a good deal on stuff you gotta have…I purchased a Flip Video Ultra for about $120. It records up to 30 minutes of video that is great quality in sound and sight for my purposes.

Some key bullets on having used the camera for awhile-
* I would suggest the Ultra Flip over the plain old Flip (see all the specs here) mainly because the Ultra comes with a tripod mount and looks cooler and is easier to hold.
* The zoom feature on the flip is virtually useless from more than 30 feet away IMHO.
*Mac users: the flip comes with pre-loaded software to allow you to play .avi files on your Mac OS. I could get the .avi files to play just fine in Quicktime, but was unable to import them into iMovie’08. I did get them to import into iMovie HD with no problem. (I’m still using Mac OS 10.4.11)
*This is a no-brainer camera for those of you think that digital+video=genius. It is very simple to use and the included cables for hook-up to your t.v. are a nice bonus for instant playback.
*Buy a USB extension cable before you come home with the camera. The flip out USB dongle is a nice feature, but I’ve found that it doesn’t quite work with my laptop USB configuration or my other desktop computers.

A PLACE ON THE WEB FOR ALL THOSE VIDEOS

I know what you’re thinking, “Not another YouTube like video sharing service…we already use TeacherTube.”

Do check out the intro video below from 5min.com. I think it has some neat things to offer, particularly the video music lessons that can be paused and slowed down. Could have some neat teaching possibilities for your students and parents. I like the 5 minute concept for teaching mini-lessons.

I get a lot of questions about a child’s music development. The best book I have found is “Your Musical Child: Inspiring Kids to Play and Sing for Keeps” by Jessica Baron Turner.

You can start anywhere in the book and it’s written with the right amount of theory and practical information for parents with children of all ages. It answers the following questions: “What makes a child fall in love with learning to play music? How does talent develop? When is the right time to start lessons? Which instrument is the best fit? Why is practice so challenging, and what can parents do to keep kids musically motivated? Where can a parent learn about music programs, camps, books, recordings, and other important resources?”