Landfillharmonic

Not my usual style of music but I felt I had to share this:

Stunning!

Cross-posted to Feedback.

Fun On Friday #155: Running Out Of Music

I accept that this week's offering is fun only for a slightly bizarre definition of fun... that definition being: "stuff that I find fun". I hope that you, at least, find it interesting.

Unfortunately, the video can't be embedded, so you'll have to go off and watch Will We Ever Run Out Of New Music? on YouTube.

I like the way he entries to make the mind-bogglingly big numbers accessible. Some of the links with the video are worth a look too.

And tangentially related is this video, which I can embed!

Fun On Friday #133: Christmas on YouTube

A late fun on Friday comprising of three seasonally appropriate YouTube videos.

First, some Blues:

And next, something for the Prog fans:

And finally, the real meaning of Christmas... at least, the real meaning as told by puppets to a tune by Queen:

Thanks to Jane Thomson for the last video and Paul Thomson (no relation?) for the Prog video.

Right. Off to wrap more presents.

Have a great Christmas.

Fun On Friday #126: Star Treking

So... I love Star Trek; especially the Original Series with Kirk and Spock. And I would say that Star Trek IV: Voyage Home is in my top ten favourite movies.

Then there's Queen - a great rock band with an outstanding front man. And Bohemian Rhapsody; probably one of the greatest singles ever released.

So, iconic TV series and an iconic song. Now wouldn't it be a great idea if we could combine the two somehow? No! Of course not! It's a car crash of an idea. And yet...

If you just heard this version, you might think it was quirky or even, in the manner of the Chinese curse, "interesting" but the video! The word "bonkers" doesn't even come close to beginning to hint at the merest smidgeon of an idea of how completely and utterly deranged this video is.

And yet I was amused. The first snigger was when the cut out mouths of the paper star sign figures started singing but by the end I was just howling with laughter.

What about you? What do you make of it?

Fun On Friday #123: Dinosaur songs

Short and sweet this week. A video that Daughter Number 1 brought to my attention:

My favourite bit is where the dinosaur is stomping on the car and it's owner at the 1:12 mark - does that make me a bad person?

A flip chart pop-up book. An interesting class project?

Fun On Friday #117: I Can't Think Of Any Jokes

A song that is really just an excuse to tell a whole pile of jokes:

As Blindingham (AKA Alfred Williams - the performer and, I assume composer) says, "'Never mind the quality, feel the width' was very much my guiding principle with this one." I really like this approach: collect a whole pile of jokes and then sing them. Brilliant! (It's a technique I've used myself, for example, I once wrote a sketch for Sunday School which was really just an excuse to tell a whole load of "Doctor, doctor" jokes.) I like the out-takes at the end of the video too: "Too many words and not enough notes!"

Sad nerd that I am, I had a go at transcribing the lyrics. I think I got most of it but was completely stumped by the second last joke; anyone want to offer a suggestion?

At the end of the video, Mr Williams says that he'd better stop for everyone's sake. I beg to differ. I'd have been quite happy for him to keep going, for example he could have told the one about the blunt pencil, but I suppose it would have been pointless. If you can't help with the missing lyric, perhaps you could suggest further additions to the song.

{This is a partial cross-post from Feedback, my music blog. If you are interested in downloading the track, the Feedback blog shows you where to get it!}

{P.S. Thanks to the Mitch Benn Podcast for brining this track to my attention.}

Fun On Friday #113: Cup Of Brown Joy

An extraordinarily late Fun On Friday again and one that's slightly self indulgent since I was originally just going to send this to Daughter Number 1. I hope, however, that this rap from Professor Elemental on the joy of tea will appeal to some of you:


If you enjoyed that, there is a Professor Elemental website where you can access more in the same vein as well as details on how to purchase polyphonic recordings of his material. Or you could head to YouTube where you'll find many more videos including Fighting Trousers, which is Professor Elemental's dis tune aimed at Chap Hop practitioner Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer.

And talking of Mr B, why not try Straight Out Of Surrey:


What do you think of steampunk rap Or chap hop? It has opened a whole new world of musical fun for me!
P.S. I should say thank you to Mitch Benn and his wonderful comedy music podcast for introducing me to Professor Elemental and to Dave Major, a chap I met at the Apple Distinguished Educators' conference for telling me about Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer.

Fun On Friday #108: Classical Nerd

On holiday, out of routine, late as usual.

This looks (and sounds) genuine and really appeals to my inner nerd:

Hopefully, normal EdCompBlog service will be resumed soon.

