Andrew Mercer

2012-02-11T15:16:00.000-08:00

This tutorial shows how to save an MP3 with Audacity.

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To get started, drag and drop a file into Audacity. It can be an MP3 already if you like. Now go to the FILE menu and select EXPORT. At this point you will be asked the name of the artists, song, ect. You can put in whatever you like or just leave it out for now. Click OK.

Next you will give your file a name and choose the file type. When you choose MP3 you will be asked to locate the LAME encoder. This step is NOT difficult. You should follow the instructions in the video tutorial for guidance.

Audacity Tutorials
Audacity is a free, easy to use sound recorder and editor. Audacity may be simple to use, but very powerful in its features.

This series of easy lessons is meant to help solve the most common issues faced by musicians using Audacity to record their music.

Audacity is a great educational tool for use in the music room. There are countless exciting ways to use Audacity with your students.

How to Rosin your Violin Bow

2012-02-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial I show how to put rosin on your violin or fiddle bow. This can also be applied to cello and viola.

If you find that you are not getting very much volume from your violin or that the tone sounds very breathy, then you may need to put some rosin on your bow. Also, if you just bought a new fiddle then it most likely does not have any rosin on the bow.

When you rosin your bow for the first time you will need to wipe the rosin up and down the bow hair probably 100 times or more. This is needed to get the first layer of good rosin down on the bow hair. Once you have a good layer of rosin you will only need to apply 15 or so wipes each day or two.

As you apply rosin you should put your thumb over the little metal piece where the bow meets the frog. If you hit your rosin on this metal piece your will crack your rosin. Covering it with your thumb will protect your rosin.

Never touch your bow hair with your fingers, as the oil from your skin will stick to the rosin and make it clumpy and dark.

Good luck,
Andrew

How to Change Pitch in Audacity | Make Chipmunk Voice

2012-02-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

In this video you will learn how to change the pitch of a sound using Audacity. You can use this technique to make your voice sound like a chipmunk :)

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Pitch is also called the frequency of a sound. A referee's whistle will have a high pitch and the rumbling of thunder is a low pitch.

Open the sound your want to change in Audacity. Select the portion of the sound sample that you want to alter. You can do this by clicking and sliding your mouse over that part of the sound sample.

Next, go to the EFFECT menu and select CHANGE PITCH. The Change Pitch window will open. There are several ways to adjust the pitch in this window. You can explore them all. We are going to use %. You can raise the pitch by 40% by typing in that window, then click ok.

Hit the PLAY button and listen to what you have. If you do not like what you have then FIRST go the EDIT menu and select UNDO before you make any further changes.

Good luck and happy recording,
Andrew

Looping Samples in Audacity Tutorial

2012-02-08T10:00:00.001-08:00

This tutorial shows how to loop a section of a sound sample many times over to create a pattern or texture in Audacity.

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Open up a sound sample that you would like to work with in Audacity. Once open, pick out the portion of the sample that you would like to loop. Remove any unwanted sound at the end of this section by selecting the sound with your mouse and deleting with your delete key.

Next, place your cursor at the very beginning of the section that you wish to repeat. You can do this by just clicking your mouse in that spot. Now go to the EDIT menu in Audacity and go to SELECT - CURSOR TO TRACK END. This will select everything from the cursor's position to the end of the track.

Next, we need to copy that sound section. Go to the EDIT menu again and select COPY. Now press the RIGHT ARROW key on your computer%27s keyboard. This will place the cursor at the very end of your sound sample. PASTE is next. You need to go back the EDIT menu and select PASTE.

Now you will have 2 copies of the sound sample. To add more copies all you need to do is RIGHT ARROW and PASTE over and over and over.

That is it. Have fun and please leave comments and suggestions for new tutorials in the comments section of this page.

Happy recording,
Andrew

Audacity How to Record | Click Track | How to Make and Use in Audacity | An Easy Tutorial

2012-02-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

This tutorial shows how to easily create a click track in Audacity when recording.
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A click track is an essential tool for recording. Without a click, even the most talented musicians would find it difficult to keep each track exactly in time as they record. While recording, your click track serves as your conductor or metronome to keep you exactly in time. Nothing says 'amateur' like a recording that slows down and speeds up! Learn to use a click and it will be your best friend in the studio.

