What Drum Equipment Do I Need

What Drum Equipment Do I Need What Gear Do You Need to Play the Drums? ChaptersDrum ThronesStands for Drums and CymbalsDrum Carriers for Marching BandsDrum Maintenance 101Percussion Sticks for Your Drum SetPractice Assistants for Playing the DrumsYou’ve signed up for your first drum lessons, eager to start grooving like Buddy Rich. Now you’re ready to buy your first drum(s). But is a conga, bongo, marching snare drum or acoustic drum set really all you need to start playing paradiddles and drum fills?It all depends on the type of music you want to play. Some hand drums are portable and really only need the musical instrument and your hands, while others need sticks, stands, pedals…Here is a small overview of the sort of accessories you might need to be able to learn to play the drums.Have you started your drum lessons for beginners already?The more drums and cymbals you add, the harder it is to keep them organised. Photo credit: Hapshaw on Visual HuntFloor stands and pedalsMost large drums have floor stands of some sort, often with wheels for bett er mobility.Floor stands come in many different variations. Photo credit: nano.maus on Visual HuntFloor stands for modern drum sets are for bass drums and floor toms.A floor tom can be set onto a low cradle or mounted on a low stand, depending on what you feel most comfortable with. The cradle will hold it vertical, stands will allow it to be tilted slightly.Bass drum  stands come in two variations:Concert stands are hanging stands that lift the bass drums off the ground and allow them to be tilted at any angle. They are wide and take up a lot of space, being conceived for use in an orchestra.Bass drums for drum kits usually come with feet and a kick pedal. If the feet become damaged or you prefer another type of bass drum pedal, both are removable. Bass pedals come in slightly different shapes, with different features and feedback.You can also buy separate kick drum stands, including some designed for snare drums or similar smaller drums if you want an extra, foot-operated option i n your kit.Discover how much drum lessons cost anywhere in the UK...Cymbal standsCymbal stands come in simple and boom variations. Booms have a swinging arm so you can adjust not only the height but how close you need the cymbal to be to you and the other elements. Booms are practical if you have a lot of stands and can’t actually place each one exactly where you need the cymbal to be.Hi-hats have their own stand; otherwise, most hanging cymbals such as crash cymbals or ride cymbals use the same type of cymbal stand. There are stackers allowing you to attach a second cymbal to an existing stand; make sure the stand can take it and won’t overbalance.Drum racksDrum racks are more practical than individual stands, especially if you are on the move a lot. It’s basically one stand that lets you attach several drums and cymbals to it. Rather than setting each drum up individually, you just slot your rack together and attach the drums to that.Basic drum racks will have attachments fo r a certain number of drums and cymbals; extras will still need their own stands.Only compliment a lady on her huge rack if she is a drummer. Photo credit: Gibraltar Hardware on Visualhunt.comHowever, some drum racks out there are modular, and let you build up and expand at will -a ride cymbal here, a crash cymbal there, an extra snare drum over there, a cowbell over that way. These are, of course, generally more expensive.Drum rugsDrum rugs are generally made of rubber or some other high-friction material. They are there to prevent your stands or rack from sliding when you play. Even if you play with more feeling than power, the vibrations of the drums can cause a stand to wander.You might have noticed, if you're taking drum lessons near me, that every music store's drum kit is set up on such a rug!drum heads. To check if it’s time to fit a new drum skin on your drum, loosen it slightly and see if the part you are hitting looks pocked. If it does, it’s time to change the drum h ead.Some drums need tension keys to adjust the pitch and loosen the skins for changing. These are generally provided when buying the drum, but if you lose it or find it more practical to have several keys, they can be bought separately, too.Your ideal drum teacher will show you how to maintain and tune your kit.How to store your drums?Extreme climates - whether in terms of temperature or humidity - are generally bad for musical instruments. Try to keep your drums in a dry, temperate space; but even worse than less-than-ideal-conditions is the abrupt change from one climate to another. If you live somewhere very cold or very humid, store them someplace they won’t crack or get mouldy, but won’t experience too much of a shock when you take them out of storage.This video offers tips on storing a drum kit when you don’t have the space to keep it set up.Percussion Sticks for Your Drum SetUnless you are playing hand drums, you are going to be hitting your drums with something. Differ ent types of sticks or rods give a different sound:Hard taps with little reverberation: traditional drumsticks, wooden rods with small knobs at the ends. There are ethnic variations such as the Japanese bachi, which are straight without knobs.Deep, resonating tones: padded mallets, often used in orchestrasRutes or multi-rods are bundles of thin wooden rods, usually birch. Rutes for band drumming come in bundles of nineteen (Hot Rods or Cool Rods with thinner canes) or seven (Lightning Rods or the thicker Thunder Rods).Brushes are bristles of metal or plastic set into a handle in a fan shape. Some are retractable to protect the bristles in transport. They swish nicely on a drum head.Tippers are double-ended sticks used for hand drums such as the bodhran.There are many different options for beating your drums. Photo on VisualHuntSome drums such as the African talking drums use curved mallets with a flat disk at the end. The mallet can be struck against the drum head or rubbed against it.Most of these are made of wood. You need something sturdy with a good varnish on it (or polished as smooth as possible) to avoid splinters. When buying anything with several parts (brushes, padded mallets), go for higher quality. Cheap variations will fall apart at inopportune moments - bristles falling out, padding loosening… However, even high-quality wares will experience wear and will have to be replaced on a regular basis.Practice Assistants for Playing the DrumsFinally, here are a few accessories you might consider investing in to help you practise playing the drums:A music stand is useful when learning songs or if you play very long orchestral pieces. You can put your sheet music on it until you know the song by heart.A metronome is essential when learning how to play the drums. A metronome has a long metal hand on which a weight is attached. This lets it swing like a pendulum, marking time. It ticks the time, so you know just when to hit for your eighth notes or sixteen th notes. Your drum teacher will certainly have one and it’s practical to have one at home to practise your drum beats. There are metronome apps to download if you don’t want to bother with a physical specimen.A drum pad is a means of practising your drumming without actually doing it on a drum. It’s a pad that makes a noise when it’s struck - lightweight, small and not very loud. Drum pads useful for on the road or if your neighbours are less than understanding about late-night practise jams, but the practice pad does have its limitations. It’s good for practising rhythm and ironing out sloppy stick use, but if you want to work on subtleties of sound or rim work you will need the real thing.But of course, the main thing you will need to learn to play the drum is passion!Now read more about learning how to play the drums!

