Getting Young Performers to Compose, Putting the E in Ensemble (and Much more), with Alex Shapiro

A few weeks back, I wrote and podcasted about getting my general music classes to compose, make beats, write, and remix songs this past school year. Read and listen to that here.

I am thrilled to report that I also got my band students to compose for the first time this past year, with very good results. I used composer Alex Shapiro’s Putting the E in Ensemble curriculum (linked below). I am so inspired by her music, approach to composition, and general awesomeness that I invited her on my podcast. The conversation was an inspiration and a delight.

Listen to the episode and follow my podcast below. Keep scrolling through this post to see photos of Alex’s amazing recording space and to listen to some examples of my student’s compositions that resulted from using this curriculum.

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Episode Description: Composer Alex Shapiro joins the show to talk about getting young students to compose, the importance of composing repertoire for young musicians, writing electro-acoustic music, Putting the E in Ensemble, future tech, and her amazing studio space. Join Patreon for extended conversation about technology and overcoming blocks in the creative process.

Putting the E in Ensemble Links

Curriculum: – https://www.alexshapiro.org/Shapiro-E-ensemble_Syllabus.html

Wind Band music: – https://www.alexshapiro.org/ASWindBand.html

Show Notes:

The Great Hack – Netflix

The Social Dilemma

Christopher Cicconi appearance on Music Ed Tech Talk

Off the Edge – Alex Shapiro

Tight Squeeze – Alex Shapiro

Rock Music – Alex Shapiro

Count to Ten – Alex Shapiro

Toothpaste privacy Tweet thread

Apple WWDC 2021

My Scale Play-Along Tracks

App of the Week:
Robby – Magnet
Alex – Two Dots / SpellTower

Album of the Week:
Robby – Sarah Jarosz – Blue Heron Suite
Alex – O Seguinte é Esse / Howling, featuring RY X and Frank Wiedemann: Sacred Ground

Tech Tip of the Week:
Robby – Try widgets!
Alex – Back up your stuff! / Don’t get the latest version only to have paid to get the latest bugs!

Where to Find Us:
Robby – Twitter | Blog | Book
Alex Shapiro – Twitter | Website

Please don’t forget to rate the show and share it with others!

Examples of student work

Alex’s studio space

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Music Ed Tech Conference, July 2021. Register now!

MusicFirst is putting on a Music Ed Tech Conference this summer. I strongly encourage you to check it out. It is completely free! There are a lot of great speakers including myself and past guest, Richard McCready.

Victor Wooten and Dr. Jeffrey A. Murdock are keynote speakers.

Click the link below to learn more and register.

Music Ed Tech Conference:

We are thrilled to announce the 2021 Music Ed Tech Conference: Renew, Refresh, Rebuild! This event is a completely free virtual conference held on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. It is open to all music teachers and features an incredible line-up of music educators from a wide variety of backgrounds, including two keynote speakers: Dr. Jeffrey A. Murdock (2021 GRAMMY™ Music Educator of the Year) and Victor Wooten (bassist and founding member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones). Attendees will be able to attend breakout sessions focusing on specific content areas and strategies for using technology to strengthen and rebuild music programs in the 2021-22 school year and beyond.

My session is called What Do We Keep? I am going to talk about which technological practices from the past year are worth integrating into the future of teaching.

I pushed my tech to the fringes last school year, and I think it is worth investigating what new ideas are worth keeping, which should be quickly discarded, and which have the power to transform classroom environments. I will be talking about my experience through the lens of both traditional performance ensemble teaching and the general music classroom where kids are making music, crafting beats, and covering various styles of music. Click the link below to read more.

Robby Burns — Music Ed Tech Conference:

WHAT DO WE KEEP?
2:05 – 2:50 PM EST, July 20, 2021
Join band and general music teacher, Robby Burns, to reflect on which digital teaching practices are worth integrating into the new year. Find out how he has pushed his technology to the complete limits, using advanced organization tools and automations to speed up his logistical work, as well as digital collaboration tools to create rich and engaging assessments online.

Profiles in Teaching with Technology Podcast | S3 E20: Robby Burns

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I am pleased to be a guest on the MusicFirst podcast, Profiles in Teaching with Technology, this week.

I had a great conversation with Dr. Jim Frankle. We talked about my journey into music ed, catching an interest in technology, tips for teachers who are apprehensive about tech, what my school’s music program looks like (normally and during the past year). and my favorite uses for technology in the classroom.

