Happy 2012! I have been away from blogging since September. I’m finding a moment on this snowy morning to reflect (and remember how to use WP interface!). The past four months have been packed with performances, student projects, stories, challenges, and relationship-building conversations. Today’s post will focus on the conversations I have been having with my students. And for the record: it’s good to be back!

ONE of the best part of being a music teacher at a small private school is that I get to teach many grade levels. In the past, it got really crazy when I had two classes back to back – one being the oldest and the other, the youngest group of students. Thanks to the thoughtful schedulers, however, I have a schedule that works out beautifully this year. I also get to head a lunch table 3 times a cycle with the K-2 students (yes, we eat sit-down, hot lunches with the students!) and go out to 2 recesses after lunch.

There’s a group of Kindergarten students I want to share about. Whenever they see me,  they run to me with open arms and look up with the brightest eyes and smiles to ask me, “Mrs. Lim, are you on recess duty?” For some reason, they let me in since the beginning of the school year: they let me play a role in their daily recess make-believe stories. Their excitement,  their voices, their curiosity, their unfiltered thought process, and their love inspire me to live each day with a passion to discover and learn. They also remind me what important role I have as a teacher to all my students…

Interestingly, the following TWO conversations with my middle school students this week reiterated my last point.

Conversation 1: My students have been creating music on GarageBand for a project so during an afternoon study hall, a group of students came to work on their projects. One particular student had been working on his project pretty extensively so I told him I would love to listen to his music when he’s ready to share it for a feedback. I sat in the empty seat and wanted him him to finish editing; he started asking questions about editing music. Our conversation started as a Q and A for GarageBand, but ended up talking about his passion for music. After he told me he would like to do something in music, I was frank with my 13-year-old student (he has an amazing listening skills and can play just about any instrument). I told him I can see him creating, mixing, editing music in the future.

Then there was a short, but awkward silence. His widened eyes stared at me with a disbelief. He asked me, “Do you really think  I can…?” My answer: “Yes – I believe it!”

What I realized: my believing-in-what-my-student-can-become is just as important as what I’m teaching him now. We will definitely have more conversations, but for now, I’m going to think of ways I can support and get my students like him to think of possibilities.

Conversation 2: I was starting a class and while surveying the room while making my announcements, I noticed that one of my students was missing. A friend of the student quickly remembered that he was in a meeting and wanted me to know that he might be late. So we started the class. When students dispersed to worked on their projects, that student came to talk to me. He apologized for being late and wanted to run an idea by me. I was curious so I listened carefully.

Essentially, he pitched an idea to the student government to change a school dance into a night of student-run concert night. Tickets will be sold like a a real concert and the student line-up have to be really good. But there was more. The concert would be a benefit concert – it is to raise money for the music department so that we can have more instruments/equipment.

He asked, “What do you think? Do you think it’d be helpful? Would you approve this idea?”

I had not seen this coming. Here was a student who was thinking about how to help me and my colleagues to create music better with our students. I was thinking, Whoa, what kind of kid is this? Did we make an impact on his music learning so much that he wants to give back? I am totally humbled and excited: we have future music education supporters!

There are THREE ways I can summarize what I’ve been learning:

• Students matter more. Building strong relationships in and out of classrooms helps me to understand students better and will make me a better music teacher.
• {For any teacher or parent} what we do everyday for the student (children) and for our profession (family), make an impact in our schools and communities (relationship). Be strong & be excellent!
• The past 4 months (the active learning and reflecting months) have been like Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Symphony (third movement). The ebb and flow of life bring us sweet, harrowing, and unforgettable melodies like this one. So here’s my life in music. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do, especially at 3:54.  ~ Yoon

(Hear the entire third movement! Here’s the part 1 to the excerpt you just heard

http://youtu.be/v60qgwtOQCI)

It made me , it made me think; it filled my heart with such joy to be a teacher.

