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Re: [school-discuss] Piano for kids - Jazz++



Another note . . . 

Jazz++ is a pretty great app in Windows for what it does.  Unless it is a new
feature, it does not do note-editing.  However, I have used it alot for
changing keys and tempos in existing midi-files.

Hey . . . also . . . could someone make a Linux-karaoke player that works
please!!  That is the only thing that forces me to use Windows in class.

Thanks!

Marilyn

P.S.  It is the middle of the night and I see I have many typos below . . .
sorry . . .  :)



Quoting marilyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

> Yes, Lee . . . that's me!!  I am the poster who is using Musix with 5th and
> 6th
> grade students in Texas.  It completely rocks!
> 
> This list led me to Musix.  I had already tried Studio to Go, but 2 years
> ago
> it
> cost me $50 - 100 bucks for one CD.  It was cool, but I needed free.  Then
> last
> year when someone posted the FrozenTech site
> (http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php) to this list,  I downloaded
> and
> tried out a bunch of the mulimedia flavors and found Musix,
> (http://www.musix.org.ar/en/index.html).  It was the end of the school year,
> so
> I just played with it and was please with what I discovered.  At the
> beginning
> of this school year, I got permission from our school district's system
> administrator to go into setup in my campus lab and set all of the computers
> to
> boot from the CD.
> 
> Wow!!  I have been so pleasantly surprised!!  
> 
> Last year I tried to do web-based music activities in a Windows environment
> (our
> district is a Windows shop), and continually had problems with the sites
> being
> down or overloaded, the network being slow (the kids would sneak off to
> movie
> sites and everything would stop), and even though we have a filter, students
> were still able to find inappropriate content!  Then there were all of the
> Windows related issues!!  What a drag.
> 
> Here are advantages of the Musix bootable CD.
> 
> 1.  If the hardware is working, Musix is working.
> 2.  Since this bootable is designed for sound, all of the MIDI stuff works. 
> This has always been a problem for me, since I am only minutely geeky when
> it
> comes to configuring kernels, etc.
> 3.  The kids cannot mess up the OS since it is-read only.  Last year, even
> though there were all sorts of blocks and protections on the Windows OS,
> students could still go in and mess with the mouse or keyboard settings,
> etc.,
> and make the computer unuseable for the next student . . . until I figured
> out
> what they had done.  :)
> 4.  Our network uses a proxy server so you have to tell your linux OSs where
> to
> find it.  I don't bother to tell the students the proxy settings,
> eliminating
> those headaches.  We don't need the Internet for what we do.
> 
> I am currently using Solfege and Hydrogen Drum Machine.  We run the easy
> rhythm
> lessons in Solfege and then go to Hydrogen to compose rhythm patterns.  The
> kids really love it.  And it works!  Yeah!
> 
> Recently, I used Rosegarden in Musix to compose a little school song for us.
> 
> It
> is finally fairly close to the Cakewalk(Windows) and Composer(Mac) software
> I
> previously used.  Also, I am conducting an after-school guitar class for the
> rest of the year and plan to teach the students to use the very cool guitar
> tuner in Musix and also dabble with the guitar software available.  
> 
> I have corresponded with the Musix dudes and they rock.  They are so excited
> to
> hear about another person using their system.  I had commented on how I was
> having a problem with the sound on Note-edit, and they sent me instructions
> to
> help them de-bug it.  My concert was last week, so I will try to do that
> soon. 
> I am sure they will be glad to help anyone with issues they might encounter.
> 
> Having this great bootable Musix CD experience (I have always loved bootables
> -
> was using Knoppix with students way back in 2003) makes me wonder if
> educators
> shouldn't go to bootable OSs everywhere all of the time!  You can have
> different flavors for different subjects.  (Create your own flavor in Slax? 
> I
> was even able to do that . . . very cool).  I think there are many
> advantages
> to bootables.   1  - the OS always works   2 - You can leave out all of the
> tools that would help students cause mischief  3 - have a different flavor
> for
> every subject area.  4 - Maybe just use the hard drives for data storage?
> 
> Imagine . . . a math class comes into the lab.  Each student grabs the math
> bootable.  It has all of the software students need for math class and the
> web-browser has the tabs already set for math web sites.  Also, network
> settings for access to certain directories are already set and security
> measures are in place.
> 
> Likewise, writing classes come in and put in the writing tools CD.  Graphics
> arts students have their CD.  Primary students have theirs . . . etc.  etc.
> 
> I think we should quit installing operating systems on hard drives, and only
> use
> bootable media.
> 
> But, if we need to have something installed . . . it should be EDUBUNTU!!! 
> Edubuntu rocks!!  It is so stable and it is very easy to install new
> software.
> 
> However, I haven't been able to get it to run my MIDI software (Rosegarden,
> etc.) . . . putting MIDI in the kernel . . . or whatever it takes, I don't
> know
> . . must not be a priority with developers.  I guess its a bit too far off
> the
> beaten path.
> 
> This was long . . . sorry!
> 
> I love Musix!!  (love Edubuntu too)
> 
> Marilyn
> 
> 
> 
> Quoting lee rodgers <sregdoreel@xxxxxxxxx>:
> 
> > I don't know if this helps, but less complex are Solfege (MIDI-based music
> > training), Jazz++ (MIDI sequencing) & the DAW Psycle (Windows-only) ...
> these
> > are all FOSS & are much simpler than Rosegarden & Ardour, etc.
> > 
> > Having said that, it might help to take a look at the Linux-based Studio
> To
> > Go & Musix distros. Musix has come a long way & the CD-bootable STG demo
> is
> > absolutely stunning. Both work right out of the box on a variety of
> > platforms. 
> > 
> > If I recall correctly, other posters on this list have conducted 
> gradeschool
> > MIDI/DAW classes using Musix.
> > 
> > /lee 
> > 
> > Bill Kendrick <nbs@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: On Thu, Feb 22, 2007 at 06:52:51PM
> > +0100, Manuel Gutierrez Algaba wrote:
> > > hi
> > > I've been searching for a game to play piano using computer keyboard in 
> > > the Seul App index, google and many other places, but  i've found 
> > > complex programs, brahms, rosegarden, which moreover being complex  
> > > don't work , they don't play a single sound
> > 
> > If I had all the time in the world, this would be one of the Tux4Kids
> > style apps I'd try and write. :(
> > 
> > -- 
> > -bill!
> > bill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ======
> > +---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > | "They really need to mount his finger on a orrery that points it
> > |  constantly to the moon so maybe people would stop looking at it."
> > |  -- YT, on news that more Buddha relics will be hosted in a museum
> > +---------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>