7 Easy Jazz Guitar Songs for Beginners

7 Easy Jazz Guitar Songs for Beginners Megan L. Looking for some easy jazz guitar songs to get you started?  Jazz music can sound very complicated, at first. It requires a combination of skills like speed, precision, and endurance. There are many great jazz guitarists that can attest to that. While advanced jazz can take quite a while to work up to, beginner jazz guitar songs arent difficult or time-consuming to learn. In this article, well provide videos and tabs for seven jazz songs that any beginner can start learning today. Lets jump right into it! 7 Easy Jazz Guitar Songs for Beginners Summertime Summertime is a catchy jazz standard composed by George Gershwin. It was originally written for the opera Porgy and Bess. Sublime’s Summertime is based on this piece. This eerie melody will stick in your head all day! Below is a simplified tutorial. I think this person does a good job breaking it down (even better than reading tabs): Jazz musicians like to embellish simple melodies. Here is a more advanced version of Summertime: Autumn Leaves Autumn Leaves is medium tempo jazz piece by Joseph Kosma. Here is a nice recording by Eric Clapton. Listen to the song, and then learn the chord progression. Be sure to look up any chords youre unfamiliar with. Strum along with the recording and pay attention to the tempo! It’s not very fast. Take a look at the chords here. Fly Me To The Moon Fly Me To The Moon is a jazz standard made famous by Frank Sinatra. The steady quarter note pulse is a great way to practice changing 7th chords, a staple of jazz music. This is one of our favorite easy jazz guitar songs. Watch this video of the Jason Mraz version to find out why! You can find the the accompanying chords here. Blue Monk Blue Monk is a B flat blues piece written by Thelonious Monk. Try learning both parts and playing it with a friend! Look  here for the chords and tabs. Here is an advanced version of the piece: Next, check out this simplified version: Blue Bossa Blue Bossa is a bossa-nova piece with an infectious groove. (Bossa-nova is Latin-influenced jazz). Here are the chords and tabs to the song.  Watch the video below  and familiarize yourself with the melody. Notice the choppy way the chords are being played: So What This is a famous piece by Miles Davis. So What is a piece of modal jazz, which is built on modes rather than major and minor scales. If you’re not sure what a mode is, ask your guitar teacher for a lesson on them! Check out the tabs for this song. This video is a great example of the main theme on guitar: I also recommend you watch this video of Miles Davis and John Coltrane ripping the piece apart in 1959: Nuages Nuages is a piece of gypsy jazz by Django Reinhardt. Django played at incredible speeds with only two fingers! He lost his other two in a fire. Django’s solos and improvisation move at intimidating speeds, but the main melody of Nuages is easy to understand. Here is a version of the piece for solo guitar. Nuages is based on a classical piece by the same name, composed by Claude Debussy. Look up that piece and see if you can hear the similarities. Here is a recording of Django: If its too difficult to play the chords and melody at the same time, just play the melody. You can do this by only playing the highest note in each chord cluster. Here is a close up version with a simplified melody: As you begin to learn beginner jazz guitar, don’t worry about the improvisations and embellishments (the fast, fancy stuff). Start by making sure you understand every chord in the song, then move on to the melody. Try learning one of these songs with a friend so you can both practice trading lead and rhythm. Bonus! Want to hear some advanced jazz? Check out this video by Snarky Puppy! There’s a cool guitar riff at about a minute in: Once you learn some of these easy jazz guitar songs, youll be ready for more advanced playing. Even better, youll be better equipped to write your own jazz song.  Have fun with your playing and make sure to  practice every single day! Post Author:  Dylan P. Dylan P. teaches guitar, music theory, and music performance lessons in Independence, MO. He has trained in many genres of music and has experience teaching students with learning disabilities. Learn more about Dylan P.  here! Need Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by Oliver

Sat practice test can help you get admission in a reputed college with ease