A fourth grade student gently knocked on my door and brought this to me on behalf of his class:

Every year around 9/11, our school has a gathering around the flag pole for a moment of silence and reflection. Children from PreK to grade 8, along with faculty and staff walk in silence. Remarkably, even the youngest students know the solemnity of this observance; they walk in silence – with purpose and with care. After the American flag has been hoisted to half-mast, and our Head of School’s short poignant remark about the observance, I sing America, the Beautiful by myself. It’s hard not to choke up… After the song, we all leave in silence back to our classrooms to begin our day. 

The messages of these children stood out and made my heart full:

You made me remember 9/11.

I wish the firemen were still alive.

You made me respect America more.

The strength of America will not fall.

It was my privilege to bring some kind of comfort for our community through a song. These children, on the fifth day of the new school year, thought deeply about people, our country, and service.

These students make me very proud.

I am grateful to be a teacher. 

Happy New School Year! 

It is with great pleasure to {finally} publish the September edition of Music Education Blog Carnival here. I want to thank many teachers who submitted great posts. Their thoughts, recommendations, and philosophies, I believe, stretch our own thinking. For those of you who are  beginning a new school year, I want to bid you a great year of deep learning. May the learning in these months ahead transform us so that we can be better musicians and teachers. [Personally, I want to work on listening to my students with understanding and emphathy (Kosta and Kallick). I hope to blog about it some time this year...]

Enjoy reading this edition of Music Ed Blog Carnival! I encourage you to comment on the posts you read. And if you would like to host Music Ed Blog Carnival, contact Dr. Joe Pisano at @pisanojm or visit his site, http://mustech.net/.

{Forgive me if I made mistakes on your posts! There were just too many submissions!

Cheers! ~ ysl

Music Education

• Samuel Wright gives Orff Orchestration tips, hints, references and how-to layout scores for Orff or Kodaly arrangements in Sibelius, Finale and more. Orff Orchestration & Notation is posted at his blog, Wright-Stuff Music.
• Erica Ann Sipes writes poignantly about Reality-Check for Young Musicians and Their Parents posted on her blog, Beyond the Notes.
• Scott Watson shares about his new book, Using Technology to Unlock Musical Creativity in his post, Free Webcast at www.Banddirector.com. You can find this post on http://musicteachers911.blogspot.com/.
• Bill Harrison writes Jazz Listening 101, saying, “I wrote this post to help both musicians and civilians understand how to appreciate a jazz performance.” It’s posted at PlayJazzNow Blog.
• Evan Tobias presents Women, music, and music education: FTM11 Conference posted at http://musiced.net/etobiasblog.
• Kyle Freesen writes a curious conversation starter about female composers! He’d love to hear what other think on the topic. The post Where are the Women in Composition? is posted at The Virtual Podium.
• Eric Rasmussen presents How Babies Grow Up to be Musical: Imitation, Type 2 of PreAudiational Development posted at Teach Music to Kids! Make sure you read Jessica Tomlinson’s post that spurred Eric to respond.
• Mr. Cooper presents The Three Levels of Listening on his blog, Cooper’s Divertimento. Be sure to download a PDF guide.
• Allison Friedman presents Rethinking the Way We Teach Instrumental Lessons to Beginners posted on her blog, Mindless Ramblings of a Not So New Music Teacher.
• Thomas J. West presents The Blended Learning Secondary Music Classroom posted on his blog. He says, ”This coming school year, all of my students, from 6th grade all the way to seniors, will be learning for the first time in a true blended learning environment…”
• Kat Fulton presents What is a Boomwhacker? posted at Rhythm For Good.
• Patti Anderson presents The Dumbing Down of America’s Potential Musicians posted at Raising the bar for music education.
• Shiloh Stone shares about a music game in the post My Best Music Game. You can learn about this game at Everydaygameplan.net
• Carrie Persichini presents Substitute Planning…Do it while you’re healthy!! posted at Jedi Music saying, “September is a great time for elementary music educators to plan ahead for a sick day…”
• Elizabeth Heist gives Tips for Teaching Jazz posted on her blog, Music Education Highlights from an Undergrad.
• Gabrielle Deschamps: How to Cope When your Music Class is Full of “Screamo” (Sorry, post-hardcore) Fans at Music.Teach.N.Tech blog.
• Dan Leeman gives good advice for instrumental teachers: Completing A Bid Process For Musical Instruments posted at Music Education for All.
• Gene Petty presents Angles On Playing The Guitar: Beginner Guitar Lessons posted at Download Guitar Lessons.