When you first begin playing with a click track you may find it a little strange. The more you play with a click track you will become more comfortable with it. Eventually you will be completely at home playing with the click and your recordings will sound VERY professional.

Audacity has a built-in ability to create a click track designed to your exact specifications. Some of the specific items you can customize are, the number of bars (measure) or duration of the click track, the number of beats per bar or meter, the sound of the click itself, and the strength of pulses of the click track.

To create a click track you can follow these steps:
1. Open Audacity, start a new recording and go to the GENERATE menu
2. Select CLICK TRACK...
3. You will now see the Click Track window.
4. Go through all the settings to create the click track you need.

When creating a click track for a recording figure out how long you want your track to be. You may not know the number of bars you need exactly, so estimate. Once you have created your click track do a quick run through your song to ensure you have enough bars. Give yourself a few extras at the beginning of your recording for your convenience when getting ready to start.

As you record each of your tracks it is a good idea to count out loud along with the click before being playing. Counting can be edited out later and will give you a clear visual and sound reference as you sync up your tracks.

Audacity Tutorials
Audacity is a free, easy to use sound recorder and editor. Audacity may be simple to use, but very powerful in its features.
This series of easy lessons is meant to help solve the most common issues faced by musicians using Audacity to record their music.

Audacity is a great educational tool for use in the music room. There are countless exciting ways to use Audacity with your students.
If you are looking for some guidance or advice on an Audacity or recording issue that you have, please feel free to put a comment here. I will try my best to answer your question or create a new how-to tutorial focused on your studio challenge.

Happy recording,
Andrew

How to Play Violin | Right Hand Bow Setup | Fiddle Lesson

2012-02-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

This violin (fiddle) tutorial focuses on how to set up your right hand or bow hand.

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We take a careful approach to setting up your right hand and all its fingers to ensure that you get the best sound possible from your violin (fiddle).

The right hand needs to stay relaxed. The right hand needs to stay relaxed. That is very important in producing a beautiful sound or tone from your violin (fiddle). At every step of setting up your right hand, be sure to keep your mussels relaxed. Remember that the bow is not heavy so only use just enough effort to hold it and no more.

To start making a good bow hand we first make 'bunny ears' with our right hand. This is a good way to visualize the role and posture of each finger. Make two bunny teeth with your middle and ring fingers and place your thumb behind the first knuckle of the two fingers. Be sure to keep the thumb bent. Your index and pinky fingers will be the bunny ears. Cute!

Get a pencil. We will use a pencil instead of a bow for now as the pencil is much lighter than your bow. When you are ready, place the pencil inside the bunny's mouth as we do in the video. Make sure that the thumb contacts the pencil on the thumb's tip as it is in the video. If you are at school or work and want to practice your bow hold, take out a pencil and hold it as if you were holding a bow. The longer your fingers are in the proper bow hold posture the more natural it will feel. These exercises are habit-forming. If we can develop a habit of holding the bow properly then your will do it whenever you play the violin (fiddle).

When you are ready, replace the pencil with your bow. The thumb should contact the bow just in front of the 'frog.' Your thumb will be half on the leather lapping and half on the wood of the bow. Keep the thumb bent and relaxed. Wrap the bunny teeth or 'huggers' about the stick so that the thumb's tip is very close to the first knuckle of the hugger fingers. Keep everything loose, curved and relaxed.

Next place the pinky finger on the stick. The pinky's tip should contact the bow and the pinky needs to stay curved and relaxed.

Lastly place the index finger on the stick. The index should contact the bow at around the second knuckle. It may move a little above and below the knuckle as you move your bow up and down, but it should stay relatively close to that knuckle. Keep your index finger curved and relaxed over the bow. Be sure not to hook the index finger around the bow. It should just drape over the bow lightly.

