in Close

To close my blog at the end of this semester – my first semester at NYU as a graduate student, I have to say - thanks for being patient with me as I adapted to commuting, dealing with horrible train schedules, and especially coping with the unfamiliar territory of electronic devices, computers, and software. I have learned so much this semester through this class. Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, Actionscript, Fetch…etc. All of which I had never used before. I guess it was probably frustrating for most of you also dealing with my strange questions – did she REALLY just ask that?! Doesn’t she know that by now?! Omgoodness…. – but seriously, this was all entirely new. In observing other final projects, viewing blogs, and reading websites I enjoyed how Danby “sweetrain” added lots of photographs and other things to her website which made it more accessible for friends and family rather then just being in a performance format for clarinet, although she did include a button for that also. Youngju definitely had the most professional looking “profile” or portfolio looking – page, until the clip from youtube loaded, then I just laughed, very educational and informative with links to important websites. I had trouble getting some of the web pages to load – perhaps just my computer? I read through some blogs and found that most people had used a mix of personal stories and interesting materials with educational posts from news or research that they had discovered and found interesting. Jessica’s blog was the one which used a little different color scheme then the rest of us – why does everyone else seem to be stuck on blue and green? Myself included…anyway. And she discussed rice milk in one of her posts, which was random and something I haven’t tried in a while. Perhaps I’m just hungry. To close, thank you all very much for a wonderful class in which I learned so very much. I will not abandon this skills but continue using dreamweaver (especially) and flash to create a website for my private violin students in hopes that they will become more organized and prompt at practicing and attending lessons – yeah right. Cheers!

Accomplishments

Evaluate this course in the context of your own progress and development and speculate on what you might do to further your learning and understanding of technology in performing arts or music education, and how it might apply to your future teaching or art/music making: The strongest feature of this class was the flexibility and student centered learning experience that allowed for a wide range of students with varying abilities and backgrounds in web design to be combined into one class and still learn and a relatively consistent pace. For example, I had never used photoshop – the simple photo editing program – because I was not priviledged enough as a child to have computer or internet available to me at home or at school. I learned computer skills and typing later and don’t have as much experience with any of that. Through this class I was able to learn all of those programs at a basic, yet complex level rather quickly with the patient and careful instruction of the professors. Really – somehow I learned basic skills in photoshop, flash, dreamweaver, fetch, etc in one semester!!!

Violinist.com - so much more then a discussion board.

As I haven't been to the website violinist.com in many months, I thought I would post the link in hopes of remembering it more often in the future for reference as it is a good gathering place of sorts for many people I know to keep in touch and share stories, thoughts, and information. It has grown quite a bit since the beginning days when the people who started the site actually acknowledged me in a post (awww http://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/20043/1134/) to this huge amazing site with links, promotions, and advertising for teachers and luthiers, etc.

http://www.violinist.com/index.cfm

Someone emailed this link to me from the site which prompted my visit this evening - they were teasing me of course, about my happening to play the violin and the viola ....
http://www.violinist.com/blog/stringsbyhope/20074/6821/


Enjoy!

