RadioEdu Second Semester: Week 7 Production Notes

Friday, March 21st, 2014 by WLOY Staff

Hi everyone, I opted to not include this in Week 7’s longer blog post because I wanted that entry to focus on the integration of What Happens Next into the WEMR sessions. This week J and M were excited to refocus on creating some original music. We were able to devote all of Thursday’s session to this, and I was going to give them the requirement that they must utilize at least one effect on at least one track. I decided to casually mention this, but due to a late start I thought that I would allow them some ‘open creation’ without having a specific task. To my surprise they both naturally integrated effects into several of their tracks!

Throughout the course of this semester I’ve mentioned the importance of utilizing a logical structure to their compositions to help them focus their creative process. We’ve done lessons on the importance of following the grid so that their music loops more logically, and I emphasized the importance of this when creating soundbeds or introductions. Thus far the most accessible teaching method for this was the use of Audition’s viewable time-grid.

When we began working with audio loops in November, I emphasized individual creativity and encouraged J and M to practice advanced audio editing and manipulation, resulting in them becoming proficient at slicing and stretching audio among other concepts. Their compositions were less structured than they are now. This week in particular J and M have started to incorporate a more “standard” approach to composition: they are editing and arranging audio to act as a guideline and focusing on repeating and even introducing basic song structure.

I’ve decided to include some screen shots to demonstrate the difference in their approaches. The ones from this weeks session demonstrate an evolution in design-based thinking, and illustrate that RadioEdu’s curriculum strengthens and promotes meta-cognitive skills such as organization and structural thought.

[insert tracks from this week and screen shots of before/after]

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RadioEdu Second Semester: Week 7

Friday, March 21st, 2014 by WLOY Staff

Concepts: What Happens Next Debut Session!

Hello everyone, I’m pleased to report another great week at RadioEdu! Last week we decided on the schedule that would allow for immediate integration of the fourth graders while providing engineering opportunities to fifth graders J and M. Today Kelly from WLOY came to WEMR and did a wonderful job running a segment of What Happens Next with the new group. The first part of today’s session involved J and M briefly mentioning that this is how they started in September, and that they used that initial experience to springboard forward in learning the equipment. Kelly chose a St. Patrick’s Day parade story, and after the students wrote their endings, J and M began a recording session from scratch and completely engineered recording everyone’s endings! They did an amazing job making sure the levels were balanced for each student and did their best to offer pointers. In the Fall, a theme in many of my posts was about how J and M were improving at the behind the scenes skills that are so crucial to recording. Included in this subtle art are things such as knowing how to position yourself in relation to the mics, making sure you don’t move while in a chair, and situational awareness regarding the mic cable. They internalized these tips so much during the last six months that they were providing the same feedback and information to the new students!

It was a great experience and we look forward to more of these combined sessions with our newly crowned fifth grade engineers!

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RadioEdu Second Semester: Week 6

Friday, March 14th, 2014 by WLOY Staff

Concepts: Introducing New Students

This week we were very excited to return from a brief break due to MSA testing and begin with the fourth graders who have been selected to participate in WLOY’s national award winning program What Happens Next. At the end of February I posted about the open house/demonstration meet and greet session for the parents and students who have been selected to receive the next round of RadioEdu scholarships, and this is the first step in their journey! Just as J and M begin with What Happens Next in the Fall, the fourth graders will be using that program as a medium to learn audio production and engineering! What I’m going to call the “RadioEdu twist” on this structure is that our current fifth graders, J and M, will apply their engineering knowledge that they have learned throughout their time with RadioEdu and will be engineering and producing the fourth graders’ content!

We started the session with a brief introduction by Principal Hewitt, and John and I also gave a brief overview of the program and setup. As we want to really promote autonomy of our youth, we had J take the lead on what he likes most about RadioEdu and any advice he had for the new crowd. After this, J took the new students into the studio and gave them a tour of the software and hardware. He explained, in detail, how the mics work, the importance of position, sitting still, and how to check levels. We then had J engineer a session where he would conduct brief interviews with each of the fourth graders! J had no prior knowledge of this, as it was an impromptu session. He handled it remarkably well and was able to professionally conduct the recording, ensuring that the new students moved along swiftly, as we only had about 30 minutes left to finish all the interviews!

John and I were both thrilled to see how well J handled the session. He needed very little guidance, and I only jumped in when some of the newer students were becoming a bit too excited. J checked their levels, armed the tracks for recording, and made sure that each new student was recorded at a solid volume. John and I are looking forward to implementing this model as the future of RadioEdu, as it strengthens the bonds between the students in the school and provides a practical application for the skills that they are learning!

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