Can I interest you in a box of apples?

Should modern school music programs have to rely on the financial support of parents and fundraisers? -a question likely asked every day, somewhere in the US.

My short answer is yes……But rather than feeling like they HAVE to, they should WANT to. Before everyone starts throwing knives; give me a few lines.

There is no doubt that states/districts/schools should fund music programs, at least as much as they fund sports programs, if not more.  I’ll defend that point until I’m dead.  If you are reading this, you don’t need me to convince you as to why.  I also don’t need to tell you how important it is for band directors to maintain control of the direction that their bands are headed.  They need to be behind the wheel, not the school.  But…..he/she who owns the car...drives the car, right?  So the district can steer the car (or at least feel like they do) for the regular classroom curriculum, etc., because they pay for that.  But when it’s time to take the car on a joy ride and do really cool things...they may put on the breaks.  This is where private funding comes in handy.

We’ve all been there, with our hats out or selling our wares.  It’s a headache to raise money, but the benefits far outway the costs.   We are not only earning money for our program; we are earning some independence from the purse of our programs true owner.  

The bottom line is: If we pay for a little maintainence and put some gas in the car once in awhile, we have some leverage on when, where, and how we drive it.

Technology in the Classroom

As Howard Hughes was portrayed to say:   https://youtu.be/aT_j36TYOX0

I am admittedly a tech geek and have been since the first Franklin computer came out in 1983:

I had one like this, connected to a mono-color monitor…..And I felt sooo innovative.  I would sit up late at night and type out poems and stories (yes at seven, I was weird).  A bit later I added a dot matrix printer and wow….I could print my masterpieces and show them to people!

Fast forward ten years:  I now had a commodore 64 that was way cooler with its 800k floppy drive…...which led to an amazing discovery. A floppy disc with some printable music on it!!

So I found a cool duet written in treble clef. I printed it out and then transposed it, by hand, into bass clef.  I took my new “composition” to school and to show it off.  I played the duet with a few fellow trombonists and started getting some great praise…..until a good friend and now Trumpet Professor, Travis Heath, pulled me aside and said, “You’re not a composer just because you transposed Bach’s Invention No. 8 from treble to bass clef.” - Oops.  This was the first time that I loved and hated technology, at the same time.

After plagiarizing Bach, I continued to mix technology and music.  From cool computer generated sounds and video game music soundtracks to live recording and composition programs, there was always something cool going on.  But I did this all from home.  There was no connection between my music/technology dabbling and my traditional music class.  There wasn’t really much relevance back then.  But now….the sky’s the limit.  The technology available to music educators today seems limitless, yet many school music departments remain as the last bastions of technology free zones. Why is that?  Is there no way to enhance rehearsals and performances with the use us technology? How about the tons of paper that we go through every year?  Or the forever lost originals? Can technology save a tree or two?

As schools (like mine) move to a 1:1 model with each student getting a chromebook or similar device, the possibilities become endless.  Students can use their devices as music readers,  tuners, metronomes, or even video record themselves practice or perform.  This is already the norm for many students outside of the classroom.  Inside the classroom, however, device integration is only trickling in.  Check out this article titled “The Paperless Music Classroom”:

The Paperless Music Classroom: EBSCOhost  

It gives some insight into hardware, software, costs, management, funding and the pros/cons of going almost completely paperless in the music classroom.

Although this may seem like a pipe dream in some school districts, you never know when money will be dropped in your lap.  Many schools are budgeting for 1:1 technology right now for the near future. It’s not too early to develop a technology implementation plan and have it at the ready.

Just be sure none of your students steal from Bach…...at least, not too much.

Piano Lesson Reflection

https://youtu.be/mVgshZ_x4IA

Blog Prompt #4

A rubric is like a recipe: a way to control and determine quality based on the author’s criteria.  

I love recipes!  The thought of making the perfect sauce; a near guarantee of accolades from my family and friends; the safety and comfort of following instructions……..low stress, high praise!  Right?  Isn’t that what life’s all about?

One could ask:

Is the sauce perfect or is it perfectly copied?  

Is it a masterpiece or simply another master’s piece?  

Are they proud of me……. or the recipe?

(put a little beat behind this, lol)

Maybe:

-I’ll focus less on the recipe and more on curiosity

   -less on the ink and more on my instinct

-Don’t limit my capacity with boxed-up words and scholastic-ese

-Trust me, I’ll comply…….just give me room to fly

I just had too:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xhpewgzbwptesem/Chris%20Rap.mov?dl=0

Hopefully this sums up my feelings on rubrics.  If not, well I guess I didn’t follow the rubric well enough…...