Nothing can replace lessons with a qualified violin teacher. If anything in these videos contradict what you have been told by your teacher, please follow your teacher's advice.

Whether you have a teacher or not these video tutorials can help you refine your violin playing. Each video is intended to examine a specific aspect of violin (fiddle) playing and explore how you can improve.

You need to practice as often as you can. Consistent, careful practice is the only way to improve on any musical instrument. Try and find a time in your schedule that works for you and stick to it each day. You may prefer practicing your music early or perhaps in the evening. Make a schedule and stick to it. For some people a good idea is to break up the violin practice into two or three segments throughout the day. You may practice scales in the morning, tone production during lunch and songs in the evening. Whatever works for you! Nothing can replace practice time.

Audacity How to Remove Vocals Track from a Song Tutorial | Record Singing mp3

2012-02-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

This tutorial shows how to easily take the vocals or singing out of any recording.

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Song used is "I Feel Like Dancing" by Seven M Bryant (Creative Commons) http://ccmixter.org/files/stevieb357/35149

To take the singer out of a recording you need to follow some simple steps:
1. Load the song you want to work on into Audacity. BE SURE THAT IT IS A STEREO RECORDING.
2. On the left of your new track you will see grey pull-down menu. Click it and select SPLIT STERO TRACKS.
3. You will now how two separate track for the left and right of your song. Select all the music in track 2 by clicking on the grey tab at the far left of the track.
4. Go to the EFFECT menu and select INVERT
5. Now for each of your two tracks, go back to the grey pull down menus on the left of each track and select MONO. Do this for both tracks.

That is it. Now your song has no singing. This process will seriously degrade the quality of the sound of your recording. But it is fine for practice or for some fun.

Audacity Tutorials
Audacity is a free, easy to use sound recorder and editor. Audacity may be simple to use, but very powerful in its features.

This series of easy lessons is meant to help solve the most common issues faced by musicians using Audacity to record their music.

Audacity is a great educational tool for use in the music room. There are countless exciting ways to use Audacity with your students.

If you are looking for some guidance or advice on an Audacity or recording issue that you have, please feel free to put a comment here. I will try my best to answer your question or create a new how-to tutorial focused on your studio challenge.

Happy recording,
Andrew

Google Docs for Collaborative Poem Writing

2009-11-18T17:52:00.000-08:00

In a recent posting I gave a brief overview of Google Docs and some ideas of what it can do. In this posting I give an example strategy of how Google Docs can use used to have students work in a collaborative environment to create a poem.

At the beginning of the year you will go to Google Docs and create a class set of accounts for your students. Creating the accounts yourself will give you control over the accounts and will help when the students forget their passwords. I like to create the accounts with student numbers to maintain anonymity. This will take an hour or so and some patience. Once the accounts are set up you can give each student the username and password to their own Google Docs account.

Let's assume that you have a class of 24 students. You will be putting your students into groups of four. To prepare for the class you will log into your own Google account and create six documents. You will 'share' document number 1 with the students on team number 1. You will do the same for document 2 and so on for the 6 documents. At the top of each document you will provide the instructions for the activity.

Students' Document

In this activity you will be creating a poem with three of your friends. You are responsible for creating only two lines of the poem and each of your teammates will also create two lines for a total of eight. Your student number will be next to the lines you need to write on below. Find your lines and start writing. Don't be afraid to change your words as you see what your friends have written.

Student 1
Student 2
Student 3
Student 4
Student 2

Student 1

Student 4

Student 3

There are a number of learning environments in which this activity can be done, but perhaps the most appropriate would be a computer lab. Each student would be on an individual computer and will be asked to log into Google Docs. When the students log into Google Docs they will find a document which is only visible to the members of their own team.

As students type into their document the software auto saves and auto updates every 10 seconds or so. This means that as students make changes to the document all the other students on the team will see the changes along with their own changes every 10 seconds - it becomes a living document. As students are creating their lines they will see what their teammates are creating and in turn alter their own lines to better fit the evolving lines of their friends.

The poems will change and evolve and the students will interact with the poem much like a game. Eventually the poem will find a collective balance and will be finished.

