The Presentation of Learning

The Presentation of Learning was a fantastic culmination to all that I have learned about technology this semester! It was so awesome to see all the things that my peers came up with and did for their projects, I am definitely making a priority of going around some of the blogs and looking more closely at what they have made. Unfortunately I didn’t get around to look at all the stalls around the room, though I did get to ask a couple of students about their projects on the Sydney Conservatorium of Music live stream, as well as talking about my own.

I loved the opportunity to engage with music teachers, some of whom have been teaching for many years, discussing the ideas that led to my project and how I went about making it. I was thrilled to receive some positive feedback from teachers in the field, who engaged with the material I have created.

I also have a mental list now of different music technologies to look into! Soundtrap is high up on my list, having only briefly explored it but I have heard positive things from both my peers and teachers I spoke to during the course of the evening.mI look forward to further exploring music technology, and the many ways it can be creatively and effectively applied to music teaching!

A Video?

A while back a friend of mine also taking our Technology in Music Education approached me with a suggestion. He, another friend and myself could work together and film a discussion on some of the issues discussed in this course to upload to YouTube and also add to our blogs. It would make a nice way to finish of the semester, and revisit some of the key issues which stood out to each of us.

This week we finally had time to do this, and arranged a day to meet up and work on it. We borrowed the cameras that we have access to at uni and set them up. We even worked out how to use screen and audio capture so the third member of the group was able to join us on Skype from Auckland.

Everything seemed to go very well. We filmed for half an hour, covering a range of topics, from how girls experience coding and technology in general, to what kinds of resources teachers have access to in school, to when and how technology can and should be used in education.

We hit a minor problem when we realised we messed up the screen capture on Skype, but we still had the audio which was the main thing. However, technology is not always reliable (ironically we discussed this during filming!), and during the process of loading the footage onto the computer, a power outage resulted in the video files being corrupted. As such, we now unfortunately have nothing to show for all the work we put into this! There doesn’t even seem to be a way we could have avoided this. However, the entire experience was still a learning curve for all of us in figuring out how to use the technology, and it was still an engaging discussion between the three of us.

Finishing the Assignment

This morning I did a final read over my assignment. I made some small adjustments in the summaries next to the videos as I checked that everything matched up well. I practiced doing the exercises myself in a preview of the iBook to check that everything was working properly.

In reading through, I decided I should make a document for teachers outlining some of my thoughts that shouldn’t necessarily go to the students. I have created this document which is included in the dropbox. It outlines how I suggest this project could be assessed. This way teachers can adapt it to their own forms of marking and marking criteria. I have also included a list of Stage 5 outcomes which could be met through this project, to aid teachers in planning.

So it’s now all done!! The final resource and attached documents are available here.

Just a quick note: If you look at this in the next few days, the videos will say “Demo Mode” on them. I will soon have chance to export these properly, and will upload that file as soon as it is done.

Editing!

So I am almost there! I have edited all the videos. I have used Screenflow for all my videos, I have previously found it very useful.

As I am not using jump cuts, the first step of this process is quite simple. I add starting and ending transitions, and remove any excess footage from the beginning and end of the video. The second step is to add text. I am using text to highlight any points that I feel are important for students to take in, particularly instructions.

I find both these steps do not take too long, and so I can finish the videos very quickly. However, a couple of the videos require a further step. When I am describing processes for students to complete on their computer, I have used screen capture to show students what they should be doing. For example I recorded setting up a Noteflight score, and edited this into the footage I took earlier. As seen below, I have used the Callout feature to highlight the mouse to make this easier to follow, as well as enlarging the pointer size by approximately 130%.

Filming Part 2

I have now completed all of the filming! A few of the longer videos definitely took a bit more time, as I would always forget one of the things I needed to say! I still feel though that this was the best way to approach the filming, as it is the most natural. I also found that the process of doing multiple takes helped me clarify my ideas, and on some occasions I edited the summary columns when I felt to add or remove something for the sake of clarity.

I have also made the decision to add a foreword to the book. I was looking for somewhere to put some clarification of the purpose of the book, and who it was aimed at. I felt a small amount of text here would allow me to express my ideas without detracting from the main part of the book, which is of course taking the student through the project.

I don’t expect to be making any further changes to the book beyond adding in the videos when I have finished editing them.

More Writing

At this stage I have now drafted every page of the book! All the necessary review slides have been filled in with the appropriate questions, and each video page has a complete little summary next to it. So all that is left is shooting the rest of the videos, and then editing them!

