The following is a list of sessions and workshops I have presented to schools, districts, universities, state & national conferences. I can customize sessions and workshops for content and length to meet the needs of your school, district or association. Please contact me at: barb(at)musicedtech(dot)com for more information.
Recreating the Secondary General Music Classroom for the 21st Century Learner: Teaching Music Through Composition with Technology
This presentation will examine elements of a curriculum that teaches composition and theory skills for beginning students to be successful composers and creators of music. Techniques on use of the software, lesson plans on composition and theory skills, techniques for weaving in music history and how to integrate music of other cultures will be discussed. All highlighted with examples of student compositions.
Teaching Music Through Composition with Technology: Beginning Lessons that Work
So now you’ve got the Lab, or maybe you’d like one, but don’t know where to begin. Teaching music through composition allows students a chance to create what they love, learn music in an applied environment and reinforce 21st century skills. These lessons will give you a good place to start teaching especially to students with little or no background in music. These lessons are appropriate for use with any sequencing program either Mac or PC.
Digital Media In & Out of the Classroom
This session will explore various uses of digital media in the classroom and your legal rights and limitations of using prerecorded music, speeches, video or movie clips. We’ll also discuss how to legally post or sell student produced work or school concerts digitally or on the Internet. All highlighted with examples of student compositions.
Teach music. The technology will follow.
See how free or inexpensive, entry-level software for Mac (GarageBand) or PC (Mixcraft) can be used to teach music concepts. Get lesson plans on how to use prerecorded or student-composed loops to teach the basics of creating melodies, accompaniments and even understanding song form. For the vet or technophobic! A hands-on workshop can follow. Make it a half or full day in-service session and include both!
Teaching Music with Logic
Logic (Mac) is one of the most widely used sequencing and audio recording programs in the world. It is the professional, full functioning program from which GarageBand comes. Logic does it all and can be daunting but there are only a few additional basics that an educator needs to know to have this incredibly powerful program work for their classroom. A hands-on workshop can follow. Make it a half or full day in-service session and include both!
Understanding Audio Mixing for the Digital Composition Classroom
Your students are composing using a sequencer like GarageBand, Logic or even ProTools. The next step is to get them to organize and control their musical lines and sounds through mixing much like a conductor does at the podium. There are a few basics to understand and keep in mind when molding sounds and levels and understanding how they all affect each other. We’ll explore EQ, reverb, panning, compression and more using student music as examples. A hands-on workshop can follow. Make it a half or full day in-service session and include both!
Software for Music Creation
This session will present an overview of software currently available for music creation and creative music making in the secondary classroom. We’ll include notation, sequencing, audio editing and processing for both Mac & PC.
Screenflow: A Screen Capture Tool for Self-Assessment
Assessment can take on many forms beyond a quiz or test. By using a multimedia video screen capture tool such as Screenflow for Mac we can creatively engage students in a learning and creative process while assessing their understanding and skill level.