Hi there Paul and the rest of the MK8/Recorder Classroom Team. Let me start by apologizing, in NO WAY did I mean for my comments to be taken as criticism. I LOVE the magazine(s) and the music and ideas in it (Them). I was only saying that I'd spent a bit of time with the RRS feature and was having a difficult time grasping its "usefulness".

That being said: YOU did a FANTASTIC job "defending" this resource!!!! So, now, I apologize again....I guess, if I had taken the time to THINK before typing, I might have come up with at least 1 or 2 of the skills you listed. (Music reading, self-assessment, peer tutoring, etc.)

While I might not begin using RRS right away, I do think that it will eventually be a great "shot in the arm" when the kids are seemingly becoming a bit bored or tired of Rec. Karate, or my practice logs, etc.

Once again, I am sorry, I do hope that I didn't start any major upheavals here, on the list, and I really hope I didn't offend anyone in your company. I can only imagine the amount of hours that it took for the planning, designing and implementing of this program. Please, accept my apology.

Elissa57

--- On Tue, 9/9/08, Paul Jennings wrote:

> From: Paul Jennings
> Subject: Re: [RECL]Recorder Rock Star
> To: "Recorder_Classroom"
> Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 5:59 PM
> Hi, all...
>
> I'm sorry we didn't make things clear enough...
> it's not for our
> desire to do so. Kory said it well: we want to give you a
> way of
> giving feedback and a nice reward certificate SIMPLY and
> cheaply.
>
> Yes, we live in a world of GUITAR HERO, but to do something
> like
> that, you'd have to have special software and a unique
> controller
> that would cost us much $$$ to develop and you much money
> to buy.
> Guitar Hero has millions of customers - Recorder
> Classroom... not so
> many.
>
> With that in mind, and because we have gotten some of this
> feedback,
> I wrote an article for the ReClas 1/2 Doodler flyer.
> Here's what it
> says, by and large:
>
> ******************************************************************
> Don't be afraid to let your students be
> Recorder Rock Stars!
>
> New things can be intimidating, and our Recorder Rock Star
>
> site is definitely new. And while it is pretty simple, it
> is going to
> take a bit of learning and a little preparation to get all
> you can
> out of it.
> While we haven't gotten a lot of feedback from you
> yet, what
> little we have tells us that we need to do a better job of
> letting
> you know what it's all about, and what you can bring to
> your program
> when you use it. So let's do that.
>
>
> What is Recorder Rock Star?
> Simply put, it is a free web site designed to let you have
> a
> novel way to encourage good performances from your
> students. Boiled
> down to its simplest concept, it is a screen that shows a
> neat rock
> band, and gives you a way to tally a score based on the
> performance
> of any student for any tune. After the performance, we make
> it easy
> to turn the screen into a cool certificate you can print
> out from any
> computer, customized for that student and that performance.
> That sounds simple enough. What's the challenge? In
> our
> testing, we found that your mind and body have to work with
> a couple
> of skill sets that take a little practice. What's
> involved:
> - The person keeping score needs to read music, and as
> they
> are reading the tune being played, they need to tap a key
> corresponding to the note value. Of course, if the player
> misses the
> note, that value is not added to their total.
> - At the end of the tune, an evaluation is also made on
> tone
> quality and other musical aspects of the work, some
> controlled by the
> teacher.
> What we have just described are computer gaming skills.
> They
> are simple ones, but they include multi-tasking and
> hand-eye
> coordination. As a computer veteran (I've had a
> computer for almost
> 30 years) and a fairly bad gamer, I can understand any
> reticence you
> may have. But there is an easy solution, one that will
> bring you even
> more student participation and a special way of rewarding
> other
> students for skills beyond their performances on recorder.
> Let us
> explain.
>
> Hail The Score Master!
> We encourage teachers to learn how to keep score. It's
> not
> really that hard, with a little practice. Honest...
> really... believe
> us... If we can do it, so can you. But that's not the
> point. We
> encourage you to learn so you can oversee the kids that you
> make the
> REAL score keepers. Truly, you need to elevate the job of
> ScoreMaster
> to a much-coveted position among your students. It may well
> be of
> most interest to your computer-savvy kids, but then,
> that's a lot of
> them these days. Here's the plan:
> - The Set Up - Tell each class that you will have a
> special
> job that will let them show off their music and computer
> skills at
> the same time. Show them the web site and describe the task
> at hand:
> scoring players in real time as they play songs.
> - Training - The learning process for your
> ScoreMasters should
> take place separate from actually playing tunes with
> Recorder Rock
> Star. We recommend that you use the full recordings of
> tunes so they
> hear the recorder, and as the tune is played, your
> prospective
> ScoreMasters keep score on a computer. Once a student has
> successfully followed the music and scored correctly for
> three
> separate tunes, he can be an official ScoreMaster. If you
> want to
> take it away from class time, allow students to practice in
> small
> groups or at least with a partner to watch their work.
> - Time To Play - Make a big deal of introducing new
> ScoreMasters. They are in positions of honor. To ensure
> best scoring,
> you should probably have a second student (an apprentice?)
> watch the
> scoring to make sure that everything goes well.
> - Reward Your ScoreMaster! - If you use Recorder Karate
> with
> your program, consider having a special belt for your
> ScoreMasters,
> maybe a gold one or some color not in the program.
> You can learn more about belts at our web site, as well as
>
> all of the details about accessing the Recorder Rock Star
> site and
> instructions for using it. That's:
> RecorderClassroom.com
> ******************************************************************
> Let me know if that helps...
>
> Hope so,
>
> Paul
>
> --
> *****************
> Paul Jennings
> Plank Road Publishing, Inc.
> Publisher of MUSIC K-8 magazine & RECORDER CLASSROOM
> magazine
> Wauwatosa, WI
> pj@prpmk8.com
> http://www.MusicK8.com
> http://www.RecorderClassroom.com
> http://www.GoldenRuleMusic.com
> http://www.MusicK8Kids.com
> http://www.SchoolMusicMatters.com
> http://www.MooToobMoosic.com
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