Lyric Writing Exercises: a 5-Day Workshop Guest post by Maria Rainier If you’re anything like most songwriters, you’re all too familiar with that frustrating sensation of being stuck in a rut. You know it’s important to write something – anything – every day, but there are times when that just seems impossible. Maybe you don’t have enough energy, you might be too critical of your first attempts, or you could be missing out on the muse. Whatever the reason, you can still get your daily writing done in a productive way if you introduce new exercises into your routine. Day 1: Research Mix & Match The first step is to give yourself something interesting to work with. Day 2: Collaborative Brainstorming Contact a friend by chat or email. Day 3: Titles & Nuggets Using what you’ve written from the previous two exercises (or relying on your notebook), construct some potential song titles. Day 4: Songwriting Surgery Now, pick a popular song that appeals to you and completely rewrite the lyrics. Day 5: Open Season Related Articles
Google Forms: how to create a quiz or a test that automatically grades itself in Google Docs--Internet--Tools & Tips for Multimedia Designers--Planet of the Web Using forms in Google docs lets anyone create forms quickly and share those forms via email, embed them into a webpage or blog. If you are a teacher, you can create formulas that allow you to have these forms graded in minutes. The formula part is a bit challenging, so I wrote this article to talk about how I recently created a final for one of my classes. Create a new Form in Google Docs To Create a form, go to the Create New menu and choose form. Type in your questions, help text and question types There are different types of questions you can choose from. Make some quiz questions required You can also make some questions required. Choose a test quiz type I'm going ask 5 questions of different types on this quiz. Finished quiz example Here's what my final test looks like. Here's what my test looks like when it's done. Choose how viewers will take the quiz Once you've finished the test, you have three options to give people access to your quiz. Check out the test results
30 Greatest Hip Hop Drum Breaks & Samples of All Time! I absolutely love lists. I make lists for things that I need to do when at home, on my way to work, at work, and even while I’m at the movies. There’s one list that I’ve been thinking of for the past three weeks and has caused me agony beyond reasonable comprehension… The top 10 drum breaks of all time! Can you imagine that such a thing might exist? After all we are talking about, at the most, a ten second snippet of a couple of kicks, snare, and maybe even some high hats. This is madness, right? Related posts: Tagged as: Beats, Drums, Hip Hop Rap Breaks, Hip Hop Rap Samples
Piano Chord Dictionary Online Piano Chords Quick Guide to the Common Core: Key Expectations Explained - Vander Ark on Innovation How the Common Core Will Change the Way Teachers Teach and Students Learn Guest Post By Adam Berkin, vice president of product development at Curriculum Associates Since the Common Core State Standards were introduced, there has been much discussion about what they mean for educators and students and how they will impact teaching and learning. The new standards are focused on two categories: English Language Arts and Mathematics. English Language Arts The text is more complex. Since the 1960s, text difficulty in textbooks has been declining (Source: CCSS Appendix A). The text covers a wider range of genres and formats. In order to be college-, career-, and life-ready, students need to be familiar and comfortable with texts from a broad range of genres and formats. In addition, students are expected to understand the presentation of texts in a variety of multimedia formats, such as video. There is a greater emphasis on evidence-based questioning. Students are exposed to more authentic text.
Music theory and art aesthetics. Can melody be rated? I'm not exactly sure of the general consensus, but I have often heard the opinion that with music for example: "There can be no final, or definitive judgement" or that "One person's subjective opinion is just as valid as another - and that it's only a matter of personal preference". In other words, many believe that music is only good because our minds are individually (and in different ways) - 'programmed' or 'geared' (for whatever reasons) to enjoy it from their perspective. This is called the "Subjective or Relative Aesthetics View" Well, no doubt people's 'taste' is biased (to varying degrees) due to a number of reasons:- what they're 'used to' hearing, 'cultural trend', simply their quality of taste in music, or even 'nostalgia' (though obviously a tune could still be nostalgic to someone and good). For the sake of argument, I'm going to focus on music with a mini-section on what makes the best graphics/pictures near the end of this article. Maybe. Take chess. Difficult question.
