Making a Wiki for Your Music Program in Craft

I have been singing the praises of Craft lately, a Personal Knowledge Management app made easy.

You can learn about Craft in the video or podcast episodes below.

Craft has replaced software I was previously using for notes, websites, writing, collaboration, and word processing. Making a note sharable with anyone who has the link is only two clicks.

Because Craft is so much easier to use than a learning management platform or a website builder, I have moved a lot of the information and resources I share with my music students to it. I can edit everything in Craft, students can see it all on the web.

At my recent TMEA presentation Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers, I spoke about this and showed off my "Band Wiki." A few people who attended the session asked to see how I have these pages set up in Craft. Here are some screenshots of how I set up the Band Wiki.

Top 10 Apps for Music Teachers in 2023

New YouTube video. Links to all apps below.

1. Craft
2. Things
3. Downie
4. Fission
5. Farrago
6. Anytune
7. Neural Mix Pro
8. forScore
9. GoodNotes
10. MuseScore 4

Building a Second (Music Teacher) Brain, with Dr. Cory Meals

Dr. Cory Meals joins the show to talk about building a second brain, personal knowledge management apps, and how to keep it all together!

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Thanks to my sponsors this month, Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks.

Show Notes:

• Slide deck from Cory's Building a Second (Music Teacher) Brain Session at TMEA

• A Second (Music Teacher Brain) - Resources from the "Building a Second (Music Teacher) Brain" Session | TMEA 2022

• Book: Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential

• Evernote
• Notion
• Readwise
• Airr - Podcast App
• Craft
• Roam Research
• Obsidian
• Athens
• Drafts
• DEVONthink
• Craft for Music Educators - podcast episode with Dr. David MacDonald
• Get Organized Digitally! - podcast episode with Dr. Frank Buck
• Pass the Baton - podcast episode featuring Theresa Hoover
• Apps for Research and Remembering - podcast episode with Dr. David MacDonald
• Designing Curriculum and Assessing Students With Filemaker - podcast episode with Ben Denne
• Communication and Collaboration Apps for Music Teams - podcast episode with Ben Denne
• Articles from MacStories.net to help get set up with Obsidian:
  • My Obsidian Setup, Part 1: Sync, Core Plugins, Workspaces, and Other Settings
  • Obsidian In Depth: Core Plugins (Part 2)
  • MacStories Starter Pack: Introducing Obsidian Shortcut Launcher, A Free Plugin to Trigger Shortcuts from Obsidian
• Overcast - Free, simple, award-winning podcast player for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
• Eliminating Canvas Stress by Writing Content in Markdown - my blog post that explains Markdown
• Deckset - app that designs your slides, so you can focus on your ideas
• Obsidian - Discord community and forum
• Taking Notes with Drafts - podcast episode featuring developer Greg Pierce
  • Institute for Composer Diversity
• Steinberg Summer Sale
• Poolsuite.fm
• Playdate

Other Recommendations from Cory, not mentioned in the episode:

• Work Clean: The life-changing power of mise-en-place to organize your life, work, and mind
• Tiago Forte Interviews Dan Charnas

App of the Week:

• Robby - OnTheWay
• Cory - Carrot Weather

Music of the Week:

• Robby - Poolsuite Mix Tapes | Poolside - Low Season
• Cory - MUETE - Slow Loris | Ak Dan Chil (ADG7) - Yeong Jeong Geo Ri (Live on KEXP)

Where to Find Us:

• Robby Burns - Twitter | Blog | Book
• Dr. Cory Meals - Twitter) | Website | University Link

Please don't forget to rate the show and share it with others!

Communicating Student Learning Objective data to administrators with fancy Numbers charts

I would like to give a shoutout to Numbers, which remains an essential tool on all my Apple products.

It took minimal clicks to get some really fancy, legible, and engaging charts into my SLO data tracking project for the school year.

Listeners of my podcast will remember Ben Denne and I talking all about our Music Mastery Sequence, and the tool he built to track it. In his more recent podcast appearance, we followed up on this subject, explaining how we have moved away from FileMaker and towards other tools.

My current method for tracking student progress is a giant Numbers spreadsheet with clickable star icons for how many "stars" they earn on each performance. I am using Craft to give students more transparent, informal, and qualitative feedback about what they should be working on.

This same Numbers spreadsheet was able to pump out the above table, graph, and charts. Their graphical nature and intuitive ease allowed me to better understand my own shortcomings in this process and what resources, changes, and school supports I needed to make improvement. This helped me to construct a meaningful narrative in a recent SLO meeting.