Music Advocacy

• Jen Hellmann introduces a post written by Marci Wise: Bring Our Music Back: An Instrument for Change via Positive Impact Magazine
• Teresa Rose advocates The Benefits Of Learning An Instrument posted at Learn Music, saying, “I wrote this post to help others really discover that when you make a commitment to learn music, you gain so much more than JUST knowing how to play music. A lot of valuable life skills and personal growth are gained too.”
• Danette M. Schott presents Stop and Hear the Music! posted at Help! S-O-S for Parents.

Music Listening & Performance Review

• Travis Branam thinks through prejudices and cultural nuances in musical genres in Hoodrat, hoodrat, hoochie opera? posted on his blog, An Authentic Cadence.
• Bach James: It Dont Mean A Thing If It Aint Got That Swing….. Sometimes. Here is  an interesting playlist. Check it out on his blog, Guided Audio.
• Jessica Mullen presents Beautiful Tone Begins With Listening. She includes a handy list of recordings by instrument. It is posted at Mullen Music Studio Blog.
• Ariel Herzog introduces and guides discussion on Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor posted at Everything About Classical Music.

Music Software/Hardware

• David Ahrens writes:  Free Android Apps for Band Directors posted at Sound Education.
• Joseph Pisano lists 18 URL link, from his summer clinics, to Finale-related information and resources on the Web: Finale Related Resources List posted at MusTech.Net.

Music Technology

To Music Teachers, Performers, Students, Parents, Music Specialists:

I am excited to host the Music Education Blog Carnival for September, 2011! The Blog Carnival was created and is maintained by Dr. Joseph Pisano of MusTech.net in order to promote the great works being done by Music Education Bloggers across the Internet. During the school year, many music educators have the privilege of hosting monthly issue. So if you are a music teacher, student, musician, performer, or an ardent music lover and you love blogging, please share a post regarding a music-related post for the September issue. Even if you don’t get to submit an article, check back in September to read variety of articles on the Blog Carnival! You probably don’t need this, but just in case you are wondering about some music-related topics, allow me to ask some questions to get you thinking and writing {but not limited to}…

Teachers, what have you been learning this summer? What are some new things you want to create with your students?

Students, what are some obstacles you want to work on this school year?

Performers & Conductors, what separates a great performance from a good performance? 

Composers, what are some ways teachers can implement music composition into their classroom? 

Parents, what concerns do you have in your child’s music education?

Music Tech Gurus, what apps or gears are on your Music Ed “MUST” list?

I hope many of you will consider sharing your thoughts and experiences! Think. Write. And go here to submit. I can’t wait to read yours. If you have any questions, please tweet me or leave me a comment below.

Please submit your article (short & sweet or long & thought-provoking) by August 29, 2011. Thank you!

~Yoon

The following post has been featured in the July edition of VIA, an ezine dedicated for arts integration. I’m honored to have been contacted by VIA’s editor, Susan Riley, who has asked me to write a post focusing on creativity and the arts technique for the classroom teachers. Check out her website which has wonderful arts-integrating resources! If you’re curious about this ezine, download and read the entire July edition for free here (VIA is normally distributed quarterly through subscription). As always, I would appreciate your feedback and conversation!  Happy July!   ~Yoon

While saying good-bye to a happy 5th grade music class, I engaged in a quick conversation with their teacher about what the kids have been learning in my class (song writing: verse, chorus, lyrics, melody, and accompaniment).

