Things I'm Hopeful For

1. I have 24 freshman joining choir.  I hope they can sing in tune, sightread, and act.  If not, I hope they smile a lot and have fun.
2. I have 10 new band members.  I hope they can play and are willing to work.
3. I hope my music theory class can create new adventures.  Will it be the AP test?
4. I hope we continue to grow.  Are we ready to take a trip?
5. I hope students continue to help.  The program can only grow with their support.
6. Is this the year I go paperless?
7. I hope evernote makes my life simpler.
8. I want to learn how to play the bass this year and really start practicing my trombone again.
9. I have yet to choose any repertoire for choir.  I refuse to do so until I hear them.  I'm hopeful this is an easy process and I pick the right tunes.

Paperless Band?

I'm going to try to go "paperless" in band.  As of today I have twelve members of band and enough iPads to be 1-1.  So, students will not get a paper folder of band music, they will get a digital folder.

Here is my work flow as of now:

1. Scan paper copies.  Upload to dropbox folder.
2. Using forscore app put files on iPads.
3. Use forscore to create versions, annotate, etc...
4. Students can email .pdf copies to themselves.
5. Each student will be assigned an iPad for that class.

At least thats my plan.

Possible hang-ups:

1. Will students prefer paper?  Paper is a bit bigger.
2. Will this encourage practice?
3. How to deal with situations like travel.  Do we bring the ipads to festival, or convert back to paper?

I am not sure how we will do this in choir.  I have more students than iPads in that class.  I might ask for volunteers, or maybe go two kids to an iPad.

What's on My iPad?

I recorded this using Display Recorder app.  A few audio blips.  Really just a test of the process.  Ask questions in comments.

A new year

Some summer thoughts:

1. I am going to try to give evernote a real try.  It is still semi-blocked in my district but I am going to make a real effort to set up folders and archive my notes in one place.
2. Thanks to Chris Russell I have been inspired to try to set up my music folders on the iPad.  The only class this is tough in is choir where I have to have 2 kids per iPad.  I will need a student to help organize and scan.
3. I have the fall semester to figure out how to teach Hip-Hop as it doesn't start until January.
4. We have new leadership in the district and school.  Big changes on the way.
5. If you were wondering, Shingles hurts.  A lot.

Evaluation

I have a pretty good idea how to evaluate a band program.  I have a pretty good idea how to evaluate a choir program:

• Level of music being played and performance
• Diversity of music
• Composition, improvisation assessments, etc...
• Anecdotal evidence (program switching directors, new curriculum, etc...)

However, I am pretty sure that many school communities evaluate simply by how many seats are filled.

As we add guitar and hip hop appreciation to our offerings how should we evaluate the program?  How can you tell if a non-traditional program is excellent, good, fair, or poor?

How do we escape the enrollment trap?

Workflow

Here is my problem.  Its not really a problem (I can use pencil and paper) but I really want to solve this.

I have a class set of iPads.  In every class but choir students are 1-1.  However, the ipads are shared between classes.

I would like to:

1. Put music theory notebooks on the iPad.

2. Put audio recordings on the iPad and send to cloud.

3. Put my music library on iPad.  I'd like the music folder to be digital.

Questions:

1. On forscore can a student log-in to their account?  That way annotations, music, etc...will be theirs.

2. Soundcloud works great, but has 120 minute limit.  What would be the best place to archive and aggregate and publish student recordings?  It must be simple for me and student to use.  I also would have to have easy log-out of apps since we are sharing.

3. What is the best way to take notes in music theory?  Staff paper is the issue.  They aren't typing, they are drawing.

Ideas needed.

Beck's new album

I have spent the morning trying to figure out Beck's new album.  Its not an "album" its a collection of songs published as sheet music.  Is it a book?  Will he perform these songs in concert?

Look for it to be published in December.