Mr. B's Blog

New Schedule=Big Growth!

2011-09-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

Growth With Scheduling!

It's always nerve-racking when you fight for something, get what you wanted, and then wait to see if it is actually successful. Four years ago the Pentucket Regional Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Band sported around 40 members. Band and Chorus were happening during a "Skills Period" which is a time blocked off for students to make-up tests, quizzes, do homework, and get extra help. Basically, this would compete with Band and Chorus. Each day I had over 15 students leaving to go to other classes for Skills. To help solve this issue, I served on a scheduling committee at my middle school. Change occurred as a result of this committee and the leadership of the Principal,

Dr. Debra Lay.

This year we have split the 7th and 8th grade into two separate bands meeting Monday-Friday. Why did we do this? Firstly, so we would not have 30 percussionists in band at the same time which takes away from the experience for everyone. Secondly, so we can now focus on a teaching the "special" instruments to the 7th graders while creating a more challenging curriculum for the 8th graders. When they were combined, we would be teaching fundamentals to the 7th graders and were not able to challenge the 8th graders. It was somewhat comparable to trying to teach physics and biology in the same class.

Another big change is that the term "Skills Period" has been abolished. It is now called "Advisory." Students not in band or chorus stay in their homerooms and do silent reading, Second Step, etc. No students are allowed to do homework or make-up tests/quizzes. All must be done after school now. Our band students no longer feel like they are being punished for being in an ensemble while other students get a leg up on extra help from teachers.

What happens when you have this much positive change in a schedule:

37% Growth in One Year!

We now have a record 81 band students between the 7th and 8th grade. This is double the size of the band four years ago. We are hoping that this will result in a really large high school band in the coming years!

Year 4, I Can Hardly Believe It!

2011-08-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

Just last week we had band camp and I was talking to the accordion player Lee. I asked him what year he was and he said "I'm a senior." It hit me...the students I had as freshmen four years ago are now seniors. I am very proud of this group of students as they have stuck with band through the thick and thin. We've made many positive changes in the program and it is thanks to this group of seniors and the group that graduated last year.

This year is all about refining, refining, and refining. My goal is to accomplish more in the school year with a higher level of efficiency. I think the biggest change for me will be having the high school students using binders. Each student will receive two copies of music, one that stays home and one that stays in the binder. Too much rehearsal time is lost when trying to hunt down music that a student lost. Hopefully this will help them keep organized more. We piloted it at the middle school last year and it was highly successful!

Our Middle School music department has gone through a major change. When I started teaching the middle school 7th/8th grade combined band four years ago, there were 41 students in the band. Each year there has been a steady increase and last year we had 60 students in the band. As a result we are going to be splitting the 7th and 8th grade bands into two groups this year. I am hoping this will give me more time to spend on teaching the "special" instruments to the 7th graders while being able to move my 8th graders to a higher level of musicianship. Also, my colleague David Schumacher is going to be getting a teacher edition of Smart Music. We will both be giving assignments. Once again, we will be using binders which helps out a lot.

I am very excited for the upcoming year! I am hopeful that numbers will remain positive and that musicianship will be as high as ever. So many great things to look forward to!

MMEA Conference: Lessons Learned from Established Programs (Lexington and Longmeadow)

2011-03-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

This was a very worthwhile clinic featuring two of the top educators in the state, Jeffrey Leonard who is Director of Fine and Performing Arts for the Lexington Public Schools and Michael Mucci who holds the same position for the Longmeadow Public Schools. Both fantastic programs, Jeff and Michael shared their stories of how they built, maintained, and enhanced their programs.

Both clinicians talked about the importance of building a music culture within their district. We have built this somewhat at Pentucket, especially in the high school building where we have A Capella meeting before school and 6 jazz, percussion, and string ensembles meeting after school. This is in addition to our in-school concert band, chorus, and two music electives. However, we need to do more at the middle school level. My new goal for the middle school next year is to have small chamber groups meet after school either taught by me or from someone else via Community Education.