And then I asked her, “So what are they learning with you?”

photo by Kim Davies, Flickr CC

• What would be the best way for the students learn and memorize the words to the Preamble?
• Would watching a segment in School House Rock be helpful?
• What musical and thinking skills will the students demonstrate?

I concluded that helping the students write their own original Preamble song was the answer. Rather than just memorizing the words to the Preamble, my students sang the words to a tune they composed. Will they remember the words that precedes the US Constitution? Of course. Were they engaged in their learning? Absolutely!

If you are looking for ways to incorporate music into your lessons, here are some ways you can try:

With many conferences under my belt, I thought this conference would be just like the others. The truth is that I felt quite out of place as I wondered around the crowds and (what felt like) endless conference space. But all was not lost!

I is for Interaction:  F2F Conversations

 I am connected to a lot of educators online and have been “conversing” with many of them over the last year and a half. But meeting these people in person is one of the greatest moments I will experience. I have had the pleasure of seeing and hugging many of my friends for the first time. It was incredible to match their faces with their voices. What was more fascinating was that many of our edu conversations continued on. I enjoyed every conversation whether it took place in the conference lounges/cafes, over dinner, or right after some sessions. Passionate learning and thinking together in person beats any virtual space. I am also thankful to have met new teachers with whom I can learn from.  

S is for Sharing: Arts are Alive in the Mix

E.Peterson, Y.S.Lim, M.Baldwin, & K. Pace @ISTE11

Presenting at ISTE was something quite special. I was honored to present with  Elizabeth Peterson, Michelle Baldwin, and Kyle Pace for the Music and Tech: Harmony in the Making session. Although I was a presenter, I learned much more. I really appreciated how my co-presenters shared about how they help their students to make deeper connection to learning through music and tech.

I am so glad for those teachers who were hesitant at first, but decided to to come to our session. My friend Doug Peterson (@dougpete) came to our session and wrote this blog post. I was quite nervous to have friends like Doug in the crowd, but also was empowered by their support. So thank you, Doug, friends, and all those who attended our session! It was especially great to meet @musictechie, @dougbutchy, @rdammers, and @DoeMiSo from my MPLN (Music PLN).

I was reminded again that many teachers are looking to the “arts experts” for creative ways to teach. I hope I can continue to do my part in sharing ideas and advocating for the arts education. I was thankful to see many arts offerings at ISTE and feel tremendous honor to have had the experience. I hope to encourage and partner with many arts teachers to consider presenting in the future. Kudos to all educators!

T is for Telic: Taking Notes

There are several things I want to remember if I ever get another chance to attend ISTE.

1. Read the program & add handful interesting sessions at least to the ISTE app. I did not look carefully or plan well. I, unfortunately, did not get over the enormity of the conference. It was hard for me to know what to pick on the spot. Next time, I will at least have a list of sessions I want to check out.
2. Know the layout of the venue. I was clueless where things were. I would not have wasted a lot of time if I knew at least where some things were. I was thankful for the many volunteers who were everywhere who helped me. Next time, I will look at the map!
3. Enter the exhibition with a goal. I had some kind of allergic reaction (not really, but figuratively) when I entered the exhibition hall that made me come right out. It was just so big and I didn’t know where things were. Next time, I will seek out specific companies to check out innovative ideas.
4. Set aside time for poster sessions and special workshops. Again, there were so many that I’ve missed because I was so tired! 
5. Talk to more people. I may not get another chance to talk to a presenter or someone from the PLN ever again. I need to make time for more f2f and make effort to talk to more people. They just might be as lost as me!
   

E is for Excogitate: Now Think Out {Loud}

So what am I going to do now that I have attended, ISTE? I am going to remember what great experience it has been to connect and learn. You, who are in my PLN, will be there to excogitate (to think out; to find out or discover by thinking; to devise) with me. It comes back to building relationships and conversations, doesn’t it?

