Below you can watch Tech Tips You Can Use Tomorrow, a round table of authors from the Prestissimo Series of music technology books by Oxford University Press. This presentation was given at the Texas Music Educators Association this past Wednesday.
The idea behind this video is that, like our books, you will be able to quickly spend a moment with it and take away at least one thing you could use technology for in your job tomorrow.
****You can currently use coupon code TIMEORG20 for a 20% discount off the books (including mine) at the web site (https://bit.ly/3p5HndG)
Are you going to be at the Texas Music Educators Association conference next week? If so, I hope to see you there! I am presenting a session and appearing on a panel.
Develop Performance Skills Remotely with Cloud Software - Saturday, February 13, 2021 at 3 pm
Session description: If you are teaching in person, remotely, or hybrid, learn about great software you can use to reinforce the growth of perfor- mance skills among your students! Explore how students can use Noteflight Learn, Soundtrap, Flipgrid, and Google Docs to demonstrate technical skills, compose music, respond to music, multitrack-record themselves playing ensemble literature, col- laborate in chamber ensembles synchronously, and more.
Music Technology Tips You Can Use Today - Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 7 pm
Each author will talk for a few minutes about their book and give one tip that a teacher could take immediately into the classroom the following day. I will be talking about organizing digital score libraries and managing your email inbox.
Session description:
The Prestissimo “Essential Music Technology” series, published by Oxford University Press, is a collection of handy books containing tips and advice on how to incorporate technology into your music teaching situation easily. In this session, authors who have written books in the series will share their best tips from the books with you. This round-table style discussion will be led by series editor Richard McCready (TIME Mike Kovins Teacher of the Year 2013). There will also be a prize drawing at the session for free copies of some of the Prestissimo series books.
List of Panelists:
Robby Burns is a band director and general music teacher at Ellicott Mills Middle School in Maryland, where he is also an active performing percussionist and private instructor. He is the author of “Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers” and hosts the blog and podcast Music Ed Tech Talk.
Michelle Chen is Senior Editor of Music Education and Performance at Oxford University Press. She joined OUP in 2020 and previously held positions at Palgrave Macmillan and Bloomsbury Publishing.
Dr. Rick Dammers is the Dean of the College of Performing Arts and Professor of Music Education at Rowan University. He is the co-author of the book “Practical Music Education Technology”, is the author of the technology chapter in the “Oxford Handbook of Preservice Music Teacher Education in the United States” and is the recipient of the 2010 TI:ME Mike Kovins Teacher of the Year Award.
Catherine Dwinal is the educational technology specialist working for QuaverEd and TI:ME’s 2014 Mike Kovins Teacher of the Year. Catherine is the author of “Interactive Visual Ideas for Musical Classroom Activities” and has the pleasure of working with thousands of educators from all over the country helping them to integrate technology into the classroom.
Norm Hirschy is Executive Editor for Books on Music at Oxford University Press. Prior to joining OUP in 2004, he studied at The College of Wooster and at The Ohio State University.
Ronald E. Kearns is a retired instrumental music teacher. He is the author of “Recording Tips for Music Educators”, as well as Quick Reference for Band Directors” and “Quick Reference for Band Directors Who Teach Orchestra” (NAfME/RLE Publishing).
Marjorie LoPresti is the US Digital Content Manager for MusicFirst, Adjunct Professor of Music Education Technology at Rutgers University, and co-author of “Practical Music Education Technology”. She was the recipient of the 2016 TI:ME Mike Kovins Teacher of the Year Award.
Peter Perry is the author of “Technology Tips for Ensemble Teachers.” He received the Brent Cannon Music Education Alumni Achievement Award from Kappa Kappa Psi, recognizing outstanding contributions to secondary music education; the Presidential Scholar Teacher Award; and a Japan Fulbright fellowship. He is in his 25th year as Instrumental Music Director at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland and is on the music education faculty of the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C.
Richard McCready returns to the show to bring in the new year. We reflect on what we learned over the past year and discuss how music teachers can challenge their perception of tradition, creativity, and learning process, moving forward. Of course we also share our app and album picks of the week.
The past eight or so days have been very exciting and busy for me. I have been engaged with a number of online learning opportunities and resources. Here is a recap:
Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks
Last week, I launched my store on this website. I am selling my first ever resource for teachers: Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks with Trap Beats underneath them. You can buy just the audio play-alongs, or the Logic and GarageBand projects I produced them in to edit them in any way you like.
You can find my store here, a blog post about them here, and watch the promo below.
Learn OmniFocus Workflow Guest
On Saturday, I was a Workflow Guest for LearnOmniFocus, a fantastic website and community where you can learn not only about the task manager application OmniFocus, but about other great productivity apps and the very nature of being a mindful and productive worker.
You can read about the appearance here and join the community here. There are educator discounts. The video of my session will be made available publicly and for free very soon.
Links to two of my more recent blog posts about OmniFocus can be found below:
Creating and Using Virtual Performances in Your Music Instruction
I am teaching this online class for the Maryland State Department of Education with my awesome friend and colleague, Peter Perry. Peter's book, Technology Tips for Ensemble Teachers is third in the same series as my own, and is worth checking out.
There is a new Teaching Music magazine out. Here is the cover:
Even more fun is what's on the inside! There is a two page article on using technology to be better organized. It features some of my Todoist, Notability, and Dropbox workflows. Also featured is the amazing Amy Burns, who explains how she is using the apps iDoceo and Seesaw in the elementary general music classroom.
It is totally worth checking out. Also, Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers is featured in the recommended resources section of the magazine, along with the next book in the Prestissimo Series, Recording Tips for Music Educators, by Ron Kearns.
