It's A Wrap

Everything went pretty much according to plan.  Last Wednesday Josh and Tom listened to my 7th grade band via Skype from the elementary school.  The kids were really excited to see the microphones set up in front of the room and got very serious when Josh and Tom rang into the room and popped up on the big screen.  After performing the piece for them, they listened to through a high quality stereo, the guys spoke with the students about their performance and gave them some points to reflect on.  They also had a chance to ask Josh and Tom questions.  The following rehearsal the students were asked to listen to the recording we made of the performance on this blog and post comments on specific items.  We ran into some problems with the google blog sign in but took some time to discuss the project with each other.

 Hello 7th Grade Band!!!

Great job in Wednesday's rehearsal!  You played really well!

Give the recording a good listening.  Be sure to use headphones for the best sound quality.

After you listen, please comment (click on the comment link underneath the recording) on the following aspects of your playing:

• Intonation-- Did we have any problems playing in tune?
• Articulation-- How did we do with the tonguing, slurs and accents?
• Phrasing-- Did we hold all of the notes out for their full values?  How about making it through four measures on one breath?

Alright, the project is set up and ready to go.  Tomorrow morning during Tom's 4th grade band rehearsal, Josh and I are going to listen in on the rehearsal via ichat.  We set up two professional cardioid recording microphones to pick up the sound of the band.  The signal will pass through a midi interface module into the usb port of Tom's computer at the elementary school.  At the same time Tom will run Garage Band on his computer to make a recording of the entire session which we can edit and place on the elementary band blog for comments from the band members.  While the band is playing, Josh and I will be over at the middle school watching and listening to the performance with ichat.  We'll patch the computer to the stereo to give us the highest quality reproduction.  After they play, we'll comment on specific elements of their playing directly to the students in real time so they can reflect and even ask questions.  Also, the students will have an opportunity to listen to the recording and comment on aspects of their performance that we have discussed.  We'll apply the same process with my 7th grade band on Monday the 26th and Josh's Symphonic (11/12) on Wednesday the 28th.  It actually seems like it will work out well and will hopefully be something we'll set up with band directors from other districts.

Change in direction.  Josh, Tom and I are going to be adjudicators for each other so that we can get to know the technology.  We're going to set mic a rehearsal session using one of our bands at a time.  While I rehearse my seventh grade band, Josh and Tom will listen and watch live from another location and discuss what they see with me and the kids in the band in real time.  The session will be recorded and posted on a special blog for the kids to listen to and comment.

Here are the live recordings of Trombone Boogie from the jazz benefit night.  Take a listen and post your reflections.  With more rehearsal,  what should be focused upon in the next couple of weeks to be better prepared for the next performance?

I'm going to focus my evaluation project on the high school jazz ensemble.  I can easily post a recording of one of their recent live performances for them to listen to and evaluate.  In addition to that I will invite colleagues to listen to the recording and have them provide the group with some constructive criticism.  This can all be done in about a weeks time, maybe two.

Best case scenario I can think of for our performance groups is to be in a real-time feed back situation with an authority on the subject.  With Skype I can have my kids perform for anyone in the world and get immediate critique.  They would even have the opportunity to be coached by this person or group of people and walk away already showing growth.

Along the same lines I could expose the group to another ensemble performance anywhere in the world right from our own classroom.  It would really benefit them to have some kind of interaction with the group or their conductor and maybe share their own thoughts about the performance, perhaps through a follow up blog.

Skype and some sort of blog would be the communication tools.  This would probably work best with a colleague you feel comfortable planning with, but it would be interesting to learn the habits/expectations of music programs abroad.