Nowadays, it is easy to get an online music education without spending a dime. Universities, colleges and other online sources offer dozens of free courses and lessons for energetic self-learners. Here are 15 free online courses that almost any music student would enjoy:

Introduction to Music - Wikiversity offers free music education through its School of Music and Dance. This introductory music course provides instruction in musical concepts, rhythm, melody, timbre, structure, and texture.

Creating Musical Sounds – This course from the Open University teaches students about the sounds that come from different instruments. The course contains six sections to help students understand the waves and frequencies of different instruments. 

The Fundamentals to Scales and Key Signatures – The U.S. Army Element School of Music teaches students to write and identify all the scales and key signatures in music in this free music education course. Course topics include major and minor scales, chromatic, whole tone, and pentatonic scales. 

Music Composition – This free online music course from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) teaches students how to compose and perform their own work. The course includes audio files, composer notes, and sample projects completed by MIT students.

Harmony and Counterpoint I – Harmony and Counterpoint I is a two-part MIT course that explores the formal practices of classical music. Students are expected to study tones of figuration, simple counterpoint, and diatonic harmony. 

Sound for Music Technology - This Open University course focuses on the physics of sound. Students study the pitch and loudness of music in relation to amplitude and frequency. 

Voice Lesson – Berklee provides several free online music lessons to self-learners, including this voice lesson. The lesson includes video, practice exercises, and other study materials.  

Organ Performance – Brigham Young University offers this free music course with an emphasis on organ performance. The course includes 16 lessons as well as assignments. 

Musical Analysis – This MIT course focuses on rhythm, harmony, and line relationships. The course includes assignments and other study materials.

Free Violin Lessons – FolkoftheWood.com offer a variety of acoustic lessons separated into three categories: from beginner to advanced. 

Composition and Improvisation in Cross-Cultural Prospective - Students in this Open University course study the basic principles of music through video, music structure, and memory. 

Blues Basics - This free music lesson, also from Wikiversity, introduces students to playing the Blues. Topics include chord progression, scale, and twelve-bar blues. 

Bass Lessons - ActiveBass.com offers free interactive bass lessons for students of all levels.  There are more than 8,000 lessons available in all. 

Free Guitar Lessons – FreeGuitarVideos.com offers free video lessons to music students who want to learn to play the guitar. The site currently hosts more than 150 free lessons. A new lesson is added each week.

Free Piano Lessons – GoPiano.com offers free video piano lessons for beginner and advanced students. This course includes seven lessons along with quizzes and an exam. 

Guest Post from Karen Schweitzer who writes about online college education for OnlineCollege.org.

I just networked my blog to Facebook, which I also allowed Twitter to automatically update. Huh?

This summer I am experimenting with merging technologies as I study the phenomenon of social networking to realize it’s future impact on education.  As with many technologies- for example my new video camera which is also a 10 megapixel still camera and my blackberry which is a little of everything- we are witnessing a confluence of technology that seems to be leading to the “holy grail” of the “killer device” which will serve all of our needs.  My vote for the device in the lead would be the iphone 3gs which was just announced- this bears watching.

We seem to be always on the cusp of that “holy grail” whether it be a netbook or smartphone we seem to be heading to that one technology that will serve all of our needs.  It will be interesting to see in the coming months and years the acceleraton towards this ideal.

As for social networking, we are witnessing the explosion of information integraton on a large scale- applications sharing information with each other and overlapping to the point where we do not know where one ends and another begins.

I am very interested to hear your comments on this subject!

If your school is like mine we fight a daily war on the frontlines of technology- namely trying to keep students off their mobile devices long enough to pay attention in class. Those of you who are frequent readers of my blog have heard me talking about how we need to teach students how to use their technology appropriately rather than “banning” it altogether.

Recently three events have captured my thinking about how to utilize texting as a tool rather than an annoyance in class. The first event was caving in and getting unlimited texting for my family wireless plan. This made me father of the year with my champion texter daughter, but also allowed me to fully explore the possibilities it afforded on my Blackberry. All I can say is…wow.

I now understand the attraction teenagers have to this communication format- it allows you to respond while multitasking and allows you time to edit your respnse to “just the facts” with the limited space of 140 characters.

The second event was hosting state band festival at my school again this year- when our 8 year old radios did not hold a charge any more and were not working properly we immediately switched to running the event via texting. I made a group in my Blackberry of all the workers and student workers so that I could broadcast a message if needed or I could contact each person individually. The “aha” moment came when the first rush at the concession stand hit and I group texted “all available help to conc stand we are swamped!” It was surreal to see an army of students run to the stand to help while my blackberry was going crazy with responses like “k” or “on my way”. Magic- we never looked back! Anyone interested in used walkie talkies?