You can arrange this activity so that students will not know who their teammates are. The activity can also be done with students spearate by great distance.

- Andrew Mercer

Drop.io for Eportfolio

2009-11-15T17:05:00.000-08:00

Eportfolios (electronic portfolios) provide an excellent way for students to collect and organize their digital content. Online eportfolios can also be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet, enabling students to use and contribute to their eportfolios from practically anywhere.

For the past couple of years I have had students use drop.io for their eportfolios. Drop.io is a free online file storage area. It allows me to create an unlimited about of unique sites for my students with 100megs of storage each. There is sophisticated password protection and permissions which allows me to protect the students work from prying eyes.

Here is how I set up eportfolios for my students:
I first go to http://drop.io and create a unique drop for each student. The address for each will be something like http://drop.io/studentidentifier. I assign an administrator password for me and a guest password for the students. I make the guest password the same for all students. This saves on the headaches when they forget. When I give the students their eportfolio address I ask them not to share their address with anyone. I create one more drop for the class to serve as a showcase site. All students are given the address and password for this site. When a students create exceptionally good pieces of work I, with their approval, show it on the class drop.

Drop.io is pretty bare bones, but where it lacks sophisticated features it makes up with it's intuitive design. My students enjoy it and they can keep the drop to use for years to come.

- Andrew

Technology tools for creating an online learning environment

2009-11-12T07:14:00.001-08:00

This article was posted in the fall 2008 of the Canadian Music Educator Journal.

Technology tools for creating an online learning environment

I recently had a friend observe several of my online music classes after which he commented on the variety of technology tools my students and I use to create our learning environment. Life would be simple if Swiss Army made a computer/communication tool that satisfied all our needs, but unfortunately to create a rich educational experience for online learners we must avail of many pieces of hardware and software. In this article I present some of the tools my students and I use in our virtual music room.

My students and I use video extensively in our classes. Due to varying learning preferences students prefer to work with content in various media formats. For this reason, I supplement most text content with video and audio alternatives and encourage students to consider the format that works best for them.

I have three types of cameras I use to create video footage. The first is a webcam that is built in my laptop. This is a low quality camera, but is good for quick video shoots from my desktop. The second is a digital photography camera that allows me to take video clips. The video quality is better than my webcam and the camera size permits me to shoot virtually anywhere. My third option is a professional digital video camera, which I use whenever possible for it provides the best quality. Unfortunately, the size of this camera makes it difficult to use outside a controlled environment.

I have three pieces of software I use for editing video. On my Apple laptop I edit video with the iMovie. This is a basic application, but it allows me to do quick editing and posting to the Internet. When using my Windows computer I use both Windows Movie Maker and Adobe Premier Pro. The free Windows Movie Maker has an excellent feature set and is simple to use. Adobe Premier Pro is a professional level application that gives me limitless editing possibilities.

I encourage students to create video as part of our courses. Students use their schools’ digital still cameras to shoot video and Windows Movie Maker to edit.

The ubiquitous YouTube (www.youtube.com) is used extensively in our music classes as an online video storage and delivery service for course video content. It is also and excellent source for third party video and audio content related to our courses.

To play audio recordings during class, I use iTunes on my Apple computer and Windows Media Player on my Windows computer. Both applications organize my music and permit me to call up specific pieces at a moment’s notice. If I require a piece of music that is not on my computer I can usually find it on YouTube within seconds. Having instant access to virtually any piece of music allows me to provide relevant musical examples as the class explorations and discussions move around the musical landscape.

Students are often asked to record audio as part of their online music courses. We use the free application Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net) for this task. Audacity is an intuitive and feature rich audio recorder and editor. Due to its popularity, a quick search of the Internet produces numerous Audacity tutorials.

To assist in theory and ear training my students use Music Ace Maestro (www.harmonicvision.com). This commercial application challenges my students with a wide range of interactive lessons and games.

