Amanda's+First+Page

Reviews of Texts __Strange Mr. Satie__ by M.T. Anderson (illustrations by Petra Mathers) In Paris, at the turn of the twentieth century, when artists were experimenting and coming up with new and creative ways to do things, Erik Satie had a brand new idea of music. Most people didn't understand him or his pieces; his music was criticized and called surreal. But Satie didn't care. He wanted to make music that didn't follow any rules, except maybe some rules of his own. Satie's life was a little strange, wonderful and a little lonely. He pretended to be friends with Picasso, and with wizards and puppeteers; he scraped himself with a stone instead of bathing, and he once threw his acrobat girlfriend out a window. This book introduces the life of the French composer, Erik Satie, who spent his entire career challenging the present ideas and conventions of music. I included it in my lesson as a book of example with music. __Famous Children: Schubert__ by Ann Rachlin illustrated by Susan Hellard The Famous Children series tells exciting stories from the early years of great artists and composers, bringing them alive for readers. This book talks about the life and times of Schubert, a great composer and how he started out his life and became the great composer he is known as now. I included it in my lesson as a book to re-write based on other books. __What Charlie Heard__ by Mordicai Gerstein  The exciting story of the composer Charles Ives."Sometimes little Charlie lay in his crib just listening. He heard his mother’s long dress as she moved around his room. He heard big clocks and little clocks. He heard wagons and horse hooves. He heard dogs and crickets and the church bell next door." Charlie heard noises in everything, and he wanted to make great music about what he had heard, however, other people didn't hear what Charlie heard as music, they heard it simply as noise. This book is illustrated in a way that shows the sounds of music that Charlie heard as it talks about his life leading up to him being the composer we know of today. It was used in my lesson to make text-music connections about composers. __The Fabulous Feud Of Gilbert And Sullivan__ by Jonah Winter and Richard Egielski  This book takes place in Topsy-Turvydom, which is a magical kingdom(or opera stage....) that is full of characters of all sorts! Some characters may even look familiar. Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Sullivan have ruled this kingdom together in peace, writing silly operas. But, one day, Mr. Sullivan decided that he had had enough of Mr. Gilbert. Every opera they write seems to be the same story, and he desperately wants something different, maybe even something serious! Mr. Gilbert is stunned, and sad. He lost his best friend. Will Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Sullivan become friends and colleagues again!? I used this in my lesson as a connection with a piece of music.

Web 2.0 Tools for Teaching Theater or Music

[|Note Flight] Note flight is a free music writing program similar to Sibelius or Finale available as an application online that you can share, and embed on other pages. Students must be 13+ with parental permission to use (18 without permission). 

[|Spotify] Spotify is a web app that you download onto your computer very similar to itunes. Regular spotify is free (upgraded spotify doesn't contain commercials). Spotify has all types of music available from different artists, and you simply add to a playlist and play. It is easy to use in a classroom for a music source.



Web Resources for Educators

[|Arts Alive] <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">A great place to discover the excitement of the performing arts! Learn all about orchestral music, the NAC Orchestra, its musicians and friends, great composers, conductors and much more! Also contains sections on theatre and dance, along with different resources for teachers, students, and parents.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra: Presented by Carnegie Hall] A Carnegie Hall listening adventure for any age student learning about the orchestra through a program called Isaac Stern Education Legacy supported by the U.S. Department of Education

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|The Classical Music Navigator 2] A site dedicated to storing all sorts of genres of music, as well as hundreds of different composers along with information on different works and composers, and cataloging information, with links to music streaming.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|Mustech Wiki] A music wiki made by teachers, for teacher. Teachers upload their own lessons and smartboard lessons and other resources that they use in their own classrooms.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">[|BBC Sing: Learn to Sing] Gives you a step by step tutorial on how to properly stand, warm up, sing, and improve your singing explained through text instructions, images, and videos. These videos give you the basics and are a fun and interesting way to encourage singing.

<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Lesson Plan <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;"> <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">Pieces used in lesson: <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">