The final experience was our spring band trip to the Smoky Mountain Music Festival earlier this month. Again I made groups for texting- one for all, one for students only, one for chaperones only, and one for my chaperone group.

Again- I was able to run the entire event this way easily! The big test came when there was a tornado watch and severe storms one morning and I was able to just text “stay in your rooms until u hear frm me severe weather” everyone appreciated the fact that we did not have to pass the word the old fashioned way or take forever with phone calls.

These days texting gets a bad rap- I for one have certainly embraced this wonderful tool and will be using it often. By the way- I’m posting this from my trusty Blackberry

If you haven’t checked out Audacity lately, the newest version has some very cool new features.  The one I was most excited about was the ability to record multiple tracks in the same window and work with them simultaneously.  Below is a screen shot from my computer showing how I used it in today’s rehearsal of “Scenes from the Louvre”.

The lesson was on the fugue in the third movement- my students are not understanding that each voice that enters must be heard clearly and all of the lines must be balanced and blended so that there is good clarity in the ensemble.  The way I approached the problem was to have a reference recording of the section we were working on (edited in Quicktime Pro so that I had just the section isolated that I wanted) where I could just click on it when needed (without having to start at the beginning or rewind, etc) I then recorded the band using my Zoom H4 recorder in it’s audio interface mode (this is why I still think that Zoom’s H4 is the best value in handheld recorders) allowing me to record directly into Audacity using it’s excellent built in microphones.

After I recorded the band, I normalized the audio (within 5 seconds it was done) and was able to play back what the band had performed in high quality with optimized volume thanks to the normalize feature (I do this so that the volume of our recording isn’t too loud or soft, which invariably complicates things when I ask the students to give feedback- their first response is always about how the reference recording is louder than ours)

We listened to the first take- ouch! not very good.  Students gave feedback and I made some adjustments- we recorded again and did the same procedure.  We did this a total of five times, and the last one was a little better.  The greatest thing about doing this particular lesson is that I can do a direct comparison A/B with the first recording and the final recording right in the same window- this is the key to making the lesson magic when students can see a big improvement after they have worked intensely.  In the past when I did this lesson with other technologies, the problem was the lag time cuing up the recordings- students cannot really grasp the amount of progress they make over the course of a rehearsal because the improvement is so minute between repetitions.  Capturing the first “raw” take without any improvements, playing that for them, and then immediately playing the last recording after all of the cleaning has been done is really very powerful.

If you recently purchased a USB turntable and have been anxious to dive into your old band recordings on LP and start converting them, here are a few words of caution. I titled this post “be careful what you wish for” because there is a price to pay when restoring your prized University of Michigan Revelli recordings…

We have all been spoiled by the pristine audio of today’s digital recordings. Our ears have become extremely sophisticated, and when we listen to legacy recordings, we are often disappointed that they do not sound like what we remember.

This is due to a number of reasons- there are so many variables when we are talking about analog reproduction- however surface noise is probably the biggest distraction. The constant hiss, scrape, and pop of surface noise is certainly ill-tolerated in our digital world!

Aaahhh…but there are sweet promises of restoration- programs designed to scrub away the hiss and surface noise, leaving only the heavenly strains of your one-of-a-kind recording of Trauersinfonie…

Beware, because the quiet comes at a price. It really isn’t rocket science to figure out that when you have Audacity (or any other program for that matter) learn a noise profile, it takes out all of the frequencies in that “fingerprint” from your music!  Remember, even with the improved noise removal from Audacity 1.3.3 (latest distro), software CANNOT “put back” the MUSIC in those frequencies- when they are gone, they are gone.  This can lead to some pretty harsh results as the music can take on a “tinny”, “echo-y” or “shattered” sound (the later is caused by digital artifacts when the noise was removed).

You really need to consider carefully for what situations you will use your recordings made in this way- a reference recording of a tune that is very hard to find so that you can play it for your band is one thing.  You may work very hard on a recording and get it to sound “good enough”.  Expecting that you will “re-capture the magic” of the original recording is quite another matter.  There is a very good reason why ALL analog recordings were not preserved digitally- it is really, really difficult to do this “right”.  The equipment and expertise necessary to really do justice to restoring a classic analog recording is far beyond what we are able to do with a computer, a USB turntable, and Audacity. 