All my online students are provided with the Microsoft Office suite of products. To supplement Microsoft Office I encourage students to use Google Docs (docs.google.com) when working with text documents, slideshows and spreadsheets. Google Docs is a free web-based application, which means that it is not installed on my students’ computers, but instead functions through their web browsers. Content is not saved and stored on my students’ computers, but instead is save on Google’s server. This allows students to access their files from any Internet enabled computer. Google Docs is perfect for students who do not own a similar commercial product or for students who work from a number of different computers. Web applications hold a great deal of potential and are quickly changing software industry.

An ‘e-portfolio’ is an excellent way to have students develop and organize a body of digital work. Through collaboration with Glenn Cake, an online teacher of French, I create e-portfolios for my students using the free online service drop.io (www.drop.io). Drop.io allows me to create a unique webpage for each student where they can store up to 100 megabytes content. Each e-portfolio is password protected and students are encouraged to upload any content they create: text, video, audio, images, etc. With student permission, I select outstanding examples from their e-portfolios to be featured on a ‘common area’ drop.io page that is visible to all students.

Since I began teaching high school music via the Internet the tools available to us have improved dramatically. It is difficult to imagine how future educational tools will empower online music students, but I am confident that the online music room will be an exciting and creative place to teach and learn.

- Andrew Mercer

Social Influences on Learning in an Online Environment

2009-11-11T17:06:00.001-08:00

This article is published in the fall edition of the Canadian Music Educator Journal.

“Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal relations, and communication with others” (Learner-Centered Principles Work Group, 2007, ¶12).

In the context of teaching High School music courses via the Internet, I am often asked of the social implications of the medium and more specifically, what role ‘social networking’ plays in the online learning process. Many of today’s students have very active online social lives and social networking is at the center of this phenomenon. Social networking generally refers to the ability for people to connect and interact with one another via the Internet. Social networking tools and strategies are at the heart of online music education.

An effective online learning environment provides many compelling tools that allow all the learning stake-holders to collaborate freely, such as Eluminate Live (virtual classroom), Desire2Learn (learning management system), MSN Instant Messenger (online chatting software), and PolyCom Systems (video conferencing). In this environment students can form communities of practice. “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger, 2007, p. 1). A community of practice gives students an online social setting where they can interact with their like-minded peers to explore ideas. With extensive guidance from the teacher, these online communities of practice can be powerful social and academic forums where everyone can have their say without fear. In the context of a High School social online communities are created and monitored by the teachers to create a positive learning experience.

Many students enrolled in my High School music classes are from schools with a total population of less than thirty students. These small schools provide students with a small number of peers with whom they can socialize. The Internet provides a means for these isolated students to interact with like-minded peers from other communities. The social interactions between students in my courses can be critical in their development as learners and young adults.

In my online classes, music students come from a wide variety of ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds. One class may have Inuit students from the coast of Labrador along with Mi’kmaq students from central Newfoundland and students from the urban centre of St. John’s. This and similar contexts have its challenges as educators consider this diversity and its effects on students and their learning. I have found that as students see that their own individual social and cultural situations are being respected, valued, and viewed as a critical asset to the learning process of all their classmates, students’ motivation to learn increases dramatically. Students perceive the course content and delivery as being culturally relevant to them and to a large degree, under their control which in turn increases their level effort, a key indicator of motivation to learn (Learner-Centered Principles Work Group, 2007http://www.apa.org, ¶11).

The social diversity of cultures in a typical online music class can be enlightening for the participants. Through direct contact with their culturally diverse peers, students learn about the music of the region’s diverse cultures directly from the source – their classmates. This practice of peer tutoring and cognitive apprenticeship has proven to be very effective in this environment (Collins, 2001). Students are shown that their cultures are relevant and important to the class and this in turn motivates students to showcase their own personal music for the class. Students are also motivated to learn more about and how to perform their classmates’ cultural music. Through the exploration of their classmates’ music it is hoped that students will be more open to music of foreign cultures. This exposure to novel content and experiences encourages flexible and creative thinking as well as social sensitivity and social competence. (Learner-Centered Principles Work Group, 2007http://www.apa.org, ¶13)

The unprecedented ability to interact with one another does have its drawbacks. In the article The hyperconnected, Grossman (2007) points out that society is becoming dependant on being connected – an addiction to the Internet. Perhaps students, both on and offline, need to be educated on the need to “unplug” from time to time.