Sat practice test can help you get admission in a reputed college with ease The season of big results has arrived in and every day we come across new news of results. An everyday newspaper carries some sort of news in regards to the results. Almost each and every board result is been out and some are scheduled to be out. It is very important that you should good well in your exams. Doing well in your class 12 exams will help you to get a good opportunity to enhance your further studies. The best way it can help you is by giving you good admissions in some of the reputed colleges of the city. But wait for a while. It is not that easy as well. Good colleges’ admissions have become tough with time. Today just with a good percentage in your class 12 board exams will not help you to get admission in any of the reputed institutes if you are thinking in this manner. The thing is for getting admission in any of the good institutes or branded colleges you have to appear in the ACT or SAT exams. You can call these exams as the ticket to get admission in any of the reputed colleges in the city. Without appearing in such two exams it won’t be possible for any student to get admission in the desired college they want. SAT exams are said to be the entrance exams for colleges and universities. SAT exam comprises of four subjects- English, mathematics, science and reading. Candidates have to appear in all the exams and after passing the exams only he or she can make it large with getting admission in some of the best colleges or university. The papers are very tough and so it needs immense level of hard work, proper guidance and good concentration level through which a candidate can crack the exam. Today institutes are available who claims to help the aspirants to crack such types of exams. But how much are they effective. Private tutors available in the present timing have become hell professional and thus it is now commonly seen that they are not ready to spare much time on their students or on a particular student. Just by giving notes will not help any student to crack the exam. They need to be under proper guidance that will help the students in all round development along with increasing the self confidence in them. Self confidence in an aspirant is very necessary as it given chances to crack the exam.   Apart from private tutoring, online tutors are also available. Online tutors are a good option Online tutors are not gaining popularity and students along with their parents are really appreciating the entire concept. In this busy time they feel that this is the best way through which you can gain good and proper guidance. With time many online tutoring institutes have grown up, but very few are there those are genuine and helps the candidate in the true meaning. They also carry with them some of the benefits that help the student to get dragged in towards them. So, now let us go through some of the benefits that an online tutoring institute provides its students. Benefits of reputed e-learning institutes A good online tutoring institute will have some of the good teachers who have the potential to help the students learn anything faster and easier. The teachers have good grip over the subject and thus they can help the students also to get the same. With good teacher and correct guidance things become easier for an aspirant. As the subjects are tough so the teachers have to be more conscious about their teaching process. The teaching process will help the students to learn better. This is the reason that in any of the good online tutoring institute the appointment of the teachers are done with minute decisions. The interview process is tough for any teacher and each teacher appointed have well knowledge over the subject. The institutes of online tutoring do not have any time limitation in regards to the class. The teachers are available all round the clock and throughout the year and this is the reason that students can easily avail the class whenever they want. It entirely depends on the students that when they want to attend the class and for how long. Teachers are always present to help them. The students can gain lot of help through such type of online tutoring institutes. The one on one service is also available with online tutoring institutes. This is such an advantage of feature that is not available with any other learning process. No school neither any private tutor will help its students with such help. One on one learning feature is helpful for those students who are either shy or weak in their studies. The shy and weak students are unable to open up in front of everybody. They are very introvert with the problems that they have regarding the problem. This introvert nature makes them suffer a lot. The students are not able to catch up what the teacher says in the class or what is been taught, and thus this affects their grades. The charges are also an important point that should be kept in mind while you are going for any institute. Private tutoring services also ask for huge charges and so it is sometimes not possible for a middle class family to wind up all such expenses. The good institutes charges very minimum and according to the affordability of a middle class household. The services are great along with fewer charges and thus it arrives in with attracting parents and students both. You can search for any other online institute or can directly go for Tutor Pace. It is as online institute that helps in making you meet all the benefits stated above. Sat practice test is also a service available with Tutor Pace.  

