Music from an Upside Down Point-of-View!

Hi Everyone, Well. it has been a week!  I performed on the Five O'Clock Cruise with the Landshark Band and got to travel in the Caribbean.  We visited St. Thomas, Tortola, and Nassau!  It was a great time and I got to perform with some incredible musicians! But, all things end and its now back to class and work! This week, we are talking about technological resources that assist in assessment purposes.  I am a big believer in assessment as long as it is used for diagnostic purposes and not for a be-all-end-all evaluation.  The data that is collected, in my opinion, should be used in determining the direction and pace of a classroom and not the reflection of the teacher's work.  If the data, however, shows no growth over time, then it can be used in evaluating the instructor. I have used the Class Performance System in collecting assessment data and highly recommend it.  It is pretty intuitive and can be used by K-12 eas...

So, my post is a little bit early this time around due to the fact that I will be in the Caribbean sea in about 36 hrs.  I am looking forward to performing with the Landsharks Band and some members of Jimmy Buffet's band this week on the Norwegian Bliss  for the Five O'Clock Cruise. This week, we learned of one of our final projects: to design a WebQuest assignment for the music class.  I have to tell you, I am excited about this one.  I am basing mine on the exploration of World Music.  I am a big fan of Culturally Responsive Teaching and introducing students to different types of world music.  It has really been a blessing in my life to learn about different cultures and it has shaped me into the person and teacher I am. I'm looking forward to designing an experience that the kids will enjoy.  Although, I am still researching to make sure that I can follow the design specs and qualifications.  This should b...

So this week has been a whirlwind in the Master's PRogram for UF! We learned to both Social bookmarking and to utilize the Spotify technology to create playlists to use in class.  I have to say, it was really neat to learn about these types of technological resources that are available to us. Our readings for this week have shown me a new way to utilize technological resources in ways to help better my students understanding of music. The website diigo.com  allows us to bookmark websites that can be of great relevance to our classroom material.  I also found it fascinating that we could annotate the websites and put sticky notes as well.  The computer would remember them display the notes for every return visit that was made.  I can definitely see the benefits for the classroom and also for research purposes in the academic world. For Spotify , the opportunity to share playlists leads to many possibilities for the...

For this week, my class explored the applications of music technology in the classroom.   In our readings, we learned about the applications of different technological platforms like, SmartMusic and Audacity.  We ended the week with creating a remix of a popular Muppet song. One of the things that really hit home for me was the following passage from our readings: "Researches have found that students generally prefer to practice with accompaniments.  In addition, some students believe that practicing with accompaniment allows them to learn music better and to lean it more quickly." (Bauer, 2014).  I a, by sheer coincidence, seeing this very thing play out in my classroom.  For years, I used SmartMusic with my students while learning recorder.  For the first time, I do not have access to it and am teaching without it.  I can see the difference from past years.  The students are not progressing as fast as those who did have the SmartMusic res...

This week has been a doozy! I traveled over  2000 miles this weekend to present a clinic on Brazilian music at the 2019 Illinois Music Educators' Conference this weekend.  It was my first time seeing a snow storm! The attendees were wonderful and I had a great time!  While on the trip, I would stop and work on my homework assignments when I needed a break from the road. The temperature was -2 degrees, though! It really makes you appreciate Florida!!! I explored the cloud-based music production program called Soundtrap.  I have to say, I really enjoyed this assignment.  I was a little apprehensive about it, but the interface and the program proved to be quite simple to use.  I completed my first composition and it turned out pretty good. There are a few things I want to explore in depth, though.  The help section is not quite as forthcoming as I would like it to be, But, I prefer just exploring a program and figuring things out on my own. I am ...

This has been one heck of a week! First, the county comes out and films my capoeira program to showcase at a school board meeting.  Not only that, Rehearsals begin this week for the Spring Semester and I have to prep everything for my trip to Peoria, Ill to do a session at the Illinois Music Educators Annual Conference.  Oh Yea, I have projects to do as well for my Masters!  No one said that this would be easy! So, let's talk about Musescore.  I know this will not be popular, but I am not a big fan.  With the exception of some of the inputting features, I had a difficult time with this. I have been using Finale for over 20 years and the system has been improved and made more intuitive over the years.  Musescore did not seem very user-friendly to me.  the interface had a hard time adjusting to my HP laptop.  Also, there were some quirks to the program.  To have to keep changing views and sizes of the screen was ...

Hi Everyone!  Welcome to my Blog Music from an Upside-Down Point of View!   My name is Ed Anderson and I am the Music Teacher of Triangle Elementary School in Mt. Dora, Florida.  I have been a music educator for 21 years and have taught Band, Orchestra, General Music, Chorus, and Steel Band.  I also am a Capoeira Instructor for Capoeira Angola Palmares and run an after-school capoeira program and a community group.              I call this Music from an Upside-Down Point of View because, as a capoeirista, I spend a lot of my time upside down doing cartwheels and handstands.  It reminds me that things can always have a new meaning when they are seen from a different point of view.  So, here it is.             This week, I began the next class in my quest to complete my Masters in Music Education Degree.  The class is entitled: MUE6696:...