Great resource for new iPad users!

My friend and colleague at the elementary school has created a wonderful document that provides a very nice introduction to the iPad. She was gracious and is letting me share it with you all!


Here is a link to the .pdf document.

Puffin Browser for iOS = Music Teacher DREAM!!!

HOLD THE PRESSES, my friends!   This is BIG NEWS.

I am thankful that my Rover app (browser designed to handle flash websites) wasn't working, even after deleting and re-installing it.  Because if this had not happened, I would never have searched for another alternative.

But -- I did search. And I found:

The Puffin Browser

I loaded it, wondering if the bold claims it was making could be true.
I went to the Noteflight website, and was able to use the FULL site, not just the mobile version.  Some of the capabilities were off because of not having a mouse to click, and that sort of thing, but the actual site? It worked just fine.

It occurred to me that perhaps the wonderful MusicTheory.Net site might work.  (Because let's face it -- none of use can afford a $3.99 app per student to be able to use all of the features on the iPad.)   So, I opened up the Puffin browser, and typed in http://www.musictheory.net, and for less than one second that familiar, heart-breaking red box that signifies a flash issues appeared....  but then it was gone, replace instead by a beautiful five line staff, and the rest of the tutorial.

I even gave myself a test of intervals, which I rushed through too quickly and called a minor 6th a major 6th (because it sounded too happy to be minor), and I was even more grateful that such an incredible resource will not be lost to us if the MLTI  (Maine Learning Technology Initiative) decides to choose iPads for next school year.

Woo-hoo!!  Anyone else feel like celebrating?


**** Update ---  The day after posting this I realized that the Puffin free browser is a 14 day trial of the flash capable browser.  There are options (referring friends) to continue using the capabilities for an additional 4 weeks, or the full version of the update is only $2.99.   For complete access to ANY flash based site, that seems very reasonable.  I have checked with my science colleagues and tested many of the sites that they use on the laptops and all of the FLASH based sites did work.   Shockwave based programs will not work with Puffin.

iPad for Assessment in Performing Ensembles

You may want to introduce yourself to your scanner -- the one that has been neglected for years.  You and he/she are about to become much better acquainted.

After using Notability (an amazing annotating and everything you can imagine app), I knew there must be a way that I could get the warm-up books and other music loaded onto the iPads.   My high school band is using a 25 page warm-up books, and I scanned every single page, of every single part.  But-- then the file sizes were enormous.

HOW TO MAKE BIG PDFS SMALLER IN FILE SIZE:

1. Using Preview, save it as a .gif
2. Save it again (with a different name to keep it clear) back to a .pdf    --- Doing this changed 40MB file down to about 11MB.  Much better! The quality and readability did not suffer too greatly.

HOW TO BREAK LARGE PDF DOCUMENTS INTO SECTIONS:

1. Using preview, select the pages you want in your first document.  
2. File menu - "print selected pages"
3. When the print dialog opens, click on the PDF button
4. Save the pdf as normal.

Okay--  now I had the 25 page warm-up book files, AND I had them split into three separate files, for the different sections within the book.   The task now was to determine which app would best achieve the results I am looking for.

ENTER:  MOXTRA.

This app -- wait-- it is MORE than an app, it is a full website as well -- this PLATFORM is awesome.   I had the students upload the three different sections as separate "binders" into Moxtra. (I will tell you how next.)  For example - Flute Scales, Flute Etudes, Flute Chorales.

They open their Etudes Binder, and choose the page we are working on.

See the record button in the upper right hand corner?  You guessed it.  They can record themselves, while playing.  In doing so, Moxtra is creating a new page in the binder with the recording attached.  What I have done to eliminate multiple pages of the same warm-up book (because of recording different exercises on the page) is have the students create a "Portfolio" binder, to which they move all of their playing assessments from these documents.

Before leaving this page, I have students click on the text bubble icon (bottom right hand corner) and leave a comment as to what was recorded.  Once they are done typing, clicking the text bubble again makes it go away.

To move a note to the Portfolio binder:

Click on the back arrow on the top left screen.

Now you see the entire document, including the new note that was just created with the recording.  Click on the edit button (upper right hand corner) and select that page.   A series of option appear at the top. The second on the left (looks like a document with an arrow going to the right) is the option to MOVE the page.

A menu will appear, and the options to move to an existing binder or create a new one are given.

Once the student has moved the page into the portfolio binder, they email it to me.  The THIRD icon in the picture above (a box with the arrow coming out) is "share" icon, and this is universal through most apps.  Clicking on that brings up a window of sharing options.  Email,  text message, Dropbox, etc. This sends a link to a web-visible version of the page with the recording.