Check it out below and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

MusicFirst – Profiles in Teaching with Technology · MusicFirst: Profiles in Teaching with Technology – S3 E20 – Robby Burns

Support Music Ed Tech Talk on Patreon!

As you can imagine, running a blog and podcast isn’t free. Costs of tools and hosting fees are monthly investments, not to mention the countless hours it takes to edit, publish, find guests, and other logistics.

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        <div class="image-caption"><p class="">Backstage Access patrons get access to an early-access podcast feed with bonus discussion. Ooooooh…. look at that pretty alternate artwork.</p></div>
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As public school teaching and private teaching are already far greater responsibilities in my life, this site has remained largely a hobby project to share the tools and strategies that help me manage my actual job, which is performing and teaching.

This past year, COVID forced me to be home more often and I felt a great need to share more of my experience with technology during a year where people needed it. I bumped up my average publishing to two episodes a month and a few blog posts.

I’d like to maintain that pace into the future and continue to produce deep, high quality content, that helps both teachers who are new to technology and those who are looking for more out of it.

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Watch my Patreon Welcome Video.

For this reason, I’d like to ask for your support! I have four tiers you can choose from, and all of them have perks.

Click here to check out my Patreon page and show your support.

Become a Patron!https://c6.patreon.com/becomePatronButton.bundle.js

All supporters get a video update once a month which is kind of like an extended version of the Tech Tip/Apps/Albums of the week segments of my podcast. All supporters also get invited to the Music Ed Tech Talk Discord community. All you need is a Discord account and then you can join other patrons and guests to talk about tech, music, pedagogy, lesson ideas, hardware, tech support, and more.

There has already been some lively discussion there. I hope you will join in on the fun!

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If you’d like to support, but not monthly, see my Buy Me a Coffee page. If you have something to promote, you can also sponsor the show.

I am looking forward to many more blog posts and podcast episodes, and to connecting with you online.

Become a Patron!https://c6.patreon.com/becomePatronButton.bundle.js.bmc-button img{height: 34px !important;width: 35px !important;margin-bottom: 1px !important;box-shadow: none !important;border: none !important;vertical-align: middle !important;}.bmc-button{padding: 7px 15px 7px 10px !important;line-height: 35px !important;height:51px !important;text-decoration: none !important;display:inline-flex !important;color:#ffffff !important;background-color:#000000 !important;border-radius: 5px !important;border: 1px solid transparent !important;padding: 7px 15px 7px 10px !important;font-size: 20px !important;letter-spacing:0.6px !important;box-shadow: 0px 1px 2px rgba(190, 190, 190, 0.5) !important;-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 1px 2px 2px rgba(190, 190, 190, 0.5) !important;margin: 0 auto !important;font-family:’Arial’, cursive !important;-webkit-box-sizing: border-box !important;box-sizing: border-box !important;}.bmc-button:hover, .bmc-button:active, .bmc-button:focus {-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 1px 2px 2px rgba(190, 190, 190, 0.5) !important;text-decoration: none !important;box-shadow: 0px 1px 2px 2px rgba(190, 190, 190, 0.5) !important;opacity: 0.85 !important;color:#ffffff !important;}Buy me a coffee

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New Software Coming from Apple (And What You Can Do With It)

Its been a busy few weeks as I have been wrapping up the end of a tough school year. While I am late to getting this week’s podcast episode out, I have been working on this site and have a bunch of content to share in the coming week.

I managed to sneak in enough time during the last week of school to watch Apple’s WWDC Keynote and to talk about it on Music Ed Tech Talk with Craig McClellan (cohost of my other podcast, The Class Nerd).

It was an opportunity to take a nice break from the challenging end-of-year procedures, and to think about how Apple’s fall software updates will impact how I get work done in the classroom. Listen below.

Support Music Ed Tech Talk

Become a Patron!

Subscribe to the Blog…
RSS | Email Newsletter

Subscribe to the Podcast in…
Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

Robby and Craig break down the announcements from Apple’s Word Wide Developer Conference and discuss how teachers might use the upcoming features to their latest software updates.

Show Notes:

Album of the Week:
Robby – Bones by Michael Mayo
Craig McClellan – Sour by Olivia Rodrigo

App of the Week:
Robby – Timery for the Mac
Craig McClellan – Music Harbor

Tech Tip of the Week:
Robby – Transpose Chrome Extension
Craig McClellan – Feedbin

Where to Find Us:
Robby – Twitter | Blog | Book
Craig McClellan – Twitter

Please don’t forget to rate the show and share it with others!

