Roger Whaley

I had some time on my hands this morning. It is conference time here. We had a great concert last Sunday, most parents don't feel the need to talk except to stick their head in and say "Great Job!" or "I don't know how you do it!".

Really is a good day for small projects.

I have a lap top that I use mostly for administrative chores that seemed like a good choice to try SmartMusic 10.2 out on. If I messed something up at least the kids won't have problems. I try not to tweak anything that is working well and I have been very happy with the practice room computers and how they are running.

You can download 10.2 from the SmartMusic web site. The update will change the program, but leave your accompaniments and recordings alone. Pretty nice.

Continue reading "10.2 QuickLook" »

Posted by Roger Whaley at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was wondering if anyone out there has had a chance to work with version 10.2 yet. Anyone?

I understand that 10.2 makes installing the program and registering for class much more user friendly. Also, there is a wizard for microphone issues.

I would say that those are the two biggies as far as my kids would be concerned. Cool.

Would I jump to 10.2 now? I think I will try it on the machines that I use and not even mention it to kids who have 10.1 working fine until I have to. We turn our subscriptions over in July. That may be the best time for most kids to upgrade.

That would also give me a chance to revise the handouts with new screen shots and all that. But then, maybe it won't look that different. I'll let you know!

Posted by Roger Whaley at 1:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

That download link takes you to a short page that connects Winton's Ways of Practice with what SmartMusic can do for you as a practice tool. Mr. Marsalis offers many tips and things to consider when it comes to practice.

Have you talked about practice with your students?

If you haven't seen the Winton Marsalis video Tackling the Monster look to Amazon here I like to show it to my beginners and have referred back to it with my older kids over the years.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dan pointed something out to me after my presentation today. It was the first SmartMusic presentation that he had attended where the program wasn't opened and shown.

Some of that was because when I did a quick poll of the audience, none of them hadn't heard of SmartMusic. All of them had seen SmartMusic. Most of them had it on their desk. I think that says something about the program's maturity and how they are getting the message out.. at least in Minnesota.

So I dumped the last bit of my show and tell. Why not? It seemed the zen thing to do. Show the program by not showing the program.

We did focus on the nuts and bolts of rolling SM out pervasively. This is the talk I wish someone had ready to go when we first started thinking about SM everywhere. It is all about yes. Yes, you should be using it. Yes, it is good for kids. Yes, it is good for your program. Yes, even if the program is facing cuts.

It was good to meet you people at MMEA!

Posted by Roger Whaley at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For those of you going to MMEA this week, I am going to be presenting a session on how SmartMusic is working at Grandview.

I will be talking about using SmartMusic with kids. Why you should (and you should-- it's a good tool.) The thinking behind the planning. The final plan. How it has worked. What needs improving.

It should be a good session right there, but I think it will be better with your questions.

If Saturday doesn't work for you, try to catch one of Dr. Glenn Pohland's talks on Thursday or Friday.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 2:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been working on some handouts to keep the ball rolling with SmartMusic. I would like to share them. If you find them useful, or way-off base, please send me an e-mail!

The tuner is the first one ready to go (I think.) I've included links on this pdf to sites that talk about tuning specific instruments. This is a basic place to start, not the ultimate guide to tuning. If you have some better sites or ideas post them here!

Download file

Posted by Roger Whaley at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's a tip or two about SmartMusic, passwords and e-mail accounts.

First an observation, kids that have no e-mail accounts are the ones that forget their passwords.

If a student does not have an e-mail account to use for contacts via SmartMusic, be certain that they use a password that is very easy to remember because there will be no password recovery options (except for sodium pentathol or very deep hypnosis. My district doesn't allow me to use truth serum!)

Actually, I have another way around this, if you don't mind some extra e-mail. I have my family e-mail accounts set-up with a junk mail box. Anything that is not addressed to me or my family gets sent to the junk drawer. Originally, I was using this for businesses that wanted to thoughtlessly add me to their e-mail lists. So, NO_SPAM@rogerwhaley.com was born. Now my students who need to fake an e-mail for SmartMusic use something like SuzyStudent@rogerwhaley.com. When we run the forgot password link, I just look in the junk mail drawer for the password.

It is either that or use that old favorite password-- "password" as your student's password.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 2:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We were filling time with SmartMusic and one of my flute players pointed out the obvious with this comment, "I wondered where we would be with one of those other method books. You know you can just go play in one of them in SmartMusic."

Boy. A comment like that can get the idea machine going!

If the kids are bored, suggest they try the other book for sight reading.

Or send them on a hunt for the same topic in another book.

You could see if the examples are better in a different book.

Maybe there are some solos coordinated with the other method. Do you want to see where they fit in their curriculum?

You could have your talented kids get a fresh look at the same topic in another book.

If you need to re-teach something, where will you go for ready made materials?