Some interesting observations

Creating my webpage has been quite an adventure (?!) perhaps that is one way to put it. Previous experience with creating web based materials has been limited to changing color backgrounds on the blog - ooooooo yay. Seriously, most people, especially now, grew up with internet, computers, other such electronic devices (television, video games, computers, etc) I did not. So although I have a computer now and use the internet frequently (for checking email and uploading photographs to share with friends) I do not actually spend hours browsing the web for leisure, wandering around myspace, or browsing on youtube. I could probably count the amount of times I have actually ventured onto the youtube website on one hand. It isn't that I have a dislike for use of the internet, because yes, I have used it for ordering violin strings and last minute history class listening test studying...but I have no time, nor do I enjoy spending massive amounts of time glued to my laptop. Perhaps I grew up in a rare age or place where books and violin dominated anything and everything I do, which has seemed to form my habits, reservations, and internet fluidity at this moment. Right now I am attempting to upload and create my website in the form of a simple "visual resume" with information directly pertinent to a potential employer, rather for an exciting web experience full of visual stimulation and a form of entertainment. The purpose of the "visual resume" is to convey and contain information which would be found on a resume in a slightly more improved way which will support the various learning modalities. If a potential employer is more comfortable learning in a visual, kinesthetic, or auditory way those behaviors will carry over into the way that that person also wishes to obtain information. My website is designed to have the necessary information needed and present it in several different ways via a resume, photographs, biography, and sound bits directly relative to my work done in the field of music, violin, and music education. I was going to include some of the work I did on flash this semester, which both did and did not have anything to do with a "visual resume" theme, I decided to not include any of that work on my pages for a simple reason. Although many public businesses and large corporations have fantastically quick internet, the field of music education - especially the district within which I work has incredibly slow internet. In order to better facilitate the needs of possible employers within the demographic, location, and constraints of which I wish to communicate and promote my website is better serving my needs and my abilities as a web designer as being simple yet complex and straight to the point.

Pearls before Breakfast - ignorance or bliss...

Pearls Before Breakfast
Can one of the nation's great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let's find out.
By Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007; Page W10

HE EMERGED FROM THE METRO AT THE L'ENFANT PLAZA STATION AND POSITIONED HIMSELF AGAINST A WALL BESIDE A TRASH BASKET. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play.

Click below for the remainder of the article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

Makes me rather curious how many musicians I have passed without regard or listening for one brief second...

Thoughts about flash...

Flash as a tool for music education can provide excellent online tutorials or organization for students in classrooms – easily adding materials to a website to help students document homework, keep recitals and performance dates accessible, and recordings to support home or rehearsal practices. As far as the web authoring aspect of developing web materials that support music education, both in the classroom and in private studio situations, having the knowledge of flash, dreamweaver, etc will enhance the learning experience. Online resources will benefit active parents as well, be able to create a jukebox or by adding sound files to a well developed studio website for the private teacher, will allow parents to listen to and download recordings from recent recitals.

Broken Myths Exposed

How to, and how to NOT attend a concert....

"Excuses heard in dark alleys…

"But I don't own a tuxedo!"
"I don't know enough - I'm not an EXPERT."
"But I'm not rich. Aren't orchestra concerts only for the upper-crust?"

Allow us to clear some things up. We want you to know you are welcome and appreciated at every concert. Your experience is important to us, even if symphonic music is new to you.

Myth: You have to get "all dressed up" to attend a concert.

Reality: We think people enjoy concerts most when they are comfortable. Formal attire is Not required at Orchestra concerts. You'll see concert goers in suits, vests, sweaters, skirts, khakis, slacks,… everything!

Myth: Only the "Experts" can truly appreciate great music.

Reality: There are no Experts! Everyone experiences music in a very personal way and no two people will have identical reactions. Though some people choose to study music as a hobby or profession, we believe their opinion is just as important and valid as yours.

Myth: Serious concerts are only for the rich or well-heeled.

Reality: Great music attracts people from all walks of life. True, Orchestra audiences are a discerning group who appreciate the best in music. The Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes audience is diverse and welcoming to all."


and more at http://www.osfl.org/Plan.htm

Interactive arts to replace traveling to rehearsals?

Back when I started teaching violin, and once when I moved far away and left my second violin teacher, I had or taught lessons via the telephone. Not long ones of course, we used the phone on speaker phone and I would listen to my student play a troubling passage or listen for specific notes and answer questions. Never thought much about it at the time, this was about ten years ago. Somehow it never occurred to me then that technology would advance enough to easily allow an interactive arts performance or rehearsal. Recently my friend and I, who have to perform Kodaly duet for violin and cello in May, were joking and stressing out about a lack of rehearsal time since we live about five hours away from each other and are always busy with school, work, and personal practice to travel that distance more often the once a month. We said we should have rehearsals via the internet using some chat program with video and sound. We were laughing and agreed that it would cut down on the fighting and arguing that has a tendency to arise after a maddened rehearsing day during one of our brief opportunities to practice and visit. We end up over practicing at all hours of the day and night, and accomplish less then we should, just because of time constraints.

