Mr. B's Blog

In 2005, I was proud to serve at the President of the UMass Lowell Collegiate Chapter of MENC (National Association for Music Education) along with being President of the State Chapter of Collegiate MENC . Four years ago I was the only college student to present at the MENC All-Eastern Conference in Hartford, CT with the clinic titled in the this blog post. I was invited today to give this clinic again, making changes to cater to our Massachusetts audience. Around 30 music education majors from Ana Maria College, Berklee College of Music, Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Gordon College, and UMass Lowell filled the UML Fisher Recital Hall for my presentation. Topics included chapter building, sustainability, fundraising, holding clinics, and advocacy. I was most impressed during the chapter sharing part of the meeting where each collegiate MENC chapter informed us what they were doing this year for activities. It sounds like this is a great year for MCMENC and I give...

"Keeping Music Programs Strong in Challenging Economic Times and Addressing 21st Century Skills in the Music Classroom" On Friday, October 16 th , 2009, I traveled to Westborough High School for the 2009 Massachusetts Administrators in Music Education Symposium. The conference was focused on relating 21st Century Skills with what we do in the music classroom as well as ways of having our music programs survive the current economic crisis. The 21st Century Skills we discussed included: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, decision making, solving complex/open-ended questions, creative problem solving ( Metacognition ), creativity, entrepreneurial thinking, literacy, making innovative use of knowledge, and taking charge of financial, health, and civic responsibilities. A long discussion took place and it was agreed that in our music classrooms, we are creating new and innovative ways to address these 21st Century Skills. At Pentucket , we are engulfing the 5 Comm...

Towards the end of the conference I was able to present at the Queensland University of Technology's music education curriculum class.  Here I shared projects that we worked on in our Music Production I course as Pentucket.  One of the students has since e-mailed me to see if we can set up a collaborative performance when his concert band comes to the states next year.  Apparently he saw the "Riverdance" performance from Pentucket's concert band on the webpage and that is a piece he actually conducted the semester before.  I hope it offered them some ideas for great group projects.  

Last Friday Dr. Alex Ruthmann of the University of Massachusetts Lowell and myself presented the Jam2Jam projects that we have witnessed at Pentucket Regional High School at the 2009 JamSkolan Showcase at the Queensland Academy of Creative Industries.  This event included guests from the general public, Queenland University of Technology, and students from QACI.  Also presenting were Jam2Jam showcases from Illinois, Sweden, and Australia.   Our findings from Pentucket explored Jam2Jam as a small ensemble tool where non-instrumentalists could interact musically with traditional instrumentalists.  

Today was lots of fun for me as I got to explore Jam2Jam on an OLPC computer (One Laptop Per Child) . I was intrigued by OLPC and its mission when I first found out about it a few years ago. Basically you have to purchase two laptops at a low cost and one of the two gets donated to a poor child. The idea is that the usage of technology as an educational and motivational tool should not be denied to those that are unable to afford it. I read an exciting article a few months ago about the new version of the OLPC. This XO 2.0 version looks very cool! I wonder when it will come out? Playing with Jam2Jam on the OLPC reminded me of the importance of networking jamming and the benefits it has for students, especially those that do not play instruments.

I don't mean the temperature!  Today's JamSkolan was filled with an exciting agenda!  We started the day out with a Skype communication with Professor Bert Bongers who is setting up a new lab for research and design of interactived environments at the Faculty of Design, Architecture, and Building, University of Technology, Sydney.  Professor Bongers showed us his current research using gestural wireless devices that pick up on body movements and thus control the Jam2Jam program without using a mouse and keyboard.  A music therapists that was with us at the Symposium noted how this is a particularly impressive idea for those who are disabled and can only make little movements with the hands and arms.   Later in the day we tested out the latest Jam2Jam controllers.  You can watch the video below which shows myself and other conference members testing out the controls!   After this we had a frank discussion about the user interface for Jam2Jam.  It seems as though most of the teac...

Today was a huge learning experience for me.  Melanie, Per and myself took a train ride to Nyanda State High School in Brisbane in order to observe music teacher Nathan Ryan.  I found many differences in the layout of their high school when compared to Pentucket Regional High School.  Firstly, they had many different buildings, each one with its own discipline.  Pentucket has one big building and I attribute this to the fact that our winters are cold and thus it is cheaper to heat one building than multiple buildings and it cuts down the amount of time the students need to be outside in the cold.   Another big difference was the like a university situation, teachers have offices that cluster them together with computers and desks.  Teachers rotate throughout the classroom space and therefore their "home" for correcting and planning is in the offices assigned to their discipline.  Though I think this makes a great situation for teachers as far as breaking down barriers for com...