App of the Week: Timery for Mac

I started time tracking around this time last year as a way to see how long I was spending on making virtual ensemble videos and other creative projects I was pursuing in my personal life.

Toggl is absolutely the tool for this job, and Timery is the best Toggl experience on iOS.

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        <div class="image-caption"><p class="">Using Apple’s Catalyst technology, Timery for Mac is built off of the iPad experience, with tweaks that make it adhere to macOS standards.</p></div>
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The hardest thing about time tracking is remembering to start and stop the timers. Because Timery has such a user-friendly design, it becomes way easier to trigger timers. Support for always-visible iOS widgets and support for Shortcuts make the experience even more frictionless.

The app is now available for the Mac using Apple’s Catalyst technology which I have recently taken about on my podcast (listen and subscribe below). forScore for the Mac is also made using this technology.

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        <div class="image-caption"><p class="">A TImery widget on iOS can be fixed to your Homescreen where you can see which timers are running and quickly launch the ones you need most.</p></div>
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I enjoy using the same apps for doing things across platforms. Timery is no exception. And because the Timery app takes advantage of macOS platform norms (like putting all of its commands in the menu bar), you can do cool things like automating it with Keyboard Maestro.

The only reason I might continue to stick with the standard Toggl app on Mac is because it does even more to take advantage of the system. For example, you can pin the window so it stays permanently visible on the screen no matter how many other windows you have open. It can also detect when your keyboard and mouse aren’t in use and offer to backdate the time you were idle (or working) based on your computer activity.

If you want to learn more, check our the MacStories review, linked below with a quote:

Timery Comes to the Mac and Makes Time Tracking With Toggl Easier Than Ever — MacStories:

I’d still like to see reports added to Timery in the future, but I’m glad the Mac was addressed first. Time tracking is the sort of activity that needs to exist everywhere to be most effective. I’ve spent the past couple of years using Toggl’s Mac app, which has improved dramatically in that time, but I’m glad that I can now learn one set of keyboard commands and use them across both the iPad and Mac. If the lack of a Mac version of Timery was holding you back, now is a perfect time to give the app a try.

3 Soundtrap Projects Your Students Will Love

Listen to the podcast episode and subscribe below!

Subscribe to the Podcast in… Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

This is the first year that I have had consistent access to a cloud-based DAW and notation editor with all of my students. The result of this experience has been dozens of new Soundtrap project ideas. I plan to do an episode and post about how I am using these tools for composition projects in the band classroom later this year.

In the episode above, and in this post, I give an overview of three of my most successful Soundtrap projects this year. These projects can be done in any digital audio workstation, including Bandlab, GarageBand, Logic, Ableton Live, etc.

Listen to the episode for a more thorough explanation of each idea.

C Melody and Loop Audition

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        <div class="image-caption"><p class="">Melody writing in Noteflight and producing in Soundtrap go hand in hand. Because of Noteflight’s many export options, you have many ways to get your melody out of Noteflight and into your Soundtrap project.</p></div>
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After giving students some time to experience the user interface of Soundtrap, I have them write a short, 8 measure long, melody in the key of C using Noteflight.

Next, I have them export this melody as a MIDI file and then import it into a track in Soundtrap. Next, I have them add three more tracks and create an accompaniment for their melody using at least one of the three loop types.

Bass
Percussion
Harmonic (guitar, synth, piano, etc.)

Here is a recent submission of this project one of my students made. This assignment was submitted later in the semester when we had expanded the project into composing two alternating melodies which became the basis of a song-form in Soundtrap. By alternating between both melodies (and varying the loop accompaniment) the student made a song that follows the form: Verse—Chorus—Verse—Chorus—Bridge—Chorus. This particular student chose to improvise the blues scale over the bridge.

Row Your Boat Multi-Track

This idea was taken from the amazing Middle School Music Technology class content in MusicFirst. I recommend checking out their subscription options if you like this idea. MusicFirst combines the activity with curated YouTube and Spotify playlists that give students an idea about early recording studio practices for multi-track recording before music was produced digitally.

I am giving an overview of this project with permission from MusicFirst. Full Disclosure: MusicFirst is a past sponsor of the Music Ed Tech Talk blog and podcast.