Private lessons are integral to both programs in Lexington and Longmeadow. Jeff Leonard pointed out that the best thing to do is create a lesson program that is collaboration between the music department and community education. This way cori checks and payments are handled through community education while the selection of faculty and what they teach is handled via the music department. I reached out to Jeff three years ago to learn more about his program along with Peter Tileston from King Philip Academy. We have copied this model and now have "The Pentucket Music Academy." We are hoping that more students will join this growing program. Both Lexington and Longmeadow require all of their students to take private lessons if they are accepted into their highest honor wind ensembles. They also offered the idea of having your top high school students give private lessons to the elementary school students for $10 an hour which I will talk to Sharon Pacenka, head of Pentucket Community Education, this week.

Next we talked about the importance of having students listen to quality music. Growing up, a high school baseball player most likely went to a Red Sox game or at least watched them on tv. How can we expect to tell our kids "keep practicing to sound better" if they do not know what better is? We must provide excellent modeling of sound for them. Michael uses a subscription of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Online Digital Concert Hall at a cost of around $200 a year. How do we handle listening at Pentucket? David Schumacher, Director of Jazz, and myself have uploaded music onto the ITunes of one of our practice room Apple computers. However, this room is used non-stop and can only fit about three people at a time. I now get the point more than ever that our students need to be listening to quality music. As a result, I have contacted our high school librarian to see if we can create a listening library for our students using the 20-plus computers in the library. The idea would be for me to assign a few listening assignments for the students to complete in the library with the hope that overtime they would want to do this on their own and come to the library during study halls or after school to listen to music. I currently assign online listening assignment via School Loop however I do not think that goes deep enough into gaining appreciation of quality literature. Jeff also brought up the importance of having your groups listen to different ensembles (i.e. have the band listen to the choral pieces). Michael stated he spends about 10%-20% of his rehearsal time each day with listening and relating it to the day's lesson.

Michael brought up a great point about sharing students. Sometimes band directors do not like to share their students with chorus and vice versa. However, it is great for band members to get into chorus where they will get more ear training and for chorus members to be in band where they can get better at rhythm and balancing. We as human beings tend not to just stick with one art, but practice at least two. Sharing students only helps your music department, not detracts it. We are proud at the middle school especially, to share students between band, chorus, and strings.

MMEA Conference: Newer Ensemble Directors Helping the Newest Directors

2011-03-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

This clinic was with three ensemble teachers who have been teaching for five or six years. The clinicians included Kristin Chartier (Orchestra Director in Shrewsbury), Jason Bielik (Band Director at North Middlesex Regional High School), and Ashley Nelson (Choral Director at Norwood High School).

This session focused on learning the tricks of the trade for teachers in their first three years of teaching (that's me!). We talked about gaining administrative support, getting along with your school secretaries and custodial staff. Parent support took up almost half of the clinic. We talked about how we put ourselves out there for parent complaints when we "do" more activities. If we just stuck to the school day and performed twice a year, our programs would be mediocre and would not offer much for our students. Sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes it is not our mistakes but parents misunderstanding. Jason Kristin, and Ashley have all receive parent complaints before and their advice was not to let that depress you as it often can. The best advice is first to not make mistakes and secondly if you do make one, admit to it immediately and solve it.

MMEA Conference: Integrating Film and Video Game Projects into The Music Classroom

2011-03-27T15:42:00.000-07:00

This clinic was with Sean Hagon of The New England Conservatory. Focusing on creating music for film and videogames, this clinic brought lesson plan ideas that could be used in any music classroom.

In order to create quality music, we talked about the value of listening to quality music. The way we used to teach music was here is the composer, here is his biography, here are five of his songs, memorize this! Sean's technique is to ask the students critical listening questions to music, however it is not just the same old same old. He will have multiple pieces for students to listen to from many different genres including the classical era, movie soundtracks, and videogame soundtracks. By slipping in new music with the old, students will be able to draw connections between them and thus appreciate them more.

I currently use a Bugs Bunny cartoon as part of our film soundtrack project in Music Technology I. I learned about archive.org in this clinic which offers public domain videos, pictures and music royalty free. I will be using this to create new film projects in my course.

