moving forward with music.

Imagine having some video games that allowed you to teach musical concepts to students on real musical instruments. Also, imagine that you were then able to watch their progress over time and track their development?

Well, the future is now!*

(*Kinda.)

Recently, along with Matthew Thibeault and Ben Smith, I had the pleasure to present at GLS 8.0 in Madison, WI. For those that don’t know, “GLS 8.0″ stands for “the 8th Annual Games, Learning, and Society Conference.” This is my second time coming to the conference and it is truly an inspiring event. (As an aside, it also has the distinction of being one of the most well-run conferences I have ever been to. Any conference that has a free ice cream bar case open for almost the entire day is fine by me!)

The presentation centered around some music games that we prototyped at the University of Illinois and tested with undergraduate music education students. Rather than your traditional Guitar Hero gameplay, these games used an instrument or voice to control what is happening on the screen. They’re very fun and have some real applications in the world of music education. You can read the conference paper here.

You can also download the games here! (Sorry. Mac only… for now!) The games are very simple, but fun! There’s a long jump game where you can work on long tones, a maze where you change your pitch to navigate a maze, and much more! There’s a “Read Me” file included in the file to answer your questions. Try it out and let us know what you think!

Dearest Music Teachers of the Interwebs,

I’m giving a presentation at the end of January titled, “Expanding the Musical Offerings in Our Schools: Energizing Our Students and Saving Our Jobs”. This will be the second of two talks I’ll be giving on Thursday (1/27), but I must say I need some help.

The session is designed to provide suggestions and materials for ensemble teachers who are looking for another class to add to their teaching schedule in order to help maintain a fulltime course load and, of course, to reach out to students who aren’t currently participating in their high school music program.

Here’s where you come in:

In the comments below, please leave a description of the general music courses you teach and the resources you use. If you’ve got a website or a blog with any information, please link to it. I’ll use the information in my talk and also provide your links to conference attendees. 

If you think you teach something more traditional, still leave your thoughts! If you KNOW somebody who does something interesting or unique, please let them know to come visit here. Lastly, make sure that you leave a way that I can get in touch with you. If you want to email me (rather than posting to the comments), send an email to nick at leadingnotes.org. 

You assistance would be greatly appreciated! You’ll be able to check the comments for suggestions from other music teachers AND check back at the end of January for my take on everything.

Start commenting and share with others!

(If you’re reading off of the main page, click “Read More” and scroll down to get to the comments.)

I had the great fortune to spend three days up at Michigan State University attending a conference titled New Directions in Music Education: Revitalizing Middle and High School Music. It was great to be surrounded by people who (by and large) share similar values about a need for change in our profession. Thanks to the lovely people at Michigan State and to the people who come out to my session, “A Classroom Without Walls: Connecting Students to Their Community Through Music Technology”.

This is just a quick post to provide resources for those who came to the clinic:

• Click HERE to see a post concerning a clinic I gave at the Illinois Music Education Conference back in January. This discusses both Music as Identity and Meet The Beatles - including lesson plans and examples.
• Click HERE for my initial Golden Record post.
• I’m not ready to post on Soundwalks yet, BUT… always check back. Click the icons on the side to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or through your RSS feed.

Also, don’t forget about Leading Notes! If you were there at the conference, you’re either already doing awesome things OR you’re about to do awesome things. Either way, let us know! Our submission information is HERE.

Please let me know if you try any of this stuff out and how it goes! You’re probably going to improve on them… so be sure to share with me!

Make sure to look around while you’re here!

The video above is footage from my July 22nd presentation at the seventh PeckaKucha evening in Champaign-Urbana (organized by CUDO - the Champaign-Urbana Design Organization). My topic was a favorite one of mine: musical tastes, Celine Dion, and the future of music education. 

If you like this blog (or my other online venture, Leading Notes), then I hope I can convince you to spend 6:40 with me. I promise that it’s not super boring. There were definitely some laughs!

For those who don’t know what PechaKucha is, I stole this from the CUDO PeckaKucha page:

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of conversation (“chit chat”), it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds each. It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

Basically, it forces the presenters to make their points quickly and move on. I think most PeckaKucha nights have entertainment before and after, too (we had a DJ). It was a really fun evening and I would encourage you to find one near you! Go HERE to find one.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. As always, leave our comments and share with others. This new blog layout is a bit funky (I’m working on it), but to tweet or post to Facebook, you have to click the “Share” button up top. I would be appreciative if you helped spread the word.

