The premiere appearance of our iBand at last term's summer concert caused some comments and interest, not least among some of the students; one pupil arrived at school for the new year and sought out Mr Cox to find out how he could sign up for the band!
Some valuable lessons were learnt in the preparation for our performance of Lady Gaga's Poker Face, including how to make the most of limited rehearsal time, and the importance of being able to set up quickly and independently.
Maybe we need a space dedicated to this type of musical performance and expression. The clip below is now top of our wishlist!
Last week our lunchtime iBand activity started. 12 students from years 4 & 5 will be experimenting with handheld technology to see if they are able to produce a musical piece worthy of public performance.
They are using a number of different apps to produce their sounds, which are listed below with UK prices.
iPhone, iPod and Ipad Music/Sound Apps
iShred Live by Frontier Design Group - Free
Percussions+ by Crimson Technology – GBP3.99
Pocket Organ C3B3 by insideout ltd. – GBP1.79
SoundGrid by Vitaliy Pronkin – GBP1.79
iPhone and iPod Music/Sound Apps
Bassist by MooCow Ltd. – GBP2.39
Cowbell Plus by Frontier Design Group – GBP0.59
Guitarist by MooCow Ltd. – GBP2.39
Guitar Studio by Frontier Design Group – GBP2.99
iGOG Massive Drums by Wave Machine Labs Inc. – GBP1.79
iShred by Frontier Design Group – GBP2.99
Melody Bell by CONIT Co., Ltd. – GBP0.59
NLog Free Synth by Rolf Wohrmann - Free
Piano Studio by Frontier Design Group – GBP2.99
Real Bongos by Armin Heinrich – GBP1.19
Saxophone musicofx by mode of expression, LLC – GBP0.59
Theremin by Frontier Design Group – GBP0.59
iPad Music/Sound Apps
3D Drum Kit by Benjamin McDowell – GBP1.19
Well done to all those students involved. They've made a great start and who knows, they may well be up to the standard below at some point in the future.
Next week sees conference season kick off with the 3rd Hong Kong 21st Century Learning Conference taking place at West Island School. Nearly 30 teachers from across Kellett will be attending to participate in a number of sessions and forums.
Big hitters Stephen Heppell and David Warlick will be the keynotes and I'm delighted to say that Katrina Hall has been chosen to present a session on the use of iTouch Apps in the Primary Classroom. Katrina has previously presented at the 2nd Hong Kong 21st Century Learning Conference on Games in the Classroom as well as on the use of mobile devices at the Hong Kong Handheld & Mobile Learning Festival at the University of Hong Kong.
An interesting discussion on the iPad between Will Richardson and Warren Buckleitner, editor of Children's Software Review. I have to say I agree that the iPad has huge potential in the Early Years classroom.
Thanks to miss Hall we got a chance to have a look at an iPad today. Below is a video of Ava using Dino Mixer - an application which has been used a lot in P1 as part of their study of dinosaurs.
The iPad looks like it could have a wide range of uses in school and we'll be looking at how we might use them and how many we might purchase in the near future.