MMEA Conference: Avoiding Music Teacher Burnout

2011-03-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

This clinic was with Dr. Kenneth Raessler, Director Emeritus of the Music Department at Texas Christian University. Dr. Raessler gave many ideas on how to cut down on music teacher burnout. Ideas included creating positive relationships with your administration/fellow faculty, learning how to polietely say "No" when asked to do too many thing, and remembering that we are here for the kids and the music.

Dr. Raessler noted that often music teachers are asked to conduct and teach a lot of students all at once. It is important to try and not be the one conducting/teaching everything. Reflecting at Pentucket, it is excellent that David Schumacher is here to give his talent and energy to the jazz program. Zach Field and Paul Dumas do the same with the percussion ensembles. This helps me focus my energy on the concert band, marching band, and musical pit orchestra. Marching Band alone takes up almost 9 straight Saturdays of performances in the fall. If I were to offer some more ensembles, I would like to bring in specialists to start chamber groups through community education.

MMEA Conference: Making Music with MixCraft

2011-03-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

As you may know, the Mac Lab was overbooked this semester so the district purchased 12 laptops loaded with MixCraft 5 for us to use in Music Technology I. One benefit of having 12 computers instead of 5 with a class size of 25 is that there is more individual learning/creating time.

This clinic was with Jim Frankel from SoundTree. I will be purchasing a new book he just co-wrote entitled Making Music with GarageBand and MixCraft. This book features lesson plans for music technology which is exactly what I am looking for.

I asked James about some of the issues I was having with MixCraft. The main thing was that I could not take my mp3 files from my Mac and import them into MixCraft. I kept getting error messages. James then told me the problem was that I was taking Mp3s from my Mac computer and sending it to MixCraft. For some reason which is not written anywhere on the MixCraft pampflets, I need to download these Mp3s from a pc Itunes. As a result, I will be sending my mp3s to my office Dell computer and loading them up onto Itunes there. I will then put the files in the district server dropbox for uploading by the students.

New things I learned about MixCraft was how to change tempo and key.

MMEA All-State Conference

2011-03-27T15:19:00.000-07:00

This year's Massachusetts Music Educators Association All-State Conference was one of the best I have ever been to. There were so many quality clinics going on at the same time, it was hard to choose what to go to. I will be blogging about each clinic and what I learned.

Year Three!

2010-12-22T19:22:00.000-08:00

This is my third year at Pentucket Regional Middle and High School. The program is building to a new standard of excellence! We have doubled the size of the high school band, increased recruitment efforts throughout the building, created a new private lesson program through community education, transformed our Pep Band to a full-status Marching Band, and created a new competitive color guard/winter guard. Though our budget has been slashed we make the best with what we have.

Sharon Public Schools: Smart Music

2010-04-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

Clinic Website

MMEA 2010 First Year Teaching Strategies

2010-03-18T03:41:00.001-07:00

Samples

Starting a Private Music Lesson Program

2010-02-28T09:24:00.001-08:00

When I joined the Pentucket team two years ago, I tried to create a strategic plan for building the instrumental music department. In just a short time we have doubled the size of the high school band, developed an active band parent group, and have raised our image within the community. Next year we will be adding a band camp in order to put together our first half-time show in 12 years. Along with all of these great accomplishments makes me think, how can I enhance the quality of my ensembles? This year I have really pushed singing in the band rehearsals and what I love most is that the students, not just me, hear a difference and they understand why we are singing. Next, I looked at my most successful students and wondered what it was that made them so great and the answer was simple, private music lessons.

The best programs in the state of Massachusetts have private lesson programs. It makes sense! I contacted the task force from MICCA (Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association) and asked for help in developing a private lesson program. Peter Tileston of King Philip Academy became my MICCA representative and helped me figure out how to start a private lesson program. Peter assisted me in making documents for the program and the different ways of charging students and hiring lesson teachers.

Next, Pentucket hired a new Director of Community Education, Sharon Pacenka. Sharon is a go-getter and a band parent herself. She has really vamped up the community ed program and we met and e-mailed many times to try and put this together. We worked hard on molding documents to fit our needs at Pentucket and for advertising the new program. She has build a new website for the Community Ed department which I have linked on Pentucket's music website as well. We will be sending home fliers this week to every elementary school student in the district. I have also sent fliers home to the middle and high school instrumental students.

