Honda Choir Videos

I posted just two examples of the Honda choir YouTube videos. The original, of course, is genius. What's cool about YouTube, then, is that you can find NUMEROUS spoofs of this same video. YouTube gave a ton of people the opportunity to put their creative efforts to use and create variations of something cool. IN FACT, can something like this be used for a theme and variation lesson? I'll have to think about that some more..........

Honda Choir Spoof

Then of course, someone had to create another one!

Honda Choir

Check out all the sound effects that this choir makes vocally. Completely cool!

Blog for the kiddies...

Well, I must admit, this blog world is a lot bigger than I thought it was. There is a lot out there and excited to be a part of it now. This is certainly something I never thought of using to communicate with my students and their parents. I always kind of wanted a website, but never knew how to create one, even through the school website, and thought it would be too difficult and take too long to be worth it. If I use a blog, though, it's SO EASY! Plus, many of my older students will already know how to navigate through a blog.

Since I teach K-5 general music, I think my blog use will mostly be for communicating with parents. I'll be able to post things like calendar items, information on our programs (and maybe even requests for help for said programs!), and opportunities to see and hear music outside of school. I have to keep thinking about things I will want to communicate to my older students (3rd-5th?) through a blog. I think they would really get a kick out of it, and that could draw them into the program even further, so I have to come up with some really worthwhile reasons for THEM to check in on the blog.

I subscribed to some other music ed. and tech. blogs out there, and they look like great sources of information and support. I can't wait to start exploring those posts, but the amount of information to sort through is overwhelming at the moment. I will get better at this, I am sure!

Welcome!

My name is Bre and this is my first attempt at a blog. I have taught elementary music for two years now in the Chicago area, and I have just started work on my Master's Degree in Music Education. One of my classes is geared toward the use of technology for teaching music, and I'm already amazed at how much is out there that I'm not using yet. We have been asked to create a blog for this class, so here it is. I'm excited about being able to ramble about my thoughts on music education, and I'd love to hear your comments. There is so much to learn in this field, and I am eager to soak up new ideas, especially regarding using technology in the general music classroom. I'm sure I will soon have some real musings to post, and I'll be on the lookout for your comments. Thanks for checking in, and please come back soon!