Aluminum Cherry

So the past two months have been super busy what with our computer class, but something else I forgot to mention to everyone was the duet I am now playing in. Were called Aluminum Cherry and are Alternative/Indie/Folk. We've been together for about two months and I must say that the computer class has really paid off in regards to showcasing us online. I have been able to create us a great beginning online presence, find us on facebook, twitter, reverbnation, and youtube. Very exciting. The best is the amount of promotion and feedback being online has generated for us. Thanks Dean once again for the class and thanks to everyone else in the class for all the assistance and support each of you gave me in answering questions and solving problems. Cheers!
Oh yes, check us out, Aluminum Cherry we're #5 on reverbnation right now (and looking for that #1 spot). So we definitely need your support. :)
peter

Me and Jennifer Yim-Rodier  (Aluminum Cherry)

Welcome to Peter Bodnarchuk's Blooms and Shadows

I really wanted this video on my homepage (permanently) but couldn't figure out to get it to work. I tried to use VodPod like Marissa but couldn't make it work. Widgets? Couldn't find one appropriate. Any advice?

Large Video Files: The Advantage of Vimeo

Okay say you have a large video, over 100MB or over 15 minutes long, YouTube is out right.
SO NOW WHAT?
If your like me you'll spend a day searching sites uploading to megaupload, waste of time.
Then come across http://www.vimeo.com/ which is so easy to use and user friendly and free.
A fantastic site. All my daylong struggles could have been ended in half and hour with this site.
Check it out. :)

To all my mates in ECMP 355

Thanks for the time we shared together, chatting across the virtual world. Thanks to each of you who stopped by to read my blog and comment, that meant so much. I learned so much through your VLOGs and podcasts and attachments, all these new sites to explore and all the tools that I was simply unaware of or afraid to use, or admit that I didn't know how. It was so comforting to know that I'm not alone in learning and using the technology of the virtual world. I hope we can stay connected even after this class is over. Feel free to add me on Twitter or Facebook. Great summer to all! :)

Here's two fun movie trailers to celebrate the completion of our class!

"Make your decisions and live your life...

but probably don't do too much of this as a teacher!"

PowerPoint Frustrations Continued

So in the end of it all I ended up doing what I hoped I wouldn't have had to do, create all the PP slides to JPEGs, load them to iMovie, and transfer the sound recording from PP to iMovie in realtime...yeah 1 hour later it's done. That's not so bad but it'll take about 7 hours to finalize the movie, so my final reflections won't be posted until this evening.

MY ADVICE don't waste your time with PP if you want to create a slideshow movie, just create your JPEGs load them into iMovie and record your audio accordingly, way less time, once through and its done, no worries about problems with uploads and so forth.
I looked into Keynote, but it appeared that you would have to purchase it, so that wasn't an option at this point.

Here's a good example of my emotions over this project! Enjoy!

Power Point Frustrations

So I decided to use 11 slides, each with a separate image, and record myself talking about what I learned about the given tool. Everything went great, all completed and saved, unfortunately, I can't send the PowerPoint to video without losing the audio, even though I went through each slide and timed the presentation accordingly. Very frustrating, so I decided to take the evening off and went to a vocal recital in town and had a great time. Will try to figure it out tomorrow. If anyone knows how to fix this problem that would be much appreciated. :)

Virtual Friendship: Guffins

Guffins: Adopt your own virtual friend 

So in my quest for naming our duet I have found a dragon recipe site and now a virtual pet site where you can create and look after your own virtual fantasy creatures. I'll be fascinated to see where the future virtual world ends up. This is a free website and can be of use in teaching about caring for something like a real pet and other subjects like personal responsibility. Also (this site) for kids who can't afford a live pet, a free virtual pet may be quite wonderful!

Well...this website is not yet compatible with Macs! :( 

There's a dragon recipe website! (I like dragons!)

Dragon Recipes 

Lovin' Music IV: Gaslight Anthem

One of my favorite songs from summer 2010

What's in a Name?

A name must be catchy, unique, interesting, thought provoking, reflective, passionate, empowering, and visual...right? Man is it ever hard to accomplish. We are (jen and I) looking to name our male/female Indie Folk duet. Went to name generators...especially the rock ones, they kind of really suck. I looked into what our names meant (jennifer means white fay) so I went looking into fairy names, combining her name with my middle name, I liked parts but most were like Moonbeam Butterfly and so forth.