The next step, and I think most tedious, was hiring the private lesson teachers. Basically, you are trying to start a new program which you know will not have a good amount of students the first time you run it while you are trying to recruit the best teachers who will not want to come to the high school to give lessons if there is not enough students to make it worth while. To sell the teachers of our program, I basically got them excited about the things happening at Pentucket. I told each candidate that great things are happening in our music department and that is why we want them to join in on this growth of success. It seems as though this excitement along with the fact that the program WILL build in the semesters to come draws these teachers in. They are make an investment by joining us in hopes for even more students next year.

I invite you to our Pentucket Music Academy website! I am excited that we will be starting lessons this Tuesday. My favorite part about this is the fact that students from the lower grade levels will be coming to the high school to take lessons. I just know that they will end up hearing one of the after-school jazz or percussion groups in the band room and will want to head down that hallway to check it out before they leave for home. This is about building a culture of music making and our new Pentucket Music Academy strives to reach this goal.

Links:
The New Pentucket Music Academy
Pentucket Music Department

CMENC Clinic: Developing, Maintaining, and Enhancing Your Collegiate Chapter of MENC

2009-10-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

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 props to all of those involved for making this a truly enriching experience that encourages both professional development and community. I never would have thought five years ago that I would be presenting to college students in the same room I used to sit in for music history class. This was a truly rewarding experience for me.

2009 AIME Symposium

2009-10-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

"Keeping Music Programs Strong in Challenging Economic Times
and
Addressing 21st Century Skills in the Music Classroom"

On Friday, October 16th, 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 Common Elements of Powerful Learning and the 5 Habits of Learning into our curriculum. In our band, we are using Smart Music to create E-Portfolios. In Music Technology I, we are creating soundtracks for picture stories which will then be presented to the Groveland Langley Adams Library. These are just two examples of opportunities we are giving out students that address 21st Century Skills that enhance their education.

The following statistics were shared with us from the September 22, 2009 speech of Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan:

27% of America's young people drop out of high school. That means 1.2 million teenagers are leaving our schools for the streets.
Recent international tests in math and science show our students trail their peers in other countries. For 15 year-olds in math, the United States ranks 31st.
17 year-olds today are performing at the exact same levels in math and reading as they were in the early 1970's on the NAEP test.
And just 40% of young people earn a two-year or four-year college degree
The US now ranks 10th in the world in the rate of college completion for 25-34 year olds. A generation ago, we were first in the world but we're falling behind.

From this information we broke into small groups to see how we as music teachers, address 21st Century Skills. We quickly discovered a common trend in Massachusetts Public Schools. Though we as music teachers address 21st Century Skills, MCAS driven curriculums often take over whatever it is the music teacher is doing. In a band/chorus/orchestra rehearsal, we cover everything from literacy, mathematics, and most importantly, creativity. Additionally, we address these skills for a larger population in our general music classroom, Massachusetts administrators are asking teachers to take time out of their core subject areas in order to address issues in other areas of teaching. One band director from western Mass expressed that she now has to take one band rehearsal away a week in order to have the students write a paper. She is not supposed to correct the paper unless she receives the professional development to teach her the school's standards in grading of writing (similar to the John Collins Writing System when I was a student at Pentucket). As you can guess, that professional development which was promised to her still has not been granted. Another teacher mentioned that she has to teach a math remedial class as part of her teaching load. Massachusetts currently lets administrators decide if they want their teachers to teach out of their certified area as long as it does not exceed 20% of their teaching load.

A common detail we all agreed on was that students with academic issues often get pulled out of the music classroom for remedial help. We also agreed that it seemed like it was the music class that excited the student enough to want to come to school and this motivational factor is gone when they cannot attend music classes.

After our 21st Century Skills discussion, we talked about scheduling. The principal from the Trottier Middle School in Westborough then came in to outline their successful scheduling program. The middle school there used to run on a rotating schedule where all of the performing groups would meet the same period (this is exact to our middle school schedule at Pentucket). In order to make the ensembles seem more like a class and part of the core curriculum, the ensembles were then scheduled throughout the day and not the same period. The entire school's schedule would be based off of the music department and the periods they needed. Everyone in the school reported positive results, especially the teachers because there would no longer be Monday mornings with a 1st period where students had nothing to do during their "silent reading" period. The music department there reported a huge change in the success of their program.

