Mar
05
Posted by admin on
March 5, 2009
Price : $54.99
Features
- Ideal for teachers and for situation requiring portability and quality sound.
- Includes: 4 Listening First TM blue kids’ headphones
- Includes a blue mini stereo Jackbox with volume control.
- Connects to media players. PC and Apple compatible.
- Ideal and designed for kids and young students, even preschoolers.
Product Description
Ideal for Itinerant Teachers and situations requiring portableequipment with quality sound. Can be used for ListeningCenters, ELD / ELL / Title 3 / Special Education applications,Language Labs and Computer Labs with high student tocomputer ratios. Rugged ABS plastic construction for safety and durability inhigh-use situations PC and Apple compatible1. Four Listening FirstTM headphones whose features include:Adjustable headband, permanently attached cord withreinforced connection, lengthy 10 straight cord with rightangle plug to reduce accidental pull-out, ambient noise-reducingearcups keep students on task and lower outside noise.2. Protective slotted baffles within the earcups preventaccidental damage from prying fingers & foreign objects.3. Mini Stereo Jackbox features include: Silver-plated contactsprevent crackling sounds, individual volume controls, skidresistantpads at each corner wont mar or scrape surface,3.5mm stereo plug with detachable 6 patch cord (not shown)connects with media players.This bright and fun-colored Listening Centerwill encourage your students to participatein learning activities. Designed for use bysmaller sized students, these headphonesand jackbox will help inspire learning!Teacher ReportLooking for hardware that could help tie together several technologies - such as microphones, headphones and computers - to create a learning center for the foreign language department and to help support the district’s goal in encouraging students to use their critical thinking skills, we decided to purchase the USB Jackbox (1216USB) from Califone. The important part is that students are not noticing the technology, since it works seamlessly with the other parts of the learning center, allowing the students to concentrate on their lessons.Aron SterlingSchool-Based Technology SpecialistFairfax County Public SchoolsFairfax, Virginia
Mar
05
Posted by admin on
March 5, 2009
Playing the piano is a wonderful activity for children because it not only provides hours of fun for kids, it utilizes all of the human creative processes. These include Seeing (visualization), Observing, Forming Analogies, Inverting, and Simplification. Effective piano lessons apply teaching strategies that utilize these processes to exercise students’ creative abilities and expand their potential. Below are some examples of how this happens.
Visualization - What would it look like if I could do it?
Visualization is probably the most difficult creative skill to develop. Having a keyboard in the imagination, however, gives a powerful boost to students’ playing ability. So it’s worth it to work at developing this creative application. Here’s a way young piano students can begin to literally draw on their mind’s eye.
The piano has groups of two and three black keys. There are three white keys around each group of two black keys. Students close their eyes and pretend to draw, for example, two very large black keys in the air. Asking questions like these helps kids begin to see the keyboard in their mind.
Can you see the white key on the left of the two black keys? It’s a C. Can you see the one on the right? It’s an E. Can you see the white key in the middle of the two black keys? It’s a D.
Over time visualization techniques help students develop a keyboard in their imaginations and begin to read notes as locations on the piano, interpreting the Grand Staff as a Map of the keyboard. In addition to hearing visualization is an important part of learning scales, chords, and playing and interpreting music.
Once students begin to develop their visualization muscles they can apply this creative skill to see the possibilities and imagine solutions in other areas of their life and education by asking,
What would a solution to this challenge look like?
Observation - Eureka! I’ve never noticed that before!
Observation is about carefully noticing the little things to find similarities and differences. For example, the difference between staccato and legato marks, or accents and tenutos, and listening to observe the differences. Piano students use their observational skills when they ask questions like these.
How are these notes the same? How are they different? Hey, is that a triplet or three eighth notes? Is this melody the same or new? Is it repeated anywhere in the music?
Piano students use the creative process of observation just as scientists do to find surprises in nature that were always there, waiting to be discovered, and by experimenting with different techniques and expressive ideas to find what works best in different styles of music.
Analogies - How Can I Gain Perspective/Change Perspective?
Analogies are helpful for gaining or changing perspective, and for making us laugh! Here are some examples of how analogies provide learning aids for young piano students. To play legato, pretend your fingers are an eeeentsy-weeensty spider. Curve the spider’s legs and walk your fingers on the piano keys. To play staccato notes, imagine the piano keys are hot! Analogies are wonderful for helping students break through the mechanics of piano and bring the music to life in an interesting and creative way.
Inverting - How would this look if I turned it upside down?
Inverting affects perspective as well by turning things upside down, or by taking them to extremes. Einstein did this when he obsessed over a beam of light and discovered his theory of relativity. Like his theory of relativity, many things are hidden beyond our understanding as they’re counter-intuitive to the logic of our first assumptions. I don’t pretend to understand Einstein’s theory, but I know that Einstein also loved music and that many of the piano techniques students need to play well are indeed counter-intuitive. That’s why students may resist them at first.
One way to break through our natural logic and bring other possibilities into view is by asking,
What would this look like if I turned it upside down?
Here’s a creative suggestion I give students for polishing a recital piece when they’e having difficulty with the last section of a longer piece of music.
Play it backwards! Like this.
Play the last measure. Then play the last two measures, the last three, the last four, etc., all the way back to the beginning. Then play the song all the way through and see how it has improved. This is a great way for students to more thoroughly learn a piece of music.
Simplifying - I’ve seen this some place before?
Simplifying can yield creative solutions to difficult challenges by eliminating what is unnecessary. Ever try too hard? Here’s a tip. Sometimes less is more. Before trying to re-invent the wheel, look back through history to see where this problem has been solved before by someone else, or by you.
Piano students can do this by asking,
Where have I seen this in music before?
How did I play it then?
What strategy can I use to break this down and make it easier?
What playing strategies has my piano teacher shown me that I can apply here?
Is there a book I could read to find out what other pianists have tried.
As a piano teacher I want to follow a creative plan that simplifies learning and achieves more positive results faster, even if I have to turn things up-side-down! And I have! Just as piano lessons for children increase their overall educational progress, the reverse is also true! Literature, visual arts, and sciences can help children in piano lessons achieve their musical goals.
That’s why I wrote the Piano Adventure Bears Stories - To help piano students expand their creative potential. These beautifully illustrated books use language, art and science to help kids in piano see the possibilities, avoid frustrations, and create a plan for achieving their piano dreams.
My stories use all of the foundational creative skills I discussed above and more, because they feature the loveable and endearing characters Mrs. Treble Beary and her passionate, new student, Albeart Littlebud, who everyone calls Little Bear. You’ll enjoy the time you spend reading these stories with your children as they laugh and learn from Little Bear’s Piano Adventures.
For more information about Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources for children ages 5 to 11 visit Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources You?ll find a treasure box filled with piano resources to create an exciting musical adventure for your child - right in your own home! Visit their website and subscribe to their f?ree internet newsletter so you can download f?ree piano sheet music and mp3s of original piano compositions.
These exciting stories, games, piano lessons, and inspirational gifts feature the Piano Adventure Bears, Mrs. Treble Beary and her new piano student, Albeart Littlebud. Young students follow along with Albeart to learn what piano lessons are all about in a fun way that kids readily understand appreciate. Click here to visit PianoAdventureBears.com For a wealth of information about piano lessons, visit tallypiano.com