Names we've thought of so far:

Pedals and Emeralds
Pedals
Ivory
Strings and Ivory
Strings of Ivory
Ivory Lilly
Stem of Thorns
Green Winter
White Spring
Lilly Fay
Organic Binary Code
maybe... Green Winter/White Spring

So were trying to do something that reflects the style of our music which is 1-2 voices, piano, 1-2 guitars and percussion. I was born in May so the Lilly and spring and green and strings are me while the Ivory, Fay, White belong to Jen.

Any thoughts out there in the virtual world?

thanks! :)

Presentation I Found on www.slideshare.net

http://www.slideshare.net/mcintyrekm/the-five-objects-that-tell-my-story-by-katie-mcintyre 

Sound Painting Dance

Check out how sound waves can be used to directly create visual images! Enjoy!
(oh yeah they're posted under Lesson Plans)

Lovin' Music III: Erik Hassle

I've been thinking about learning this song for a month now; how to turn it into Indie Folk.

Maybe I just found the answer to my own question, look below, a step for sure...

It's incredible what's out there!

In 25 Years What Fit In a Cell Phone Will Fit in a Blood Cell

Thanks so much to my colleague Tiana Lynn for posting this on her wonderful blog and sharing it with our ECMP 355 class. This video has a lot to say about where were headed, I think the future will be amazing!

And check out her blog, it's so well done!

http://fleischt.posterous.com/

Lovin' Music II

This so rocks!!!

Lovin' Music: The Limosines

This song is such a blast! Had to post it! How can't you start singing and dancing hearing this song?

"Don't bother telling them that drum machine ain't got no soul!"

Is Blogging Problematic? Continued

I not saying get rid of technology either (I love it and probably embrace to be honest), but just want to balance it with human interaction, a couple of live conversations (roommates, a waitress friend from Triffons, a phone call, another live conversation about Dollhouse and how it relates to God) and it's all good! Feelin' much better about technology now that there's a bit more balance back into my day.

Here's a video that just shows how hard it is for us to interact with one another, although embracing a stranger can be hard for sure.

Is Blogging Problematic?

So my best friend this semester has become my MacBookPro, but no she doesn't have a name other than my little princess. She can be a little particular at times. The point I am making is that almost all my interaction with people in the last month has been through a computer. I actually wish our class (as nice as it is to just drop by online) would involve getting together physically. I see all these pictures and typed words of people I will likely never meet and I find that a bit, sad to say disappointing. I have found myself constantly checking Facebook status, Twitter status, my blog, your blog, and on and on. Is this a good thing?

Revamped Design of My Blog

So after seeing how great everyone else's blog looked I decided I better step mine up and make it more clear, straight forward and look a less "like the MySpace page of a thirteen year old girl" to quote Howard from the Big Bang Theory, (haha). Give me your thoughts, I like the design much better and far more reflective of who I am.

More effort in blogging and commenting

So this is my goal for the week, to comment on at least two of my colleagues blogs a day, and write on of my own (hopefully) if I have something to say that is. So expect me dropping by (finally) and saying hello on your blog. It's so interesting reading everyone's thoughts and opinions and exploring all the tidbits of stuff out there, kind of like trying various samples at fine restaurant. Good luck to everyone on their final project. If you'd like, feel free to drop by and give your thoughts on mine.

Topics I Discovered or Further Explored Due to ECMP 355

So I thought I would compile a list of things I have worked with in this class and will add to it as I remember.

GarageBand
iPhoto
iMovie
slideshare
blogger
wordpress
youtube
Google Reader
Google Chrome

Home

Just thought I would make a fun representation of our family farm. My first experience with iMovie. Hope everyone enjoys it! :)

Our New York Class Trip (Using GarageBand and iphoto)

So the music you are hearing is two songs I wrote and recorded on GarageBand. I am performing all the vocals and instruments. These songs will eventually feature the female vocals of my friend and duet partner Jennifer Yim-Rodier, she has a gorgeous voice! The title of the first song is "please." I am not sure what title to give the second, any thoughts? Would love to hear your opinions.

Adding a Widget

The music to this video is hilarious!