I hope to cover Numbers and Craft in greater detail later on down the road, as well as my successes in teaching instrumental music performance at an individualized level. If you want more on this, I certainly recommend the hyperlinked podcast episodes above.

#47 - Craft for Music Educators, with Dr. David MacDonald

David rejoins the show to talk about how we use Craft, an extremely versatile, elegant, and powerful app for the web, iOS, and macOS devices.

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Show Notes:

• Example of listener submission, Mr. Ehler's, Resource for All Band Students (created entirely in Craft)
• Audacity 3.1 is out now!
• Fender acquires PreSonus
• Dorico 4, planned for early 2022, will be first Steinberg product to use new licensing system
• Craft
• OmniFocus
• Bear
• Markdown Blog Post
• iA Writer
• Obsidian
• Todoist
• Trello
• Rome Research
• Notion

App of the Week

Robby - Documents

David - GoodReader

Music of the Week

Robby - NPR Top 50 of 2021

David - Silk Sonic

Tech Tip of the Week

Better Touch Tool

Where to Find Us:

Robby - Twitter | Blog | Book

David - Twitter | Website | Blog

Please don’t forget to rate the show and share it with others!

The Music Ed Tech Talk Holiday Gift Guide, featuring Dr. David MacDonald

David MacDonald joins Robby to share their favorite books, hardware, apps, services, and musical gift ideas.

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Show Notes:

• METT #43 - iOS 15 and macOS Monterey with Paul Shimmons
• Scoring Notes - Music notation software, macOS Monterey, and Apple Silicon M1 Macs
• Scoring Notes - Use Shortcuts to quickly create score templates on macOS and iOS | Robby Burns
• Noteflight Blog - Connecting the Strands: Teaching Melody and Harmony Writing with Ukulele, Noteflight, and Soundtrap | Robby Burns
• David's last appearance on this show to talk about smart speakers
• Chris Russell's recent appearance on this show to talk ukuleles
• Musician's Friend Stupid Deal of the Day

Books

• Scott L. Phillips - Beyond Sound
• V.J. Manzo - Foundations of Music Technology
• Will Kuhn, Ethan Hein - Electronic Music School
• Jorge Variego - Composing with Restraint
• Peter Perry - Technology Tips for Ensemble Teachers
• Robby Burns - Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers
• Ronald Kearns - Recording Tips for Music Educators
• The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy edited by Lee VanHandel
• Kathryn Finch, Theresa Hoover - Pass the Baton
• Sarah Urist Green - You Are An Artist: Assignments to Spark Creation

Hardware

• HomePod mini
• iPad mini
• MacBook Pro
• AirPods
• Elgato Stream Deck

More Hardware

• Scoring Notes Podcast
• Notation Central Stream Deck Profiles
• AT2020
• AKG P 420
• Røde Lavalier Go
• Røde Wireless GO II
• Scarlet Focusrite Audio Interfaces
• Twelve South StayGo | USB-C Hub
• Amazon Basics Studio Headphones

Software

• Rogue Amoeba Apps - Fission | Audio Hijack | Loopback | SoundSource | Farrago - Offers educator discount
• Drafts
• Craft - Offers educator discount
• OmniFocus - Offers educator discount
• Things
• Dorico - Offers educator discount
• StaffPad
• An evening with StaffPad - YouTube

Services

• Headspace for Educators
• Calm Schools
• Peloton Digital Teacher Discount
• Nebula

Misc

• Anker Nebula Capsule Projector
• Whoosh
• Nintendo Switch Online Subscription
• Atoms Shoes
• Bombas socks
• MacSparky Field Guides
• Paperless Field Guide
• Mac Pro Video
• Dorico Course - Leo Nicholson
• Skillshare
• Lamy Safari Fountain Pens
• Lush
• The Four Hour Chef
• Momofuku Cookbook

Music of the Week

Robby - Sarah Jarosz

David - Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Tech Tip of the Week

Robby - Focus Modes

David - CopyChar.cc

Where to Find Us:

Robby - Twitter | Blog | Book

David - Twitter | Website | Blog

Please don't forget to rate the show and share it with others!

METT Episode 44 - Rehearsal Tech

Check out the latest episode of Music Ed Tech Talk!

Dr. Peter Perry joins the show to talk about the software and hardware we use in rehearsals, his book Technology Tips for Ensemble Directors, and our recent favorite music, apps, and tech tips.

