Zig’s Professional Development workshop was wonderful with great reviews!!  KEDC

Zig's workshops provide valuable resources for teachers. Wilson Schools

Connecting Literacy, Music & Technology Workshop - Innovative strategies for today’s contemporary teacher and student

The Connecting Literacy, Music, and Technology workshop is designed as a resource for teachers based on interactive field tested lessons. The interactive workshop connects interdisciplinary subjects of language arts (words), music (creating, arranging & composing), social studies, math, and technology (computers, software & internet) as an effective approach for goal oriented project based learning. 

The material presented is meant to enhance and augment traditional music and cross-curricular studies.  The individual lessons and units integrate the use of software as an engaging technology “learning tool.” The lessons are designed, not as a mapping curriculum, but as stand-alone activities that may be combined in any order providing the teacher with options to choose from which will best serve their respective classroom. This approach allows the teacher to decide which lessons best suit the needs and interests of their students. The goal is to engage the students through interactive lessons to express and promote their creativity, while learning through technology. The workshop presents doable student activities which reinforce computer aptitude, abstract thinking, organization, self-esteem, active listening, and teamwork.

Those attending the workshop use a step-by-step process to create, write, compose (using loops, virtual instruments and MIDI), record, and produce original works of art in the form of a digital portfolio (audio CD, DVD, mp3, Podcast). The goal and final product is a mastered digital media product featuring all the compositions from the workshop. Participants can choose writing styles (Reflective, Personal, Expressive, Literary, Persuasive, Informative) in the forms of: spoken poetry, contemporary songs, classroom themes, radio jingles, comedy skits, plays/scripts, rapping, archived creative writing, and themes only limited to the imagination and creativity. Styles of music include: HipHop, Rock, Pop, Country, Blues, Classical, World, Jazz, and Underscoring for movies/plays/video games among others. 

 Sample Lessons Include:

• Technology Basics
• Listening & Discovering - model behavior examples
• Orchestration - layering instruments and sounds                                                                                                  
• Composition - words and music
• Making the Scene – linking dramatic arts and technology 
• Math & Music – formulas and activities through software snapping
• Social Studies- Native American theme
• Producing a Radio Jingle/Podcast – creating and recording a 30 second jingle

To listen to projects created by students click here: Listening Examples

 Benefits of the workshop:

• A new and effective teaching tool to enhance the knowledge and skills of all teachers.
• A resource for non-music teachers to integrate arts education into their curriculum.
• A venue that will assist educators with the ability to meet individual student differences through technology that will promote learning.
• Promote literacy skills in reading, writing, thinking, spelling, listening, speaking, creating, and articulation.
• Help students and teachers adapt, develop, and succeed with 21^st century computer literacy skills by applying various tasks as part of the learning process.
• Raise student motivation and increasing academic engagement time with talks they can successfully accomplish.
• Increase and encourage teacher/student interaction and cooperation.
• Enhance and expand student critical and higher level thinking, communication, productivity, and cooperative learning. 
• Create opportunities for students to become more active participants in the classroom. 
• Introduce lessons that augment existing curriculum with focus on real-world application. 
• Create digital portfolios in various formats. 
• Relates to The National Standards for Music and TI:ME benchmarks.
• Encourage students to express themselves by having fun with the writing process. 
• The students will be engaged in a fun, exciting, positive learning experience. 

 “Successful technology rich schools generate impressive results for students including; improved achievement, improved student attitude, enthusiasm and engagement, richer classroom content, and improved student retention.”  The U.S. Dept. of Education 

Latin 101 percussion workshop

An interactive ‘hands on’ workshop that provides everyone the opportunity to participate. Participants will be introduced to basic Latin rhythm patterns (tumbaos) through Zig’s ‘Say what you play’ teaching method which produces immediate results. The participants will learn proper technique, vocabulary, notation, and the history of Latin music by playing authentic Latin percussion instruments that include; congas, bongos, timbales, cowbells, claves, guiro, and maracas, among others. The participants will combine the rhythm patterns as a percussion rhythm ensemble along with rotating instrument so that everyone has a chance to play all the different Latin percussion instruments.  Instruments are provided for the duration of the workshop. 

African Drumming with HipHop workshop

Participants will be introduced to basic rhythm patterns of Gahu from Ghana and compared to contemporary HipHop culture. Each African rhythm is introduced through a side-by-side comparison of how that rhythm is used in today’s HipHop culture. Zig teaches authentic rhythms through his ‘Say what you play’ teaching method in addition to music notation, and verbal patterns. The participants will learn proper technique, vocabulary, notation, and the history of African drumming by playing authentic African percussion instruments that include: atoke, axaste, gankogui, kidi, sogo, and kaganu, among others. The students will combine the rhythm patterns as a rhythm ensemble along with rotating instruments so that everyone has a chance to play all the different percussion instruments.  Instruments are provided for the duration of the workshop. 

For Additional Information or Pricing Information Please contact:

Jeff Goldsmith

(615) 773-9295

email:  handsonwithzig@aol.com