In his article The new music educator, Webster (1998) points out that computer technology, and more specifically the Internet, will be the catalyst for new breakthroughs in music education. The Internet provides a unique environment for educational collaboration between all educational stakeholders. Educators are only beginning to ponder the social possibilities offered by this new medium. As the Internet and its uses are considered from the point of view of sound pedagogical practice, opportunities will begin to emerge that have not yet been imagined. That is not to say that all is good with the Internet; challenges exist. As with any new learning opportunity there is a need to identify its strengths and weaknesses and utilize it to its maximum teaching and learning potential.

Bibliography

Collins, A., Brown J. S., & Holum, A. (1991). Cognitive apprenticeship: Making thinking visible. American Educator, 15(3), 6-11, 38-46.
Learner-Centered Principles Work Group (2007). Learner-centered psychological principles. Retrieved July 11, 2007, from http://www.apa.org/ed/lcp2/lcp14.html.

Grossman, L. (2007). The hyperconnected. Time, 169(16), 54, 56.

Webster, P. R. (1998). The new music educator. Arts Education Policy Review, 100(2), 2-6.
Wenger, E. (2007), Communities of practice. Retrieved June 5, 2007, fromhttp://www.ewenger.com/Theory/.

Google Docs in Education

2009-11-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

Google Docs may change the way your students learn. Google Docs is an online word processor. It us much like Microsoft Word or Corel Wordperfect. The biggest difference is that it is a free, online application that functions through your Internet browser.

Virtually any computer with access to the Internet can run Google Docs. This is great for students who may not be able to afford a commercial word processor or have access to a high performance computer.

Google Docs stores all your documents on their server so they can be accessed from any computer you are using. A secure login protects your stuff from baddies.

Because your files are stored on the Internet, you can chose to share them with friends. You can also invite peers to collaborate on specific document with you. Any changes they make can be seen, reviewed and accepted by you. This makes Google Docs great for group collaborations over a distance or across a classroom.

The educational uses for this technology is only beginning to be explored. Explore this online application and comment here on any ideas or inspirations you may have.

- Andrew Mercer

Teaching and Learning Strategies for Audacity

2008-10-17T06:58:00.001-07:00

For several years now I have encouraged my students to use Audacity for audio recording and editing. This year I am, once again, having my students use this great tool.

I like to have my students use Audacity to create beatbox music. This is music created by making rhythmic paralinguistic sounds. My students are all online and are mostly from rural and isolated communities where and have never been exposed to a formalized musical education. For this reason, most of my students have never sung and are reluctant to try. Beatboxing is a great first step in getting my students to the ultimate goal of singing.

More on this later...
- Andrew

Using Video in Education: A-OK

2008-10-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

There has been much discussion about the pedagogical uses of video in an online teaching/learning environment. Several peers have shared their strategies and tools. It is great to see so many teachers adopting this medium :)
- Andrew

Technology at ISME 2008

2008-10-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

This post is taken from an article published in the August edition of the Canadian Music Educator.

During the summer of 2008 Bologna, Italy hosted the 28th conference for the International Society of Music Education (ISME). I had the privilege of attending this conference and in this article I am reporting on some of the exciting presentations and discussions related to the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in music education that took place during the conference.

As part of a symposium session Samuel Leong (Hong Kong) presented Strategies for enabling curriculum reform: Lessons from Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Using these countries as examples, Leong presented strategies for implementing change to policies related to ICT literacy to ensure students acquire an adequate level of ICT literacy during their school years. This was a practical and informative presentation from a person who has been at the centre of wide-scale educational reform for many. Leong discussed his top-down approach to educational change and his views on how policy makers can be moved to see and support issues that are truly important to education.

