What Rhythm Is! Technical notes

Here I want to outline the technologies I hope to use in the creation of my online lesson on "What Rhythm Is!"

First, I am going to be using Dreamweaver as my main authoring software. I have always been a GoLive user, but as that product is now being phased out by Adobe, it is time for me to make the switch. I had originally created my Mandopelli site using GoLive, but I have now migrated it to Dreamweaver, and am trying to become comfortable with the new syntax and structure of the program.

Secondly, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I am going to use a particular feature of Dreamweaver, known as Spry, to create the main structure of my unit page. This should allow me to streamline the navigation of the unit as I can organize both my units, and the content of each unit, into a series of navigation tabs. This will also get me into CSS a bit more, as Spry is based heavily on style sheets for its formatting.

For the actual content, I am going to use instructional videos that will combine flash animation elements with live video (via Chromakey). I want to set up a "interview" format where I will be talking with an animated character (Nik Beat, from an earlier CCSU class). I have done limited work with Chromakey filtering, and I do anticipate that this portion of the project will be the most challenging to pull off. I will see how it goes.

Additionally, each unit will have a podcast with images (created in GarageBand), downloadable materials (created in InDesign), an assessment tool, using forms and form-to-email for feedback, and other weblinks. Other elements will be added as I go.

Rhythm, Part 2

O.k. I wanted to take this post to talk a bit about the unit I am going to be presenting for this project. I call it, "What Rhythm Is!" and I have developed it over the last 10 years of teaching general music classes to k-8 students. I have taught and been taught many different approaches to the instruction of rhythm, and found myself in the classroom combining elements from several of them as I developed my own method.

First, I make a clear distinction in my instruction between the notation of rhythm, which is an artificial writing system that really has nothing to do with what rhythms actually are, and the actual sounding of rhythms, or organization of sound in time, which is what rhythm is. Most people immediately think of half notes and quarter rests and time signatures when you ask about rhythm, but I want people to think about beats, and divisions and combination of those beats.

I further try to break down those rhythm elements into six easy-to-manage concepts. They are: Steady Beat, Meter, and the four rhythm tools (Leave it Alone, Scissors, Glue and Eraser). I show that with an understanding of those six concepts, one can create and perform virtually any rhythm imaginable. Only once a solid understanding exists of these concepts, do I approach the business of writing rhythms down.

I have found this approach to be pretty successful in the classroom with many different age and ability levels, and I am looking forward to seeing how I can translate this unit into an online learning environment.