Songsmith

So I saw this video today promoting a new product, Songsmith, from Microsoft and while I have to admit at first I thought it was a joke. It looks a lot like something that is produced on the onion.

No it's not a bad musical either, even though it alludes to its aspirations to make the world a musical.

What do you think does this help us as music educators or does it make students lazy?

Personally if the songs are really as bad as these videos seem then I don't think we have a lot to worry about. But I am curious what everyone thinks.



http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/index.html

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Goals

Today in one of my choirs we had a goal setting day and this is what one of my students put on the board as we set our goals. We came up with the goals together as a class so that we were all on board from the start. Here is what we came up with. Most of you probably won't appreciate it as much as I do.

Notice the first goal... Have Fun :) haha


So I had to define FUN :)


Which led to one of my favorite quotes from my Dad.

The Next Goal... Respect
Who say's the pianist never gets any respect :) I'm so proud of my students.

That's right respect all around :)


I always tell my students that if they don't like a song then to keep it to themselves because they don't have the right to take away permission for someone else to like it.

Cause when we work together we got the right stuff.
Go Wonder Pets!


Ultimate Unity... They even want to go to the hospital with us when Alli has the baby.

Not sure they quite got the right message on this one.
I tried to explain how singers are actors too.

You like the rewards and consequences list?
My personal favorite... Public Humiliation.



I like the attachment to the reward of a brownie party.

We got a least one Dictator statement in :)

And by the end of the day this was our final product. I love my students. :)

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Jon Schmidt

I just got the final word that we are officially bringing Jon Schmidt to perform in our little community. For those of you who don't know who he is, Jon Schmidt is a piano player but not your average piano player. He is a true entertainer. I have many young nieces and nephews who love to watch him perform and after leaving they are always inspired to practice their piano.

He is coming in for a very good rate which is going to allow us to sale tickets to help fund our music tour this year. If you haven't had the chance to see him in concert or even hear his music I highly recommend that you look into it.

Animoto

For those of you who have not yet discovered the greatness that is Animoto well now is your time, They are offering free memberships to educators. http://education.animoto.com/

Animoto is in their own words "the end of slideshows".

All you do is upload the pics you want for a slide show and pick a song to set it to and it does the rest.

Here is an example video I made earlier today:




http://education.animoto.com/

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Twitter

Image via CrunchBaseSo one of the things I am committed to doing this year is seeing what all the twitter fuss is about. So far so good - My username is kgard - Add me :)

I think this can be another great place to find other music educators and share ideas and resources with one another.

Here is a resource to help us find other Music Educators who are on twitter -
http://twittgroups.com/group/musiced

Official List of the 100 Music Education Bloggers

It is an Honor to be a part of this list. Please visit them today, congratulate them, and learn from what they have to offer as they do from each other and others like them.

THE OFFICIAL LIST OF THE 100 MUSIC EDUCATION BLOGGER CAMPAIGN 2008-2009:

1. http://www.mustech.net
   Dr. Joseph M. Pisano- MusTech.net
2. http://digitalmusiceducator.wordpress.com
   Owen Bradley -The Digital Music Educator
3. http://etobiasblog.musiced.net
   Evan Tobias- Catalysts & Connections
4. http://musiced.about.com/
   Espie Estrella -About Music Education
5. http://jamesfrankel.musiced.net/
   Dr. James Frankel- Music Technology in Education
6. http://weblog.siba.fi/msalavuo
   Dr. Miikka Salavuo- Music Education, Technology & Social Media
7. http://pwhitfield.edublogs.org
   Pete Whitfield- e-Learning for Music
8. http://www.musicedmagic.com
   Chad Criswell- Music Ed. Magic
9. http://jsavage.org.uk/
   Dr. Jonathan Savage- Jonathan Savage
10. http://musictechforme.com/
    V. Keith Mason- Music Tech. for Me.
11. http://tjweller.wordpress.com
    Travis J. Weller- Composing Like Mad
12. http://mystro2b.edublogs.org/
    Ken Pendergrass- Music is Not for Insects
13. http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/
    Joel- So You Want to Teach
14. http://stengel99.wordpress.com/
    Steve Engel- Music Ed. Lounge
15. http://fsharpbflat.wordpress.com/
    Linda Granite- Bb, F#
16. http://doublebassblog.org
    Jason Heath- Double Bass Blog
17. http://musicisfree.ning.com/
    Robert Brannan- The Music is Free
18. http://dvzmix.wordpress.com/
    Deborah Valdivia-Zwolinski- DVZ’s Mix
19. http://choirteachers.blogspot.com/
    Kyle Gardner- Choir Teachers
20. http://www.pauldraper.org
    Paul Draper- Draper’s Blogspot
21. http://johnwilborn.wordpress.com
    John Wilborn- John Wilborn’s Weblog
22. http://iknowithink.blogspot.com
    Leo Park- I Know…I Think
23. http://gluedtothestring.blogspot.com
    Stan Haskins- Glued to the String
24. http://musicedtech.wordpress.com
    Barbara Freedman- Music Ed. Tech.
25. http://tomrudolph.berkleemusicblogs.com
    Dr. Tom Rudolph- Make the Most of Notation Software
26. http://teachingthewirechoir.com/
    Dale Lewis- Teaching the “Wire Choir”
27. http://docandry.edublogs.org
    Dr. Kevin Andry-Dr. Andry’s Band Blog
28. http://sperham.wordpress.com
    Steffany Perham- Perham’s Prattlings
29. http://alexruthmann.com
    Alex Ruthmann- Alex Ruthmann’s Blog
30. http://www.beatechie.com/
    Carol Broos- Be A Techie:)
31. http://musicanthology.org
    Geejay Arrioloa and Jeffrey Langlois -Music Anthology
32. http://southiowamusiced.blogspot.com/
    Michael Compton -Southern Iowa Music Education Network
33. http://qachsband.edublogs.org/
    Eric Wright- QACHS’s Band Blog
34. http://alleyjazz13.wordpress.com/
    Alison Hulihan- Marching Music
35. http://rogerwhaley.blogspot.com
    Roger Whaley -The BandEd ToolShed
36. http://mgrondin.edublogs.org
    Martha Grondin-Artful, Tuneful, Beatful
37. http://percussioneducationonline.com
    Kevin Tuck -Percussion Education Online
38. http://www.musicteachersblog.com
    Janice Tuck -The Music Teacher’s Blog
39. http://bnceducation.blogspot.com
    Steve Raybould, Kriston Feldpausch -Band and Chorus PMS/PJHS
40. http://musicedshare.wordpress.com
    Kyle Krstolic -Music Education Share
41. http://musicedforall.blogspot.com
    Dan Leeman -Music Education for All
42. http://amymburns.musiced.net
    Amy Burns -Elementary Music/Music Technology
43. http://www.music.erinnwrobel.com
    Erinn Wrobel - Notes From The Mitten
44. http://dougbutchy.wordpress.com
    Doug Butchy - Confessions of a Band Director
45. http://studiobeemusic.com/mutech
    Rich Blenkinsopp - Studiobee Music
46. http://musicmiddleschoolandweb20.blogspot.com/
    Susan Hurst - Music, Middle School and Web 2.0
47. http://www.kirki.co.uk
    Dr. Phil Kirkman -Music Education and Technology Blog
48. http://tufsdblogs.org/winze
    Ann Winze- WI Orchestra
49. http://thirddivision.org
    David DeVoto - Third Division
50. http://collaborativepiano.blogspot.com
    Dr. Chris Foley - The Collaborative Piano Blog
51. http://bandguys.wordpress.com
    Matthew Pelandina and Mike Lewis - The BandGuys’ blog
52. http://tanbur.wordpress.com
    David French -The Music Education Blogspot
53. http://musicteachers911.blogspot.com
    Larry Marra -Music Teachers 911
54. http://www.pianoteacherblog.com
    Rebecca Brown -Piano Teacher’s Retreat