On the second evening of the conference, we were invited to Kelvin Grove State High School in Brisbane to watch a students' performance using Jam2Jam.  The event was meant to highlight high student achievement throughout all of the disciplines.  The following video is a student using Jam2Jam to rap about anti-bullying.  I will post the video as soon as I can get my Flip camera to start working on my computer!

Today was a very interesting day.  It started out with our presentations of Jam2Jam from our test sights.  Dr. Eva Saether and Per talked about their experiences with the software in Sweden and showed us video clips of the students actively engaged and even fighting over usage of the program.  Dr. Alex Ruthmann and myself presented Pentucket's findings and video clips.  It seemed that the more ownership our students could put into the program, the more successful they thought it was.  The students uploaded photos of the marching band and jammed with them using the software.  They also particularly enjoyed performing real instruments in conjunction with the software being performed.  Lastly, Dr. Matthew Thibeault and Melanie took us through a jam using an arrangement of a John Philip Sousa March and visuals.  This was a very innovative idea that will help us think of more ways we can incorporate Jam2Jam in to the classroom.  We ended the afternoon with a frank discussion of where we...

Today was our first day of the JamSkolan and was focused on getting to know each other and talk about our initial experiences with the software program Jam2Jam.  Each delegation then spent time preparing a ten-minute PowerPoint to be presented to the full group the next day.  Dr. Alex Ruthmann from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and myself spent time looking at old and new video bits of the Pentucket Regional High School students who tested out the software.  That night the group of music teachers and post graduate students had dinner with Nathan Rye, the director of music at Nyanda State High School in Brisbane, Australia.  We learned much about the music education system in the state of Queensland.  Also, he noted that he wanted to start a drumline next year so I hope to share some expertise with him to help him out with such an endeavor.  

We arrived this morning in Brisbane at around 6:00am.   At LAX, Dr. Alex Ruthmann and I met up with Dr. Matthew Thibeault from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.   The flight from LAX to Brisbane was about 13 hours.   Luckily no one was sitting in the seat next to me so it ended up being quite comfortable. This morning we walked around Brisbane and checked out some local shops.   I purchased a mini didgeridoo.   A few minutes later we actually passed by a real person playing a legit didgeridoo on the side of the road.   We had a very relaxed yet intense lunch session at an amazing steak restaurant.   We talked about private, charter, and public schools along with their music curriculums in the US, UK, Sweden, and Australia.   I will talk more about the teachers and professors who were at the lunch later on.   I can already tell that this symposium is going to be a terrific opportunity for all involved!  Tomorrow we begin getting to work!  

For the past five weeks I have been up in the woods of NH at Camp Birch Hill as a camp counselor. With limited internet and electronic use, I will be switching gears as I make way for Jamskolan, the first International Symposium and Development Workshop for Network Jamming to be held from the 3rd-12th of August 2009 at the Kelvin Grove campus of Queensland University of Technology. You can follow my blog and follow my educational trip to Australia!

I am so pumped for the Spring Band and Chorus Concert this Thursday at 7:oopm in the High School Auditorium.  I was listening to the cd of the Winter Concert and am impressed upon the improvement the students have gone through since then.  It is going to be a very exciting concert!

The conference featured a special clinic focused on teaching music to autistic students.  The first part of the clinic explained the definition of autism and the fact that 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with this disorder.  We went through what the average autistic student undergoes during a typical day: speech and language deficits, perceptual difficulties, problems in relating/socializing, and bizarre motility patterns.  With these factors in mind, we learned about how music instruction can be altered to meet the needs of these students. When teaching a song vocally, the clinician pointed out that it is important to always have the students keep a steady beat.  This can happen by playing a drum or lightly tapping knees.  Through informal guidance, a child can be guided into audiation (thinking of the music in the head).  It is important for the teacher to model everything that is expected for the student to do.  Repetition is key!  The student must always be prompted through verbal,...