Endurance Tips for Brass Players

Endurance Tips for Brass Players Sign up successful Many players benefit from finding and working with a good private teacher. A great instructor will be able to offer direction and trumpet endurance tips to develop proper technique.  It is also crucial to have a teacher who is able to critique and monitor your playing until you’ve developed good technique. Bad habits learned at this stage in your development will be difficult to break and can form future roadblocks to your development down the road. Basic Trumpet Endurance Tips and Exercises Here are a few tips and exercises to get you started developing your endurance. • Buzzing is a great warm up and a good way to build up your chops without needing your instrument. Buzz your lips as if you were playing. Change the tension of your lips as you would when playing harmonic notes. Take a slight break every few minutes for rest. • Do the same buzzing exercise, only this time into your mouthpiece, still no horn.  Same sequence, taking a short break every few minutes. • Play an easy note and sustain the sound for as long as you can. If you have a metronome (and you should), set it to a quarter note = 60bpm. Each beat is one second; count and keep track of how long you can sustain the note. Strive to add one second per day. Do this exercise on several notes, with a break in between each. • Practice lip slurs. Start with the valves open, and play G to low C, then cycle back to G, then to C, and continuing. Start with quarter notes and slowly increase your speed until you can play 16th notes. Then cycle through the valves; repeat the exercise down a half step using the harmonics with the second valve, then the first valve, etc. This will help train your muscles to make rapid subtle embouchure changes, as well as build breath endurance. • Learn, memorize and practice your scales. Working on scales will not only develop your ear, breathing and embouchure, it can help you significantly extend your endurance. • Play as softly as possible. After your warm-up exercises, continue your practice as softly as possible. Practicing softer notes will force you to focus on your lip aperture. This will help you develop your embouchure and make it easier to expand your range. Start this exercise with scales, and as you become more confident, introduce more technically-challenging exercises into your routine. These are just a few exercises to help you get started. There are many endurance exercises readily available on the Internet. If you do have a private instructor, work with them; ask for trumpet endurance tips and etudes. Developing your endurance is one of the first steps toward mastery of your instrument! Photo by Frederick Noronha Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher

Should I Go to the University of North Texas

Should I Go to the University of North Texas Eileen earned her bachelors degree in sociology from the University of North Texas. She specializes in writing tutoring, study skills tutoring, and a number of other subjects. Below, she shares her experience at the University of North Texas: Describe the campus setting and transportation options. Eileen: The campus setting at the University of North Texas was very nice and easy to get around. I was a commuter to this campus. Once youre in your upper-level classes (junior and senior years), I found that most of my classes were only a few buildings away from one another. There are buses, but I would recommend getting a parking sticker. It's more convenient and time-effective, and equates to about the same as using the parking meters over a year-long period. I felt very safe on this campus. They have security, and there are typically a good amount of students and professors there, even during evening classes. How available are the professors, academic advisers, and teaching assistants? Eileen:I had very good professors who would make time to meet with me, especially if I had questions about a test or a grade I received.There are advisers in place for each area of study, so theyre not overwhelmed with students. My adviser was very good at helping me stay on track with my graduation date, and would alert me to potential scholarships for the next semester. How would you describe the dorm liferooms, dining options, location, socialization opportunities with other students? Eileen:Since I was a commuter student, I didn't live on campus. There was a dining hall that I used for lunch when I had a full day of classes. They had many healthy options, as well as some fast food. It was a relatively large, spread out place where you could find seating inside or outside, or just get a quick bite on your way to class. I found that getting involved in projects in class or setting up study times with other students provided encouragement and time for socializing. They also have clubs you can join and all kinds of activities to get involved with to meet people. Which majors/programs are best represented and supported? Eileen:UNT really supports the arts, but they are also pretty diverse in the programs they offer. I was a sociology major. I really enjoyed learning about different people groups and studying the way they interact with society. I felt that UNT offered a broad range of classes concerning sociology. I learned how to investigate and really broaden my understanding with the reading assigned. It really prepared me to think with a more objective mindset. How helpful are the Career Centerand other student support services? Eileen:The Career Center really helped me write my resume and make it stronger as I searched for jobs after school. They would send out alerts to job fairs. Some companies would come to these job fairs looking for new employees. How are the various study areas such aslibraries, the student union, and dorm lounges? Eileen:I found the library and student union always had space and weren't too crowded. In the library, they have quiet areas on the second and third floors where there is no talking. This is a great place to study, research, and find what you need. The student union also had some places for more relaxed studying and eating. Describe the surrounding town. Eileen:Denton is a relatively small city. There are lots of places to eat and socialize. Since I commuted while I was at UNT, I wasn't too involved with the city. From what I saw, however, there were fun things to do. How big or small is the student body? Were you generally pleased or displeased with the typical class sizes? Eileen:There were around 35,000 students. The student body was pretty spread out around the campus. I really enjoyed that my classes weren't too overcrowded, and I could meet people pretty easily in class. Describe one memorable experience with a professor and/or class. Perhaps one you loved the most or one youregretthe most. Eileen:There were a couple of experiences that I can think of with my sociology professors where they really showed compassion. Once, I was running late for a test, and this particular professor said there were no make-up tests. I was rushing to get there and missed the test. I went to the teacher and explained the reason why I was running late, and he allowed me to take the test. This really stood out to me, because this professor was very strict. Another sociology professor gave me all of the notes from previous weeks in the semester after my backpack had been stolen. She was very gracious about helping me stay on track. Also, I had an American history teacher and a world history teacher who were both incredibly knowledgeable, and mainly taught from memory. This was amazing to watch. They made the classes so interesting with their in-depth teaching and knowledge. I loved listening to their lectures. It wasn't just studying a book, they took you into a different world as they descri bed the times of the seasons in the past. Check out Eileens tutoring profile. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Varsity Tutors.

A History of Space The Major Milestones in Astrophysics and Astronomy.