Have you taught kids how to find exercises that will help them with the topic at hand?

Or..... You get the idea. In fact, send me some of yours!

The really, really, exciting part for me is that one of my students figured this out! Here's a beginner that isn't just doing the assigned. She went out exploring. Pretty amazing!

Posted by Roger Whaley at 1:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The end of the quarter must be coming soon. I don't think that the practice rooms could get any busier!

There has been a rash of instruments going out the door for practice as well.

I do like how the login gets the student exactly what he has left to do for work. That makes it very easy to tell a student what to do...login to SmartMusic and find out!

Interesting observation about working with SmartMusic Impact this week... if you miss a student when making an assignment you can still send it without completely starting over. In Impact, go to assignments, then to your personal library and find the one you want and push the assign button. From there you can assign it to specific student. This may not have been a convenience that was designed into the product to be a convenience, but it sure beats starting over and adding another assignment to pick up the student you missed.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 3:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, back to the grind tomorrow.

We do have the big All District Band Concert next month.

We do one piece that everyone plays all together. That can be the hard one to select. Because time always seems short between now and the concert, you can bet we will be selecting tunes with SmartMusic assignments in mind.

I hope that music publishers and MakeMusic are moving things along quickly for more SmartMusic enabled pieces.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 2:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Hope you are staying warm this holiday season.

Thanks for reading!

Roger

Posted by Roger Whaley at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

OK so the concert is over. It is the last day before vacation and you want to work harder than your exhausted kids. How do you fill the day?

How about a little SmartMusic show and tell? I have been looking for a good time to tell kids they should really play back the assignment before turning it in. This was it. The main issues students are having with SmartMusic are mic placement and setting the volume controls. A little show and tell should help that.

We also took a look at the tuners, the other included method books (looking for enrichment opportunities?) changing tempos, trouble shooting the audio drivers, about a million questions and shared experiences with the program. Follow-up is an important part of training. This was an excellent follow-up session at a good time for the kids. It was time well spent.

The kids also had fun watching me try to beat the machine. Who knew playing page 14 could be so entertaining?

Posted by Roger Whaley at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We have had our concerts. They went well!

Some SmartMusic realated items came to light.

Older students did a much "cleaner" job on the pieces that were SmartMusic assignments. I believe that having the wrong notes and bad timing put on the screen for you is really helping students raise their level of expectation of themselves. "Was he talking to me?" about the wrong note is quickly settled with SmartMusic. I think all concert pieces are about to become SmartMusic assignments!

The beginner band concert went very well. Some teachers who helped supervise the fifth grade concerts from year to year were noticing the difference between this group and several previous school years. They suspected the tool was helping. This group still has sectional time built into their week, so that observation is helpful in decision making. We will keep using SmartMusic.

Overall, I'm pleased with the help. Wish everyone still had sectionals so we could work on tone, articulation, style and teamwork issues in a smaller setting.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been working hard at pulling together a presentation about SmartMusic for the TIES conference next week. I have a laptop full of ideas and I have been filtering them down.

The basic gist of what I am going to say involves the educational soundness of using a program like this in your teaching. There are two themes. There are the James Paul Gee thoughts on video gaming and learning as well as good old Bloom's Taxonomy.

I have to admit this talk could be written by the kids in the practice room hallway. The conversations about SmartMusic assignments give clues as to what they would say: "I had trouble with that too, let me help you..." , "Here's what you are doing wrong..." , "I keep making a mistake right here...".

Are your students analyzing and solving their problems?

Posted by Roger Whaley at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We have noticed an interesting side effect with SmartMusic.

We have a jump in requests for the names of private teachers.

We think that now parents and kids have a standard that they can hear and see, they realize they need a little tutoring. Hopefully, a little tutoring works into some long-term relationships!

Posted by Roger Whaley at 2:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I had an interesting before school session with a young lady.

She was having SmartMusic trouble at home and wondered if she could use one of the practice room computers.

I opened up a practice room and we chatted about what might be going on with her machine at home and that gave her some ideas. (I think it will be a mic placement issue.) I went to hang up my coat and started to practice. I had several students waiting, so I popped in later to see how she was doing.

Yesterday, she was annoyed with me when I tried to tell her about her wrong notes.

This morning she noticed the same wrong notes and fixed them herself using the find a fingering feature.

We were both pleased.

My student was happy. She figured it out herself. She didn't have to figure it out in front of everyone. She got the information she wanted right when she needed it. These may not seem like big deals to adults, but we are talking about a middle schooler here. Wanting to be independent and not potentially embarrassing yourself are huge motivators!

I was happy. I have a student solving her own problems. I bet she will remember the solutions much better because she discovered them herself. We'll see next rehearsal.

She left just as I was starting to help another student with the same song. There was a proud, knowing smile on her face.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We are now on our second assignment.

