Dr. Frankel's Podcast Page

This podcast contains two recordings that I made yesterday with the Kaossilator Orkestra at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ.

The structure of the first piece is based on Morse Code. After giving the students a drum loop, they spelled words using the Kaossilator. This is the third time we have rehearsed together as a group and I am finding that having a system like Morse Code (giving the students a tactile direction) is more successful than some of the other pieces that I have written out for them.

The second piece is based on Braille. We chose the word "Rainbow" because there were 7 students yesterday. Each student was assigned a letter from the word and then given direction on how to create each letter using Braille.

I was very pleased with the results as the pieces are more controlled than some of the ones we tried in earlier rehearsals. The concept of the Kaossilator Orkestra is becoming clearer as we move forward. Personally, I am thrilled by the possibilities for this type of group in the school setting.

This is a podcast of A&HM 4029 for Monday, April 6th 2008. It is our third and final class tutorial using Sibelius 5.0.

This is a podcast of A&HM 4029 for Monday, March 31st 2008. It is our second class tutorial using Sibelius 5.0.

This is a podcast of the session I presented at the MMEA 2008 Conference titled: "Podcasting in the Music Classroom" on Thursday, March 27th 2008.

Unfortunately, my third session, titled: "Connecting With the MySpace Generation" was accidentally deleted, though you can still access the PowerPoint by visiting www.soundtree.com/mmea08.

I welcome any questions or comments you may have.

This is a podcast of the session I presented at the MMEA 2008 Conference titled: "The Music Educators Guide to Copyright Law" on Thursday, March 27th 2008.

For all of my session materials, including the PowerPoint presentation used in the session, please visit: www.soundtree.com/mmea08

I welcome any questions or comments you may have.

This is a podcast of A&HM 4029 for Monday, March 24th 2008. It includes a introduction to Sibelius 5.0.

This is a recording of the first rehearsal of the Kaossilator Orkestra. It features students from the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. The group is made of 8 Kaossilators and 2 miniKPs. I am encouraged by their first effort and I look forward to working with them in April.
Let me know what you think.

This is a podcast that I produced for the United States Army Ceremonial Band . The group is performing a very interesting program on Thursday, March 27th 2008 at Brucker Hall in Alexandria, VA. In collaboration with Cpt. David Paroby, conductor of the band, and Charles Snow and Bob Quinn from the Applied Information Technology Department of George Mason University, SoundTree is supporting the concert by the production of this podcast and promoting it with our customers. I hope you enjoy this.

Please visit the US Army Band at: www.usarmyband.com
Please visit the SoundTree website set up for this specific event at: www.soundtree.com/usarmy

This is a podcast of our class on Monday, March 10, 2008. The topic is Software for the Middle and High School Classroom.

This is a recording that I made using both the Korg Kaossilator and the Korg miniKP (Kaoss Pad). The miniKP is a fantastic little effects processor that you control in a similar way to the Kaossilator - dragging your finger over the pad controller.
I created a simple loop with the Kaossilator and then used some of the different onboard effects from the miniKP. Hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think!

This is a podcast of the March 3rd class session for A&HM 4029 at Teachers College. The class focused on software for elementary music educators.

This is a podcast a session titled "Podcasting in the Music Room" that I presented for members of the Westchester County Arts Leadership Association on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at Mamaroneck High School.

For more resources, visit: www.soundtree.com/wcala.

This is a podcast of a session titled "Exploring Sounds: Virtual Synthesizers in the Music Classroom" that I presented at the NJMEA 2008 In-Service Conference in East Brunswick, NJ on Saturday, February 23, 2008.

Special thanks to Dr. Rick Dammers from Rowan University for recording my session and sending me the files.

For more resources, visit: www.soundtree.com/njmea.

This is a podcast of a session titled "Lab Basics: Getting Started with Technology in Your Music Program" that I presented at the NJMEA 2008 In-Service Conference in East Brunswick, NJ on Saturday, February 23, 2008.

Unfortunately, the recording stops about half way through the session as I ran out of room on my MicroTrack. My apologies.

For more resources, visit: http://www.soundtree.com/njmea.

This is a podcast of a session titled "Teaching Classroom Music in the Keyboard Lab" that I presented at the NJMEA 2008 In-Service Conference on Saturday, February 23, 2008.

For more information and session materials, visit http://www.soundtree.com/njmea.

This is a podcast of a session titled "Digital Audio Solutions for Music Educators" presented by Steve Lucas and myself at the NJMEA 2008 In-Service Conference in East Brunswick, NJ on Friday, February 22, 2008.

