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Rob Jones

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About Rob Jones

  • Birthday 02/21/1964

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    http://www.mtrs.co.uk
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  • Location
    Bridlington, UK
  • Interests
    Cooking cooking and more cooking

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  1. The accepted definition of 'music technology' is the use of sequencers, digital multi track recorders etc. to create music. It isn't particularly about the reaction to pre recorded music. So, your question I suspect relates to how cognitive mathematical principles are experienced through the creation of digital music. I'm not an expert, but I would think that the creation of Fibonnacci series related music, complex pattern based minimalist music and serialism are the kinds of things your student should start with. As for literacy, I've no idea. Personally I would favour a good book over a Tascam 16 track for literary enlightenment.
  2. There are so many moments in teaching, some fantastic others embarrassing, that I wished I wrote them all down. Two of the latter come to mind. 1. I had a boy called Andres Arce in a class once. You can guess how it was pronounced, so I generally avoided it and just called him Andres. One day, my guard was down, he was absent and during register call, shouted loudly "Has anybody seen Andres Arce", to paroxysms of laughter of course. 2. I had suspected a boy of systematically stealing small items of music equipment, so planted a small interesting shaker instrument to see if he would nick it, planning to later call the deputy head and catch him with said shaker. At the end of the lesson, it disappeared so I gleefully called the deputy head and we nailed the thief. We asked him to empty his large bag and discovered not only the very small shaker, but an enormous amplifier, two large speakers, 10 cables, a CD player and around 20 CDs, which I hadn't missed! The story circulated not only around the school but around the city and I still get teased about it.
  3. I've set similar tasks for my teacher trainees, but it should certainly include forums since you are much more likely to find useful information there. If the info you require isn't there, you can just start a topic and watch as the replies flood in (as you've probably realised here!). This is the best forum, but there's also the TES staffroom which is UK biased but still very good. In the UK, there are also some pretty good newsgroups around. I use uk.education.teachers and uk.education.misc but I find newsgroups are being used by spammers more and more so am reluctant to use them these days which is a big pity.
  4. I am very interested in integrating music with maths. One model I have been working with recently is using the Fibonnacci series and relating this to musical pitch as a composing tool. If you have any ideas, please post them here.
  5. Here is a list of free software on line Anvil Studio Logic Fun Coagula synthesiser SimSynth version 1.3 Vocoder Acid Xpress Hammerhead Rhythm Station Finale Notepad Music Trainers
  6. I said goodbye in July to take a break from teaching and concentrate on consulting for at least a couple of years. Colleagues are a little envious to say the least!
  7. It only appears more complex than GTP mentoring because the chances are, your RB or DRB provided very little, if any guidelines for mentoring. In theory, the mentoring process should be the same regardless of which route to QTS the trainee is following. I worked with the OU on their flexible PGCE and found that the support they give to mentors and trainees is exceptional. If you get stuck with which form to fill in or which assessment is due, just ring the regional office who will sort things out for you.
  8. I've been using technology and music since the 1980s, in the days of the Atari ST. Since then I've been teaching using interactive whiteboards, video conferencing, digital video (which I'm heavily into at the moment), sequencers, scorewriters, multi track recorders, digital audio editing etc. I was a national on line mentor for the NOF programme which I don't often admit to, but there we go.
  9. Yes .... Because our new head says uniform is the key to good behaviour, and he must be right mustn't he? Also he intends to start a uniform for the 6th form. Rumour has it that there is to be a uniform for staff... I think I might enjoy that bit.
  10. It really depends on what you mean by notation. "I played a note C and it lasted for 1.5 seconds and I played it quite loudly" is a form of notation. West African drummers and Indian tabla players among others use mnemonics as a form of notation. Many other cultures don't use notation at all and rely on the music being passed down from teacher to pupil. A survey in 1994 estimated that 0.02% of all music ever performed exists in staff notation. Horizontal line notation probably goes back to the 9th or 10th century and then only in Western civilization. To have a good appreciation of music, I would argue you really don't need any knowledge of how to read or write it.
  11. The old 70s musicals are undergoing a bit of a revival. We just did Jesus Christ Superstar which was great. Godspell was last year. Good old Grease gets an airing now and again as does Joseph. Little shop of Horrors is my personal favourite which we've done twice.
  12. Rob Jones

    ASTs

    The AST issue is a completely separate thing to Performance Related Pay, let's be clear about that. It was unfortunate timing that the government proposals for PRP were unveiled about 3 weeks before the plans to create 'superteachers' as they were then called. The predictable result was that the two completely separate issues were confused. As one of the first ASTs to be appointed in 1999, I was faced by a lot of hostility in the early days. LEAs new to ASTs may still see it a divisive, but this has mostly long gone. Colleagues now readily invite us to advise and support them. We don't look for work, it finds us. ASTs get paid for the additional duties related to teaching and learning. A comparison might be with a deputy head, who gets paid for management duties. The difference is that the AST has to prove himself, jump through hoops and get certified before even being considered for a job, whereas the aspiring deputy head can just apply for the jobs. True, there are some dodgy ASTs around, but in my experience the dodgyness ratio is far lower than in management teams. This isn't the right thread for this, but some of the points raised by Andy are quite valid and we've been campaigning for years to change them with DfES. What is actually happening with the AST initiative is extremely positive. I've seen dozens of amazing teachers staying in the classroom where they do the best jobs. The majority of these, would have gone into management or LEA positions, taking them away from contact with children if it were not for AST.
  13. I believe also that if you lose a Promethean 'marker' you are stuffed.
  14. I'm not entirely convinced that the sport analogy is exactly the same as Nationalism in the sense of having pride in one's country. When football violence occurs, it is just tribal behaviour; complete with tribal colours and tribal chants. If we support our national tiddlywinks team, then that is displaying pride in our own nation, but when rival tiddlywinks supporters throw broken bottles at each other, there's no pride being displayed, just clan behaviour which is deeply engrained in men's psyche. Most of us manage to suppress it though. My favourite pub; the Marble Beer House in Manchester (great for home brewed IPA, but I digress!) has got wise to clan behaviour and allows football fans in as long as they don't wear any colours.
  15. Proclaimers. Yes that is bizarre. I reckon it's because one of their parents must play it ad nauseam and it has had a brainwashing effect on your student. We have rock bands that do Thin Lizzy, Free, Black Sabbath (good for power chords) and I caught another band doing 'Wine Women and Song' by Whitesnake... not good in a Catholic school, so I shut the door. One answer is that their parents play it at home. Another answer is that pop music these days (o-oh... old fogey alert!) isn't as varied as it was in the 70s or it doesn't contain as much decent guitar work as it used to. Interestingly, a couple of years ago the Dandy Worhols did Bohemian Like You which rock bands in virtually every school covered. This is because it is almost identical to Brown Sugar (Stones) and has some great guitar riffs and real guts that you don't normally get in boy/girl band stuff these days. (eeee, it were all fields around here then.. pass the Complan)
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