Did you know that most pop music has a four beat pattern where the snare drum usually accents beats two and four? Example: "Get a Grip" by Aerosmith! At 8:00 am I attended what I consider my favorite clinic thus far at the MENC All-Eastern Music Educators Conference. Titled "From Simple to Complex: Leading the Listener to Learning," clinician Mathew F. Finnegan gave great examples of how popular music can be used in the classroom to teach music theory. The idea is this: teaching music theory through the old school fashion of notes on a page and through classical music does not work in today's classroom. In order to create the motivation for students to want to learn theory, we need to reach out and use the music which relates to them the most and connect it with the content we want to teach them. I found this clinic to be very inspiring. Here we just focused on the beat, but this clinician has already established how to incorporate pop music with the teach...

While at the conference, I attended a clinic focussing strictly on the clarinet.  I learned some pretty cool tricks to help young clarinetists sound great.  I learned that elementary and middle school clarinet players tend to lean their right elbow on their thighs which is not good.  Additionally, they usually have their chins pointed down which cuts off the amount of air they can get through the instrument.  The clinician gave a great idea for explaining just how much breath is needed for good air support in clarinet playing.  She told us to tell the students that they need to pretend they are 100 years old and that they need to be able to take a deep enough breath to blow out 100 candles.   A question I asked was how to handle clarinet playing with students who have braces.  When playing a clarinet, the lower lip should curl in over the lower teeth, but if you have braces in the way, what do you do?  The clinician was stumped! Someone in the audience told us all her method, which was...

Just in case we ever get a new or renovated high school (I might be dreaming), I wanted to be prepared for helping input the best design possible for a new band and chorus room.  I ended up attending a clinic by the Wenger group.  Wenger is the company that made the acoustic shells on our high school auditorium stage along with the two "soundproof" practice rooms that were installed back in the 1960's.  The company is now the standard company used in the United States for music room design. I learned many things at this clinic.  Firstly, I learned that most bands and choruses have their own rehearsal rooms, practice rooms, and offices.  We spent a long time focusing on where sound goes after it leaves the instrument.  Our music room has a ceiling that needs to be at least four feet higher.  Additionally all the equipment in the room cuts down on reverberation.  It is suggested that any closets or storage areas in a band room have open grilled doors so that air and sound c...

Yesterday morning I watched and heard the coolest thing ever!...a high school steel drum band.  The Greenville High School Steel Drum Band from Greenville, Pennsylvania had 36 members in it.  The band was comprised of the lead, double second, guitar, four-cello, and bass steel drums along with drum-set and aux. percussion.  They performed seven pieces, one being "Pan in A Minor" by Lord Kitchener Roberts. This piece was very intense and is a song that is often played in a pan drum competition.  The group also performed an arrangement of the "Carmen Suite," by Georges Bizet.  It was fantastic to hear classical music performed so well on steel drums.  The group ended with a crazy and fun piece known as "Santana," by Fernando Filazola.  

A picture of myself and the UMass Lowell contingency who went to my clinic. After the issues I had with my car just two hours earlier, my stress level was high.  As I entered the top floor of the Rhode Island Convention Center, my professors from UMass Lowell greeted me and we got to spend a few minutes just chilling and reflecting on my trip into Rhode Island. My clinic went great!  It was an hour long and featured information for upcoming first-year music teachers.  Everytime I experienced something that I did not know during my first six months at Pentucket, I would e-mail myself those details so that I could include them on my powerpoint.  I included topics such as cori checks, exciting students, using technology to your advantage, interview tips, starting new things while respecting traditions, and working with students who have I.E.P.'s.  There seemed to be a lot of people at the clinic and I was happy that they had questions to ask at the end of the presentation.  I think th...

Yesterday morning we had the high school musical previews for the middle school students.  I conducted the pit band.  They sound great and Jonathan Brenner was a great help coming in this week to take over conducting as I venture to the All-Eastern Music Educators Conference. I went into my car after the preview and started driving down Route 95.  I was near the Danvers exit at which point my back right tire suddenly began to wobble.  I immediately pulled over to check and see if my tire was flat.  It was not!  I decided to keep driving.  The car kept swirving to the right side of the highway and I was losing control of the vehicle.  I went off the next exit and made it to an Enterprise car rental dealer.  I ended up renting a 2008 Kia Spectra.  I was so thankful as my presentation at the MENC convention was only two from that time in Providence, RI.   I am here now and am thankful that my car did not fully collapse on the highway!

