Digital DJ on the Scene...

While this is not really a post about podcasts and student educational use, it does touch on teacher use and perhaps can loop back to be tweaked for educational podcasting use. I, like many teachers, use music in my gym as an entertainment and behavior management tool:

• When "on", the students get moving to the beat.
• When "off", they stop for new directions.

I picked it up when I was student teaching and almost feel like I am missing something when I work in gyms without it. In the past, I simply slapped in an "ESPN Jock Jams", pop, or even techno CD, and away the students went. While I know the music should be for the students, there was only so many times I could handle Britney Spears, Will Smith, or N'Sync. Other issues were the questionable lyrics in some of the "ESPN Jock Jams" songs and the excessive length of some of the techno songs. I was able to find a a cheap software bundle from Acoustica, which is similar to Audacity and GarageBand, and just pieced together songs I felt were appropriate. Initially, I started by just playing with the volume levels and fades (in & out) between songs but as I grew more comfortable with the technology and the editing I was able to start slicing and dicing songs up and pasting them back together. Excessive chorus or repetition here - gone! Profanity there - gone! Great beat later - fade in here! Song suddenly too short - loop this section back in for an extra minute! I have turned a hobby into a yearly event where I try to create a new CD for the gym each year - I am up to Vol. 10. I try to tie in student interest with songs they may recognize but I have more fun bringing new music to the scene from non-mainstream acts.
While it is mostly electronica or techno oriented, I have noticed that this is a trend taking off in the music industry as well. DJ mix CDs are nothing new but a number of athletic companies (Nike) are hiring bands, such as LCD Soundsystem and The Crystal Method, to create work out CDs for their customers. The CDs usually follow a specific beat pattern to help motivate the athlete and maintain a solid pace. While I do not know how to re-create the science behind those beats, I try to blend fast beats with one song and then tie a slightly slower beat with others; giving my students a chance to adapt to the changing paces. On a humorous note, my younger students go wild to the big, fast beats so we love bringing them down to a calmer state with a little Jack Johnson acoustic sound every once in a while.
In an attempt to bring this full circle with podcasts and education, students could practice such CD creation for themselves. The editing portion is fun and would give students great practice on understanding the software and perhaps the key points in a song or audio structure. Some ideas for use could include creating a podcast on what music they like to exercise to, why they chose a certain sound or selection, what motivates them, etc. The music and podcast feature is something I was playing with for a science unit I am finishing up with a group of second graders - where they are creating a desert exhibit mural with (hopefully) a recorded walking-tour podcast. The uses are endless and simplistic once you find the time to orient yourself and students to it.

And thank you for reading my rambling, barely coherent thoughts there!