The establishment of ICT literacy standards was echoed in several sessions, such as the inspirational plenary session on the Music Manifesto by Marc Jaffrey (U.K.) as well as a presentation by Marina Gall (U.K.) entitled Teacher training and technology. Gall’s work investigates ICT competency levels in music education as it relates to music teacher training in the U.K. Establishing ICT literacy standards for music teachers and students was viewed by many conference participants as a critical first step in the effective integration of ICT in our music programs.

A great deal of synergy amongst international European researchers was evident at the ISME conference. As part of a symposium session entitled Developing reflective learning in a virtual world researchers from the U.K., Sweden and Greece presented The prelude project. With music teacher training as a focus, the researchers have created resources to raise teacher ICT literacy levels in the participating countries.

Issues related to online specific curriculum and content development were presented by Jennifer Nakashima (Canada). She presented her paper entitled Issues and challenges in developing experiencing music 2200 for web-based delivery: A critical case study.

I had the honor of presenting a paper entitled, Web-based music education: An exploration of learning objects as examined through the lens of the American psychological association’s learner-centered psychological principles. Much discussion and follow-up has taken place since the presentation as educators consider how online tools and strategies can be used to address the needs of all learners.

Learning Irish traditional music on the tin whistle via the Internet was the focus of a presentation given by Janice Waldron (Canada) and Kari Veblen (Canada) entitled, The medium is the message: Cyberspace, community, and music learning. The researchers have taken inventory of the numerous Internet-based opportunities for learning to play the tin whistle. These were examined and assigned a degree of ‘cool’ to ‘hot’ based on their level of interactivity. Online resources such as static web pages were deemed ‘cool’ while highly interactive ‘communities of practice’ were given the label of ‘hot.’ This is a very exciting study for it will help educators understand the numerous and varying opportunities for learning music via the Internet and how these learning opportunities can accommodate various learning preferences. Waldron and Veblin were also focused on effective pedagogical practice as well as the social dynamics inherent in these online communities of practice.

The work being done by Waldron and Veblen helps to illustrate the vastness of online educational content, but also reveals the barrier of language in this context. Non-English speaking participants were quick to point out that although there is a wealth of computer-based music education content available not all languages are represented equally.

Alex Ruthmann (U.S.) presented his work on the uses of online social networking tools in the teaching and learning of music. His presentation was entitled Strategies for supporting music learning through on-line collaborative technologies. Ruthmann gave compelling insight into how he uses online tools such as wikis, blogs and Ning to enhance his conventional music teaching. His talk was rooted in the idea that these tools should be used to empower the students to achieve the curriculum outcomes and enhance the learning process rather than just be used for the sake of using a new piece of technology.

ICT in music education was well represented at the 2008 ISME conference with far too many compelling discussions and presentations to include in this article. The creativity and innovation taking place in this field of education is inspiring. As ICT tools and strategies become more accessible we are presented with exciting opportunities to provide our students with exciting and relevant opportunities for growth and collaboration.

- Andrew Mercer

Eportfolios: A Quick Thought

2008-10-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

I spent all this week involved in PD of some sort. I have learned a great deal from my peers this week. My good friend, Glenn Cake has inspired me to push into e-portfolios further than I have in the past. We believe we have a nice e-portfolio setup designed for both his online french students and my online music students. In a future post I will explain how we are planning to do it.
- Andrew

A Day With Lee Willingham

2008-10-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

I spent the day with Lee Willingham. We had a great day. Throughout the day we talked much about all that is music and technology and education. Lee sat in on two of my online classes to experience how it actually happens. We had some nice fishcakes and baked beans for lunch. We had a little hike and took some photos. I have a great time and learn MUCH.

- Andrew Mercer

Wiki as Eportfolio

2008-10-02T03:05:00.000-07:00

Last year I used WetPaint wikis with my high school music students to serve as a place for them to keep track of the thinks they would like to do in the course. I was please at how easy the students picked up on technically how to use the wiki, but we did not take advantage of the capabilities.

This year I am planning to use the wiki as an e-portfolio for my students. I will encourage them to use the wiki as an area to place all the content they create during the course. I will have them also use http://drop.io as a storage area. Files uploaded to drop.io will be embeded and linked into the wiki.

