Music Online Telecommunications Environment for Teaching
The MOTET Project blends newer desktop computer and communications
technologies, appropriate online content, and live performance events
to produce an innovative learning experience.
Participation in this project assumes a minimum of technological abililty and access. Presumably by reading these pages you have a computer and Internet access. The speed of your Internet connection will allow you to use some technologies more reliably than others. That recommended speed is listed after the heading. Any schools with a 56Kb ISDN line or T-1 should be able to use any of the technologies.
Unfamiliar computer technologies aren't necessarily difficult, they just take some getting used-to. If you will be participating in the online events, NSN is available to consult on setup and testing during the weeks prior to the events. During events, NSN staff will be on hand to help troubleshoot telecommunications problems. You will need a telephone at the computer location in your school and the ability to call out. To fully participate, schools new to these technologies will need technical rehearsals.
All teachers should inform their school's technology coordinators about their participation and seek as much technical help as possible.
The following technologies are used in MOTET:
14.4 Kbs. minimum bandwidth. Use of the World Wide Web got you here in the first place. We recommend the Netscape Navigator Browser 3.0 or newer. You'll need to be able to download the curricular files and print them out locally for classroom use. Communication with NSN prior to the event will be through email so you must have a reliable account. Email to David Reider or Ron Schachter.
56 Kbs. minimum bandwidth. Cornell University's free videoconferencing program CUSeeMe is a black and white desktop system compatible with both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. To learn more about it see this CUSeeMe site (at SUNY Plattsburgh) or go directly to the CUSeeMe ftp site at Cornell to download it. With a video camera and s-video input into your computer (All AV Macs and many non-AV Macs, Windows machines will need video digitizer boards) and microphone input (standard on AV machines both platforms) you can conference to several others on the Internet. Although advertised to work at speeds as low as dial-up 14.4 kbs, our experience is it doesn't. If you don't have the bandwidth, talk to us and we'll help you configure the RealAudio portion and Ichat to listen and participate. If you don't have a camera, you'll be able to see the others, or the performance and communicate using the text chat component.
14.4 Kbs. minimum bandwidth. Ichat or Internet Chat is a free real-time chat program that lets you communicate with many parties using only text. It very conveniently identifies the moderator and who is speaking, plus it allows you to archive conversations. Although NSN uses Ichat regularly, during events using CUSM, we generally use the chat feature of that to minimize load on the computer.
14.4 Kbs. minimum bandwidth. MIDI is the electronic language which allows computers and synthesizers to speak to each other. For students using midi, there are advanced music exercises in the curriculum section.
14.4 Kbs. minimum bandwidth (mono); 28.8 Kbs. (stereo). RealAudio from Progressive Networks is a live-streaming audio protocol that plays high quality sounds from a web site. See their site for details and downloading instructions. Traditional sound files are downloaded in their entirety and then played locally from your computer. This takes a lot of time and enormous storage space on your hard disc. The RealAudio version streams the sound from a web server to your computer and as soon as the connection is made, the sound starts playing. No file is saved so no space is used up. The most effective way to hear this is attach your computer's audio out patches to a stereo amplifier and larger speakers. The sound is quite good; at 56Kb or better, it rivals compact disc quality; at lower speeds it still beats other sound formats for quality. The MOTET project will use RealAudio to broadcast the live performances.
14.4 Kbs. minimum bandwidth. This explains how to download and play sound files from web sites. There's a notion on the web that downloading any sound file larger than 100 kb. is just plain rude. It takes a long time and plays for a fraction of a minute. The sound files in MOTET are small, short phrases for education purposes only. If you are using Netscape browser 3.0 or later, the browser will automatically launch its own player and play the file; you do nothing but click.
If you are using something else, follow below:
To set up your browser to read and launch sound files, do the following: Sound files are generally stored as .au or .aiff files. In Netscape, under the Options menu, click on Preferences.
In the topmost window with the downward-pointing arrowhead, scroll
until
Helper Applications shows. In this dialogue box, click on the
button new. In the new box, for Mime type: type in
audio and for Mime subtype: type in basic. Click
OK and return to the Helper Applications box. Click the
button Browse and navigate through your files until you find
your particular sound player application. Click on it. The name of
your sound player application should now appear next to the leftmost
words on that line application:
Now go to the window labeled File type: and the available sound file types should be listed there. Select the one ULAW and then type in the Extensions: window au followed by a comma , and snd, two different types of sound file extensions.
Click OK and return to your browser.
You should repeat the entire procedure, only this time, In the new box, for Mime type: type in audio and for Mime subtype: type in aiff. Click OK and browse and choose the same sound player application you did above.
In the window labeled File type: select AIFF this time, and then type in the Extensions: window aiff followed by a comma , and aif, two other types of sound file extensions you may chance upon.
You have assigned your sound player application several different options to recognize the most common types of sound files. If a certain sound file doesn't play, check the file type (that information is always given on the page from where it is linked) and change or make a new helper application setup on this menu.
At the very bottom of the window you'll see the choices after Action:. Choose Launch Application. Now when you click on a sound file from a web page, it will download, launch your player application, and play the file.
Click OK and return to your browser.
14.4 Kbs. minimum bandwidth. You need a CD-ROM drive and the suggested audio cd recording loaded. There's a new technology known as Voyager CD Link which controls your local CD-ROM drive. By clicking on a web page with the instructions imbedded in html, sound clips or specific tracks of your local CD (either CD ROM multimedia or straight audio CD) will play. These instructions can be integrated into a learning environment, such as interactive liner notes for CDs.
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