In research class this evening our professor brought up the reality of interactive arts actually being put to use. All joking aside, I actually did not know that NYU regularly supports these programs and performances as a part of an "interensemble" sort of group where two separate performances happen simltaniously in two different parts of the world.

Please see the NYU bulletin below.
http://www.nyu.edu/public.affairs/releases/detail/330

How will this change and evolve? Will people really have the technology to support an interactive rehearsal or performance through the internet in their homes on personal computers? How will this change the "traditional" classical rehearsal? What negative effects might it contribute over the long term.

Ok. Very frustrating. Usually I can figure out websites, but I had problems with blogger in the past, which is why I don't usually use it. Everytime I try to add links to the other blogs it gives me an error message, only doesn't tell me what the error is....

this is still uncomfortable.

It’s hard to believe that January is already past. In the mood of improvisation, I had the opportunity to work for the MENC CJME regional auditions (orchestral – full) in the district of South Plainfield all day on Saturday. Although the room I was monitoring was supposed to be containing violin sight reading, there was a lot of unintentional improvisation with random rhythms, key signatures, and notes. Because the auditions were supposed to be blind auditions it was very interesting because I was able to tally and record the scores (so that the scores were recorded both by judges and totaled twice to prevent error) and watch/interact the students before and during the auditions. The judges would be deliberating and use gender/age/grade/nationality terms when they assumed a student fit a particular category. The times when the judges were wrong about one of those was most of the time. They would be assuming a certain gender while discussing and referring to the student as “she” or “he”, when often it was the exact opposite. It was interesting to observe the stereotypes and decisions the judges made based on the blind auditions. Obviously I did not communicate about the actual students until after. The Judges asked my opinion overall and I commented on how it was interesting to hear their comments while having the opportunity to watch the students. The judging rubric did not include a category for tone quality which is something that proved to be lacking, which I will remember to include for orchestra seating, etc. auditions in the future for my private studio or public school setting. I was able to see the students whom came from certain teachers/school districts by their registration papers. It was interesting also to observe particular traits good and bad, which followed the students as a result of teaching and influence of their teachers/conductors, etc. The teachers who were judges and helpers used this meeting of many MENC members and teachers to network, which is something that I did not realize would happen and next time will be prepared with business cards. On a completely different note, there is a new Finale “notepad” designed for mac which is available for download on the website for the 2007 version. I took a class in undergrad for finale but do not own it myself on my home computer. I am curious what other students reactions with this program are. The online reviews are not quite helpful, perhaps more detailed ones will be posted in the future. Might review it after I have more time to try the program out.

biased frustrations --> misconceptions?

I think I definitely misrepresented the concept of web 2.0 in my own mind which reflected negatively in my previous entry. Rather than dwelling on the activity of humanist sharing and communication in a positive light, I brought up personal experiences that appear to be on the forefront of 2.0, which will only prove to be not on the forefront of this new web concept, but on the end of the previous generation of internet usage. There are so many resources and possibilities for sharing and communicating, learning, educating, etc. that the technological aspect of what each company or organization online is prepared for or supports on a site at this moment can only expand. Amidst my personal frustrations at what might take me a few more minutes to accomplish, actually saves me so much time, comparatively to accomplishing the same task of submitting applications in previous years. The fantastic ability of simple searches on youtube.com provide videos of orchestras, solo performances, and chamber concerts or rehearsals that can serve to give a glimpse of something beyond original CAI development into what we are becoming so used to today.

first post

In discussing this new method of access and thought of the internet and its resources as available to the general public and presented as a concept combined into music education and technology. It seems as if this will both further studies, resources, and change awareness with internet possibilities. This new technology also makes some things harder, for example trying to register for teaching certificates or testing. The "simple" application/forms" can be submitted online, but because the system is now biased towards those registering online it slows down the process for those who must submit supplemented applications. Sadly frustrating, one can only hope that this process will improve rapidly. Just a few thoughts to begin with.