Term 2 began unit for year 7 on Tone Colour and for the first few weeks they focus on all the different instruments of the orchestra, their sounds, position in ensembles and how they produce sound.  At the end of the unit, the students use our computer lab to construct a keynote presentation, with some key slides of information, to solidify all they have learned.  It is an excellent way to gauge who has listened and understood the terms’ content: an assessable assessment if you will.

My problem was three-fold.  We had an excellent bank of computers but students needed inspiration on what they could do with Keynote to show their learning.  Secondly, this was Music! There had to be some way of including sound, or visual components into their assignments.  Then thirdly, how great & comprehensive did I want these assignments to be?  If students could only access their work at school, this put a limit on their creative output.  Maybe I could consider an online option for any user to create their assignment at school or at home?  The answer…

1. Students were given an example of an online presentation I made in Wix.com + links to visit various Orchestra sites on the internet.  I then demonstrated how to embed audio & video into both Wix and Keynote.  Students then got to choose which path they wanted to take to complete the project.

• Wix.com: Make a Website in two minutes
• Wix.com: How to with the Wix Editor
• Wix.com: How to Publish the project

2. Those who decided to use Keynote were provided with some websites that allowed MP3 downloads of orchestral sound-clips to embed into each slide (they also had to bring a thumb-drive to each lesson)

3. I monitored each assignment’s progress from lesson to lesson, demonstrating key skills from the IWB and had the students email me their Wix addresses so I could comment on them via email.

The Task went as followed:

1. Make 8 blank slides or pages in your chosen platform (Keynote or Wix) with these titles:
• Title Page
• Orchestra Seating Chart
• The Four Families of the Orchestra
• Strings
• Woodwind
• Brass
• Percussion
• Bibliography
2. The information for each slide was to be gathered from their given list of websites and texts used that term in class
3. The presentation should demonstrate some integrated sound or visual elements

This video is a collection of some excellent Wix Sites created by my students.  It details what I demonstrated from the IWB and how my students watched my demonstrations and excelled beyond them!

The final result has taken some time to collate but the video below is a presentation I made of my year 7’s efforts in an excellent online tool called Animoto!  This allowed me to take a series of screenshots & videos from each students project, add a track of audio, and Animoto puts it all together into a very clever video presentation with animations etc.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I have been playing a series of musical games with them incorporating vocal rhythm patterns, playing and composing pentatonic melodies and singing using the Kodaly method with the Solfa Hand Signs.  We have even been singing music from around the world in rounds such as the attached Hebrew and Aboriginal songs.

One day my year 7 classes asked for something a ‘little harder’ because I was telling them how good they were So I gave them a line from “Horton Hears A Who” as my three year old son loves this show and I have it memorised.  My instructions went as follows…

“I meant what I said and I said what I meant”

1. Copy me saying it
2. Help me write out the rhythms next to the syllables on the board (deciding on the best ones)
3. Using the Pentatonic Scale (C D E G A) write a melody to go with it using these simple rules:
a) Start and End on C
b) Repeat groups of notes
c) Use patterns going up or down (called Sequences)
d) Don’t jump around but use steps (keep the notes close together)
e) Play them on your keyboard and refine how they sound (make them sing-able)

Once I had collected them we all voted on the ‘best sounding one’ based on  the rules above and the music we had been singing so far.  Because I played the melodies on the piano the voting was not ‘friend biased’ and the melody that won actually broke some of my rules – it used the note ‘F’ meaning the student did not really use the pentatonic scale.

But the classroom voted it as sounding the best!  Here is the result!

A Horton Melody PDF

A Horton Melody MIDI

If you want to see a great example of the pentatonic scale in action and how easy it is to use in the classroom watch this video by Bobby McFerrin on the Pentatonic Scale.

My school only obtained an IWB this year and it is a Promethean Activ.Board running their native, aptly named software, “Inspire.”
The software itself can be downloaded free from their website.  Yes, free, but with some limitations.  So if you wanted to get started making some interactive lesson plans go for it!  If, on the off chance you don’t have that much time, visit Promethean Planet to download some free resources made available to the online IWB community.  Or subscribe to an interactive whiteboard blog for a steady flow of ideas.

As I began to experiment on the IWB it struck me that not only could an IWB run its own software and make flipcharts/notebooks, (which I think Apple’s Keynote could do better anyway), but it opened up the possibility for an interactive classroom.  That is, everything from the smallest listening activity to the most complex theory or aural lesson could involve every students eyes, ears, hands and minds.  Thus ultimately leading to longer lasting authentic learning experiences.  I have since compiled a series of links to websites, software I use for my senior classes and ways that I  present each topic that I teach.  I still have a fair way to travel in my research and mastery of these software packages but I am sharing them with you

Here is a short video of my laptop and some ideas for your interactive whiteboard.  You will find links to websites, software and the games featured in the video here.

Lastly, I demonstrated the use of the IWB to parents and staff at our school open day last term.  I used most of the software featured in the above video and navigated through certain apps and games to show how they worked in the classroom.

This video is the first of many to come.  The files demonstrated in the video are linked at the bottom of this post.

• Year 7 Melodies Term 1 2010

• PDF of Treble & Keyboard Worksheet

• Yr 8 Rock Concepts Keynote.zip (videos not in file but links are there)

In 2009 Term 4, I asked my year 10 elective class to create a series of vocal rhythms with accompanying ostinaots based upon the rhymes of Dr Seuss’ books.  Not only did they take to the task with enthusiasm but they wanted to teach them to my year 7 and 8 classes personally.

This is what I love about the Orff approach – everyone can be involved, music making is enjoyable and ultimately it brings out high levels of creativity from those involved.

Let me know what you think of their work and remember you need to have installed Sibelius Scorch to view the scores!

Attention! For the best viewing experience open these score links in Firefox, Camino, or Chrome.  Safari users will have to open them using 32 bit mode.  Click on the Safari icon in the applications folder, hit ‘command i’ on your keyboard and click the ‘32 bit mode’ button.  Then run Safari as normal and open my links, the scores will magically ‘pop up’ and play for you.

• Green Eggs & Ham

• Left Foot Right

• Little Cats

From time to time textbooks or band arrangements do not have enough.
From time to time music is ‘out of date’ with current students and repertoire needs a re-shuffle.
From time to time I get really good musicians in my classes and it is wonderful to see them perform as a group.
This is where Sibelius notational software and arranging skills come into play for me as a music educator.

I have created a vast array of musical material for ensembles, first time music students in year 7, elective classes made up of classical instrument players and even heavy rock players.  I take themes from Australian works, film composers and obviously the classical masters, to help my students:

1. Hear, sing and recognise these themes
2. Analyse them for composition, aural or theory activities
3. Perform them as solos or in a group on their chosen instrument

This has become a very effective technique for me in remaining ‘up to date’ with my student’s musical tastes.  It keeps them focussed and wanting to know what our next lesson will involve.  My lessons therefore become interactive in every aspect and involve the whole body in learning about music and how to make music.

Visit: Resource Corner > Class Arrangements for some sample works I have uploaded for each teaching stage.

Here are some classroom/band arrangements I did recently for my elective and younger non-elective music classes.
* Make sure you have the Scorch plug-in installed

• Not Last Night – an Orff style vocal rhyme based upon something I learnt in my year 6 music class

• Remember Remember – An Orff style vocal rhythm in 6/8 based on the film V for Vendetta