In October of 1990, the Human Genome Project officially began.  Thirteen years later scientists completed mapping the 20,000-25,000 genes found in the human body.   What was next for mapping?  What else but music! In January of 2000, the Music Genome Project was created by Will Glaser, Jon Kraft, and Tim Westergren.  The project would describe music through 500 attributes and categorize them with an algorithm.   Each song is analyzed and assigned about 150-500 genes, or musical characteristics.  Analyzing a song takes about a half-hour and is usually done by more than one musician for reliability.  A distance function creates a list of similar songs with similar genes.  Pandora (www.pandora.com) is the name of the company and music player that supports the MGP.  You simply go to the webpage, enter an artist or song title and bam, the piece you were thinking of (usually) pops up.  The excitement is what happens next.  The MGP describes the music you selected and then selects similar mus...

The Pentucket Regional High School Band has just been accepted to perform in the 2009 Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade. A big thank you to fellow faculty member Jim Potenza who helped us get into the event. The band is extremely excited about this. We are going to be taking out the old marching band uniforms out of storage and ordering new pants. The band will be performing in front of a crowd of over a half-million spectators. This is a new beginning for many big events for our band program!

We had Jr. District Auditions this morning in Methuen.  We had six students auditioning.  Mostly 7th graders, I think the culture of excitement will build for this event.  Hopefully word will spread and more students will be interested in it next year.  I think that this makes a great case for creating a community music lesson program starting next year.  I am trying to get the MICCA Taskforce to come in and meet with myself and the head of the district's continuing education department. While at the event I saw one of my old band directors from Pentucket, Bill Gray, who is now working in the Masconomet Public Schools.  I talked to him about the middle school band jamboree we used to do with Masco, Ipswich, and Hamilton-Wenham.  Apparently it has not happened in a year or two.  Bill said he would contact the Ipswich director to see if we can start it back up again.  I think it is important for our students to see what is out there, outside the doors of Pentucket.  Plus this is a ve...

Today we had the All-State Auditions in Northborough, MA.  We had three students from Pentucket auditioning...two snare and one cello.  I hope they get in!  One thing I enjoy the most about this event is seeing all my fellow music teachers from the state.  It is always good to check in and see what's happening with their programs.  I spoke with Colleen Toland from Weston who was one of two teachers that built their instrumental program to be one of the best in the state.  We talked about how to get the district as a whole involved in the schools' bands. Everyone seems to think that all my ideas we are putting into place this year are exactly what they did when they started...so I am pumped to see the results next fall!

Always trying to stay on top of my game with the latest technologies in music technology, I often will speak to my college professors or search online to see what's new.  Though not my professor, I often check out the webpage of  Dr. James Frankel.  He posted a podcast on the latest music technology innovations...and he caught my attention with the Radiohead re-mix project.  I found out that the project was shut down once I went to their webpage, but then learned the Nine Inch Nails was doing a similar thing.  The following project was a perfect start to this semester's Music Production I course and Garage Band.  How I Worded the Assignment:  As the music industry rapidly changes, passive listeners are now becoming active creators. Bands like Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead are now allowing users to download tracks from their songs and let subscribed users manipulate those tracks to create their own compositions to share with the world. We will be using Garage Band to create grou...

This is my second semester teaching Music Production I and Concert Band at Pentucket Regional High School in West Newbury, MA.  As I begin this new year, I am trying to think of ways that I can improve my teaching as well as all the aspects of my job.  Firstly, I found myself scattered with assignments last semester.  I tried to use the school's online information collaboration portal known as School Loop, but it was hard for students to find assignments that I posted.  As a result, I have created a wiki (www.pentucketmusic.wetpaint.com).  Here, students can simply click on the calendar to see what is due (only one assignment so far).  I provide a link on a due date so that students can access the materials which are located somewhere else on the wiki.  I also added a forum section where I am asking one question per week that the students must answer.  The first question is who is your favorite music artist and why.  I am reading the responses and am responding to them with links t...

I have always shared that it is important to always put work on display for the world to see. Not only does it advocate for your program, but it also promotes an atmosphere of "reflective buzz" within your student body. As a teacher, I have many issues posting things on YouTube. Aside from all of the real factors as to why I do not post Pentucket videos on this site, I think the biggest reason is that most teachers say that it is just plain wrong...and as a new teacher, I do not want to fight the system. The best thing out there for my needs as a music teacher is SchoolTube! I was surprised the first time I used because I was able to upload a 15 minute video. You can only post 10 minute videos on YouTube. The webpage offers many contests to enter. My students enjoy seeing how many hits their projects get on the webpage. This makes them take their work more seriously since they know the world will be judging the projects, not just me. The best part is that the only me...

In an effort to increase communication and advocate for our program, the new Pentucket Regional High School Music Web Page has been created! Enjoy! www.pentucketmusic.com