Thank goodness that many classic recordings have been restored and are available again, and great ensembles keep recording great music on great equipment!

In my home state of Florida, we are under a budget crunch such as I have not seen in my 20 years of teaching. Cuts are everywhere, but most notably in the technology area. Our school district recently spent huge amounts of money retrofitting every classroom in the district with interactive whiteboards, new computers and peripherals, and software to run them. One of the first things that were cut was the technology staff charged with keeping them up and running!

We in Education are used to dealing with things like this, but in an era where we are increasingly dependent on technology, cuts like this really hurt. For those of us who are on the “bleeding edge” when it comes to implementing technology in our classrooms, I have a few thoughts on how to mitigate the coming crisis in tech support:

1. Really dig into the “nuts and bolts” of the technology you use. Study up on how to manipulate all of the preferences, drivers, settings, etc. so that you can troubleshoot common problems yourself.

2. Establish a rapport with the technology staff at your school (if you still have one) such that you can be trusted with enhanced permissions on your computer. Many of the common problems that arise can be easily corrected, however most of our technology is so locked down that we cannot access the settings we need to fix it!

3. The internet is your friend! We will all have to support each other by sharing our expertise in various areas so that we can find the answers we need. Visit forums and blogs and don’t be afraid to ask for help- you will find that the blogosphere (especially in our area) is very willing to help.

4. Consider being your own tech support- technology that we personally own is the best way that I can think of to make certain that we have control over our own “technological destiny”. It is expensive to be sure…but the cost could be somewhat offset by a healthy tax deduction (check with your tax advisor on this)

The bottom line is that we all need to help each other in this time of need. The good news is that it is easier than ever to connect and collaborate thanks to Web 2.0 (or 3.0 as some would argue…) blogs, forums, podcasts, wikis, interactive chat, and Skype (to name just a few) will become our first line of defense as our tech support staff continues to dwindle.

It has been quite a summer, and I have blissfully wasted spent some of my time pouring over the hype about the new iphone 3G (My contract with Verizon is up in Sept.- woo-hoo!). What does this have to do with music education? Plenty…

Unless you have been under a rock for the past six months, you have heard the stories about the new Apple “App Store” and probably know that there are thousands of other applications for the iphone via the web. What you may not know is that there are some very powerful ones that are absolutely free!

I have been using my ipod touch extensively in my bandroom and on the marching field controlling my music via bluetooth connection (see my blog post about this here). It works great, but the audio quality suffers from a high noise floor because of the nature of the stereo bluetooth connection. Not noticable at low volume, but pretty annoying when you crank it up.

Fortunately, Apple has come up with a nifty new app called remote that allows you to wirelessly control your itunes with your iphone or itouch! Of course, since your computer is directly connected to your system, the sound is flawless (unless you use mp3, but that is another post…) Also, there are a host of great iphone apps that are web based such as a guitar chord dictionary.

This along with the new mobileme push email, contacts, and calendar have finally gotten my attention enough to switch over to AT&T. I plan to research this a lot more for future blog entries about how I am integrating this great new technology in my bandroom- stay tuned!

I’m having a conversation with John Scybert from Southeastern University, and we’re talking about how to use Jott from your cell phone. listen

Powered by Jott

I’m sitting at my desk shoving spaghetti in my mouth and wondering how I’m going to get the wind ensemble set up for the command performance this afternoon for the big art exhibit that I just found out is opening today (I found out that I’m supposed to provide “entertainment” on my way into class this morning). Further proof that there is no excuse for not blogging (I should take my own advice more often!)

I had to get these thoughts out as I have had several emails from readers who are going to be exploring the option of the “non-traditional” music class. I feel that I need to give “full disclosure” as to what you are getting yourselves into- I don’t want anyone to think that it is magically easy- it is really, really hard work!

I was all excited about laying down some tracks in GarageBand with one of my non-trad groups in my second block class this morning. I had envisioned all last night how great the session would go- just like those big recording studios and how we would all hug each other because we had created something beautiful and “cool”. Then reality hit and I woke up.