Fun On Friday #106: Wedding Video

I know this feature is called "Fun On Friday" but it can't always be frenetic and crazy. Sometimes you have to be able to sit in a deck chair and look at the scenery:

I've featured a lip dub video in Fun On Friday before (Fun on Friday #58: Lip Dub) but I think this wedding one is special. Other lip dubs feature students who have the time and the deranged inclination to do this kind of thing (e.g. LIPDUB - I Gotta Feeling) or one or two people who can practice in the comfort of their own bedrooms. But for this wedding video, the organisers somehow convinced the entire wedding party to join in. Everyone - including the embarrassing uncle, the batty aunt, the cute nephews, and even granny! (I especially like the "Faster than the speed of light..." chap's performance. I'm guessing he's an uncle.)

Do you know of any other examples of lip dub that have come from a surprising source?

Fun On Friday #91: The Blues!

Sometimes, you've just got to sing the Blues.

I was in two minds about whether this should be a Fun On Friday or a post on Feedback. In the end, I decided to put it here. The Blues Maker lets you choose the Blues harp breaks and the lyrics to create a unique... well, unique-ish, Blues song to order.

Once your customised song has been "recorded", you can share your creation with the world. Here's mine.

If you have a go, let me know where I can find your song.

{Sorry Fun On Friday is late again... I fell asleep on the couch last night with the laptop on my knees!}

Fun on Friday #77: Fun With Music

The Tone Matrix web site says it is a: "Simple sinewave synthesizer triggered by an ordinary 16step sequencer. Each triggered step causes a force on the underlaying wave-map..." Sounds exciting? ...No, it doesn't attract me either. But go to the site, turn up the volume, click some squares and now tell me you are not having fun!

Screenshot of ToneMatrix

And while we are on musical fun... have you ever been Rickrolled? Have you been Rickrolled in type? No? Well have a look at Dancing Typography!

[Note: Since this is the last school day before the holidays in Scotland, this will be the last (official) Fun On Friday for a while.]

Fun on Friday #68: Music and Animation

If I don't get my act together soon, I'll need to change the name of the blog to FunCompBlog.

Animation had featured a few times in this blog (e.g. Fun on Friday #57: Who's in charge here?, The BEds Get Animated and Fun on Friday #27: SAM Animation) as has music (e.g. Fun on Friday #58: Lip Dub and British Sign Language).

Today's Fun On Friday (brought to you as is becoming traditional on Saturday) brings animation and music videos together in 10 Best LEGO Music Videos on YouTube.

My favourite is the OK Go video:

Perhaps I like it best because I am familiar with the original (see Why weren't my PE lessons like this?) but I think it is particularly well done. My only problem is that it finishes after one minute.

What's your favourite? Do you know of any others? Are you inspired to try something like this with a class?

Fun on Friday #58: Lip Dub

I discovered a whole new world this week - one that I did not even know existed. Lip Dub. Mean anything to you?

I got there by a slightly circuitous route. Stick with me while I explain.

It started with an investigation of Glee. (If you have a teenage daughter, it's hard to avoid Glee.) I came across a flash mob viral advertising campaign for Glee:

In the passing, I think it's interesting that they have taken the Loser symbol of thumb and forefinger on forehead and turned it into a positive advertising symbol. Anyway, I found the video on the Transmedia site (I think a Twitter contact directed me to it). I had a look about the site and discovered the world of Lip Dub! I think this video shows what it's about better than I can explain it:

Stunningly brilliant - and done in a single take! My favourite bit is where the camerman is walking down the stairs and the students are popping up on the escalator.

If you read the post on Transmedia (New Youtube Craze: High School Students Re-dub Music Videos) it links you to a couple of other videos and there are loads out there from schools and colleges with people doing the same sort of thing. (I like the bit at the end of the Shorewood High School video where they act like they are on a roller coaster.)

Finally, I like this lip dub where a chap has gone to an Apple Store and records himself doing a lip dub to one of his own songs... on one of the demonstration laptops. Brilliant!

Do you know of any other lip dubs that I should watch? Has your school had a go?

Fun on Friday #55: Boogie Bot!

Haven't you always wanted to build a dancing robot? No? Just me then!

Well, if you have been unaware of a desire to build robots, I challenge you not to have fun with Exobotics!

I love the way he reacts to key presses. What do you think? Good fun, waste of time, or both fun and a waste of time?

Torbay RTC: Creative Song Writing

Live blog from #torbayrtc

Peter Baxter is showing us how to create songs with people who have no experience of creating music using Garageband and cheap chimes. He got eight people and asked them to choose a number between one and eight but not to tell anyone else. They counted out and the volunteers had to clap when they heard their number. Then given a chime and instead of clapping, they hit a chime. They then noted which chimes were played on which beat. Next they fired up Garageband and recorded a note played eight times. The recorded soundswere then moved to the position in the rhythm and notes from the chime. The notes are then quantised in case the recording wasn't on the beat.

