November 2010
1 post
WatchVienna’s Vegetable Orchestra on CBS Sunday Morning
“The musicians thump, toot, flap, screech and even gurgle their way through maybe 70 pounds of vegetables per concert.”
October 2010
1 post
February 2010
1 post
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January 2010
1 post
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December 2009
3 posts
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“Sleigh Ride” by Jane Monheit
This is...
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https://www.dropbox.com/ →
Dropbox.com is a free file storage site that allows you to access files you save there from any computer. I am using it since I primarily lesson plan at home where I am more comfortable (on the couch with a cup of tea!), but can now access my plans at school when I actually have a few minutes to do it during my planning time or if I want to print them at school.
If you use Dropbox, you...
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The first day of snow coincided with the first day...
November 2009
7 posts
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Sounds my Kindergarten students have created on their pretend “Woods Walk” (for vocal exploration):
Porc-ee-pine (that’s how they say it)
Barn swallow - impressive!
Wolf who is only a little mad so he growls instead of howls
Fish
Earthquake
Kangaroo that does not jump
Jumping clock
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I found out at parent-teacher conferences that one of my first grade students is a closet Journey fan, and that at any moment she might switch from playing “Twinkle Twinkle” to “Don’t Stop Believin’” on the xylophone (she has already practiced it at home). Please let this happen…
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Piano Tuner: Epiloge
My fiance posted this story about his experience with our piano tuner, Rick Pearson, today. He left out the part where he forgot he scheduled it, didn’t recognize Rick approaching our building and feared a little for his life when he said his name, and also was in his pajamas for this whole experience, haha. Rick is a great person & an excellent tuner! My fiance is a little silly and...
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What's a record?
Student: “What are those in the black cases?” Me: “They’re records. Have you seen a record player before?” Another student: “No, those are something they used in the olden days.”
All of my students were born in the current millenium, so I wonder how many of them have seen cassette tapes before. I’ve mostly used my iPod, which is an amazing...
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October highlights
Halloween provided ample opportunities for vocal exploration, including lots of ghost sounds, and expanding the movement vocabulary - a student added “waddle” last week during the pumpkin patch chant, hehe.
One first grade class created a game for our cat/mouse song, which lent itself to assessing tonal patterns. I used it with all of the first grades and it was so successful that...
October 2009
4 posts
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Stimulus aided teachers, laborers - msnbc.com →
In Michigan, where officials said 19,500 jobs have been saved or created, three out of four were in education.
Will these jobs still be around next year? Schools are still facing major deficits and cuts…
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“Motherless Child” from John...
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An honest Kindergarten opinion
This week, a particularly inquisitive Kindergarten student told me he thought that the activity I was leading was boring! The class was echoing 4-beat patterns following a silly rhythm chant. We talked about how that could be rephrased in a kind way, then I said that it might be more interesting to do individual patterns. When I went to give the “this is boring” student an...
September 2009
9 posts
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Alicia de Larrocha performs “Andaluza”...
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Annoying Music: Beatles Cover Songs (NPR) →
Speaking of popular tunes…
The Annoying Music Show is hosted by Jim Nayder on Chicago Public Radio. Click here to view annoying holiday, patriotic, campaign, Elvis, and Eurotrash (?) music.
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Popular tunes
I’ve been reworking these at the piano a little bit:
“What a Feeling” from Flashdance, performed by Irene Cara and written by Giorgio Miroder with lyrics by Keith Forsey and Irene Cara
“Crazy” as performed by Gnarls Barkley, written by Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo.
“Halo” as performed by Beyonce Knowles, written by Ryan Tedder, Evan Bogart, and Beyonce.
I...
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copycats:
I Want You Back by Mika originally by...
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Homemade musical instruments →
I came across this site the other day and thought about using some of the ideas with my Montessori class that comes to music four times a week. Anyone know of any other children’s instrument-making resources?
I am also considering indoor/outdoor listening walks (fits in with their sensory-based curriculum) and classroom instruments exploration centers.
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WatchMusic Room Centers
Orange, black, green, purple, red, yellow, and blue! Now onto thinking of projects to do at those centers, since I see Montessori K/1 four times a week!
