I have bee busy making my own wesbite at the domain of
I will now be changing all of my posts to there and adding more on a regular basis.
The sites below I gave to my Yr 9 Students to complete their revision of the Baroque Era.
1. http://www.musicappreciation.com/
This is great as it has practice tests for the students online
2. These links are quite useful for revision and research – just copy them and paste them into your browser
http://baroque-music.com/
http://www.baroquemusic.org/bardefn.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_music
http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/m345/Baroque_Music1.html
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/music/concise/ch9_outline.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/27927/Baroque_Characteristics.htm
http://www.culturekiosque.com/klassik/features/ra1baroq.htm – Instruments
http://plato.acadiau.ca/courses/musi/callon/2233/2233.htm – Everything
http://www.classicalworks.com/his.pages/1626to1650.htm – Timeline
http://www.seattlebaroque.org/education/instruments.htm – Meet the Instruments
http://www.seattlebaroque.org/education/timeline.htm – Timeline!
Examination time can be dull with all the writing and formatting of papers. My solution was to make it more enjoyable for the students and to test the listening side of the course more appropriately.
Solution:
1. Make and format the actual paper but include melodic/rhythmic dictation, interval recognition, identify the wrong notes in a played melody, identify the bass lines played etc
2. Open Garageband and create a new project making sure to add a new ‘real instruments track’ for the CD’s voice over.
3. Write a script (which you can then alter for future exam CD’s) saying things like, “Yr 7 yearly examination in Music. You have 50 minutes to complete this exam. There are three sections…”
4. Press record, and using the built in microphone (or external one), record the instructions for each question. You can then leave room (time) for the students to answer and then give them a warning signal to start them on the next question/section. I enjoy picking from Garagebands extensive loops library for the warning sounds.
5. You can then play in (using the keyboard or a MIDI interface) intervals, musical examples, melodies/bass lines, or even add audio tracks for extended analyses.
Note:
Make sure you leave room for students to attempt each question and always check it before burning to CD.
The last thing to do is to select all, and burn it to disc using iTunes.
Now you walk into the exam, hand out the papers, put on the CD and their attention is totally focussed on both writing and listening!
The inbuilt functions of Apples iWork 08 Numbers are great for student marking and reporting.
I can easily create averages, rankings and then 3D graphs or tables that correlate to my data.
A personal favourite of mine is the ability to graph a student’s results next to the class average in an easy to see format. This is a great tool for informing parents of their child’s progress at parent teacher nights.
The blue line is the class average while the green line is the student’s results. And you will notice their rank is given for each individual task as well!
The following forms I created for use in and out of the classroom to help me stay organised. All thanks to Mac’s iWork 2008 set of software!
This was created to help me direct an interview with parents more effectively. Then instead of walking away abd forgetting what I had discussed this was to remind me of what I had learnt from the parents and any ideas that would help me teach their child more effectively.
This was created for me to document difficult behaviour and find effective ways to prevent it, as well as inform the particular students’ parents. It was quite helpful at times for the student to receive feedback on their own behaviour after each lesson – as long as it was constructive, with a positive focus.
This form I devised in conjuction with the NSW Institute of Teacher’s Teaching Standards. I used it at the end of each term for my students to evaluate my programs and teaching methods. They became accustomed to the language used and provided detailed and helpful feedback that helped me teach them more effectively.
I created the following for my Yr 12 students to rehearse their listening skills.
I also created a booklet of all of the Music 1 Musical Concept Booklets I had collected in my few years of teaching. Take a look!
Music 1 Aural Concepts Booklet & the A4 Appendix of Musical Styles
_
• HSC Online help with Music 1 Aural Exams
• Online Ear Training (intervals, chords etc)
• Aquallegro (an excellent free aural program for Mac OsX)
• GMajor Music Theory site is a great way to improve your listening and theory
• MusicTheory.net is an online theory resource that you can download to your computer free!
I recently bought an Oud from a friend I went to UNSW with, Joseph Tawadros.
I have been diligently reearching scales, modes, oud methods, rhythms etc.
I found the various Maqam and rhythms quite intriguing.
Additionally, we have the Byzantine and the Armenian (Hamparsoom Nota) naming and notation systems. These were originally the way Middle Eastern music was notated before the Western style notation was developed. (Oud Cafe)
In this system, generally as far as naming goes: NI=D; PA=E; VOU=F; GHA=G; DHI=A; KE=B; ZO=C; NI=D
If you are interested check out these links:
http://www.oudcafe.com/index.htm
http://www.oud.eclipse.co.uk/links.html
http://www.oud.eclipse.co.uk/
http://oudpage.tripod.com/maqamat.htm
http://www.mikeouds.com/index.html
http://www.oudmaker.com/links.asp
http://www.maqamworld.com/
This year has been a year of experimentation with WordPress – and Stage 4 have loved it!
I created a series of Online Tasks for each of my junior classes.
Method
• I surveyed the potential for internet based homework among my classes
• I started with simple video viewing and downloading of a PDF worksheet
• As my students grew more confident with this process I added online questions and answers, then online forms and finally listening to mp3′s and midi files
Outcomes
• All of my students completed the tasks and enjoyed their homework
• I was able to broaden their listening horizons and spark interest in multiple musical genres
• Parents became involved, commenting to me at parent teacher nights how they enjoyed completing homework with their children
• Students who were ‘computer illiterate’ quickly became proficient navigators of our school’s site Oxleylearning
Let me know if you enjoy them as well.
Oh, and make sure you are nice to your IT guy. I could not have done this without Tom March our WordPress expert.
Yr 7 Online Task – Famous Pieces By Wagner
