MusTech.Net!

One of the last projects that I had my music technology students perform this year was to search http://go2web20.net and find web 2.0 applications that they thought would be beneficial to an educator or musician.  If you haven’t been to Go2Web20’s website, you are in for a real “shocker” when you finally do.  You will not believe how many online Web 2.0 applications are available to you -the majority for FREE.  Many of them are awesome and some, well, not so awesome… Hopefully this list will shed some light on the more useful programs for music educators!

The following are Web 2.0 sites (and their comments) that my students found to be interesting and useful to them in some way:

1. http://songza.com
   This website is a music search engine and jukebox, meaning that you can pull up any song that can be found on the site and listen to it.  This is inclusive of major works (motion picture soundtracks, top artists, etc.).  As a music educator, this would be a great resource to teach popular music.
2. http://buddyschool.com
   This site is a resource where people can give and receive lessons on schoolwork.  It provides a medium for tutoring to occur outside of traditional methods.  In this way, students could receive help on demand.
3. http://www.engrade.com
   This Web 2.0 site is an online grade-book.  A teacher can use this to keep track of student grades.  Students and parents on the other hand can be given access to see their child’s achievement and grades.  This provides a way for students to track their progress in a class, and a way for parents to diagnose problems that their students may be facing.
4. http://www.musigy.com
   This website is a platform for sharing music in near relatime with other people.  More specifically, it provides a medium for having jam sessions with people across the globe.  This could provide a way in which a cyberschool could put together a rudimetnary performing ensemble.  It could also introduce students to improvisation.
5. http://www.clickforlessons.com
   This website keeps track of people who are willing to give lessons -particularly lessons in the performing arts- and provides a search engine to find these people.  It also provides a map and locates where these teachers are located in relation to an address or zipcode given.  You can even get directions to the house or studio that the teachers operate from, thereby helping to locate and receive work as a private instructor.
6. http://trymango.com
   Mango.com is a free enterprise language learning course website.  There are twelve different language courses available each including 100 lessons.  This site would be great for voice students or a choir who is/are studying a piece of music in a different language to provide more background and pronunciation guidelines, etc.
7. http://www.myschoolog.com
   Myschoolog.com is a web-based application that allows teachers and students to organize their schedules.  You can organize everything that happens at school with this site including, lessons, exams, notes, schedules, and more.
8. http://visualthesaurus.com
   Visualthesaurus it an interactive dictionary and thesaurus that provides visual aids to all of its subjects. 
9. http://quzlet.com
   Quizlet is a completely free, ad-free, website that functions to help people learn vocabulary.  It allows a list to be entered and creates tests, flashcards, etc.   It has a social aspect to it that will allow classmates to help each other with their vocabularly or just chat.
10. http://www.soundsnap.com
    Soundsnap is a repository for sound clips, sound loops, and other audio effects.  The site is designed for sound designers, filmmakers, web designers, sound artists, and music producers. 
11. http://mp3realm.org
    Mp3realm is a search engine designed to search the web for audio in mp3 formats.  It can search for title, album, artist, or genre.  It also has an index of lyrics which allow you to sing along with the songs or look at the lyrics.
12. http://www.triporama.com
    A website that will help you plan trips for large groups and “bid” out pricing for you so that you can select from a number of options and price ranges that best fit your needs and budget!
13. http://clockingit.com
    A free to use application that helps you keep track of your tasks and the TIME you spend on them. 
14. http://kindersay.com
    A fun, simple website that is very educational for young children.  It includes, learning activities, games, and videos/audio clips.  This site is especially useful for ESL children as it includes fun ways to learn vocabulary.
15. http://scriblink.com
    This site is a virtual online whiteboard that can be shared with up to six people by emailing a link to them.  It also allows conference chats with the people utilizing the whiteboard. 

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Last Friday was a great day for the realm of music education everywhere!  I finally got to meet, in person, Owen Bradly and James Frankel.  We’ve been talking back and forth on our blogs for over a year and we actually, finally just met face to face.

One of the interesting things about meeting them both was that we started to talk just as if we were friends “for years”.  The only formality was making sure that we actually had the “face” with the right “digital personality”.  Many things were discussed and I can promise you great things ahead for ME bloggers and Music Education and Technology…

If you haven’t read either of their blogs yet I encourage you to do so.

James’s blog is at http://jamesfrankel.musiced.net

Owen’s blog is at http://digitalmusiceducator.wordpress.com

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Today was a ground breaking day at Mercer High School in Mercer, PA.  Today electronic technology met traditional teaching methods in Travis Weller’s 8th grade General Music Education Class.  Specifically, his class met song producer, writer, and music industry licensing expert Jason Davis, in his class through Skype. 

Travis and I have been working on this cross-discipline/field project for a number of weeks prior to today.  It was a brain storm of mine, brought in part, due to a similar project I witnessed at Kent University at a lecture/demonstration by Dr. Jay Dorfman, a cutting edge technologist. 

This project was/is cutting edge and brought together an expert in the field, Jason Davis, face-to-face with a classroom of bright, interested, 8th graders to talk about topics like copyright, the PAL parental Advisory label, trends in music, and the future of the music industry.

The session lasted about 45 minutes and went off without any problems.  The students we’re engaged and local school administrators, Classrooms for the Future  (CFF) representatives, as well as local newspaper reporters were there to see how this event would transpire.  

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Since there was so much interest in my post about August Rush, I decided to interview two of my best students in the “Alternative Music” class using Pod-o-Matic, the same service that Joe and Darren use for their excellent podcast.  I hope that you enjoy the podcast as much as I enjoyed making it- a truly remarkable, real “moment” with my students.  The podcast also features the song that they are working on as a project in the class.  If you are so inclined, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the episode, their music, or the idea in general of a class of this sort.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking the link below:

http://nphsperformingarts.podOmatic.com

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