IWBs in the Music Classroom Session 1

Transcription

1 Online 2012 IWBs in the Music Classroom Session 1 Katie Wardrobe Midnight Music

2 Incorporating the IWB into your current activities 3 Ways of using the IWB 3 Top tips 3 The Music Interactive 3 Staff Wars 1 3 Staff Wars 2 3 Speed Note 4 Jama Mambo (right) 4 Rhythm Dictation 4 Drawn to Keys 4 Boomwhackers (right) 4 More 4 Tips 4 Triptico 4 Word magnets 5 Match It 6 Text Spinner 7 Image Spinner 8 Order Resource 8 Find 10 9 Classroom management tools: class lists, team scores and timers 9 Using software you already own 10 Sibelius 10 GarageBand, Acid, Mixcraft, Audacity 10 Auralia and Musition 10 Other software 10 Tips 10 Homework 11 Task 1 11 Task 2 11 Task 3 11

3 Incorporating the IWB into your current activities Ways of using the IWB There are multiple ways you can use the IWB in your classroom: Use it as a very expensive projector Find specially designed software for IWB Use your existing software on the IWB Replace your regular whiteboard tasks with the IWB (and make use the IWB software) Top tips It s about the students, not about you! For the IWB to be effective, you need to have the students up at the board as much as possible Have everyone sit close to the board - on the floor, or on chairs, but not behind tables when possible Make sure there is easy access to the board. Make a clear path! Try to clear the space around the left and right edges of the board too If you work with young students, invest in a step or platform for them to stand on so they can reach the board A mounted board (mounted to the wall) is better than one that s on a portable stand with wheels The Music Interactive The Music Interactive has a range of free games (and some paid ones - low cost) that you can download from You ll need to sign up to their forum in order to access the download links. Some favourite games and tools: Staff Wars 1 Identify notes on the staff. Star Wars theme. Excellent with middle school students (and adults!) Staff Wars 2 Identify notes by playing your instrument Staff Wars 2 not compatible with Windows 7 3

4 Speed Note Speed note reading on the staff, with key signatures Jama Mambo (right) Basic rhythm dictation for younger students Rhythm Dictation Rhythm dictation for older students. Can choose rhythmic elements, length and speed. Limited to 4/4 time signature Drawn to Keys Intervals and scales that are customisable Boomwhackers (right) Use the coloured boomwhacker images to put together an arrangement. More Other games available too Tips Games work really well as a warm-up activity Suitable to play in teams or as individual players Students can download for free and play at home Scores are not tracked in these programs, but you could ask students to take a screenshot (also known as a screencapture image) to record their score Triptico A set of fantastic, free resources that you download from Note: you need to be able to use (or install) Adobe Air for this app. Check with your IT person at school. You also need to be connected to the internet for the tool to work. Triptico has 24 different tools (at last count) that you can use and customise. Here are some suggested ways of using just a few of them: 4

5 Word magnets How it works: add text, choose a background (or upload your own image) and your words will be transformed into moveable magnets. Suggestions for use in the music classroom: Sorting instruments (right): create word magnets for different orchestral instruments. Choose a background that divides the screen into four sections and ask students to sort the instruments into their families (brass, woodwind, strings, percussion) Matching: create word magnets for English and Italian tempo words. Choose a background that divides the screen into two. Students sort the word magnets into the correct section and then match up the English and Italian words Mystery dynamic words: set up a board that has dynamic words and an arrow background. Students will identify the dynamics and then order them from softest to loudest along the arrow. Change the background colour of the word magnets to black so that the text is not visible. Ask students to choose a word magnet (they select white and then tap on the magnet to make the text visible). They can explain the meaning of the dynamic and then move it into position on the arrow Mystery composer timeline: set up a board that has a timeline consisting of years and composer names - all placed correctly. Change the background colour of the word magnets to black so that 5

6 the text is not visible. Ask students to provide answers. Change the colour of the magnet to reveal the answer and check whether the student was right Write lyrics: create magnets from the lyrics to an existing song. Students can reorder them to make new lyrics, and then compose a melody to go with them (hat tip: wordpress/2012/03/20/triptico-magnet-poetry/ ) Ordering: create word magnets for musical terms or items that can be placed in an order (ie. tempo words: slowest to fastest; dynamics: softest to loudest; instruments: smallest to biggest). Create word magnets and choose the arrow or steps background. Students place word magnets in order from left to right along the arrow, or from bottom to top of stairs Classify tempo terms: create word magnets for lots of different tempo terms in multiple languages and choose a background with 2 or 3 sections. Ask students to sort the tempo words into words that mean fast, words that mean slow and words that are in the middle Reinforce form #1: create word magnets that each have a different section on them (A, B, A, C, coda). Listen to a piece of music and ask students to identify the form and arrange the word magnets in order Reinforce form #2: choose a piece that students have been playing/singing. Create word magnets with different section labels (A, B, C etc) and ask students to rearrange them on the board. Perform the piece in the new order Identify parts #1 (right): upload an instrument image. Students use word magnets to label the parts of the instrument (ie. guitar - head, body, soundhole, fretboard, string) Identify parts #2: upload an image of an orchestra. Create word magnets for each instrumental family. Students match the word magnets to the instrumental section on the image Identify parts #3: upload a music notation image (excerpt from a piece of music). Students use word magnets to label different elements on the page (title, treble clef, time signature, key signature and so on) Match It How it works: match a card from one side with the correct card on the other side, Memory-style. Suggestions for use in the music classroom: 6