Rather than emailing large files and multiple steps, I created a Dropbox account for my school band, and uploaded all of the files. I created a folder for each instrument or instrument group, and had the students log in to my dropbox account and download the files they needed, and open them on their iPad, in Moxtra.

Students were so excited about this that they asked if they could try taking pictures of their band music and uploading it into a new binder in Moxtra --- and since it meant less scanning for me, I said ABSOLUTELY!

And there you have it.

Because the iPad is so small, it can rest on the music stand with their music and capture sound (or video), and doesn't take up any extra room.  Trying to capture video with the laptops required tables, or extra chairs.   The size alone has made a huge difference.

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Other options:

Vimeo accounts:  I had students create a vimeo account for recording final summative assessments.  They record the video using the camera on the iPad, upload the video to Vimeo, and then they can email me the link, even while keeping the video completely private.

Chromatik: An up and coming music sharing platform that is doing a lot of what I am using Moxtra for. Similar features, but still quite a few bugs, which is why we are no longer using it right now.

The sharing features in Moxtra are easier than Chromatik as well.

Evernote: Many people use Evernote as their "go-to" organizing tool.  I have never used it to its full potential, so I can't rhapsodize about its awesomeness.  But I do know this: when you set up an account, Evernote gives you an email address.  I could have the students email their assessments right into my Evernote account.  But -- knowing myself, if it is in my email inbox, I can't ignore it!

Using other recording apps: This is how we used to do playing assessments, before using Moxtra.  There are so many great recording apps, but the one that we use most often is called iTalk Recorder (the free version).  It is an iPhone/iPod app, so it will not show up on your search until you click on the tab for iPhone apps.  There is a premium version, which I own, but for the students the free version is quite adequate.  There are limits to how large the recordings can be to send over email, which has made us learn to be quite creative in selecting passages to assess in this method.

*****

These are just a few of the ways that I use the iPads with my band ensembles! Please let me know if you have questions!

iPad for Music Classes - Overview

We are all waiting (impatiently) for the decision to be made regarding next years MLTI offerings.   The thought of changing technology completely with so little time to prepare is a bit frightening.  The iPad is looming as a very clear front-runner for selection, so while we wait, I decided to compile a list of what I have been using for the last year with my high school band.

Benefits of iPad:

• Instant availability to free apps: tuners, metronomes, audio recorders, video recorders
• Digital sharing and portfolio creation
• Constantly in development -- people are ALWAYS writing and improving apps
• Small, fits on music stand
• Garageband -- the new format is AWESOME!

Disadvantages for a music teacher:

• Garageband.  (Yes-- listed both as an advantage and a disadvantage.) The iPad version is nothing like the computer version.  Cool things can be done with it --  I LOVE using it.  But it is very different.  I think with exploration, the units you may have used with the computer version could be done, but in a different way.  
• Lack of physical keyboard (for typing)
• Flash -- any websites that required flash will most likely not work on the iPad. However, there are browsers that can handle flash.  And since this problem is NOT one that is going away, development is happening at a rapid pace for apps

What you are DYING TO KNOW.

Are there musical notation programs? 

YES!

iWriteMusic  is a simple notation tool. It is free, and very basic.  

NOTEFLIGHT can be used the Safari or Chrome apps on the browser, but it is still VERY glitchy.  There are many issues.  They are actively working on it though, so perhaps it will be a useable option by the time the devices are deployed.

-**** Edited -- Noteflight is much better now! They have really revamped their site to be tablet friendly.


Do kids get distracted and play games on them (or worse -- find a way around the firewall and access facebook)?

YES.  They do.  My experience has been with high school students who are incredibly savvy about knowing how to appear that they are on task, and knowing what apps to use to bypass our school filtering software.  

Does this present an overwhelming problem?  No. I use the iPads at the first part of class, and sometimes throughout class if we are recording and assessing some of the music, and after that, they place them under their chairs.   I also tell them that the transition between songs was not designed as an opportunity for them to check facebook.  They laugh and get back on task.


Best Tuner App:

InsTuner    --  LOADED with options.  Best part?  It can be transposed to the student's instrument key. Alto saxophones can see the note they are playing, instead of having to transpose quickly.

Even better?  FREE, and also works on iPod or iPhone.

***** Edited -- in the time since I have written this, the FREE version does not have all of the options, but it still my favorite free tuner and the one that I ask my students to download.