We then talked about high school scheduling and how to deal with students who have AP classes and want to take a music ensemble. It was agreed that it is common knowledge that the music department students get scheduled first when the guidance offices schedules the entire school schedule. This is what successful programs do. At Pentucket, our head of Guidance, Janice Hirschfield, really helped us last year in getting our high school students scheduled into band. This is the major reason our band doubled in size in one year. It is essential to have support from the guidance and administration in order to have a successful music program.

For saving our music programs, we all agreed that this is going to be a bad budget season and we need to be proactive rather than reactive. We discussed ways of getting parents and students involved in advocacy campaigns. The biggest topic was stressing the fact that our curriculum supports creativity, more so than most subjects, and therefore should be considered integral to the curriculum at all levels. We think this notion needs to be proven from the top down, specifically with our local legislatures. Hopefully a campaign will be started in the near future.

In all, this conference gave me new ideas on how to relate what we do in music to 21st Century Skills. Additionally, I received great advice about scheduling and ways to try and improve our outlook in this tough budget season.

Presenting Pentucket Projects

2009-08-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

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.

JamSkolan Presentation

2009-08-10T17:49:00.001-07:00

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.

2009-08-10T17:36:00.001-07:00

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and Jam2Jam

2009-08-09T03:38:00.000-07:00

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.

It Just Got Cooler in Australia!

2009-08-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

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 teachers and even the Australian Sibelius representative all agreed on some issues which will be worked out. Part of the beta testing is understanding everyones views and making decisions that are balanced and work best for the program and its usage. It is really exciting to hear us teachers make comments and for the developers of the software to say that they are listening and going to make some changes based off of our feedback. This is a true collaboration which I think is reflective of business in the real world. Real life lessons here!

A High School Visit and Observation

2009-08-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

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 communication and planning collaborative work, I feel as though there is a loss of ownership within the classroom space. Many of our teachers back home with decorate their rooms with posters, papers, project examples, etc.

I was very impressed by the fact that nearly every single room had a Smart Board in it. Additionally, the grounds for sports were fantastic. They had a cricket area, soccer field (they call it football), track area, and even a boardwalk that went over a creek. The boardwalk reminded me of the brook that lays between the middle and high schools at Pentucket.

The music rooms were very impressive. Nathan has a computer lab just for music, a general music room, a percussion storage room, a sheet music library room, and a huge multi-purpose practice room. From his explanation to me, it seems as though concert band and chorus is not as big in Australia as music technology is. Nathan's upper level high school courses in music focus on learning the craft of creating a song and producing it. We listened to some of his student examples and they were of very high caliber.

Nathan talked about wanting to start a drumline that specifically integrates dance celebration of the Pacific Island students that make up a large portion of his school's population.

One period we got to observe Nathan teach a music class to what would be ninth graders in our system back in the states. He used the Smart Board to give examples of timbre, pitch, tempo, and dynamics. From there he split the class into four groups and assigned a composition project to create a piece of music based on the timbre, pitch, tempo and dynamics of either a mouse or an elephant. Each one of us observing was assigned to a group. My group had four very energetic students in it and chose to make a composition about an elephant. We went into the room next door and started playing around with the drum set, hand drum, piano, guitar, and Orff xylophone. After a few minutes of listening to what each instrument sounded like, we brought it back together in the center of the room and discussed how we wanted the composition to work out. I only asked questions so not to cut off from their imaginations. The students came up with a theme of an elephant walking closer and closer to the music room and then walking away. It started out with the guitar player playing a low G, then the piano playing whole note G two octaves below middle C, followed by the drum-set and hand drums playing half note hits. As the elephant got closer, the density grew along with the volume. The opposite happened as the elephant went away and each musician cut out of the composition one by one. It was excellent to see Nathan having the entire class talk about the composition after it was performed. This lesson reminded me of lessons we would do team teaching at the Bartlett Community Partnership School in Lowell during my undergraduate experience.