Having created a random "tune" you can then change the instrument in Garageband. Loop it, add a drum track, share to iTunes and Flo's your auntie! Just because they could, they then sent it to someones phone as a ringtone.

Described it as foolproof and very simple!

Fun On Friday #49: Bobby McFerrin

I think pretty much anything with Bobby McFerrin in it would qualify for a Fun On Friday (for example, this Ave Maria is stunning) however, today's Fun on Friday combines McFerrin, Music and the Mind:

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

How cool is that? ...And I love the "scientific" question asked at the end of the video. :-)

If this whets your appetite, you can check out the videos of the whole session on the World Science Festival site.

Appology: Many of my favourite links recently have come from Twitter contacts. I note the site but usually forget to note who posted it. So, thank you to whoever directed me to this video. Please claim credit in the comments so I can thank you properly.

Fun On Friday #42: Music to my ears

Re-mix music tracks, use music loops, record yourself... you're going to need a fairly serious package installed on your machine...

Or you could go to Aviary's Myna, an online audio editor... and use it for free. The site links you to this YouTube video that shows what Myna can do:



Excellent!

It has to be said, that to a non-lawyer, their Terms of Use are as clear as mud! I think, however, that as long as I create stuff with their loops and on their site, and then leave a copy there, I can more or less do what I want with it - use it on a web page, or a movie, or a podcast, or ...

My First Effort.egg on Aviary.

Now if only I had some musical talent! :-)

Update: Sorry, should have said thank you to Joe Dale for brining this online application to my attention.

Meaningless babble... and a useful tool

I saw oodles of pointless babble about a report on Twitter messages today: Twitter tweets are 40% 'babble'. I'm guessing that some people have already leapt to Twitters defence, so I will content myself by giving an example of a valuable exchange I saw today.

And on keyboards...
Originally uploaded by DavidDMuir

Leon Cych, AKA eyebeams posted a tweet asking for alternatives to Garageband. I had a bit of a problem with the question because Garageband does so much. You can play music, be taught to play an instrument, create music, edit sound, assemble sound loops, create podcasts, mix tracks, ... However, I had a go (as DavidDMuir) and so did _misterG, Ntoll, russdev, jont, and Steve_Collis. As a result, in the space of an hour or so, Leon had a list of alternatives to investigate.

A good example of the 8.7% of valuable messages or fairly typical of what you get most of the time if you follow the right people?

And for the record, here's the list he assembled:

• Songsmith
• Jamtrax
• JamStudio
• Real World Remixed
• Audacity
• Mixcraft
• Cubase
• Propellerhead's Record

A brilliant mixture of online and offline, free and commercial, beginner and advanced!

Any others that you want to add?

CAL 2009: Information and communications technology in the music classroom: How theories of multi-modality can illuminate classroom practice

Captured live at #cal09, posted late.

N. M. Breeze University of Worcester and University of Bristol

Composing music with ICT tends to be a group activity in schools with children spending five to six weeks on a composition. Students use computer software to compose. Music is a compulsory element in England and every child is expected to compose. The composition activities typically split into two functions with one student playing the midi keyboard and another pupil playing with the software. {Interestingly, the presenter corrected himself and said, "not play with... I mean operate the software" - but I like "playing"!}

Multi-modality - Two aspects of the theory were applied in this research

• Modes of communication, e.g. linguistic, visual, gestural, spatial and musical.
• Design and transformation - available resources for design, importance of prior design and interested action (i.e. what motivates them)

The classroom is a site of multimodal signs. Methods used to capture this was primarily video but also included music notation files, screen grabs, field notes, pupil interviews. Researcher developed his own analysis tool {as you do!} which he felt allowed him to explore his very rich data set more effectively than existing tools such as nvivo.

Findings: The whole learning environment was important in mediating the composing process. (Previous studies have focused on only one element but this researcher found it impossible to separate the aspects out. Headphones can preclude both inter and intra group collaboration. Pupils brought their own musical ideas into the classroom and this motivated them to transform. A lot of detail is missed if you only appraise the product - it is therefore important to appraise all the stages of the composition process.

YouTube Orchestra Update

Quick update: I wrote a post on the YouTube Symphony Orchestra last year. I notice that the finalists have been chosen, the YouTube community has voted and all is set for the concert in April.

Train Conductor & Violinist
Originally uploaded by Jey-Heich

The mashup of the video entries is being prepared and will be premièred at the concert on the 15th of April and posted to YouTube the following day.

I still think this is a brilliant idea and would have loved to have had the musical talent necessary to take part. (I never got beyond second trumpet in the school brass band - i.e. can make a vaguely musical noise and can be trusted not to ruin things as long as surrounded by people who can actually play!)

Did any edubloggers make it into the final stage? Anyone from Scotland?