Here is a video where I explain this app to my students and the next app I mention. (Pro metronome)


Best Metronome App:

Pro Metronome  -- tap to set, change time signatures, click wheel to change from faster or slower


Fun Music Apps:
Music Studio Lite - the lite version has great piano keyboards to use,  and it is very fun to use.

Guitar!  - an EXCELLENT app!  A great alternative for my guitar class if students are sidelined from playing because of an injury.   The one thing that I love is that it requires touch both at the fret AND the string for notes which are not played on an open string, which mimics the actual playing of the guitar.

iRealB - Imagine every real book you ever owned combined with Jamey Abersold play-along cds and you have the iRealB app.  I use this every week with my jazz band practice.  It is a phenomenal tool, with a forum with helpful members who can help with questions, issues, or anything.  It is $9.99, and worth EVERY penny.  It is also available for Android platforms, though the two are separate purchases, of course, which is why I only have it on the iPad.

GarageBand - I mentioned earlier that the iPad version is not the same as the computer version.  The emphasis of the app is the creation of sound, rather than choosing already created loops.  BUT there are created loops available.  Simply make sure that you are looking at the track screen of the project, rather than the individual instrument, and the familiar "loops" loop icon appears.  If you click on the icon, a window appears where you can choose the instrument family, genre, or other descriptors.  The database is not as extensive as the computer version, but it is VERY useable!  (And I just found this feature TODAY while I was writing this post!!! Yay!!!!)
Okay--- besides finding the loops (hooray!), this app is amazing.  The smart piano, smart guitar, smart bass and smart drums make putting together a quality project a breeze.  It is a very different process, and I am still learning things every day.  But the more I use it, the more I love it.



An article about the 10 best piano apps!

Coming up--  using the iPad for assessment and portfolio building.

Twitter for Teachers!! :) #musedchat

Those who know me are largely unaware of my twitter obsession.  Until I ventured into the music education side of twitter over the weekend.  Oh how fun it was to scroll through people who are teaching music all over the countries, and be inspired all over again by some of the things they are doing, and sharing links about.

Imagine my surprise on Monday evening, just trying to find more people to follow, when I stumble upon a Music Education twitter chat!!  It was so cool to connect with other music teachers.
I received app recommendations for my playing assessments, and great ideas for storing the information  in an organized way. All because of the little #musedchat hashtag.  :)

It has been very fun!

On twitter I am @HiTechBandTeach, and I have made excellent connections with other music teachers. I have read incredible articles, learned of excellent projects for general music or band classes, and I have made the really big world just a little bit smaller.


This link is an excellent resource that explains how to use #hashtags, and has a comprehensive list of hashtag suggestions. There are so many different hashtags that people are using to connect with other educators.

But first-- is twitter overwhelming? Does the term "tweet" embarrass you? Let me try to demystify the whole scenario for you. Twitter 

Using Screen-cast-o-matic to make tutorials!

We have a really cool professional development sessions based around technology every month in our district.  Last month I signed up for a session on "Flipping the Classroom" which is essentially creating videos or other types of instruction for students to view individually, so that class time no longer needs to be used for things that can be done at home.

Using screen-cast-o-matic I was able to create two video tutorials for my students. It was awesome!

What is unique about Screen-cast-o-matic (dang, typing those hyphens is aggravating.) is that it can capture a video of you while also capturing what is going on your screen.


Here is a video that I made for my high school students, showing them a couple different apps that I wanted them to download and become comfortable with.





apps for music 1


Then, when I was preparing for a substitute for my 7th grade music class, I made a video explaining the basics about GarageBand.  On this video, I forgot to turn the video camera on, and actually made a second version with the camera.  It was scary.  So I kept the one without my face in the corner.  I think it was a good decision. :)



Garageband tutorial (7th grade music)

It was really fun, and I will definitely be doing more with this in the future!!

iPad for Playing Assessment

What an amazing week!

Last weekend-- Friday afternoon and Saturday all day -- I attended a class on assessment in the music classroom.  I came away so excited about everything that I had learned, with renewed enthusiasm and vigor for assessments and standards based teaching.

While talking with the other teachers at the class, I was inspired by some of the things they do with their classes.   Now that our high school is 1 to 1 with iPads, it was time to leverage this amazing technology!

Using the iTalk Recorder app (the free version), the students set the ipad up on their music stand, with the 40 measure selection we had determined to record beside it.  They started the recording, and we all played the section of the piece together, and then they emailed their recordings to me.

What a wealth of information!
I have a much greater picture of where we stand on this song because of this exercise.  Some of recordings were exactly as I expected, while others were such pleasant surprises.  I was able to send students meaningful feedback that without time for small group lessons has otherwise been missing.

We will be doing this frequently!