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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Hi everyone,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>First, many thanks to John for sharing his customized MacGAMUT
materials. We’ve been encouraging all MacGAMUT instructors to share
this kind of thing at our Ning site (<a href="http://mgInstructors.ning.com">http://mgInstructors.ning.com</a>),
so you might want to check that out too—to add materials and/or see what’s
already there. We initially set it up as a way to make the new course
outline and materials for using MacGAMUT with Kostka/Payne easily accessible to
instructors, but then realized it could be more generally useful too if more
instructors would contribute. So far, a few have, but the more the
better!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Your idea of having students keep track of their errors is also
interesting. MacGAMUT keeps track of a student’s errors so that the
student will get keep getting exercises focusing on the specific Intervals,
Scales, or Chords the student misses until the student gets those specific items
correct. But MacGAMUT operates subtly enough that a student who is having
a lot of difficulty might never realize that the same problematic Intervals,
Scales, or Chords keep popping up on purpose, not only in mastery-based Aural
Training exercises but also in mastery-based Written and Keyboard exercises. But
your method of having the error pattern clearly laid out so that the students
can also see exactly what they’re having trouble with is a great teaching
tool.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Finally, a couple of comments about John’s P.S. Students
have not been able to save text copies of their stats for many years, precisely
because of the problems John cites. Even before I took that step, we
warned instructors not to accept the text/printed stats students turned in as
proof of their achievements, especially if their grades were affected in any
way by the supposed validity of these stats. It was fine to use the text
stats as a quick check, but if the results went into the gradebook, then the
instructor needed to get the stats directly from the student’s start
file. There was even a line in the student stats text file that said not
to trust these stats because the students could have altered them. The MacGAMUT
Check Stats program (part of the Instructor’s MacGAMUT programs) makes it
easy to gather secure, unaltered info from student start files, and even allows
the instructor to save the info in a spreadsheet for easier processing. However,
after I had to help a couple of instructors prepare their side of Academic
Misconduct cases, I decided the only way to prevent these problems was to not
allow students to save text files of their stats to start with. Instructors
couldn’t rely on something students couldn’t turn in. A
number of instructors were extremely upset when I did this (they all knew they
could absolutely trust all of their students all of the time—which is
exactly what the instructors in the Academic Misconduct cases had thought), but
unpopular though it was, this move did seem to stop this kind of
cheating. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>As for “hacking” MacGAMUT, stats, we have had one
other report of a rumor that students had found a way to “hack”
MacGAMUT, but so far, no one has sent me an actual file that has supposedly
been hacked. Frankly, I sincerely doubt that hacking MacGAMUT has
happened. The stats are encrypted, and I don’t use any of the
standard encryption programs or routines to do it, primarily because for almost
every commercially available encryption program, someone has published a way to
decrypt whatever was encrypted. MacGAMUT is also encrypted in such a way
that any attempt to hack it would almost certainly make the student’s
start file unreadable. Nothing is impossible, so I won’t say it’s
absolutely impossible, but I do believe it’s next to impossible. If
a rumor like this would make instructors distrust MacGAMUT enough to stop
requiring the use of MacGAMUT, though, then the students who started the rumor
would have succeeded. Again, if instructors use Check Stats to examine
the student’s stats, they can be sure the student has not somehow altered
the record of achievement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>All the best,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Ann<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Ann K. Blombach<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>ann@macgamut.com<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>MacGAMUT Music Software, Inc.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Visit us on the web at <a href="www.macgamut.com"><span
style='color:blue'>www.macgamut.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Phone: (614) 442-5876<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Toll-free Phone (US and Canada): 1-800-305-8731<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Fax: (614) 442-5877<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Toll-free Fax (US and Canada): 1-877-370-1074<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> smt-talk-bounces@societymusictheory.org
[mailto:smt-talk-bounces@societymusictheory.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Paul
Ito<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, October 05, 2009 6:46 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> smt-talk@societymusictheory.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> SPAM-LOW: Re: [Smt-talk] McGamut query<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Dear Yosef,<o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Sorry for a very slow reply, I was waiting until the
resources that I will refer to had been made publicly viewable.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>In the conservatory at Lawrence we make MacGamut a
recommended resource for all aural-skills students. Several of the
instructors (including me) require it, but not all. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Personally, I have my students use MacGamut primarily for
basic materials, drilling intervals and chord types. I make very heavy
use of the flexible customizability of MacGamut's drills, and this for me is
its strongest feature. I have students fill out worksheets that make
patterns of errors immediately visible in characteristic ways, and on the basis
of those worksheets I have students do custom drills that efficiently target
their weaknesses. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>All of this is spelled out in more detail on one of the
areas of my aural skills website: <a
href="http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/conservatory/theory_comp/aural_skills/MacGMain.html">http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/conservatory/theory_comp/aural_skills/MacGMain.html</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>You will find instructions for your students, explanations
of the worksheets, and the downloadable worksheets themselves. I invite
you (and others) to have your students make use of these. If you do so, I
would greatly appreciate your letting me know, and letting me know what you
think about this resource (what you like or don't like, what to change or not
to change when I make revisions to the site).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>With thanks and best wishes,<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>John Ito<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>P.S. To address another point in your email, several
years ago (before my time, actually) when we first started using MacGamut, we
required it and factored into our grades the data that it sent to instructors.
At that time, at least (again, more than five years ago), it was possible
for students either to hack the program or else to create imitations of these
emails by hand. In any case, this led to a rather large and unpleasant
case of academic dishonesty, and the department has not used the program in
that way since.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>On Sep 12, 2009, at 12:39 PM, Yosef Goldenberg wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Dear all<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>The Hebrew University department of musicology is going to
start for the<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>first time to work with McGamut for harmony and solfege
students. We would<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>like to ask experienced users whether you make it imperative
for students to<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>own a personal copy, and whether you use the program for
practice only or<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>rather in regular mode to have direct input for grades.
Also, in case you<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>deviate from the default features of the program, what
changes do you make.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Sincerely<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Dr. Yosef Goldenberg<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Hebrew University of Jerusalem<span
class=apple-converted-space> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Smt-talk mailing list<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:Smt-talk@societymusictheory.org">Smt-talk@societymusictheory.org</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><a
href="http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org">http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'>_____________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'>John Paul Ito<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'>Assistant Professor of Music<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'>Co-chair for Theory, Department of Music Theory and Composition<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'>Mailing address:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'>Conservatory of Music, Lawrence University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'>711 E. Boldt Way<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'>Appleton, WI 54911<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'>920-832-6824<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black'><br>
<br>
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
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