To start, the student performs the song Row Row Row Your Boat into a software instrument track in Soundtrap. After it is recorded, they quantize it to the nearest 1/8th or 1/16th note so that it is rhythmically accurate.

Next, they duplicate this track two times. Using the piano roll to edit the MIDI content of each loop, students select all notes and drag them higher to create harmony. I have them move the second track a third higher and the next track a fifth higher so that they get a nice three-part voicing.

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        <div class="image-caption"><p class="">After multi-tracking the melody of Row Row Row Your Boat, this student moved the starting point of each region to create a round.</p></div>
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Next, I have them move any notes that land on black keys as a result down to the nearest white key so that every note of each voice is in the key of C.

Next, I have them duplicate these three tracks and transpose them up an octave. Next, I have them take the lowest voice and transpose it down three octaves to add some bass. You can have students make the final result as dense as you like.

Optionally, students can experiment with using different instrument sounds and adding groove-based loop accompaniment.

Here are three recent examples of my student’s submissions:

All-Star Remix

In this assignment, I take a popular song that students choose and separate the voice from the instrumental accompaniment. Then I add it to an audio track in a Soundtrap template and match the tempo and key of the Soundtrap project to the vocal track.

This way, students can drag and drop loops and have them match the pitch and tempo content of the vocals.

I have a post with more details about this project here.

You can watch a video of how to do it below.

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Here are two examples of my own student’s recent work:

For a Soundtrap project idea for teaching band/choir/orchestra students to compose, check out the podcast episode and blog post below:

Getting Performing Arts Students to Compose

Episode Info

See below for all notes associated with the podcast episode…

Description

Robby overviews his three most successful Soundtrap projects in 2021.

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Intro
00:00:14 – Sponsor: DMV Percussion Academy
00:01:24 – About this Episode
00:03:51 – YAY SUMMER
00:05:11 – 1: Melody Composition / Loop Accompaniment
00:14:35 – 1: Student Examples
00:16:15 – 2: Row Your Boat Multi-Track
00:22:19 – 2: Student Examples
00:24:27 – 3: All-Star Remix
00:34:38 – 3: Student Examples
00:36:00 – Grading for Mastery Not Creativity
00:37:47 – Tech Tip of the Week
00:39:20 – App of the Week
00:40:00 – Album of the Week
00:42:44 – Conclusion

Show Notes:

App of the Week:
Reeder 5

Album of the Week:
Alison Balsom – Paris

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, the DMV Percussion Academy. Learn more and register here.

Please don’t forget to rate the show and share it with others!

Subscribe to Music Ed Tech Talk:

Subscribe to the Blog

Subscribe to the Podcast in… Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

6 Tech Podcasts I Listen to Every Week

I am often asked where I go to learn about technology.

The truth is that most of it comes through a few blogs and podcasts. I don’t listen to many podcasts that deal specifically with integrating technology into the music classroom, though there are a few good ones. (Aside from my own, I recommend Katie Wardrobe’s show Music Tech Teacher and MusicFirst’s Profiles in Music Teaching with Technology.)

I don’t listen to prescriptive “how-to” shows. I focus more on industry analysis, details of hardware and software features, and extended discussion. My favorite shows are conversational in tone rather than the hyper-produced style of the modern-day shows that NPR has popularized.

I find this style of show to be far more listenable and engaging while giving me a deeper and underlying understanding of the technology I use. This way, I am more empowered to adapt the technology I have to my unique professional challenges and lifestyle.

Here are my six favorites…

Upgrade

Probably my most listened show. Heavily focused on Apple technologies, news, and the streaming media landscape. The show is deeply informative but also has some produced elements like theme music and segments, which keep each episode moving at an engaging pace.

Here is a recent episode where the hosts review the new M1 iMacs and M1 iPad:

The Vergecast

The Verge is a great website for learning about all things in consumer tech. Their podcast is the most produced on this list, but the camaraderie between speakers allows for the ideas to present as looser and more raw than they do in written articles.

I have been considering an electric vehicle lately and enjoyed this episode about recent EUVs:

Mac Power Users

This show delivers tips for making the most of your computing devices each week. It includes pro tips, app recommendations, and interviews with professionals spanning many industries. Listening to MPU is one of the inspirations for my book, as it focuses on not just the tools, but how to implement them creatively.