A History of Space The Major Milestones in Astrophysics and Astronomy. A History of the Great Discoveries in Astrophysics, Astronomy, and Cosmology. ChaptersAristarchus of Samos First Proposes a Heliocentric (Sun-Centred) Universe â€" 270BCTycho Brahe Observes a Supernova â€" 1572The First Refracting Telescope â€" 1608Galileo’s Discoveries Change the Way we Think about the World â€" 1610Isaac Newton Publishes his Book on Gravity â€" 1687William Herschel Discovers Uranus â€" and Extends our Knowledge of the Solar System â€" 1781Joseph van Fraunhofer Builds the First Spectrometer â€" 1814The Largest Telescope Ever Discovers the Whirlpool Galaxy â€" 1845Neptune Discovered â€" 1846Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Theorises (Accurately) the Possibility of Space Flight â€" 1895Einstein’s Theory of Relativity Blows Astrophysical Minds â€" 1905Edwin Hubble Proves that Galaxies Exist beyond Our Own â€" 1923Cecilia Payne Uses Spectroscopy to Show that Stars are Mainly Hydrogen â€" 1925The Discovery of the Big Bang â€" 1927Hans Bethe Explains what Happens in the Centre of the Sun â€" 1938The First Person on the Moon â€" 1969The First Landing on M ars â€" 1971Proof of a Black Hole â€" 1972NASA’s Voyager 1 Leaves the Solar System and Enters Interstellar Space â€" 2013First Image of a Black Hole â€" 2019The history of astronomical science is a fascinating one.To think that the Mayans and the Ancient Greeks used observational techniques and calculations to monitor and even predict orbits and eclipses â€" over two thousand years ago â€" is quite something. And to consider that astrophysicists could postulate the existence of particular planets and stars before they could even see them is pretty cool too.All this knowledge that these days we take for granted â€" that gravity is a thing, that there are eight planets in our solar system, that our galaxy, the Milky Way, is only one of billions â€" had to be discovered. And discovering things like this in physics is really not an easy task.Here we are going to look at the slow development in our knowledge of astronomy and astrophysics. From the days of the first rudimentary telescop es â€" with which we’d stare into the cosmos â€" to now, when we have shuttles outside of our solar system.It’s a long history, and it is based less on genius discoveries â€" although there are some of those â€" and more on the slow accretion and sharing of knowledge. That’s more realistically how an astrophysicist works â€" and how science works in general.Let’s take a look at some of the great steps forward in our cosmological and astrophysical knowledge.Find out everything you need to know about astronomy! PetarPhysics Teacher 5.00 (11) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors MyriamPhysics Teacher 5.00 (13) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors Dr parikhPhysics Teacher 5.00 (8) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RubenPhysics Teacher 5.00 (1) £15/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors FrankPhysics Teacher 5.00 (8) £90/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors JidePhysics Teacher 4.80 (5) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors Doroth yPhysics Teacher 5.00 (5) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RahulPhysics Teacher £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsAristarchus of Samos First Proposes a Heliocentric (Sun-Centred) Universe â€" 270BCAstronomers were hindered for fifteen hundred years due to the influence of Ptolemy, the Greek mathematician, geographer, and astronomy. Whilst undoubtedly an incredibly smart guy, his commitment to the geocentric model of the universe â€" and his general intellectual authority â€" had scientists going in the wrong direction for centuries.Three hundred years before him, Aristarchus, another Greek thinker, had proposed instead the heliocentric model â€" which suggested