Glenn Cake, an online French teacher with CDLI, is also implementing this e-portfolio for his classes.

I will keep you posted on how this plays out.

- Andrew Mercer

Finale Notepad 2009

2008-10-01T18:23:00.001-07:00

Finale Notepad 2009 is now $10. Previous versions were free. In my province of Newfoundland and Labrador many music teachers had Finale Notepad installed on all the computers in the school. Students were composing and learning with this great tool. Finale had a young user base that would grow up and buy what they were used to. Now the software will not be placed on all the computers in all the school and will not be used by all these students. It is sad to see this company take such a short-term view to product marketing.

- Andrew Mercer

Wiki in Education

2008-09-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

I am about to prepare a wiki for each of my online students. These wikis will be used for students' e-portfolios. As part of these e-portfolios students will be provided with broad curriculum goals and the students will be asked to identify how they would like to meet these goals. This will be a living piece and I will encourage students to constantly massage.
- Andrew Mercer

Back Again

2008-09-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well... And where have you been, Andrew? No need to worry about me. Why, I just hang out here on the web by myself, just a lowly old blog with no one to talk to. No, that's ok. I don't mind being ignored... I have become used to it. What's that? You're planning to come back more often. Hmm, well we shall see about that. Go ahead then, write something, smart-guy. I am sure people are just lining up to read your ramblings.

- Blog

Stephen Downes and Larry Lessig

2008-02-15T04:38:00.000-08:00

'Busy' seems to have lost its impact this past couple of weeks. For my lack of input, I will make two entries today.

Through Stephen Downes' blog I recently stumbled upon EduTagger. As this site grows, it could turn into a very useful tool for finding and sharing online educational resources. I am in the middle of organizing a set of curriculum resources for a music course. All the resources come from the Internet. A site like this could be a great way to share all these types of resources with others. Share Share Share :)

A while back a watched a TED Talks video by Larry Lessig. Amongst my colleagues, this video has proved to be a great catalyst for heated discussions on artistic rights. Check out the video and join the discussion.

Andrew

2008-01-31T04:14:00.000-08:00

Music Education Workshops

This has been a very exciting (and busy) week.

On Jan. 23rd. I attended an informative workshop on ProTools at Memorial University's MMaP dept. The session was provided by Spencer Crewe. While at the MMaP I also had a chance to speak with Dr. Bev Diamond, who is an excellent Ethnomusicologist. We talked about the Inuit, Innu, and Mi'kmaq students in my online classes and new relevant cultural resources. Bev recommended one of her excellent books, Native American Music In Eastern North America: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture.

Jan. 22nd had me on the road again, but this time to Placentia, NL. I spent the day with the music teacher Juanita Tobin. Together we explored a number of technologies that she wanted to incorporate into her practice: video production, Music Ace, wikis, YouTube, and Google tools. Four days later she informed me that she has set up a number of wikis for her students with embedded video and other goodies to help with her teaching/learning.

On Jan. 28 I took part in a k-6 music education workshop in Bay Roberts. Brenda Hunt gave a very informative presentation of the effective use of MusicAce in her centers-based music room. Deanne Hiscock also presented on issues related to inclusion in the music room as well as a session on traditional NL song and dance. We had a great time.

Andrew

2008-01-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

Toons for Communication

Andrew

Ambiguity Aversion

2008-01-22T05:48:00.000-08:00

Ambiguity Aversion

Today I watched a short video on the Ellsberg Paradox. The Ellsberg Paradox tells us that when a person encounters a situation containing unknowns there is a survival reaction that takes place in the brain. Fear and avoidance are the dominate sensations experienced. This can explain why many people fear new technology tools. As I watched I thought of the learners I work with and how many times they are averse to using new technologies in their day-to-day lives. In light of the Ellsberg Paradox we must reduce the number of unknowns perceived by our learners as we introduce new concepts. This simples pretty obvious, but it is nice to see that there is a physiological reason for people's fears. If anything the Ellsberg Paradox can help me be more patient with learners that are reluctant to adopt new concepts.

Andrew