If you are looking for a place to start, check out Music Ed Tech Talk frequent guest, David MacDonald, on this episode of Mac Power Users:

The Talk Show

John Gruber’s The Talk Show is one of the shows that made me love podcasting. Though episodes are inconsistent in length, scope, and irregularly released, Gruber and his guests always have engaging discussion. So much so that I don’t mind rants about sports, politics, and other “off-topic” diversions. This show is in some respects a prototype for the kinds of discussions I like to have on my podcast. Personal, detailed, and analytical.

Accidental Tech Podcast

Also very Apple-focused, but with more perspective on software development and adjacent technologies. This show is lengthy and more unstructured but also very deep. The three hosts are in software development and sometimes talk about topics that are just on the outside of my wheelhouse, but I am still able to follow along. The perspective of these hosts has strongly influenced the kind of quality and detail I expect from my technology.

This episode is a fan favorite, and gives you an insight into the kind of detail the hosts cover, and also their relationship:

Dithering

This is a paid show. For me, it is worth the $5 a month because it includes John Gruber from The Talk Show with one of my favorite of his reoccurring guests, Ben Thompson, who is a brilliant technology analyst. Two 15-minute episodes are released each week. The tight format keeps the discussion fast and rich.

Here is a clip:

What are NFTs?

Ben tries to explain NFTs to John

Subscribe at https://t.co/MAKQBl2Lyh pic.twitter.com/ynjHBxoFot

— Dithering (@ditheringfm) March 15, 2021

3 Things I Started Doing with My Band Class During COVID That I Will Do Every Year From Now On

It seems plausible that some people subscribe to this blog and do not follow me on Twitter, so allow me to expand this recent Tweet thread into a lazy blog post.

🧵🪡🎶👇 Thread: a few things I am doing in my band teaching this year, that I previously didn’t have the time or resources to organize, but COVID forced my hand. (I will definitely be doing each of these every school year from now on)…

— Robby Burns (@robbyburns) May 10, 2021

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Thread: a few things I am doing in my band teaching this year, that I previously didn’t have the time or resources to organize, but COVID forced my hand. (I will definitely be doing each of these every school year from now on)…

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            <img src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5595df9ce4b0ce9ff9ecd1a8/1620928178100-EDH2P31OY42XLM8SB7E4/CleanShot+2021-05-07+at+09.06.00%402x.png" alt="A chart designed by my colleague Ben Denne. By thinking critically about music that will challenge, but not overwhelm them, students pick their select their own, grade appropriate, solo music." width="918" height="1364" style="display:block;object-fit: cover;width: 100%;height: 100%;object-position: 50% 50%" loading="lazy">

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        <div class="image-caption"><p class="">A chart designed by my colleague Ben Denne. By thinking critically about music that will challenge, but not overwhelm them, students pick their select their own, grade appropriate, solo music.</p></div>
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Solo prep: by asking colleagues for rep ideas across all instruments, I created a resource in my LMS that guides students through a process of selecting appropriate solo rep for our district Festival and then registering for it. Student enrollment is up over 300 percent this year.
Composition: students LOVE writing short themes and ostinato patterns in Noteflight After recording their comps, they will make unique band arrangements out of each other’s recordings in Soundtrap by dragging them on top of one another and splicing/editing them, like loops. Inspiration for this idea and supporting materials provided by Alex Shapiro and can be found here.
Recording: having my students record video performances is not new. But having them record in a DAW, with respect to measure number, beat placement, and a metronome has been huge for our understanding of rhythm and form. Also it requires them to practice way more.

And then there are 100 new things I can do in my general music class simply by having access to a notation editor and DAW. I don’t have enough time to detail them now but here is one example:

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As much fun as I have grinding in Final Cut Pro, I do NOT see virtual band videos becoming a thing beyond this school year. It was fun while it lasted. Here’s last year’s WW Quintet:

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Support Music Ed Tech Talk

Putting the E in Ensemble Links

Show Notes:

Examples of student work

Alex’s studio space

Support Music Ed Tech Talk

Show Notes:

C Melody and Loop Audition

Row Your Boat Multi-Track

All-Star Remix

Episode Info

Description

Chapters:

Show Notes:

App of the Week: Reeder 5

Album of the Week:Alison Balsom – Paris

Subscribe to Music Ed Tech Talk:

Upgrade

The Vergecast

Mac Power Users

The Talk Show

Accidental Tech Podcast

Dithering

Description

Chapters:

Show Notes:

Subscribe to Music Ed Tech Talk:

App of the Week:
Reeder 5

Album of the Week:
Alison Balsom – Paris