The second time around has brought some changes. The first REALLY BIG thing that comes to mind is the practice room usage has jumped. Big time.

The most popular times are right away during the morning. I walk into work and kids meet me at the door wondering if they could use the practice stations. I usually have small groups of 2 kids in each room (they are small rooms) and a couple waiting for a turn in the hall.

After school and during morning meeting (home room) are popular times as well. The last kids of the week left at 3:30 on Friday.

I think there are a number of kids who have access at home are playing here as well. It beats waiting for the rest of the building to open up.

It is a chance to see and hear how they are doing while they are working on the project. I'll pop in and give a little advice in each room. The kids also coach each other.

The place actually sounds like a music department. Pretty cool.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 4:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS was the news from the Apple site.

One of the minis went out and I did the basic toubleshooting thing of checking to make sure it was plugged in, etc. NO power to the mini. I swapped out the power block and sure enough, it is more than happy with a different power supply.

No user serviceable parts was the news from the web site and it directed me to my nearest Apple store. I had heard the service was very good there, but I have never had to try it. That is pretty amazing by itself. I have never had to try Apple service even though I have had a Mac since what, 1993 or so?

Made the appointment on-line. Arrived a little early and sure enough, things got fixed (actually replaced) and I was leaving a happy camper 10 minutes later. Wow. Service.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As we are scrambling to get our assignments in, I have noticed the value of experience.

Getting "enrolled in class" is a fairly intensive process, with several places to go off in the wrong direction.

I am trying to let the kids figure it out and I am observing as they do their enrollments in the practice room.

Then something interesting happened, I had one student tell me "I have this figured out, do you mind if I help him?" All of a sudden things went much smoother and we were getting enrollments done in half the time. It was a nice moment. Thanks Danny.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have a few wishes--

I wish everyone listened when getting directions. The main trap so far is bad password-itis. You mean zero and the letter O aren't the same thing?

I wish that people would be brave enough to call tech support when they need to. It makes one wonder how many programs go unused because of problems. Has most tech support gotten so bad that people will only call them as a last resort? I think it is pretty good over at SmartMusic.

I wish there was another way to get students "enrolled in class". Right now, the only official way is to go through the SmartMusic program itself. Wouldn't it be nice to visit a web page with your whole class in a lab and knock the enrollment off in 20 minutes? The real users of the grade book are the teachers and they wouldn't be using it without being SmartMusic schools. So I am wondering what registering via SM protects.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I put out an assignment yesterday. I have recordings to hear this morning. Whoa. That was fast and easy.

I listened to a couple already and it sounds like the kids are making use of the preview button. These assignments were well done before they were turned in.

Listen to the recording. Put a grade in the box. Hit the button to fire off an e-mail that says "good job!" How much easier can it get?

Posted by Roger Whaley at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We have got SmartMusic in the hands of kids. We have two practice room work stations. I'd say we are good to go.

There seems to be a lack of action from the kids. Several kids have everything ready. Program installed, activated, enrolled in class and confirmed by me through the web site. So it is possible to get this completed. What to do to get the laggards moving? HMMmmm.

I just sent an assignment to each of my classes.

We'll see how that works. I have really good kids that still care about grades. I'm guessing that this assignment gets things moving.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Mac minis have arrived. I am glad.

We originally were planning on using cast-off computers with the SmartMusic project at Grandview. But it turns out the computers we were planning on using had issues with the XP (or OS X) requirement.

We ordered two Mac minis and I understand there are some XP machines coming. Thanks to a generous donation. It is good to be covered. Thanks everyone!

The donor talked to our chief technology guy. That alone makes keeping him in the loop when you have a project like this. If he didn't know about the project, we wouldn't have the machines.

The Minis are interesting little machines. They really do take up very little space and are peppy enough to do Garage Band. The price was very reasonable as well. We had the monitors and keyboards and cost is an issue here so reusing when possible is a great idea.

If there is a drawback to the mini, the audio-in jack is a line-in, not a mic jack. We will need to get an adapter to use a mic straight into the machine. Time to go shopping for the adapter. Maybe I can talk the family into a night out and stop by the computer store... only 1 day, 12 hours til Leopard... I think my wife is right about the work to much. !-)

Posted by Roger Whaley at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Passwords are usually case sensitive. Are you dialed-up? Is there security software to ask your parents about?

We were struggling to get one student's SmartMusic working. There were several e-mails back and forth between us. Then a really close look at the SmartMusic code we were assigned revealed something...that O we were looking at was really a zero (and not a letter O!)

It's good to be working with kids that hang in there. It is also good to work with kids that aren't afraid to ask questions.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 5:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well we made it to teacher's convention and we have a good start on getting SmartMusic into the hands of the students. The activations are beginning. It will be interesting to see if there are a lot of installations during this rainy vacation.

Days off are a good time to reflect on how things are working.