that the Earth goes around the Sun. If he hadn’t been ignored, this would have been a major scientific breakthrough.Check out the differences between astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology! The sun is the centre of our solar system - not the EarthTycho Brahe Observes a Supernova â€" 1572It was a common idea among scientists up until this point that ‘the heavens’ could not change. However, Tycho Brahe, the Dutch astronomer shook up this perspective when he witnessed a supernova.At the time, he called it a ‘stella nova’, a new star â€" which influences what we call them now: supernovae. From then on, we realised that things in the universe could indeed change.The First Refracting Telescope â€" 1608At the beginning of what became a revolution in astronomy, a Dutch spectacle-maker named Hans Lippershey attempted to patent a telescope based on refraction.He didn’t succeed â€" but his designs spread across Europe and became the basis for the observational technologies of the future.Galileo’s Discoveries Change the Way we Think about the World â€" 1610We missed out Copernicus, who, in 1543, had suggested that, actually, as Aristarchus had suggested, the Earth goes around the Sun. Yet, his theories did not gain traction until Galileo Galilei finally proved them in 1610.With his own telescope, he found spots on the sun and four of the moons of Jupiter. Not everyone liked his discoveries however, and the Church bothered him all his life â€" claiming that he was a heretic.Find out about our solar system!Isaac Newton Publishes his Book on Gravity â€" 1687One of the great scientific breakthroughs in history came from Isaac Newton â€" yes, the guy with the apple.His discoveries were a little more sophisticated than this, however. His work explained the forces acting between all of the celestial objects, whilst proposing general laws of motion too.His ideas were the basis of physics until Einstein in the early twentieth century. Without the apple, we may never have discovered gravityWilliam Herschel Discovers Uranus â€" and Extends our Knowledge of the Solar System â€" 1781Another break with the physics and astronomy of the ancient world came in 1781, when William Herschel discovered Uranus.The significance of this was greater than just the discovery of another planetary object. This was rather the first time at which scientists had to expand their idea of what the Solar System was â€" as it was previously thought to end at Saturn.Joseph van Fraunhofer Builds the First Spectrometer â€" 1814Into the nineteenth century, inventions abounded. One of the most important of these was Fraunhofer’s spectrometer, the first instrument used to observe and analyse the materials of which stars are made.Stellar spectroscopy analyses the light emitted by stars and, with great sophistication, one can use this evidence to infer the make-up of a distant object’s surface.The Largest Telescope Ever Discovers the Whirlpool Ga laxy â€" 1845Knowledge of galactic distances and structures moved forward with William Parsons’s construction of a mega telescope â€" the biggest such structure created to that day.Through it he could see the Whirlpool Galaxy, over twenty-three million light years away â€" and Parsons was the first person to identify its spiral structure. The thing was, he just didn’t know it was a galaxy.Do you know how a star is formed?Neptune Discovered â€" 1846The amazing thing about the discovery of Neptune is that it was actually discovered without ever having been seen. Rather, two astronomers, John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier, actually inferred its presence â€" as its size means that it has an influence on the orbit of Uranus.In 1846, Johann Galle pointed his telescope in the direction that Le Verrier suggested â€" and, lo and behold, Neptune was there.Take classes here with a Superprof's maths physics tutor. Saturn - image from NASA