I have made some changes to what I initially intended the chapters to be. The recording and score chapters are going to be merged into “The Final Product”, as students are basically working on their recording and score at the same time. The rhythm chapter is also now called “Melody”, as I felt the focus needed to be a little broader to allow for student creativity.

Review activities come in different forms, for example students will need to label chords and identify the instruments used in each of the tracks during various stages of the book. Each of those activities should help the student come up with ideas for their arrangement, without telling them what to do in any definite form.

I have also gone into Noteflight and set up forums to match each of the chapter headings. As explained earlier, I intend for students to make use of the group options in Noteflight, rather than using it purely as a notation program. Therefore this set-up is a model for any teacher to set up a group for their students doing this project:

Forum Setup

Forum Display

Filming Part 1

I chose to start filming today – working with chapters 1 and 2. As with last assignment where I needed to film, I found I have to be a little creative to get the lighting right in my space!

However, I have also decided to do something a little different. Last time I used scripts, open on my laptop, which allowed me to mostly face the camera and speak. However in putting together that assignment I noticed if you watched you could see my eyes following the scripts in sections I sometimes forgot. So even though I had started writing scripts for this assignment, I will not be using them.

Shooting so far has taken a little longer, as it often takes me a few tries to remember everything I want to say without stumbling or forgetting, but I feel like the end product is better. All the videos are fairly short, so I look at the summary list on the slide, then record and say it. I don’t want jump cuts, so I do need a perfect take. I feel like working this way also allows me to speak more naturally, the way I would to a class, and in doing multiple takes I experiment with different ways of phrasing something until I have the clearest way to say it.

I will need to finish the outlines for the rest of the pages before I can finish filming.

Making Pages

Before I get as far as filming the transcripts I have written, I wanted to make some of the pages out, and figure out more of the details of the book. I have now fully filled out the first chapter. The sections will be as such:

1. Introduction: Video explaining to students what this project is about
2. Introducing the pieces: Each page will have an audio of one of the songs, and a few background questions about the song (e.g. the fact that “Summertime” was written for Porgy and Bess, what year the songs were written and recorded).
3. An introduction to Noteflight (video)

Chapter 2 is about the process of notating their song of choice. I have decided to use a process of recording material into Garage Band, and then notating it. This will be particularly helpful to students who are less comfortable with notation, and is also a good way of checking that they have correctly notated their original song, as they can listen back in better quality than what most notation softwares have.

Garage Band allows students to view recorded Midi in score format like this:

Noteflight

I have come up with an idea which will allow students further interactivity during the course of this project. For a different subject I was recently required to work on a score with six other students. Since we had been allowed access to full Noteflight accounts (also discussed here), this seemed a logical time to make use of it! Unfortunately for us, real-time editing from different computers was not possible, so while helpful this was not ideal for our project. However, it got me thinking about how useful this could be for this technology project!

I have therefore decided that all students will be required to create their scores in Noteflight. I have now moved my transcriptions tp Noteflight. The teacher would then create a group, where they could share the three scores for students to access as a resource. This allows students to share drafts of their work, allowing their peers to leave comments.

On that point, my scores are now complete. I have finished the editing of them, and added in chords. Each one now has all the key information students may wish to access during the course of their project.

Furthermore, I have since discovered a section dedicated to forums on the group page. I asked a friend with an account to help me test what students can and can’t see, and how this all works by creating a test group which I added her to. Screenshots included below. My intention would be to set up a forum for each chapter, where students can discuss ideas and ask questions. Part of their mark would come from their active participation in this space.

Group Homepage

Scores Page

Song Selection

I have been considering which songs to use as my set pieces for this project. I need songs that are different enough to provide students with choices about their arrangements, while still being similar enough to not make the whole thing confusing for students. I had already decided on “Summertime” as previously discussed. To come up with other ideas I spoke with friends about their favourite artists and songs, and eventually came up with the following two ideas:

Having chosen “Black Coffee”, I felt it was important to find one track that featured an improvised solo, as I want the students to include improvisation in their arrangements, as something that is commonly part of the jazz genre. I chose “Satin Doll” as one of my own favourites, having played it many times in Big Bands, though I know the instrumental version better than the song.

Having selected each of these songs, I have also completed the majority of the score for each of the melodies, though some further editing is required to make sure the rhythms and pitches are accurate to these interpretations of the songs.