If I was a little quicker and a little more ready for our school's registration days, I would have had the discs ready to go on the spot. Pay the fee, get your SmartMusic. If I had it organized then, we would have it all up and running now. Things always seem to take a little longer than they should at the middle school.

Continue reading "Made it to teacher's convention." »

Posted by Roger Whaley at 2:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We are beginning to get set-up and running. We got the mics and discs last week and have sent them out to most of our students. Let the fun begin!

A few weeks ago we set up the big screen TV and watched videos from the SmartMusic web site. Hopefully that will take care of most of the questions. Just look for the quickstart videos on the support page. http://www.smartmusic.com/support/default.aspx?page=page6_4

By lucky accident, the rollout and parent-teacher-student conferences happend on the same day. I have never seen so many kids that wanted to come see me for a conference and pick up some software. Was it me or was it SmartMusic?

Posted by Roger Whaley at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This year at GMS brings a new plan for the music department. We have been users of SmartMusic since it was a computer attached box called Vivace. We have watched it turn into a self contained program as computers got better and faster.

We have seen what it will do for kids. Listen here

Up until this year, however, we have made the home subscription available, but not required its use.

Continue reading "Did I tell you about the GMS SM Plan?" »

Posted by Roger Whaley at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The GMS SmartMusic project seems to be getting back on track. The discs are arriving. The principal and district tech director are working on acquiring the practice room computers.

I am too. Yes, this is work even if you have the support of great staff. First you have to tell the people in charge what you need. Fortunately, that isn't very much in my case. I need four computers that can run SmartMusic. We have monitors, desks and drops for the network. Just need the CPUs.

I did some of the legwork for them and ran down some choices that would work. One was the district standard desktop and the other was a Mac mini option.

I also made sure the tech director knows what I am up to as well as anybody in the building that is assigned to technology. They helped with what is current for district choices and they may need supply support later.

I included the Mini because at the last two music conventions I have attended I estimate that 90 percent of the conversations I was a part of (or overheard) started with the phrase, "Have you seen Garageband yet?" As long as I am getting gear for students, why not gain in capability? Also, my assignment this year includes general music students. Garageband can certainly help with the composition unit there.

If there were some rules to pass along to those in the equipment-buying phase of things in our district they are:
1. Help with the legwork to get what you need.
2. Get the principal in quickly and be able to explain what this will do for your kids.
3. Don't forget the tech director (and tech team.) They need to be able to provide support and that can affect your choices for hardware.

If budget is an issue for hardware, get your plan to the school parent group, music booster group and anyone with money to give away. It doesn't hurt to ask and it is a promotional opportunity for your program.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Turns out that SmartMusic is set-up to run on XP (or OS X.4.) The practice room computers I was planning on using are unable to run XP. UGH.

Time to scramble and beg for some newer hardware. If the budget can't handle it, it will be time to talk to the various parent groups. This might also be a good time to visit the Mac option. The Mac Minis can use the monitors I have and come with Garage Band and a bunch of other interesting programs that would be good for enrichment and extention of music and multimedia classes.

I don't have to have the newest hardware. I have passed on replacement computers before. Why send a working, does-what-I-want-it-to, machine down the road? Heck, my home computer replacement schedule is about once every ten years or so. Just so it runs what I need.

Posted by Roger Whaley at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Good Day!

This blog has been collecting dust for months. It could be because I have been scrambling with the job. Or maybe it is because I haven't had much blog-worthy to say.

I am back because I have a new project that I would like to keep track of... A major SmartMusic rollout.

A little background.
The Westonka School District has some budget problems. In the 15 years I have been there, this is actually a fairly normal situation. This year, however is different because the powers that be have decided that the band sectional time is not going to be available to my 6th and 7th graders. With only 40 minutes per rehearsal every-other day. What are we to do for holding kids accountable and helping them to grow as musicans?

Well until we get the time back, we are going to use SmartMusic to keep track of our band students. All students with internet access at home are getting SmartMusic. For the 5 percent that don't have access for one reason or another, we will have stations availble at school in practice rooms.

There are a bunch of sound educational reasons why kids should be using SmartMusic. I just wish that triage for my time problems wasn't one of them.

It should be interesting to see on guy's struggle with the digital divide, educational software and attempting to work smarter not harder.

Things you should know. The views expressed are mine, posted on my time, using my gear, at my U of M blog site. http://www.westonka.k12.mn.us/policies/4000/policy_4090.pdf

Posted by Roger Whaley at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have had a great week and learned many things from ALL of you. Thanks.

I thought I would take a look at my current teaching practice and how it fits with all of the things I have learned this week. I am thinking ahead to Saturday's "What Software is important to you" demos.

Hopefully this will help me do all those higher order thinking things. Kind of a mini case study.

Continue reading "SmartMusic and what I have learned here this week." »

Posted by Roger Whaley at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)