Overall, this was an excellent experience for Melanie, Per, and myself to understand the culture of education within a high school in Brisbane, Australia. It was very nice of Nathan to invite us into his classroom and high school.

An Evening Performance

2009-08-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

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!

JamSkolan Day 2

2009-08-05T14:39:00.001-07:00

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 see Jam2Jam headed. It seems like the next version of the software is going to be even more student/teacher oriented and offer more chances for ownership within the content that can be uploaded.

JamSkolan Day 1

2009-08-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

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.

Arrived in Australia!

2009-08-02T00:48:00.000-07:00

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!

Leaving for Australia on Friday!

2009-07-26T15:58:00.000-07:00

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!

Concert is Coming Upon Us!

2009-05-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

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!

Into their World: Reaching the Child with Autism by Krista Velez

2009-03-16T09:03:00.000-07:00

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, visual, and gestural cues.

Here is an example of a lesson focusing on movement during the playing of a piece of music:

1. Stir with body parts and make a "soup" or "stew"

2. Move continuously and freeze when the music stops

3. Balance been bags on different body parts and move continuously without letting them fall)

4. Mirror a partners hand or body movements

5. Move hoops (spin, bounce, roll) to repetitions of a song

6. Vary movement with each repetition of song (swim different ways with arms, move different body parts, perform locomotor movements)

I found this clinic to be very inspiring and hope that I can incorporate what I learned with future projects at Pentucket.

Learning Theory through Pop Music by Matthew F. Finnegan

2009-03-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

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 teachings of rhythm, instrumentation, voices, song form, tonality, dynamics, text and solos.

I am excited to bring back these ideas for our Music Production I course and the virtual music composition course I will be teaching next year.

Clarinet 101: Simple Steps to Improve Your Clarinet Section by Dr. Gail Lehto Zugger

2009-03-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

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 to take a shammy and wash it in the washer, cut it up into small length pieces, then place the small piece on the lower lip. This adds thickness to the lower lip so the student will not have to hurt themselves rubbing his/her lip against the braces.

Band Room: A New Design

2009-03-14T04:27:00.000-07:00

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 can travel through them. It is clear that we need a bigger room and a separate storage facility and library. Hopefully someday we will get this opportunity. If we do, I have my 50 page music room planning guide from Wenger ready to go!

Greenville High School Steel Drum Band

2009-03-14T04:17:00.000-07:00

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.

My Clinic: First Year Teaching Strategies from a First Year Teacher

2009-03-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

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 that the first year of teaching is very stressful but rewarding and any hints that can be given along the way can make a huge difference in the teacher's overall experience.

All-Eastern Conference: I Made It!

2009-03-13T10:48:00.001-07:00

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!

The Music Genome Project

2009-02-21T18:46:00.000-08:00

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 music from different artists. It is sort of like the Amazon.com feature of "If you like this book, you might like..." What is so cool about this is that the MGP will tell you how the songs relate. We are talking extremely descriptive attributes like melody, harmony, instrumentation, and feel.

In a nutshell, Pandora and the MGP lets you listen to music passively like on the radio, but gives you the information to be actively engaged in the music if you so choose. Clearly "The Grout" would benefit to publish its information in accordance to the MGP.

To share this great information, I have assigned the following to my Music Production I students for their question of the week on the class wiki:

The Music Genome Project: Pandora

Step 1: Read the description of the Music Genome Project (Click Here)

Step 2: Go to www.pandora.com

Step 3: Hit "Create a New Station"

Step 4: Type in an Artist or Song and hit "Create" (A new station will develop and a song will play)

Step 5: Listen to the first song that plays and the two after that

Step 6: Compare and contrast the first song with the latter two (use musical terms)

Band to Perform at Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade

2009-02-13T17:38:00.000-08:00

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!

Jr. District Auditions

2009-01-31T09:19:00.000-08:00

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 very fun event in general! Band all the way!!

Also at Jr. Districts this morning, I saw some of my fellow collegiates working hard running the event. Apparently UMass Lowell had a big turn out. Gordon brought more collegiates than ever before. It is so important as a college student to help with these events. It shows to current music teachers your dedication and excitement for the trade....which could result in a new job!

