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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! :)