55. http://wordtogo.wordpress.com
    Steve Mugglin -Creativity and Songwriting in Music Education
56. http://totalmusiceducation.blogspot.com
    Greg Albing -Total Music Education
57. http://teachingmusicbs.com
    Ben Baker -Teaching Music
58. http://susanadavis.blogspot.com/
    Susan Davis -Music Technology Musings
59. http://www.howtopractise.com (yes it’s a “s”, it’s an English spelling)
    Mike Saville - How To Practise
60. http://www.free2create.com/blog
    Valerie Kampmeier - Free 2 Create
61. http://musicmattersblog.com
    Natalie Wickham - Music Matters Blog
62. http://theresawhite.edublogs.org
    Theresa White - Education In Music
63. http://africlassical.blogspot.com
    William Zick - Africlassical
64. http://discoverlearnplay.blogspot.com
    Eugene Cantera - Discover, Learn, Play (MusickED.com’s Blog)
65. http://mstrismusic.com
    Ms. Tris - MsTrisMusic.com
66. http://www.learn-theory-music.com/learn-theory-music-blog.html
    Julian Partridge - Learn Theory Music Blog
67. http://www.guitarticles.net
    Tennyson Williams - Guitar Articles.Net
68. http://creativekidmusic.wordpress.com
    Dan Thompson -Creative Kid Music
69. http://educacionmusical.blogspot.com
    Oscar - Educacion Musical - Music Education (Our first, in Spanish, ME Blog!)
70. http://rizzrazz.vox.com/
    Dr. Eric Rasmussen - Rizz’s Blog
71. http://reband.wordpress.com
    Mr. ReBand
72. http://www.techtempo.com
    Brenda Muench - Tech. Tempo
73. http://www.thomasjwestmusic.com/blog.htm
    Thomas J. West
74. http://musictech4ed.edublogs.org
    Andrew Spang -MusicTech4Ed
75. Click this link. (A very log blog URL…)
    Jon Ensminger -Pedaplus
76. http://techtoysandtunes.blogspot.com
    Richard McCready - Tech Toys and Tunes
77. http://downpressup.wordpress.com
    Derek -Downpressup
78. http://listenlearnmusic.com
    Rachel Rambach - Listen and Learn
79. http://jazzworks.wordpress.com
    Allan Perkins - Jazz Works
80. http://msgallant.edublogs.org
    Alexandra Gallant - The Misadventures of a First Year Music Teacher
81. http://www.acousticpath.com/blog
    Cameron Grant - Acoustic Path
82. http://musicteachercafe.viviti.com/
    Scott Ashby - Music Teacher’s Cafe
83. http://www.frogstoryrecords.com/player_journal.html
    Stever Carter - Frog Story Records/Player’s Journal
84. http://thirdstream.musiced.net
    Cary Stewart - Third-Stream Music Education
85. http://michiganstatepianopedagogy.blogspot.com
    Derek Polischuk - Michigan State Piano Pedagogy
86. http://fromthevoiceof.blogspot.com
    Elizabeth McDonald -From the Voice of…
87. http://urbanmusiceducation.org
    Sarah Johnston -Urban Music Education
88. http://musiced.jasoncrews.net/
    Jason Crews - Music Education Resource Blog
89. http://www.classicalguitarblog.net
    Christopher - Classical Guitar Blog
90. http://willie42.globalteacher.org.au/
    Andrew- Split Three Ways
91. http://mjsheetmusictips.blogspot.com/
    Marilyn Johnson - MJ’s Music Teaching Tips
92. http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/
    Brandon Pearce - Music Teacher’s Helper Blog
93. http://jeane-metroyo.blogspot.com
    Jeane Goforth - Scrollworks and Metropolitian Youth Orchestras
94. http://www.oparp.blogspot.com
    Dr. Robert Phillips - The Opinionated Arpgeggist
95. http://www.wikyblog.com/CynthiaWunsch
    Cynthia Wunsch - The Unlikely Entrepreneur (Click the Blog Tab)
96. http://mineoladrama.blogspot.com
    Joe Owens - MHS Theater
97. http://andyzweibel.com
    Andy Zweibel - Music Musings and Other Randoms…
98. http://musicschoolsbc.blogspot.com/
    Stephen Robb - Music Schools BC
99. http://paulbailey.us
    Paul Bailey - Paul Bailey’s Blog
100. http://edubuzz.org/blogs/alancoady/
     Alan Coady - Alan Coady’s Musical Blog

http://mustech.net/2009/01/01/a-bold-new-year-the-official-list

What The Future Holds

I ran across this the other day and while I am sure many of you may have already seen it I still think it is worth posting. I have discussed manytimes with my mother who is now in her 70's about how the world has changed so much from when she was in school but for the most part schools are the same. Its something to think about.