For more resources, please visit: htttp://www.soundtree.com/njmea

This is a podcast of our class session on Monday, February 18th 2008, discussing how to utilize PowerPoint in the music classroom.

This is a podcast of my A&HM 4029 class at Teachers College. It contains an audio recording of my Administrative Applications of Technology presentation as well as a Microsoft Word tutorial.

This is a composition that I created using the new Kaossilator from Korg. I hooked it up through the stereo RCA output of the Kaossilator into a "Real Instrument" track in GarageBand. You play the Kaossilator with your finger by running it over an X Y axis type interface. I love it because it will allow ANYONE to make music.
What you will hear is a drum loop that I created on the Kaossilator followed by many layers drawing from the amazing sound bank (100 patches) that comes with the Kaossilator. This composition was performed live. There are no edits. I simply used the loop function on the Kaossilator and recorded all into GarageBand.
The Kaossilator retails for $199 and is available through SoundTree (www.soundtree.com) as well as many music retailers.
I hope you like what you hear.

This is a podcast of a session titled "Podcasting in the Music Classroom" that was presented at the FMEA 2008 Conference on January 10, 2008.

I welcome your comments and questions.

This is a podcast of my clinic entitled "The Music Educators Guide To Copyright Law". that I presented at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, IL on Friday, December 21, 2007. It was a great session with lots of people in attendance.

The session actually starts at 2:44 into the recording, so you'll have to fast-forward to avoid the dead air.

I welcome your comments and questions.

This is the twelfth installment of the This Week In Music Podcast series created by the 7th Grade General Music Students. This is the sixth podcast from my Second Marking Period at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

This is the eleventh installment of the This Week In Music Podcast series created by the 7th Grade General Music Students. This is the fifth podcast from my Second Marking Period at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

This is the tenth installment of the This Week In Music Podcast series created by the 7th Grade General Music Students. This is the fourth podcast from my Second Marking Period at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

This is a podcast of the session I presented at the 2007 ATMI National Conference in Salt Lake City, UT. The title of the presentation is "Extending The Classroom: Utilizing Blogs To Promote Discourse With Music Education Students". To view the presentation slides, visit: www.jamesfrankel.com.

I welcome your comments and questions.

This is the ninth installment of the This Week In Music Podcast series created by the 7th Grade General Music Students. This is the third podcast from my Second Marking Period at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

This is the eighth installment of the This Week In Music Podcast series created by the 7th Grade General Music Students. This is the first podcast from my Second Marking Period at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

This is the seventh installment of the This Week In Music Podcast series created by the 7th Grade General Music Students. This is the first podcast from my Second Marking Period at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

This is the sixth installment and final installment of the This Week In Music Podcast series created by the 7th Grade General Music Students in my First Marking Period at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.

We'll be back with more podcasts in the coming marking periods as well. This has been a very successful project.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

This is the fifth installment of the This Week In Music Podcast series created by my 7th Grade General Music Students at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

This is the fourth installment of the This Week In Music Podcast series created by my 7th Grade General Music Students at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

This is the third installment of the This Week In Music Podcast series created by my 7th Grade General Music Students at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

This is a podcast of my Internet Resources for Music Educators presentation from my A&HM 4029.001 Course at Teachers College Columbia University.

This is the second installment of a new series of podcasts that I'll be doing with my students in the 7th Grade General Music class. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

This is a podcast of my Technology in the Music Classroom presentation from my A&HM 4029.002 Course at Teachers College Columbia University.

This is a podcast of my Technology in the Music Classroom presentation from my A&HM 4029.001 Course at Teachers College Columbia University.

This is the first installment of a new series of podcasts that I'll be doing with my students in the 7th Grade General Music class. Two students per group are charged with finding important musical events and birthdays that occur during their assigned week.
The podcast was recorded live in front of a studio audience (my class), and took 40 minutes to record in its entirety.
My colleague, Ms. Elizabeth Lavery, also teaches the same class. Her podcasts are located at: http://thisweekinmusic.podomatic.com.

Your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

I was looking through my PodOmatic email account today and found a really cool request from a teacher named Carolyn Castellano who teaches music in Brookline, MA. She created a podcast on her site: http://creativehighschoolmusic.podomatic.com/ asking me a few questions. I was thrilled to have a podcast created just asking me my opinions about music technology in the classroom.
What follows are my responses. Feel free to weigh in with any comments.

This is an example podcast for my students in my 7th Grade General Music Class at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Each week a group of students will be posting a podcast on this site that highlight events in music history from their assigned week. I am looking forward to hearing their work.

