This is a guest post by one of our teacher authors, Katherine Miller.
Overview
2020 has allowed us to see how technology can truly redefine our music instruction with students. Now that we are entering a new school year, we can take what we have learned and continue to try things a little differently by continuing to use technology to enhance our instruction! For instance, providing students, no matter where they are, with authentic and fun performance opportunities.
Amy Burns, our community coordinator for Midnight Music, has created an example of what this could look like by creating a Seesaw activity with tabs and Boomwhacker notation. In order to create this performance opportunity using technology, she also uses playxylo.com, Noteflight Learn and Loom. Each of these tools has a free version anyone can use.
Let’s take a look at the simple steps you can take to create a digital songbook for your students too! You can watch Amy’s video explanation here:
Creating your Songbook in Seesaw
- Press the three dots to add a new shape to be the background of your book page. Choose the color you would like to use and make sure to LOCK it in place.
2. Add additional rectangle shapes to be the tabs. Add as many as you need.
3. Position the rectangle tabs on the right side of your original background shape. Just like with your background shape, choose your colors and LOCK in position.
4. Tap the 3 dots on each rectangle tab to position it in BACK of your page shape.
5. Tap the 3 dots to link each tab to a new page where your content will be.
Amy’s Tip: Create a button on each page and link it back to page #1 so students can easily navigate back to your first, or home, page.
Creating each song page with notation, video and links:
Link to a Virtual Instrument to Play the Song
- Click the 3 dots and choose add link. A thumbnail will be auto generated.
Amy’s Tip: Use playxylo.com. You can choose a variety of scales to use on this instrument including chromatic, solfege and Boomwhacker! You can make the selection you want and then copy the link. It will save your selection for students’ use! If you do not have access to playxylo.com for students, you see another example by viewing Amy’s video: Coding a Boomwhacker with Scratch:
Song Notation
- Use a music notation software, like Noteflight Learn, to create each song. If you have the PAID version of Noteflight Learn, you can change the colors of each note to Boomwhacker colors!
- Export the song as a PDF.
- Use an online converter to change the file to a JPEG file. For instance, https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/pdf-to-jpg.html
- Add the JPEG image onto the page and LOCK it in place.
Amy’s Tip: To help students not make changes to this image, you can make a clear box to put over it by adding a textbox. Add 2 letters into the textbox then resize it over the image you added. Lastly, delete the letter so all you have is a clear box. Lock the box in place.
Demonstration Video
- Use a screen recording tool, like Loom, to demonstrate the melody for students.
- Download the demonstration video
- Add the video to your page.
Need some more inspiration to continue to redefine your instruction?
You can continue to add onto this activity by watching Embedding Virtual Boomwhackers into a Seesaw Activity. You can also visit Amy’s Website and find out more information about Amy’s upcoming Seesaw Course which begins July 19th on Midnight Music!
Inside Seesaw for Music Teachers
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About Katherine Miller
Katherine (Katie) Miller holds a Bachelor of Music in Education degree from Otterbein University (Westerville, OH) and a Masters of Educational Leadership from Antioch McGregor Midwest (Yellow Springs, OH). She has 15 years of professional musical experience as a music educator and performer.
She is currently employed by the School District of Waukesha in Waukesha, WI, where she teaches K-5 General Music and serves as a district model tech classroom. She was recognized in 2018 as a WPT Education Innovator by Wisconsin Public Television Education team. Twitter: K8TMiller
About Amy Burns
Amy M. Burns has taught PreK-grade 4 general music for over 20 years at Far Hills Country Day School. She has authored four books on how to integrate tech into the elementary music classroom. She has presented many sessions on the topic, including four keynote addresses in TX, IN, St. Maarten, and AU.
She is the recipient of the 2005 TI:ME Teacher of the Year, 2016 NJ Master Music Teacher, 2016 Governor’s Leader in Arts Education, and the 2017 NJ Nonpublic School Teacher of the Year Awards.
Her most recent publication, Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches (2020), published by Oxford University Press (OUP) is available from OUP and Amazon.
Looking for More Resources for Music Teachers?
Hello! I’m Katie Argyle – an Australian music technology trainer and consultant with a passion for helping music teachers through my business Midnight Music.
I’m a qualified teacher but no, I don’t currently teach in a school. I help teachers through my online professional development space – the Midnight Music Community – where there are tutorial videos, courses, links and downloadable resources.
I like to focus on easy ways to incorporate technology into what you are already doing in your music curriculum through a range of creative projects. I also run live workshops and have presented at countless conferences and other music education events.
If you want simple, effective ideas for using technology in music education, I would LOVE to help you inside the Midnight Music Community.