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WatchMusic Room Detailed
Points of interest:
Office, including motivational quotes & hand-braided recorder neck strap
Classroom instruments display, will post names as students learn them
Michigan State Standards
Gong, ocean drum, PUPPETS!, plentiful guiros
Risers for LSAs
Maps, will post song titles as the year goes on
Storage area, including many things I have not yet looked through :P
...
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WatchMusic Room Overview
This is where I have been for the past week. Tim and I finished setting it up on Saturday, and I was finally able to clean my apartment after that! I was thinking of ordering one of those engraved wooden signs to say, “My apartment is a mess, but my classroom…” I may still need to do that, let’s see how this week goes.
August 2009
8 posts
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New job = joy & puppets!
I’m starting a new music teaching job this week at a school for grades Pre-K through 1st grade. One of the first things I wanted to do after I finished jumping up and down was to find some puppets, to encourage vocal exploration and elicit responses. I came across these from Melissa & Doug:
Pony Puppet (old stand-by)
Make-Your-Own Monster Puppet - I remember someone using these...
Radiohead Blazes a Marketing Trail - NYTimes.com →
“The band is fast becoming as synonymous with technological mischief as they are with music, and for that, we can only salute them,” wrote Contagious magazine, an online publication that focuses on digital advertising.
If a focus on singles brings about another “Paranoid Android”, I’m all for it!
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“Knives Out” by Brad Mehldau.
From...
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Orangutans make musical instrument - msnbc.com →
I’m going to channel my inner David Elliot and say that this is probably no more a musical instrument than a firehouse siren. It’s a communication tool.
But can orangutans or chimpanzees be trained to play a simple tune? And could they ever understand it musically? I have a feeling that I am going to annoy my Psychology of Music Education professor with this in the Spring…
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Two Piano Works Attributed to Mozart, Age 7 or 8 -... →
These two “works” happen to be parts of piano concertos.
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July 2009
11 posts
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10 sites to help you navigate the new world of... →
Includes subscription services, online streaming, and social sites.
I’m ready to check out blip.fm as soon as I can come up with a decent DJ name…
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The value of musical interaction, à la Eisner
From Elliot W. Eisner’s “What Does It Mean To Say a School Is Doing Well?” (2001), published in Flinders & Thornton’s “Curriculum Studies Reader” (2004):
“As we focus on standards, rubrics, and measurement, the deep problems of schooling go unattended…We need to provide opportunities for youngsters and adolescents to engage in challenging kinds of conversation, and we need to help them...
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“Til It Happens To You,” written and...
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copycats:
Come Together by Michael Jackson...
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Sound Tunnel - John Morton’s Central Park Portrait... →
From Randy Kennedy’s New York Times review of John Morton’s Central Park Sound Tunnel piece:
For the last month — thanks to Mr. Morton, six high-end speakers, a computer and a generous helping of musical avant-garde smuggled into the city’s populist playground — the tunnel itself has found a voice: a strange, urgent one that screams, whispers, sings, declaims poetry and recreates the...
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VoiceThread →
According to their website, VoiceThread is a “tool for having conversations around media.” Once the media is posted, anyone can comment by phone, webcam, microphone, typing, or file upload. The creator can comment back, thus resulting in a conversation. Registration and use of all features is free.
I found out about VoiceThread from one of my instructors for the Music Learning...
June 2009
24 posts
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Music for cavemen - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com →
This article is about a 35,000 year old bone flute found in Germany. Four similar instruments have been found in the same region. I found this fascinating:
Researchers know that modern humans prevailed over Neanderthals in Europe 20,000 to 35,000 years ago, and that the principal factors behind the Neanderthals’ disappearance probably included culture and climate as well as diet. Conard...
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Review of Brant's "Orbits" as performed at the... →
Some look at the Guggenheim Museum and see an acoustic nightmare, others see an acoustic opportunity…
Henry Brant’s “Orbits” was recently directed by Neely Bruce and performed by 89 trombones, soprano, and organ at many levels of the museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Anthony Tommasini wrote a lively review in the NY Times today, and calls the piece “one of the...
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“Twenty-Four Hours a Day” by Elana...