Blog Reflection 10

Today's class was taught by Dr. Ryan. He explained to us all about Smart Music. This is a program that I was vaguely familiar with before today's class, but I learned much more about it's useful features. The only encounter I had with Smart Music in the past was in elementary school. We used Smart Music with examples from our methods books so we could see what we were doing wrong. I was unaware that Smart Music had an accompaniment feature, since I had not used it. I find this to be extremely helpful, especially since you can get the accompaniment to follow the player.

Another useful feature of Smart Music that I found is the ability to loop certain parts of the music so that one section can be practiced over and over again. This would be especially helpful for pieces of music where a group was having trouble with one passage. If each student had access to Smart Music, they could review their part many times on their own with the program, and then be able to play it more successfully with the group.

The third feature that I liked about Smart Music is the ability to import Finale files into Smart Music. This is useful for pieces that aren't in the Smart Music library or audiation exercises. Smart Music is a great tool, and I'm glad that it is so affordable and easy to obtain. Since I only had limited knowledge of this program, today's class was extremely useful. I may have otherwise dismissed Smart Music because I wasn't aware of all of it's features. I will now consider it as a tool in my future classroom(s).

Blog Reflection 9

The topic that most interested me in class this week was gamification. This term means taking mundane tasks and making them game-like in order to create more interest and motivation. There are many places where gamification can be useful. We are, obviously, most interested in its effect on education. Using games as a part of teaching helps students to view what they are learning as fun, and not as work. Games also give students a chance to try over and over again to better grasp a concept, it gives them a chance to learn at their own pace.

Gamification is also used in fitness. The Nintendo Wii and the X-Box Kinect have released countless games that make working out playful. Instead of doing a boring routine, players can compete against each other to exciting music. Some of these games are aimed at exercise, such as Zumba or Wii Fitness, but others just seem to be games that are unrelated to exercise, but are still physically demanding.

A third place where gamification is used is in marketing. Companies use "games" to keep their customers coming back. One example of this is punch cards. Many businesses have punch cards that reward the customer for each new purchase they make. This causes the customer to keep returning because when they reach a certain number of punches, they usually get something for free. Some companies have competitions that give out prizes, or certain percentage discount. These competitions usually take place online, so there is an influx of traffic onto such company's website. I feel that these methods are extremely effective. People are always looking to better themselves, and competition and gamification plays to that fact, and other benefits come of its use.

Music Class Purchase Order

Blog Reflection 8

Today's class focused on equipment that might be necessary for your music room. One of the things that was discussed at length was a PA system. Professor Riley showed us a Fender Passport PA system. This system was extremely compact, and seems like something that would be extremely useful for the classroom setting because of its simplicity and size. 

The next item was a mixing board. Professor Riley showed us a couple of different mixing boards and explained how to adjust the pre-amp before adjusting the volumes on all of the channels. Adjusting the volume on each individual channel is to achieve a better balance in an ensemble. 

Professor Riley showed us a small keyboard called a Korg Nanokey. This is a tiny musical keyboard, even smaller than most computer keyboards. I feel that it would work best for schools that didn't use keyboards often, but still needed them for the students. It was explained to us that the school Mrs. Riley teaches at has large Casio keyboards that they only use about once a year. These "nano" keyboards would be a cheaper, and much more compact, way of using keyboards in a classroom, especially when they don't get used very often.

We finished off class by looking at the purchase orders that Mrs. Riley has made over the past couple of years. It was interesting to see how much is actually purchased, and what is needed or useful in the classroom. Using a spreadsheet to sort out all of the different purchases is a great way to keep finances neat and organized. 

Blog Reflection 7

 This Friday the topic of Intellectual Property was discussed. I learned a few things that I was not already aware of. The first thing that I learned, and found rather interesting, was how long copyrights last. A copyright lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years. It makes me think about some recent artists who have passed away. I wonder what will become of the music of Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson in 70 years when the copyrights on their music are expired.

I also learned that there are two types of copyrights for music. The copyright "c" covers the music itself and also the lyrics. The copyright "p" covers the recordings of the music. I was unaware of the fact that there were separate copyrights for each of these aspects. I thought one copyright covered all of the music.

I also learned about fair use. I know now the conditions under which fair use can be argued are education, parody, research, criticism, and news reporting. I also learned that fair use cannot be utilized proactively, it is a defense against a lawsuit. Fair use does not prevent lawsuits from happening.

The final thing I learned was about creative commons licenses. These licenses allow the creator to decide what rights to give to the consumer. With certain creative commons licenses the consumer can use the work, but give credit to the creator. With others, the work can be used for nonprofit reasons.

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