Introducing Audacity to a dance class would be great. Students in dance rarely think of the bigger picture. They usually focus on creating a dance and what costume they want to wear. They don't think about the lighting, using more than one musical selection, using spoken word, or how the design of the lobby or foyer can impact the mood of the audience. Having the students create their own music by editing would be a great experience for them.
I would separate the students into groups of three. I would allow each student to bring in a piece of music that is edited without telling them the purpose of the music. I want everyone to bring in a song they truly want to use and not be pressured by their group to bring in a specific type of music. Within the group, the students would have to edit the three songs into one musical selection that is 3 minutes long. This assignment will help the students become open minded and even more creative. Mixing, matching, and fusion are what they dance world is all about. I feel that allowing my students to get this experience will help them add another piece to the puzzle. The puzzle of a performance. They will have the choreography piece, the costuming piece, and now the music editing piece. Eventually I would want my student to learn design and lighting also. I am sure that there is a great Web 2.0 tool somewhere out there for those purposes.
Audacity can be used in music, drama, math, english, social studies, science, etc. Here are some ways that it can be used:
Music: Edit musical selections
Drama: Mix music with monologues
Math: Record beats to songs and record math problems over them
English: Read Shakespearean sonnets with the music of that era playing in the background
Social Studies: Read geographical descriptions with music as an aid to help visualize the location
Science: Create songs about cells, botanist, chemists, the solar system, or the water cycle
Audacity is a great alternative for those who do not own a Mac with Garageband and want to introduce their students to the world of music editing. Below is the site where you can download Audacity.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
I agree that Audacity is a great tool. For a non-musically inclined person (me), it allows me an easy way to add music to my projects. Students have a difficult time with music also and Audacity has allowed students to bridge the gap and create sounds that they like. I really like your idea about having students bring in music for an unknown reason and then group them to create one song from the many that are brought to class. This brings in higher level thinking and allows for creativity. Good idea.
ReplyDeleteAudacity is awesome! I used it in October to slow down one of my 2nd graders' songs so that they could get the words in and be able to be understood by the audience. I was amazed that it did not alter the character of the music in the least!
ReplyDeleteGetting students to create is the best way for them to demonstrate mastery of some kind of skill. Most dancers pick up tunes and rythm faster than the average person, so dance and music goes hand and hand. It's all about that eight count and matching moves to counts to create a great dance piece. But if a dance lack good usage of lighting, costumes, and floor space, then it can also look incomplete.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good idea to let you students master one skill at a time to no overwhelm them with too much to think about and too much to do.
You are right 2win. One step at a time is my motto. I don't like it when teacher's overwhelm me with a lot of info at once.
ReplyDeleteCreating is the what education is all about. Now children tend to be more engaged when they are part of something instead of being told to do something. Media is getting to be the most valuable form of vehicle for education, what better way to keep your students entertained than by having them dance to something they made.
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