Drum Tuning Tips From The Famous Drum Doctor If you’re doing a session in Los Angeles and you want your drums to instantly sound great, then your first call is to the Drum Doctors to either rent a fantastic sounding kit, or have your kit tuned. Ross Garfield is the “Drum Doctor” and you’ve heard his drum sounds on platinum recordings from Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart, Metallica, Dwight Yokum, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Lenny Kravitiz, Michael Jackson and many, many more. Ross was kind enough to sit down for an interview when I wrote The Recording Engineer’s Handbook, but I’ve featured some of his tips in other books as well including The Drum Recording Handbook, The Touring Musician’s Handbook, and The Music Producer’s Handbook. So, I like to think his tips are worth sharing! Here are a few of his quick drum tuning tips, which can be lifesavers if you’re new to tuning drums. Hopefully these tips are useful to you in your next session!
David Coleman on ELA Common Core Standards Watch this video presentation here: Shifts in literacy with CC 1. 50 percent stories and 50 percent informational text. We know in K-5 that is where the foundation of knowledge is developed. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Summation: Read like a detective and write like a conscientious investigative reporter Make acoustic panels for your recording studio or home theater Acoustic treatments are often used to help improve the acoustics of a room by taming "flutter echoes," "room modes," and other problems which arise from a room's dimensions and construction. Although a variety of treatments are available for commercial use, they tend to be quite expensive. After some research both online and in print, we came across several sources for DIY acoustic treatments using rigid fiberglass panels and simple frames. These are often referred to as "bass traps," although the ones that we're focusing on have a fairly wide rage of absorption. We can not take credit for this design, but have combined several people's ideas into a step-by-step guide. For more information, check out the good folks in the acoustics forum at recording.org
Grant Wiggins: Defining Assessment Grant Wiggins is a nationally recognized assessment expert who has been working in assessment reform for more than twenty-five years. He is president of the educational consulting firm Authentic Education, and with Jay McTighe, co-author of Understanding by Design, an award-winning framework for curriculum design used around the world. In this interview, Wiggins shares his thoughts on performance assessments, standardized tests, and more. Wiggins has published several articles for Edutopia.org. 1. Our line of argument is that testing is a small part of assessment. What can the test do that more complex, performance-based, project-based things can't do? For instance, in some state-based, performance-based assessment, they always had a parallel paper-and-pencil test for the individual student so that you had enough data on the individual. Back to Top 2. Authentic assessment, to me, is not meant to be the charged phrase, or jargony phrase that it has come to be for a lot of people. 3. 4.
Free Music Theory Worksheets! Material on this page is free.NEW! you can now consult an index of terms used in these worksheets.Also explore a page of worksheet extras: Worksheet Answers, Test Templates and Flash Presentations. Here are some testimonials from music teachers about these workbook chapters: I have been using your fantastic music theory sheets and PDF downloads to teach high school piano theory to 28 students per class, all of whom are at different levels of study and accomplishment. Your method is comprehensive and easily accessible to students of all ages. I am excited about the way my students have received this material. Joyce T. Hi, I am a High School teacher in California and I found your Theory Website. Material on this page is free.NEW! Here are some testimonials from music teachers about these workbook chapters: I am excited about the way my students have received this material. Joyce T. Hi, I am a High School teacher in California and I found your Theory Website.
Wondering About Common Core and Complex Text? - Common Core State Standards TOOLBOX "A lot of reading skills students can apply with a simple text, but can't do so much with a challenging text."- Dr. Timothy Shanahan Blocked from YouTube? Does the information in this chart* cause you concern? *CCSS Appendix A: CCSS Lexile Bands How will you help ALL of your students access the required complex text? You may be thinking, why should I give my struggling readers such difficult text when I know they can’t read it? In a blog post from this summer, Dr. So why is the common core making such a big deal out of having kids read hard text? You can view the summary or download the ACT report right here. Watch Dr. Dr. www.mhecommoncoretoolboxtn.com
How To Make Electronic Music Common Core State Standards Initiative - Curriculum and Instruction ESE Resources for Implementing the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks in 2012-2013 Diving Deeper: Implementing the 2011 Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for Mathematics Diving Deeper: Implementing the 2011 Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy Updated Interactive PARCC Model Content Frameworks for Mathematics Grades 3-11 (Revised Version 3.0 November 2012) and English Language Arts/Literacy (Version 2.0), Grades 3-11 Common Core State Standards Implementation Workbook National Parent-Teacher Association Guides to Student Success 2011 Frameworks: MCAS Assessment Transition Plan PARCC Releases Initial Set of Item and Task Prototypes Model Curriculum Units Resources to Support the Transition to the 2011 Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for Mathematics Making Decisions about Course Sequences and the New Model Algebra I Course Enhanced High School Pathway to Calculus Supplementary Additional Common Core Resources for English Language Arts and Literacy