My How-To Play the Harmonica

So I am finally done my harmonica video. It took a lot of time and patience, but it is finally completed. I tried to use the plethora of different things we learned through out the term. The beginning process, I had to read through the The Hal Leonard Book, to pick and choose the most vital information for the video. I then proceeded to make a script, putting it into my own words. I then asked my boyfriend to use his digital camera to take a series of videos of me demonstrating the correct techniques, notes on the harmonica and a couple of different ways to play the harmonica. You'll notice a few giggles here and there, and trust me there were many takes to try and correct those giggles, but when someone is making ridiculous faces it is hard to keep your composure. I used windows movie maker to put the videos into the series I wanted. I edited them to the best of my ability. Hopefully you will get a giggle too. I didnt want to make the video too long, because as we have discussed before, videos that are too long, lose the viewers interest. I used audacity of splice my background music. I thought it was really important to add some other media such as the pictures and music so the video did not get boring. So I searched on google and Flickr to find the right photos. Another way that I tried to do this was change angles and also scenes.As you can see I went outside for some of the shots. Instead of reading out the keys on the harmonica I thought it would be neat to draw them in chalk on my sidewalk. Even though the sun was pretty bright that afternoon, I think it turned out pretty neat. I really enjoyed making this video and I learned a lot from it. I tried my best to keep it as interesting as possible and use the most interesting information as possible as well. I will be honest though, when you watch this video you will not be able to play like the greats, however like everything else in this wrold, practice makes perfect and I think this is a great way to start!

Pecha Kucha

Here is my Pecha Kucha presentation. I as unaware that we were be speaking in front of the class so I spent some time and definetly some patience in Audacity. For that reason, I am going to post this on my blog and then I will speak in class. It expresses the highs and lows of this journey, but that I am grateful for the experience and the knowledge nonetheless. It is kind of silly, but enjoy.

Social Learning Update

Well this has a been quite the journey. At the beginning of this class I was very skeptical about the online learning age. And to be honest I still am a little bit. It hasnt been easy however, I have learned many great things throughout this class from Dean, the guest speakers and especially my classmates. I have never blogged before but, like Dionne said I was also blown away by the power of it. I really enjoyed reading others blogs as I was able to gain new perspectives on certain issues. As an artist I always love other peoples opinions because I think they are an imporant aspect when creating my opinion. When hearing (or reading) others ideas, I feel that I can be a more well-rounded indivdivual. This is why blogging is great and why this class was also great. I may have never been able to know my peers opinions on things while in a classroom face-to-face. Whether we like it or not, some of us are out going and some of us are not. I am one that falls into the "not outgoing" catergory and I would find it hard to say some of things I have said in my blog. That is why I have appreciated this experience because I have had a certain type of freedom that I would not have had in the classroom. This is also why I think a blog for my one-day students is a good idea. So everyone gets a chance to speak and be heard. So thankyou to everyone that read my blog and I also want to thankyou for speaking out as well because it helped me put this online thing into more perspective and that is what social learning is all about!

Choices
Life is full of winding roads,
it's up to you to choose.
The flat lands may be easier,
but the hills...they have more views!
-Jody Bergsma

Tech Task #3

I was completely unaware that we had to write on one of the blogs from our Google Reader. Nonetheless I found an interesting blog this morning by a Teacher named Heather Ross from Saskatoon. She is an instructional designer at the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology. Heather Ross wrote a really great blog called "Doomed by our love for the Drive Through?". It is about how there is a great loss in the communinty with the amount of time people are in their cars. We can do so much while sitting in our automoblies we dont have to interact with anyone (Tim Hortons and other fast foods, banking, gas etc.) All of these things are impeding our communication with the outside world. Sure, we give a smile here, a wave there and a $20.00 bill here there and everywhere, but like Heather said ( and I can not say it in any better words) the less we interact with the people around us in our communities "the less we care about their well-being and the less they care about ours". We need to start from scratch and let people know that there is some kindness out there and that people are willing to open doors and pick up their fallin change. Or even what Amber when helping the older woman with her bags. If this does not happen, will we all be stuck in our homes and cars and completely lose faith that humanity exists?
I was thinking this could go one step farther and Dean may not like this. But, online classes kind of follow this same pattern. We do not have face-to-face social interactions. A virtual smile simply does not cut it. At least our generation has has been exposed to both ways of the classroom, online and not. What about the generations in years to come? Will all classes be online? Will they have a good vocabulary, will they even know how to prounounce words? Will they know how to shake hands, or will they even have manners in general? Our world is changing so quickly and I do realize that online classes definetly have their ups and I am hoping that the downs that I worry about will not surface.
Please read Heather Ross' blog at: http://www.mctoonish.com/blog/?p=488. Also in this blog she put a cute video that portrays greatly what she was talking about in her blog. Check it out, you can't beat old cartoons, this one gave me a smile.
"The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention"
-Oscar Wilde

Final Project.

I haven't informed you to the fullest of my final project. What I plan to do is make tutorial on how to play the harmonica. I am going to take a video with a digital camera of myself explaining how to play, such as the different notes, cords, how to clean it, how not to clean it etc. I will use Windows Movie Maker to put it all together, with pictures I have found on the internet and also some songs that have the harmonica that I really enjoy. Since I have come down with a bad cold (got blood taken for mono today), I do not really have a voice to do this. I am going to have to wait until next weekend to film this. However, I have found all of the other information I need to use. So I think I will be alright. Thats all for now, I think I need some honey lemon tea and buckleys.

Podcastin' Problems Prevented.

Thankyou to Robin yet again. In one of her blog posts she gave a link to a site that turns my audio into an html and lets me embed it into my blog!It was under the blog title Skyping with Maria Knee. So here you go, my very first podcast. Music at the beginning is by a great old school ska band called The Specials. I hope you enjoy this and maybe find some of it helpful!

Set your goals high enough to inspire and low enough to encourage you.
-Author Unknown

podcast problems

I have finsihed my podcast, I am just currently trying to figure out how to put the mp3 onto my Blog. If anyone knows how, fill me in! Otherwise I think I am going to have to post it on YouTube, and then embed it from there. I really don't want to do that though, so if anyone knows of an alternative, I would love to know and would be very thankful!
In the meantime I will share with you an email I recieved the other day. I love nature so I thought this was pretty neat. As you can see to your right, is an iceberg.I cebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed
by layers of snow that react to different conditions. Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can
freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a
green stripe.
I thought these were very beautiful. And even thought the weather has been nice lately, do not let it fool you, it is possible for it to get cold again. I do hate being a pessimist, really, but the bright side is, our earth wouldnt have these beautiful things without the feezing weather right? So thank Mr. Winter sometimes, because he needs some love too.