Chorus and Chromebooks! - Ms. Belch, Kelly Mill Middle

Last week, I spent some time with Ms. Belch, Choral Director, at Kelly Mill Middle School. The class was listening to and singing She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways.

To help the students understand the music and how to sing the song, they discussed what they were singing and the students used Google Drive to recreate the lyrics in their own words. This was the first step in a multi-step process to have the students create a new score. Yes, the students would be creating their own original score of the song. How will they do it you ask? With the shift to Chromebooks, Ms. Belch found NoteFlight to help her students compose music. The students will us Noteflight to put in composition, lyrics, and melody new score created. The students will also be able to collaborate on the different parts of the melody online.

 

"Noteflight lets you write, play back and share music notation on the web.Noteflight is an easy to use, full-featured application to write, play back and share musical scores. Write sheet music using our award winning notation editor and become part of the world's best online music composition community. Share your scores to get feedback from other composers and musicians and learn from viewing and listening to their shared scores. Noteflight works with all modern web browsers and on many mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets." -Chrome Web Store

Ms. Belch challenged the students to feel the emotion of the original song/score and to create their own version. The class period was filled with singing; engagement in writing and composing; and learning proper singing technique. It made me want to be in middle school again. :)

Are you a fine arts teacher in a school using Chromebooks?  A great way to get started is to be sure you are using the Chrome browser on your computer. Be sure to check out the Chrome Webstore to see what apps are available for your students to use that might fit your needs. Also work with your school level Instructional Technology Specialists to help you plan or offer suggestions on where to get started.

Student has Noteflight and lyrics side by side to help write the music.

Ms. Belch has been the Choral teacher at Kelly Mill Middle School for eight years. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a Master of Music.