Podcast

As I was searching for podcasts and music education, I was happily surprised to find quite a few. I am very interested in using podcasts with my students because of how my class is constructed. Since my students are learning about music, especially singing, it is not always feasible to have them work on their own or in small groups without my help. When I am lucky, I have students who can play piano and read music which helps in group work or sectionals as we call them in music classes. It is also hard, if not impossible for students to practice their music at home for the same reasons they can’t do sectionals without me. Podcasts would be helpful and more time efficient. The way my students currently work on their own is through CD’s that I burn for each student. These have the accompaniment music on it and my voice singing as well. This is very time consuming when I have over 100 to make multiple times a year. With a podcast I can record all of the songs and put them on a podcast that my students can go to during practice time in class and practice time at home. They can listen to it on their iPod, iPhone, iPad or computer. For those students who do not have this advantage, I can still make CD copies. If my students use this technology it will not only enhance their music ability but also that of the choir. I came across several podcasts that were very interesting and gave me more ideas than the one I already mentioned. Music Teacher 911, http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/musicteachers911-music-teacher/id283152175 is a podcast on iTunes made by a former music teacher. He has many topics that all have to do with music and has guest speakers on as well. I have not listened to all of them but I am impressed with what I have heard. Another podcast that I came across is Dr. Frankel’s Podcast Page. .http://fams.podomatic.com/ Most of these podcasts are from presentations he makes on podcasting and technology in the music classroom. One other cool website I came across is called Rock Our World. This takes podcasting to a whole new level. In this podcast a song is composed by students from all over the world. It starts in one country with one track, like the drums and then it continues to the next group who might add vocals. I think I need to get my choir involved in this project. http://www.rockourworld.org/ I do not believe it would be very costly to make podcasts. There are a variety of software programs available including Audacity, Garageband, and Podguide Generator. Though we have lots of microphones available at my school we may need to purchase one or two specifically for podcast use. These could run anywhere from $10.00 and up. Creating podcasts from myself and my students is something I am very excited about.