MusTech.Net!

As many of you know that follow me and my WordPress exploits, I can honestly say that I have not found any website/blogging platform that is easier to use and yet offers, nearly, endless flexibility for creation and implementation.  I have recently finished the framework and template for a wonderful non-profit music honorary known as Phi Beta Mu, the Nu Chapter (PBM-Nu).  Phi Beta Mu is the International Bandmasters’ Honary and I’m proud to be an inducted member of the organization.

Anyone who has “mad computer skills” can relate to my plight… I’m constantly asked to perform magic with regard to anything electronic, whether computers, telephones, televisions, websites, building wiring, and just about everything and everything related.   So and thus… I found my leading the “team” to create a website for PBM-Nu.

In my quest for everyone to develop these “mad technological skills”,  I may be often found pontificating to my college students the benefits of learning how to become faster typers.   Let me type you a picture…

I’m in class telling my students the obvious: We are in a computer dominated world…You are the generation that is expected to utilize these technologies from before graduation throughout the end of your careers…The importance of gaining speed in your typing/keyboarding skills cannot be underestimated…Mr. Internet is your friend…Really the proxy DOES work…etc.

ENTER the SCENARIO:      (more…)

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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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I’ve decided to go “high-tech” (like that’s a new one!) and put a number of the terms that I require my instrumental conducting students to know, by rote, on the super-cool site, Quizlet.  Quizlet is a free to use site that boasts: “The End of Flashcards”.  Quite candidly, it really is an amazing learning tool that more people need to become aware of and utilize.

Quizlet pokes fun at vocabulary learning by stating there are 5 ways to learn vocabulary:

1. Brain injection
2. Quizlet
3. Flashcards
4. Reading a list a gajillion times
5. Praying

Screenshot:
 

I’ve had a quizlet account since I became aware of it last year, but had not done anything “officially” with it until this morning after I promised my conducting class a new way to help them learn the enormity of vocabulary that I require of them.  Quizlet offers a number of great and fun ways to learn your “list”.  You can:

• View one sided (flip type) flashcards
• View two sided flash cards (term and answer)
• Take true/false tests
• Take rote tests
• Take matching tests
• Take multiple choice tests
• Play games
• Print the terms
• Print flashcards (kind of funny since they claim the “end”!)
• Create favorite lists
• Export the list so that you can use the terms in other applications

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One of the technology shifts (change of paradigms) I am championing is the emergence into a web 2.0 world from a web 1.0 world (I know some of you techies loathe this concept: web 2.0… sorry, but it really is descriptive and useful).  That is, taking information from a single point of view and/or stale state, into an interactive, collaborative, and exciting state. 

In the old days… (say … pre-2001), the webmaster was the almighty “gate keeper” of knowledge.  They had to post something for people to know about and if it wasn’t posted…we’ll you never knew about it.  Now with informational bursting tools like RSS, blogs, wikis, and self-tagged informational items, users of web 2.0 technologies (whether they know they are using them or not) are finding themselves immersed in a matrix of connectivity, usability, and explorability (coining a new word here!).  Much of this new matrix is self-directed, self-expandable, community-directed, community-expandable, global in resources and scope,  and continually in a state of change.   That is, the end-user can literally change (for better or worse) the very information that is on the web and customize their queries so much that they only find exactly what they are looking for -provided it’s available.  If what you are looking for is not abailable, you can add it to the informational blob yourself by any one of the limitless avenues availble to you.

Three months ago I browsed right smack into the mother-lode of all web 2.0 directories.  AND… it’s a Web 2.0 directory of Web 2.0 Sites!  This site is truly amazing and full of incredibly useful, odd, wacky, and USELESS web 2.0 programs and sites.  But, it is addictive to search and gives you a great idea as to how much Web 2.0 “stuff” is “out there”. 

The name of the directory is Go2web20.net  and you’ll have to go to it to have any clue as to just how many and massive the web 2.0 software regime has become.   You can find direct here:

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