The second period bell rang and I scrambled to get all of the materials ready for our stellar session. How hard could it be? All I had to do was open a new basic track on Garageband, hook up the inputs and away we go- simple, right? WRONG. Oops- I realize as the late bell rang that I don’t have enough space on my laptop hard drive to record a session- no problem, I have a portable usb hard drive w/250gigs- just plug it in and away I go. Oops…forgot that on a Mac G4 PowerBook there isn’t enough bus power to spin the hard drive- no problem, I’ll just plug into two usb ports and away I go. Oops…I forgot that I have to use the usb imic for good quality recordings into the computer- no more usb ports (I only have two on the computer). No problem, I’ll just get rid of some files on my laptop hard drive (by now it’s 20 minutes into the class- but don’t worry, the other kids are all working on their own projects- they are fine do I hear “hey jude” in the background?) I guess I didn’t need those files (I hope) now off we go!

We started with the drum track- hook up the edrums through the group controller- configure the controller to output to the imic- OK I hear drums (a little too low level, but I can tweak that later) OOOPS! We forgot the cardinal rule of all drummers- as Buddy Rich once said- so many drummers so little time!!!! The tempo is all over the place, so out comes Dr. Beat so I can show him where the tempo is. I recalibrate the track to about mm200 (where he thinks he can play “rock n’ roll high school”) and resolve to record and quantize later. A LOT of quatization!

It’s now about halfway into an 85 minute block- here we go laying down the bass part- that goes pretty well after I figure out that there is not enough gain from the bass to drive the PocketPod (a separate post about that later) so we drag in the bass amp and go out from that into the computer with an adapter. OK- bass part is done.

Now it’s about 10 minutes till the class ends (mind you, during all of this I have been interrupted by my students with such important things as “can I go to the bathroom”) and the veteran teacher in me nags that there won’t be enough clean up time if I don’t stop now. The idealistic teacher in me says (picture angel and devil on shoulders) that I have trained my kids to have enough responsibility to put everything away. Idealistic wins- let’s go for the guitar track!!!!!!!

OK- cue drums, cue bass, CUE GUITAR!!!!! OOOOPS!!! the guitar is 1/2 step flat in relation to the bass…sounds terrible (”but Mr. B I’m playing the right chords!”) Gimme that guitar, kid! (world’s fastest retune) and we manage to get the track down. OOOPS!!! they figure out that they haven’t practiced the form of the song enough together to make sure the I-vi-IV-V progression happens together w/the guitar and the bass…we keep recording anyway…and we’re done.

We go into my office to listen (my kids think I’m mad at them, but I’m just frustrated and disappointed that it didn’t go better). As I click “play” here comes the drums, the bass and guitar (all mis-aligned and everything) and it sounds to me like a hot mess. But I look at my kids and they are all smiles “Hey- that’s us!!! it’s not too bad…COOL!!!!” and they are high-fiveing each other and spouting all kinds of kid jargon for good job…I just sit back and laugh…

It was wonderful.

Teaching with technology can be very rewarding. Having the students collaborate and utilize technology to deepen and expand their knowledge is at the very epicenter of education philosophy these days. Unfortunately, it also requires a heightened level of classroom management. Not so much the behavior kind, although there certainly are a different set of expectations for what is acceptable behavior when students collaborate- it is more the materials management that must be worked out carefully.

Today was a typical day in my alternative music class- students working on independent and collaborative projects with myself as their “host and guide” for the process. It is my policy that all electronics are signed out at the beginning of class. After the initial wave of handing out PocketPods, hooking up electronic drums to the keyboard lab, etc. I gave the “last call” for anyone else who needed materials. Hearing none (going once…going twice…) I began working with groups on their projects. Then it happened. The “stragglers”. The slow, random procession of students who didn’t pay attention the first time and now realize that they need something!

As educators, we need to ensure that the short time we have with our students is concentrated on instruction. In my case, I tie a portion of their grade to their ability to handle materials wisely and efficiently. Anything that has to be done as far as distribution of equipment, assembly or connections, etc. should be handled before class if at all possible- or at the very least it should occur very early in the class period utilizing a set procedure each and every time (it becomes part of the class expectations). If this is not done, in short order the class will come to a grinding halt while you “put out fires”.

Back to my student “stragglers”. After asking them to repeat what the classroom procedure is regarding equipment, I asked “where were you when I asked if anyone needed anything else?” The response? The classic shrug of the shoulders and an almost unintelligible “I dunno”. Nevertheless, the expectation was that I drop what I was doing and take care of their needs. Rather than halt all learning and switch to “caretaker mode” I had that student join in what we were doing until I was finished, then had him follow me around the room as I made my way to the equipment cabinet (helping several other groups along the way). The bottom line is: Plan, organize, explain, demonstrate, practice procedures. Then be prepared for “I dunno”.