Larry Willis, one of the teachers who I student taught for in Chelmsford, showed up right as I was leaving. We talked for a few minutes. This guy is an amazing teacher! He teaches middle school band all-day at the McCarthy Middle School in Chelmsford. He is the one who got me into using a microphone to teach. I think that simple tool has made my teaching experience more genuine at Pentucket. I use it everyday at the middle school and high school. I can sing parts to the students while they are playing a piece of music. This cuts down on the amount of times I have to stop and talk to the band...aka, less time for them to act up! My kids love to play more than talk, which is exactly how I like to teach.

Chris Noce was a fellow All-State Collegiate Ambassador with me a few years ago. Now teaching in Andover, we chat at events when we see each other. At the Senior District Festival, Chris gave me the idea to turn the band around at the middle school so they would not be facing the audience and seats in the auditorium as we practice on the stage. I tried it and it was hugely successful! Now my students are attentive and are not sidetracked by all the things going on in front of the stage. Also, the number of students doing homework during band has been cut down dramatically (band competes with a study hall period for those not in band or chorus)!

I think overall, my students did fine this morning. The chromatic scale was the kicker for most of them. I'm going to try and incorporate that into the band rehearsal or Smart Music homework. We'll see what happens!

All-State Auditions

2009-01-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

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!

Nine Inch Nails Meets Garage Band at Pentucket!

2009-01-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

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 group Nine Inch Nails remixes.

The Nine Inch Nails webpage explains:
In the studio, we record everything in a multitrack format, separating all the parts onto different "tracks" that can be manifested individually. These tracks are then mixed down to two tracks - left and right (stereo) - that arrive to you in the form of a CD or Mp3. We're giving you all of the individual multitracks that were used to create the stereo ones you know. By loading those tracks into the appropriate multitrack application of your choice, you can remix and manipulate the original parts to your liking.

My Directions:
Step 1: Go to www.remix.nin.com
Step 2: Click Register
Step 3: Enter your information for registration
Step 4: Check your e-mail for registration link. You may need to look at your spam folder and click the link they provide you
Step 5: Go back to www.remix.nin.com and login with your new username
Step 6: Click Mix
Step 7: Choose a track to download. Make sure that under format, you choose a song that used Garage Band
Step 8: Hit download
Step 9: Open Garage Band
Step 10: Open downloaded Nine Inch Nails folder and drag loops into Garage Band
Step 11: Create your own Nine Inch Nails Composition
Step 12: In Garage Band, choose Share and Share to ITunes
Step 13: Go back to www.remix.nin.com and hit Upload Remix
Step 14: Congratulations, your composition is now online for the world to see!

Reflection and Getting Better!

2009-01-22T16:38:00.001-08:00

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 to other webpages or YouTube videos.

Additionally, this semester I am going to pass out one copy of the project outline to each group. Last semester I tended to tell the class how to do stuff. My goal now is for them to have to ask me less questions about the "how" and more of the contented "what." I am additionally going to be copy/pasting the project outlines onto the wiki so students can have it on the computer while they are working both at home and school.

For Concert Band, I have purchased a four-draw organizer for students to put their music folder in. The music folder area in the music room is probably the most disorganized aspect of the room. As soon as one student goes to grab a folder, other students' folders end up on the ground.

I am pretty much all done selecting the music for Concert Band this semester. The concert is going to be fantastic! Looking back, one of the issues we had last semester was that for a five-week period, we had a performance every week. From football games, Veteran's Day ceremonies, color-day and the holiday concert, our students were busy catching up. Our first gig for the band this semester is not for a few months. As a result, I feel like we can slow down and focus more on music concept exercises in order to build a higher level of musicianship within the band.

SchoolTube is the New YouTube

2009-01-19T20:29:00.000-08:00

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 messages people can leave are selected positive messages or a 5-star ranking system. The only negative I see to the webpage is that you cannot delete videos. I have e-mailed them to see if this a function they will include in the future.

