I am not a musician, but I, like others, love the sound of music, or just hearing sound period when learning (and teaching). I especially love avoiding copyright infringement hassles if I am creating a video bearing information  I want students to remember.

I have discovered  that it is easy to make my own  music even though I cannot read music. Using a kalimba, an African instrument, and some bongos, both purchased at thrift stores, I’d welcome showing others how they can also make fun sounds and moreover, record them as a music file on  their iphone for later use on many fronts including teaching videos.

The end product can be a sort of “flip” approach to classroom instruction (i.e. the student can get basic information in the video, which is posted on a blog or via Blackboard, before entering the classroom. This allows more in-class time for other things including reviewing already shared information). The sound underneath the video, hopefully, makes the learning process more interesting. Sometimes the quirkier, the better.

I have two short videos demonstrating how this could work. One  I actually used with a class;  the other I shared outside of class with people who seemed to mostly dig it. I am still learning how to do this, but will share what I have done so far.