7 Put Italian tempo or dynamics words on one side and their matching English definition on the other (below) Working in a key that you specify to the students, put solfa note names on one side and pitches on the other side ie. in C major Doh = C, So = G and so on Working in a key that you specify to the students, put Roman numerals on one side and chord symbols on the other side ie. in C major I = C, V = G and so on Put musical genres on one side and ask students to match them with an artist from the other side Text Spinner How it works: a spinner that randomly selects a word or group of words. Suggestions for use in the music classroom: Tempo: add dynamics to the spinner. Students learn a given rhythm or melody. Use the spinner to randomly select a dynamics - students must perform the rhythm/melody at that dynamic. Can also use tempo words 7

8 History #1: add historical periods to the spinner (Romantic, Baroque, Classical). Use the spinner to randomly select one and ask students to name a musical characteristic of that period History #2: add historical periods to the spinner (Romantic, Baroque, Classical). Use the spinner to randomly select one and ask students to name a composer from that period History #3: add genres of rock/pop music to the spinner (hip-hop, rock n roll, big band, synthpop). Use the spinner to randomly select a genre and ask students to name an artist from that period Image Spinner How it works: a spinner that randomly selects an image. Suggestions for use in the music classroom: Use to spark improvisation #1: upload images of icons that represent different body percussion sounds (clap, stomp, patsch, click). Use the spinner to randomly select a sound upon which students will improvise a rhythm Use to spark improvisation #1: upload images of short chord progressions. Use the spinner to randomly select a chord progression upon which students will improvise a melody or bassline Rhythm reinforcement: upload images of short rhythms. Use the spinner to randomly select a rhythm which is played by a student, or the entire class Sight-singing: upload images of short melodies. Use the spinner to randomly select a melody which is played by a student, or the entire class Order Resource How it works: allows students to place words or sentences in a specific order. Suggestions for use in the music classroom: Song structure listening exercise: each line could be a separate part of a pop/rock song (intro, chorus, verse, bridge, coda). Students listen to the song and place the parts in order. You can enter up to 7 sections History #1: each line is a different musical period which students need to put in the correct historical order 8

9 History #2: each line is a different composer name which students need to put in the correct historical order Program music: each line is a different part of story from a descriptive piece of music. Students need to place the parts of the story in order (ie. Peter and the Wolf) Song words: reinforce lyrics that need to be learnt by heart. Each line is the beginning of a song section (ie. the first line of the chorus or verse). Students place them in order Find 10 How it works: students identify 10 items that fit a certain category out of 15 possible answers. Suggestions for use in the music classroom: Find 10 tempo words Find 10 words to describe timbre Find 10 composers or 10 bands of the 1980s Find 10 orchestral instruments Classroom management tools: class lists, team scores and timers Triptico also includes an array of useful classroom management tools which are self-explanatory. Class timers and Team scores Class vote: allows you to input a two or more items (ie. the next song to sing) that students will vote on Student selectors: randomly selects a student from the list that you upload. Has other uses: upload a list of musical games the class could play, instruments they might play, body percussion sounds to use for the next rhythm Student group: add student names and this tool will randomly group students together into groups of a specified number (below) 9

10 Using software you already own One of the difficult things to get your head around when using the board is that it is simply a big computer screen. You can use any software program with your IWB, it s just that some work better than others. Sibelius Sibelius 6 and 7 work really well on an IWB. Earlier versions work too, but there s a specific key on the Keypad in Sibelius 6 and 7 which makes it easier. I ve written an article about using Sibelius on your IWB which can be found on my website here: GarageBand, Acid, Mixcraft, Audacity All of these entry-level digital audio workstation programs work well on the IWB. It can be useful for students to see a WAVE form up close and to see a visual representation of an arrangement Auralia and Musition Auralia and Musition both include an excellent set of lessons that display beautifully on the IWB. If there are musical examples included in the lesson, you can touch them to hear them playback Other software You can use any of your other software programs on the board too. Some work better than others. My advice is to just try them! Tips I would definitely recommend testing out any piece of software you own on your IWB before using it in front of a class. Sometimes there are quirks with using the software on the board and it s best to have everything ironed out before your students use it with you. 10

11 Homework Even if you don t have an IWB yet, you can still do the homework! Task 1 Sign up to The Music Interactive forum Download two or three games from their website (note that some of the games are in their Classroom Music section, while others are in the Performance section) Test the games with your classes during the week. Report back to the online course group about which ones you tried and the student reactions Task 2 Download and install Triptico Choose two or three of the tools and create some of the games/tasks suggested above. Test them out with your students and report back to the online course group next week Brainstorm about other ways the tools can be used and share your suggestions with the group next week Task 3 While you re connected to the IWB, open a software program you already have on your computer and test it out on the board. Did it work well? Were there any things that went wrong? Did it feel different using it on the IWB? Share your findings next week 11