(Click “Read More” to leave your comment.)

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I know, it’s hard to believe. But, it’s true. You can see me LIVE AND IN PERSON… talking about nerdy music education things. There might be some additions to this list, but I’ll update when I hear about those. If you have an idea for a place I should speak, then let me know!

PechaKucha Night - July 22 - 8:20 PM - Krannert Center, Urbana-Champaign, IL

If you look at the picture above, you’ll see a sketch of me in the bottom right corner. I was very excited to be asked to participate… I think the whole event is going to be great.

What is PechaKucha? 
Well, it goes like this:

Presenters are selected because they are passionate about an idea - it could be anything! Each presenter (there are 10) creates 20 slides. Those slides are then assembled to advance every 20 seconds. This means that every presentation is 6:40 long! This brevity (along with the beer) allows for a fun evening of ideas and passion. 

I will be talking about the changing nature of music and the unchanging nature of music education. It should be fun!

There were 400 people at the last PechaKucha night in Champaign. Don’t YOU want to see what all of the hubbub is about? Click here to see the Facebook page for it. 

Illinois Music Education Conference - January 27, 2012 - Peoria, IL

I will be giving two presentations on the Friday of the next Illinois Music Education Conference (formerly the All-State Convention). I think I might be participating in a panel discussion, too. I’m just happy they invited me back after my session last year. 

(Read below the break to see what I’m talking about!)

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I found out this morning that my session titled “Teaching Music Using Technology (And Not The Other Way Around)” was accepted as a presentation at the 2011 Illinois Music Educators Association Conference in Peoria, IL. It’s my first professional conference presentation, so I feel like it might stress me out. I suppose it’s just like prepping for a class period, though.

Also in IMEA news (for those who didn’t read the “About” section) back in June, I was elected by the state membership of IMEA to the Board of Directors. My current title is “Secondary General Music Vice-President Elect (Designate)” - okay, I added the “designate”. My ‘elect’ position doesn’t officially start until January.

If you’re interested in what I’ll be talking about in Peoria, here is a .pdf of my session description.

Briefly, the session will focus on the following:

• How does a teacher design lessons that uses technology but isn’t explicitly about technology?

In order to answer that question, I’ll examine two units I’ve done with my students:

1. “Music as Identity” - A project I’ve already blogged about (one of the most popular posts on the site). Essentially, students create short “NPR-style” audio essays - layering their own narration with a selection of songs they have chosen that help illustrate their own musical identity.
2. “Meet The Beatles” - A lengthy unit that I ran concurrently with other lessons in my music theory class. The class was asked to answer the question: “Why did Rolling Stone magazine name this the ‘Greatest Album of All-Time’?”. Students were involved in a wide variety of listening, analysis, and re-mixing in order to come to some conclusions. At the end, we were able to use the Beatles: Rock Band game to introduce vocal harmonies and provide the students an opportunity to experience the songs they have been working on in a different light.

Both of those projects utilize Audacity - a powerful, FREE audio program that you can give to every student. GarageBand is great, but how many kids own it? Teaching kids Audacity provides them with an immediate tool they can use to make music - removing the barriers that a Logic Pro or GarageBand bring with them.

To help give you a better flavor, here is the introduction from my session proposal:

With so much technology available to both the music teacher and music student, there is a danger that more time will be spent learning the technology of today rather than actually applying it to the study of music. This interactive session will focus on helping teachers find ways to design projects that effectively utilize programs like Audacity and Rock Band witout requiring the students to spend excessive time simply learning how to use the software. By deciding on musical concepts before deciding on the appropriate technology, teachers can ensure that students will learn more than a skill on the computer, but the lifelong musical concepts that all of our students should take with them when they leave our classroom. This clinic will demonstrate this idea by presenting two fully developed unit ideas for the music classroom.

The session will also include a bit about my philosophy on the future of music education. If you simply can’t wait (or can’t be there), these two posts are probably a good way to get a feel for my thoughts:

• Why teaching “technology” isn’t as useful as we think
• Why I changed “Music Theory” to “Rock and Roll Methods”

So, if you’re in Peoria, IL between January 26-29 and you’re reading this blog… you should stop by! I’m sure I’ll remind people as we get closer. Maybe I’ll bring cookies… you never know.