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Show Notes:

• Dr. Peter Perry's book → Technology Tips for Ensemble Directors
• File Not Found: A generation that grew up with Google is forcing professors to rethink their lesson plans
• iOS 15 and macOS Monterey - Music Ed Tech Talk
• Take, Leave, Transform! What Do We Keep from Last School Year? - Robby Burns (NAfME)
• Get Back into the Rehearsal with Technology - Peter Perry (NAfME)
• Shure wireless mic
• TE Tuner
• GoodNotes
• forScore
• iStroboSoft
• Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks
• Focusrite Scarlet Solo
• AT2020 Microphone
• Twelve South StayGo USB Hub
• BandLab
• Soundtrap
• Zoom audio recorders
• Focus Modes
• Rogue Amoeba Apps - Loopback | Soundsource | Audio Hijack | Fission
• Rogue Amoeba Audio Apps with Paul Kafasis | Music Ed Tech Talk
• iReal Pro
• Band in a Box
• AirServer
• Classroom Maestro
• Kahoot
• Black Binder
• Dorico

Music of the Week

Robby - Astor Piazzolla and Gary Burton - The New Tango

Peter - Tony Benett and Lady Gaga - Love for Sale)

App of the Week:

Robby - Craft

Peter - Izotope RX9

Where to Find Us:

Robby - Twitter | Blog | Book

Peter - Twitter | Website

Please don't forget to rate the show and share it with others!

METT Episode #42 - Pass the Baton, with Theresa Hoover

There's a new episode of Music Ed Tech Talk out!

Theresa Hoover returns to talk about career changing, COVID practices worth bringing into this school year, productivity apps, and empowering student creativity!

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Buy me a coffee

Thanks to my sponsors this month, Blink Session Music.

Show Notes:

• Blink Session Music
• #14 - Empowering Performing Ensembles at a Distance, With Theresa Hoover Ducassoux ] http://www.robbyburns.com/blog/14-empowering-performing-ensembles-at-a-distance-with-theresa-hoover-ducassoux
• Using Jamboard in the Music Classroom
• Craft
• Obsidian
• Light the Music
• Pass the Baton: Empowering All Music Students (Kathryn Finch, Theresa Hoover)
• Pass the Baton YouTube Channel
• Jodie Blackshaw | Composer
• Alex Shapiro - Putting the E in Ensemble
• Alex Shapiro's appearance on Music Ed Tech Talk

App of the Week:
Robby - Instapaper / Readwise Theresa - Kumospace

Album of the Week:
Robby - Turbo Theresa - Cory Wong

Tech Tip of the Week:
Robby - Safari Tab Groups, Sync Safari and Chrome bookmarks with a Windows PC Theresa - Chrome Reading List / Favicons Favorite Bar

Where to Find Us:
Robby - Twitter | Blog | Book
Theresa - Twitter | Website

Please don't forget to rate the show and share it with others!

🎙Apps for Research and Remembering, with David MacDonald

Composer and teacher, David MacDonald, returns for a discussion about the apps we use for notes, research, writing, and clipping data to find later.

Other topics:

• What kinds of work goes in which kinds of apps
• Digital research tools
• Kindle Paperwhite
• Streaming / virtual teaching tools
• Music theory YouTubers
• Zooming in to your Mac screen
• Quickly taking a screenshot with the Apple Pencil
• Our favorite music and apps of the week

Show Notes:

• Craft app
• Logic
• Audio Hijack
• Descript
• Evernote
• MarginNote
• DEVONthink
• Pinboard
• Bear Notes
• Drafts
• Greg Pierce, developer of Drafts - Guest appearance on this show
• Ulysses
• NAfME Blog Post 1 - Digital Organization Tools for Music Educators
• NAfME Blog Post 2 - Apps to Help With Time Management and Planning
• GoodNotes
• Paperless iPad Workflows for Teaching Music, with David MacDonald (the one where we talk about GoodNotes)
• Master Your Virtual Teaching Tech, with David MacDonald (the one where we talk about streaming)
• Kindle Paperwhite
• Susan Blum - Ungrading
• Instapaper
• Readwise
• MindNode
• OBS blog post - Hypercharging Online Classes with Open Broadcaster Software
• Stream Deck
• Philip Ewell
• Adam Neely - Music Theory and White Supremacy
• 12tone on YouTube

App of the Week: Robby - Stream Deck Mobile App David MacDonald - Reincubate Camo & FiLMiC Pro

Album of the Week: Robby - Owane | Yolo EP Vol. 1 David MacDonald - Scary Pockets YouTube channel

Where to Find Us: Robby - Twitter | Blog | Book
David MacDonald - Twitter | Website

Please don't forget to rate the show and share it with others!

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