SchoolTube: It's the Way to Go!
www.schooltube.com

New Webpage

2009-01-19T20:20:00.001-08:00

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

New Employment Announcement

2008-06-22T21:44:00.001-07:00

I am officially the new Director of Instrumental Music for Pentucket Regional High School and Middle School. I am happy to join my former teachers and now colleagues Zach Field, David Schumacher, and Ellen Hart in making the music department live up to its full potential.

Soundscapes

2008-06-09T17:50:00.000-07:00

When I was student teaching at the elementary level, I played music and had the students draw what they heard. I then scanned their pictures into IMovie and put the music in the background creating a soundscape. Enjoy!

"Firebird Suite" Soundscape

Teaching Music is So Much Fun!

2008-06-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

I had a great teaching day today. I think it was because I had my first coffee in like five days so I was really excited about all of my classes. My 6th grade general music class is working on creating raps about pollution. They are pretty funny. I had one student who is always an issue. However, I told him at the end of class that he did really well today. He was engaged the whole time and did not cause any trouble. After I told him he did a good job, he asked me if he could go around the class to collect all of the papers and pencils!!! Ahhh...that's when you know you are doing well teaching! In this class in particular, you really need to think of things that relate to the students in order to make connections with them.

Band was fun. I've been working on Sawmill Creek with the 5th graders. I have been really focusing on having the students perform half notes with high quality. The piece is going to be a hit!

Politics and Music

2008-06-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

I am hoping that whomever the new President of the United States is, he will evaluate No Child Left Behind and make music and the arts mandated for public schools PreK-12 with extreme definition. We'll see what happens.

Getting Interviewed!

2008-06-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

So today I did a phone interview with the magazine "Teaching Music." We talked about advocacy and how I recently spoke at a "No Child Left Behind" event in Boston, advocating for music in our schools as part of the core curriculum. Apparently it is going to be in the next issue! Pretty cool.

In other news I did a hand clapping activity with my sixth graders today. We first listened to "Clapping Music" by Steve Reich. I did the usual "what did you hear" and got the usual answers. From there I split the students up into three groups and they created their own clapping pieces. It was amazing because I got to see students who normally fear to participate being actively engaged with the activity. Really cool!

Graduation Was a Success!

2008-06-01T19:35:00.001-07:00

So yesterday was graduation day for UMass Lowell. The celebration actually started the night before with a reception honoring Senator John Kerry, honorary degree recipients, and student award winners of the Chancellor's Medal. The dinner went awesome as I got to spend time with two of my friends, Steve and Mellisa, both of whom were receiving the medal. I spoke to Chancellor Marty Meehan for a few moments to reflect on the event. I told him it was more professional then last year's awards dinner when I received the Chancellor's Medal. The Allen House has become the main highlight of the South Campus.

Saturday went great. For the first time, each person's name was read and everyone received their diplomas in one place, the Tsongas Arena. I got to wear a crazy cool trustee cap and gown. The new provost from Northeastern sat next to me. We both gave each other a look when we were walking to the platform because our seats were like right behind the podium, like right behind with no room in between. We got up there and I was like...hmmm..lets move these back and to the left. Then the Middlesex Sheriff did his presentation which was really cool. John Kerry's speech was very modern and fun. Someone yelled "Don't tase me bro," when he took to the microphone. The timing was perfect and Kerry handled it well.

A point where I was really impressed was during Kerry's speech. A beach ball was making its way throughout the Tsongas and it was quite distracting. Then a student kept the ball still for about five minutes and then let it loose when Kerry was done speaking. Having had a conversation with UMass President Wilson earlier that morning about UMass Amherst having less beach balls out this year then last, I felt like the Lowell campus showed its professionalism when the students stopped throwing the ball around during such an important speech. I think it shows the concept that UMass Lowell students know how to have fun when it is called for but also know when to settle down and focus on a task. I was very proud of our campus at that moment.

I was really excited when I saw my friends come across the stage to get their diplomas. I was trying to make eye contact with them but it was hard as I was hidden behind the podium. It was a great day.

In other news...I have an interview for a job teaching music for next year. It is my dream job so I am really hoping that it works out. I am very impatient when it comes to this stuff but I am quickly learning that it takes a long time. I kind of wish I would hold off teaching one more year so I could be Student Trustee again. Being at commencement made me excited about my role.

Signing off,

Tony B.