This is an informational podcast for all FAMS instrumental music students for the 2007-08 school year.

This is a short composition that I wrote using GarageBand '08 and the new Voices Jam Pack. It was a lot of fun to write. I used a bunch of loops from "André" for the song. The Voices Jam Pack has over 1,500 loops arranged by the "singers" who created them. Hope you enjoy what you hear!

This is the final installment of Folk Music podcasts from my 6th grade general music students at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Hope you enjoy them!

This is my latest podcast from my 6th Grade General Music students. They were given the Yankee Doodle melody as a MIDI file and they were able to orchestrate the melody with loops form GarageBand. It was their first time utilizing loops, an I wanted to give them a "fun" activity that also tied in Music from American History. I hope you enjoy their creations - they had fun making them.

This is a musical composition that was created using the Lifehouse Method website recently unveiled by Pete Townsend. The website creates musical compositions after the user inputs a picture, a recording of their voice, and two short musical clips that reflect their mood. It's pretty interesting.

This is another podcast from my 8th grade students at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. The students were put into groups and assigned a composer who they then researched and created a radio show about. These podcasts are from students in my 9th period class.

This is the latest podcast from my 8th grade students at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. The students were put into groups and assigned a composer who they then researched and created a radio show about. These podcasts are from students in my 3rd period class.

This is a podcast containing blues songs written by my students at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. The students used the demo song Shufflin' Blues that comes with GarageBand. The songs are pretty cool - check them out.

This is a podcast of the session I presented today on behalf of TI:ME NJ. The workshop covered all aspects of creating and publishing podcasts. It runs a bit long - I forgot to stop recording when we took our break - my apologies.

This podcast will remain on this site until May 31st.

This is the latest podcast from my 6th grade general music students at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. The students researched the history of their assigned songs, downloaded a MIDI file and imported it into GarageBand, sang the song using the MIDI file as an accompaniment, and formatted all of the research into a script for a fictitious radio program about folk music.
This podcast is from the 4th Marking Period of the 2006-2007 school year.

I hope you enjoy their work!

This is a presentation that I made today with my 8th Grade General Music Students using a fantastic application called ProfCast. This application allows you to import PowerPoint or Keynote presentations and record your voice and the slide changes into an enhanced MP3 that allows students to see the slides and hear your voice simultaneously. For under $30 it is money well spent - especially when dealing with different learning styles.

This is a podcast of my recent session at MMEA entitled "Podcasting in the Music Classroom". It will remain on this site until April 30th.

This is my new podcast from my 6th Grade General Music students. They were given the Yankee Doodle melody as a MIDI file and they were able to orchestrate the melody with loops form GarageBand. It was their first time utilizing loops, an I wanted to give them a "fun" activity that also tied in Music from American History. I hope you enjoy their creations - they had fun making them.

This is a podcast that I have created for the Technology Institute for Music Educators. I am the State Chapter Committee Chair of TI:ME and this podcast is meant to provide TI:ME members with information on forming a State Chapter of TI:ME.

This is a podcast of my recent To Burn Or Not To Burn session on Copyright Law at UIUC. The volume level is pretty low, so you'll have to turn this one up.

My 6th Grade General Music students learn about Penny Broadsides, colonial songs about politics and current events set to familiar tunes of the day. As their assessment, I have students create lyrics about colonial life and record themselves singing their lyrics over the familiar tune Twinkle, Twinkle. It's an example of how to extend a lesson to include performance and technology.
I welcome your comments.

This song was recorded using GarageBand a few years ago. I teach the Blues in my 6th Grade General Music class, and the project that assign requires students to write blues lyrics and record them over the Shufflin' Blues demo song that comes with GarageBand. I've had many students record their songs over the years, but this one remains my favorite: The Detention Blues, sung by 6th grader (now 9th grader) Nathaniel Clark.

Visit my website at: www.jamesfrankel.com to learn more ideas on how to integrate technology into the music classroom.

This recording was made using the Blue Mic Snowball USB microphone and GarageBand 3.0. I positioned the microphone about 10 feet in front of the band on a boom stand, and the microphone was set to "Omnidirectional". Let me know what you think of it.

This is a podcast that I made with my 8th Grade General Music students at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. For this project my students were assigned a composer and a number of questions about their life and work. The result is a collection of 10 radio shows about the composers. It was a good first effort. I'll be posting more recent podcasts in the near future.

This was the first podcast from my 6th grade general music students this year at the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. It is from the 1st Marking Period of the 2006-2007 school year.

I hope you enjoy their work!