Flickr and Geotagging

This was a great week with Web 2.0. We set up an individual account with Flickr and downloaded pictures to both our individual account and the class group account. I really liked using geotagging and Flickr as an integrated lesson plan. I am really excited about some of the potential uses for Flickr and geotagged photos and media. It's great to see all the potential!

Today was one of those days when you want to pick up your printer and throw it out. It finally decided to print but no matter what I did I could not get it to scan. How annoying!!! But that's ok. I only spent about an hour trying to scan before I finally gave up. Aargh....technology.

Final "Finale"
Today was the last day of the notation software "Finale" graduate class in Milton, MA. I learned a lot of great ways to use this very powerful program. It is a program where you can notate music and create accompaniments, arrangements, send to SmartMusic to incorporate with the accompaniment and assessment benefits and in general use a ton of tools in creating music! It even has a way to use "Band In A Box" (another software program for music which will allow you to take a melody and create custom accompaniments or arrangements in many different styles) and then print out that music or save and send the digital file. I created worksheets, rhythm exercises, scales and an arrangement of "The Hanukah Song". I learned how to input notes using the mouse, keyboard shortcuts and a synthesizer keyboard.

Today was the third day of the "Finale" music notation software class. This is a very powerful software program which is absolutely amazing! I however, am not.....But I have learned a lot about how to enter notes, transpose, harmonize using Band-in-a-box and coordinating all of this with SmartMusic program (the music assessment software program we use with the band) which is made by MakeMusic. MakeMusic makes "Finale" and "SmartMusic" and this year they have taken the integration of these programs to a whole new level. My final assignment will be to merge some of the SmartMusic program benefits with the Finale benefits. A challenge, but one worth taking on. My back isn't liking the 8 hour days spent over a computer and a synthesizer but it will all be worth it next year in band. Stay tuned....(pun intended) :-)

Podcast Notes 1

I downloaded my first video on YouTube today. The video is a podcast called Podcast Notes. It focuses on concepts of music. This premier episode focuses on the beat or pulse of music. It introduces quarter notes and rest.

I have added a podcast which features jazz music. It is called straight no chaser-a jazz show. It looks really great and I'm looking forward to listening to the podcasts. It features early jazz right up through contemporary jazz. It also focuses on the different jazz festivals which should highlight some of the current masters in the field. The link to the site is http://straightnochaserjazz.libsyn.com/
There isn't enough jazz in rural New Hamsphire so this should help balance out some of my cravings for really good jazz!

new subscription link added to "Old Dog" blog

Today I learned how to add a subscription link to my blog. Actually our Web 2.0 teacher told us how and I just followed the directions. But still.....
I am taking another class called "Designing Curriculum Integrating Technology" which obviously also uses technology so I have been working on some lesson plan ideas for integrating technology for that class as well. Inspirations was a program we used in that class in order to demonstrate how useful it was for brainstorming and creating "idea webs". I really liked the program and could see how it could be used in lots of different venues for idea webs.
And next week I will be taking a very intensive week long class focusing on "Finale" a music notation software program which has the ability to sync with "SmartMusic" a music assessment program I use with my band students.
I have to remind myself to use my Twitter account more often. I've been very busy, but not anything really that "tweekable". But I suppose I can send one right now......

Well today was a busy day. Started bright and early at 5:30 am and plowed through paperwork until it was time to head down to the Apple store at the Rockingham Park in Salem. The awesome technicians at the store were eager to tell me about a couple of websites with free software to use in order to download video from a DVD and then save and prepare it to be added to my HearClearInfo.com website. I also worked on a more efficient way to coordinate my contacts, calendar and ToDo lists using the iCal and Apple's software. This should help coordinate syncing with my BB Tour more efficiently via BlueTooth. I also added Twitter to my BB Tour. It's been a long but busy and productive day learning "new tech".

Cool! I just linked my blog to my Facebook account so I can keep my blog and my Facebook in sync.. This week will be pretty busy with going to the one-to-one training for Apple on some of the more complicated tasks I want to add to my website and also ideas for the best way to use iWork! If anyone has any experience using iWork, especially Numbers could you let me know? Thanks.
Btyl (blog to you later) :-)

Old Dog/New Techie Post #1

I'm going to use this blog to try to keep track of all the different technology tools I am using. I don't know if I will continue to use all the tech tools I try, but at least I can record the pros and cons of my experience. Hopefully this will be beneficial to me and possibly to others.
For instance, in the last 24 hours I have added a twitter account, set up a blog, subscribed to several RSS feeds and will soon begin to appreciate how beneficial (or not) those technologies can be. It should be a fun journey!