My Journey of Networking

I suppose I am somewhere on my way in this area, how vague is that huh. I really don't know where I exactly on the networking spectrum. I'm on Facebook and MySpace, and just recently joined Twitter and Flickr. I know many people in the arts, especially the field of music which is my focus. I  don't really know how many of these people regularly blog, I can't see to many of my musician friends doing this, their time is more spent on practicing. It's pretty likely that many of the famous musicians have people blogging and talking on Twitter for them, there simply isn't that kind of time.
Five people that I know and network with, (for me so much of this still is on a personal level rather than through blogs and such. Most of my connections are on Facebook. However, I have made a few through MySpace.
Jennifer Yim-Rodier (we have recently, three weeks, started a vocal/guitar/piano duet). Connections are more personal, texting for example.
Deidre Baird (she was my professor last term and supervising teacher during my Pre-Internship at Campbell. I stay in touch with her mainly through Gmail.
Sam Minevich (excellent guitarist, son of Ed Minevich, 1st violin in RSO), connection with him is on texting basis.
Sarena Paton, I met her on MySpace, see http://www.myspace.com/sarenapaton
She's a classical vocalist, very good as well. Also added to my Facebook account. I really don't keep in contact very much though.
And of course Leah and Riley from our 355 class. Obviously we go to school together, have music in common and are friends. Leah and I pre-interned together at Campbell this passed semester and taught the choir as well as Visual Art and drama. Connection is mainly texting. Riley and I haven't had class together this Fall/Winter but have kept in touch via Facebook.
One other person I could mention is Jeff Straker. Connection is via Facebook. Always nice to hear what someone from back home (Wynyard/Wishart area) is up to. http://jeffstraker.com/

Fun Video about garage Band

Love this video, dude is boarding and taking about GarageBand! HAHA!

Garage Band

So this past week and a half has been GarageBand. I have been able to record two songs (both of which I am still working on posting to my blog. This program is extremely exciting, and user friendly, but most importantly accurate in terms of musical clarity and presence. 

In my experience GarageBand allows the user to get as near to professional studio quality sound without going to an actual recording studio as possible. In fact I have done some recording in studios and would say that in certain cases GB is better! 

The advantage this program offers your music students is the opportunity to gain recording experience without spending large amounts of money. They can develop their own knowledge about pitch, volume, and so forth long prior to entering an actual recording studio and therefore be well prepared for the challenges that face them when creating their own project. 

And as technology becomes more and more a part of our daily lives (at least in regards to music) it is important to be reasonably aware of the opportunities it presents to you and your students. They will be entering into a world even more advanced then our generation and we should at give them the opportunity to develop an awareness about it. That's all for now! Cheers everyone :) 

Want more info? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GarageBand 

Wordpress and uploading music

So after spending about an hour playing with Blogger and Wordpress with regards to music files the verdict is no on Wordpress, they want $20 to add this feature to my blog for one year, not worth it at this point. However I am gonna spend some more time with Blogger as there seem to be ways around this problem either through links or other sites that host your music files.

The following into was taken from Wordpress.com and talks about the space upgrade.

"The Space Upgrade gives you an additional 5, 15, 25, 50, or 100 gigabytes of storage space, and allows you to upload music in addition to images. You cannot upload audio files or music without the space upgrade.

To upload and embed videos directly onto your blog, you need to purchaseVideoPress. The new policy is active since May 6, 2009. All video blogs with active space upgrade before or on May 6, 2009 automatically received a 1-year free VideoPress subscription."

Blogs, Library, and Information Overload

I haven't found setting up my blog all that difficult, I found it kind of fun. It's kind of like creating art in the virtual world, at least setting up the background design of the blog as a whole. I wondering if anyone can tell me how blogger can be used to set up my portfolio.
Sometimes though, I wonder, does the world really need another blog? What are your thoughts?
I really do see the value that commenting on one another as Dean mentioned in Session #1 as a great method of improving on ourselves.
I think people have information overload online because there is a social stigma attached to a lack of online familiarity and ability, being book friendly in the library is not. Also the library is simple and been around forever. Most people are familiar with books and reading. Need a book? Go to the librarian, an actual human being and ask for help, very simple and efficient. Not so with the Internet. Easy to get lost online. People unfamiliar with it don't know where to look or go for help. Agree or disagree?

A New Day

Finally, getting a chance to work on my ECMP 355 class. I agree with Dean that we need to make our student's work feel like it matters, that it is important, and not just something we do then throw it on a shelf to collect dust.

I consider myself reasonably technological literate. Seems to a necessity in the world of music and education today. As a musician, I am of course on MySpace and Facebook and use musical software such as GarageBand quite regularly. The Internet is an extremely valuabe tool for the worldwide distribution of music and video and has enabled the layperson easy access to fundamental tools necessary for personal success.

As far as education goes, the quick access to information has made teaching significantly easier in my opinion. I can go online and within a minute be learning virtually any song. This has provided me with a more relaxing teaching atmosphere for both myself and my students. As far as technologies such as Youtube, Facebook, and so forth, they are both good and bad. If used properly and thoughtfully they can be a wonderful device for education and community interaction. Unfortunately, it can also be used for hurting others, as is seen time and again with cyberbullying.

Through this course I hope to develop a greater awareness as to the resources that are available online and just basically grow in my awareness of our online presence.
Best to everyone in ECMP 355! :)