6. Turn off the metronome! This is the biggest mistake that I find students make.
7. If someone misses recording, they miss recording. Such is life. They can catch it next
time around or stop in later to do it again.
8. Allow time for them to listen to themselves as soon as they are done. They will do it
anyway.
Step 3: Saving the recorded file is very important. I have the students save their files to
their desktop. Each files is saved as their last name plus the first word of the choral piece. For
example, tarleton_great would be my file for “Great Gettin’ up Mornin’.” Most of them are
used to saving files to their personal space or to their documents. Those who do not pay atten-
tion will save them to their garage band folder. Please do not assume they can save these files
on their own! When they think they are lost, there is great stress and much mis-placed time to
try and find them! During practice,
I then allow students to delete the
saved files after they have arrived
on their desktop. Most, however,
do not. This is very helpful and
you can use it to your advantage.
When the students record excerpts
that we have been working on, I
find they take them home and sing
with them giving them extra re-
hearsal time. Some will ask if they
can record an entire song during
rehearsal, and I generally will let
them as long as they are not dis-
tracted and they only get one
chance.
Step 4: After I am satisfied they know the process of recording and saving to the desktop (it
generally takes one class for students to be comfortable with the process –less for most eighth
graders) I will schedule an assessment day. I choose excerpts from three songs to assess. For
example: We will be singing the first 16 measures of “Great Getting’ Up Mornin” and I will be
assessing diction. We will be singing from B-C in “Omnia Vincit Amor” and I will be assessing
pitch. We will be singing the first 24 bars of “In Flander’s Fields” and I will be assessing breath-
ing and phrasing. The students bring their laptops to class and, when they enter, they set up
their first file. I run through the excerpt after warm-ups for rehearsal, and then we are ready to
record. When I get the thumbs up, I count them in and we go. At the end of the piece, they listen
to themselves, save to the desktop, and then create another file for the next song. After all three
songs are recorded, the assessment is finished on the recording end and we put our laptops
away.
Step 5: All that is left of the process is to drag and drop the files into the desig-
nated folder. DO NOT DO THIS IN CLASS!! There will be too many files going into one
folder and the server does not like it! (I learned the hard way!) I give the student 2 days to drag
and drop 2 of their three files. With this method, students can listen to their files and decide
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