I’m thankful for you!

~Yoon

Feeling like a little kid waiting for a beautifully wrapped big present, I waited for the premier of Sleep, Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 2.0 project. You see, I wasn’t waiting for the virtual choir video as an audience, I was waiting for all of my fellow choir members.

I had every intention of submitting my video before the end of December (2010) due date, but that month got the best of me. After school was out, I was so worn out and feeling sick, I gave up on learning the music or taping my singing.

But due to a bad storm in Europe, the submission date was extended by 10 days! When I read the update, I caught a second wind. I was determined to get this done and participate.

I had no idea that I would be one of (over) 2000 voices.

While learning Eric Whitacre’s eight-part music I was reminded of the days when I realized singing breathed a new life in me (a pianist). These were the days when the power of human connectedness through singing became so real to me. We didn’t need words – we were a group of singers working to interpret music with every ounce of feeling, thought, and intention.  

Although the process of “choir” was different, people were brought together. Over 2000 people’s singing captured in a moment (like a time capsule) gently layered in beautiful sounds. It’s not perfect – but my choir sang with feeling, thought and intent. Besides, who says the goal of music is about perfection?

What this experience has shown me:

• {Holy cow!} I’m listening to a lot of musical people singing.
  
• I’m listening to many generations of good singers.
• And I’m listening to hope. I’m listening to individuals who embrace other people and communities way beyond their own culture or race.

The role of contemporary composers are changing. I’m grateful that Eric Whitacre had a vision to bring people together this way. Thank you, Mr. Whitacre!

I thought it was rather cute that my students kept asking me if I “made it” on Virtual Choir after I told them about how I got to submit my video. I had no idea if all the videos would be accepted, so I just told them I had to wait. Coincidentally the 8th graders who had shown most interest in this project were in class last period today. We talked about the premier and listened to Eric Whitacre on this post. They listened with anticipation.

When I see them next, I will play this video for them. I am thankful that I can share this project with them. I am grateful that I can make music everyday with them.

Enjoy this video. Hear the words being painted in phrases. See the world come together.

My hope is that you will take music with you. I cannot imagine life without it.

~Yoon, so grateful and feeling so alive. See you at Virtual Choir 3.0!  In case you’re wondering – I sing my part (soprano 2) every time I watch this video.

Sleep, poetry by Charles Anthony Silvestri

The evening hangs beneath the moon

A silver thread on darkened dune

With closing eyes and resting head

I know that sleep is coming soon

Upon my pillow, safe in bed

A thousand pictures fill my head

I cannot sleep my minds a flight

And yet my limbs seem made of lead

If there are noises in the night

A frighting shadow, flickering light

Then I surrender unto sleep

Where clouds of dreams give second sight

What dreams may come both dark and deep

Of flying wings and soaring leap

As I surrender unto sleep

As I surrender unto sleep

Here’s the livestream of Eric Whitacre at Paley Center on the night of the premier  (April 7, 2011):

World Premiere of Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir…, posted with vodpod

For laughs – here’s my video

We need to fight and protect the ARTS. This is for our children and their future.

Who’s with me?

~Yoon

So when @aforgrave tweeted this to me and 4 others,

I’m thinking of an April iPhone-Pic-a-Day theme. Who’s in?

he got my attention. I’ve been learning to use whatever camera I have better. I have to say that some apps have made my picture-taking hobby really fun. Read Andy’s post here and join the fun!

We’re using the hashtag #iPPP and tagging pics as #iPPPDayXX. I’m also thinking of suggesting to my multimedia class to take daily pictures on their smartphones and share. I’ll see how that goes as the boys who are in this class are really into making movies right now.

Perhaps I can get @berkshirecat or @teaching_music on this project!

Here’s one of my iPhone pics I took today!

#iPPPDay02

~Yoon

But for now – here’s Eric Whitacre on TEDTalks on Virtual Choirs and introduction of Sleep project:

~ Yoon