Band-in-a-box Newbie

When it comes to music software, I must admit I'm not very knowledgeable. Before Tuesday, I had never really tried out Band-in-a-box to see if it could be applied to my teaching. Frankly, I thought it was a strictly band program, and that it wouldn't have any applicable use for my classroom. Now, after having messed around with it for just a little bit and after some discussions that have taken place in Secondary Choral Methods, I have a great use for it! Practice cd's! In the past, I've recorded practice cd's by sitting down and plunking out the individual parts and playing them. How is that teaching my students to be musical? It's not. It's teaching them to be lemmings. If I were to give them practice cd's with just the chords of the song, it would force them to rely on their own pitch memory, and to listen to how their part fits into the chord structure. Not only that, but they might even try improvising a new part over the chords, which I would be thrilled with. I'm sure there might be other ways to implement it into a choral and/or general music setting, but that's all I've got for now. Any ideas out there?

Introductions, if you please

Greetings and salutations! I'm Breanna and I'm a 2nd year grad student at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago. I just completed my 4th year teaching 3rd, 4th and 5th grade general music and choir at Liberty School in Orland Park, IL. This year, however, I also took on the 6th-8th grade choir at Jerling Junior High next door.

This blog has been established in order to share my thoughts on technology and things that I'm learning in my Instructional Design class. I'm looking forward to learning some ways that I can easily and effectively incorporate technology into my general music classes in ways that will be meaningful to my students. I have to say that so far, two days into the class, my expectations of what this class will be like have completely changed. I was expecting to learn about different software programs that are available that my district could possibly purchase for students to use. I think there will be a little of that, but it will far and away be based on things the kids can do online. I'm excited about what I will learn, because I think the nature of it will allow me to use it right away, without having to convince my district to spend money. So, here's to the prospect of learning new things!