Pen Pal Exchange Project

Pen Pal Exchange Project Useful links on the pen pals: Start a Pen Pal Exchange project for studentson the Virtual Writing Tutor. For instructions on how to create a pen pal exchange for your students, check out these step-by-step pen pal exchange creation instructions for teachers.Click here for an article on pen pals that students can read to introduce them to the concept of pen pal writing.? What is a Pen Pal Exchange? The Virtual Writing Tutors Pen Pal Exchange is a type of online forum, moderated by one or more teachers, with messages written by students and replies from their pen pals. Teachers can match up pen pals from the same group, from different groups, or from groups taught by collaborating-teachers located anywhere in the world. Whereas pen-and-paper pen pal writing projects generate stacks of handwritten letters forthe teacher to give corrective feedback on, the Virtual Writing Tutors Pen Pal Exchange provides automated feedback on grammar, spelling,and vocabulary. How? Two Essentials of Great Pedagogy The Virtual Writing Tutors Pen Pal Exchange links two very powerful elements of good pedagogy: teachers and technology. Yes, every teacher uses technology, whether they realize it or not. Blackboards and photocopies are forms of technology too, right? Skilled teachers The first element of great pedagogy is the teacher. The Pen Pal Exchange system depends upon a skilled teachers ability to plan a successful writing project, with goals, lessons, and evaluations. (We have preloaded an example of pen pal writing tasks that you can use or modify.) To support this half of the equation, we have developed a pen pal template development page that guides the teacher step-by-step in specifying the topics the students write about, in itemizing the required vocabulary, in establishing the minimum number of words for each message, and in tolerating no more than the maximum number of errors you are willing to allow. Powerful technology The second part of the equation is the technology. The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry if the available resources are missing. Planning to have 150 students write 10 well-developed meaningful messages to pen pals in 10 weeks and receive handwritten feedback on errors and vocabulary is likely to exhaust even the most energetic teacher. Thats why I have incorporated the Virtual Writing Tutors grammar checker, word counter, and target structure checker into both the editor students use to compose their messages, and behind the scenes to check their messages automatically for the requirements of the assignment and record scores for the teacher to review. Skill + Power = Good Pedagogy Combining your plan for a series of form-focused writing tasks with the Virtual Writing Tutors onboard corrective feedback tools ensures good English language pedagogy: maximizingthe repeated exchange of meaningful messages with a form-focus. Add in Mastery Model scoring so that the students grade matches his or her effort and ambition, and students keep working and working at their English writing until they get the result they want. There is another way that technology can support the success of a pen pal exchange project. Tracking who wrote to whom is a major headache for teachers in trying to develop a pen pal writing project involving students in different classrooms. It seems simple enough: have students write messages, collect them up, and redistribute them to students in a different group the next day. However, the mounds of paper to collect and distribute can get messy when playing postman. So, the Virtual Writing Tutors ability to track and directmessages to multitudes of pen pals with email reminders helps to ensure a successful pen pal exchange for English Second Language learners. Your Virtual Writing Tutor Pen Pal Exchange is sure to help your students develop their basic interpersonal communication skills very quickly. Ready? Start your Pen Pal Exchange project here. FYI: its free, I dont send spam, and you can delete all traces of your project when you are done. What can a teacher do? Teachers can set the following required elements of a pen pal exchange: Topics the number of writing topics to write pen pal messages aboutMinimum word count the minimum number of words and a score for meeting or exceeding the minimum word count.Max # of errors the maximum number of grammar and spelling errors to allow in a message to receive the full score.Required target structures a list of target structures to use in a message, the minimum number of those target structures to include in a message, and the score for meeting or exceeding the minimum number of targets in a message.A photo depending on the topic, the teacher may wish to require a photo.A voicerecording students benefit from a 10% improvement in explicit recall of vocabulary items when they are read aloud (compared with silent study), so a teacher may want to require a voice recording of each message to enhance recall. Teachers are also able to do the following: create pen pal templates with all of the settings listed aboveimport existing templatescreate groupscreate an online invitation to join a particular groupmatch up pen pals with pen pals in different groupsshare groups with other teachers to create exchanges involving different students around the province or around the worldmonitor students progress and scoresremove absentee or misbehaving students What are students able to do? Pen pals are able to do the following: delete every trace of themselves from the website (The Virtual Writing Tutor respects your right to be completely forgotten)add one photo to discussadd a voice recordingcheck grammar and spellingcheck for the target structures required by the teacherpost and repost messages What can the system do? The Virtual Writing Tutor can detect thousands of error patterns and provide explicit feedback on spelling and grammar errors. It can also count words and detect the use of target structures in a message. Based on what the VWT finds, the system automatically generates a score determined by the number errors, number of words, number of targets structures, and the inclusion of a photo and an audio recording in the pen pals message. It also calculates a score based on the number of replies a student makes on other students messages. What do students write about? The system allows pen pals to write on any topic. This semester, I intend to get my students to write on a series of standard topics. To see the writing project I have planned for them, download my list of topics below. * writing topics for the VWTs Pen Pal ExchangeDownload What does the Pen Pal Exchange look like? The topic list looks like this. You can have as many topics as you like. The first topic in blue is standard. It is a message form the teacher who moderates the exchange. The topics in red that follow are set by the teacher using a template creation tool. The teacher can add as many topic as he or she wants. The editor used to write a message to your pen pals looks like this. Message tools for pen pals to use when writing their messages The feedback on spelling looks like this. The feedback on grammar errors looks like this. You get feedback on target structures like this. The list of target structures set by the teacher in the exchange template is automatically added to the search tool like this. The feedback on the the use of target structures looks like this. Students have a dashboard that gives them access to a range of information, which they can access with hyperlinks. For example, they can hop over to their own messages, the messages posted by their pen pals, and see the people in their group. Clicking on a score take the student to a detailed view of their feedback. Teachers also have access to this view. What do the teachers tools look like? You can match students like this. You can add pen pal guests to an exchange manually or automatically. Teachers can see group members, deploy a template, and match students with pen pals from the same or different groups. The teacher can get an overview of the students score or see in more detail the individual scores that contribute to the students total score. An Article on Pen Pal Writing Click on the image below to read the article about pen pal writing. It could serve as good introduction to students in preparation for a pen pal exchange. Pen Pal Listening Exercises To see online activities that you can share with students to introduce them to the concept of pen pal writing, click on the images below: Please follow and like us:

Why I Volunteer - Annick and Lourdess Story

Why I Volunteer - Annick and Lourdes's Story Meet Annick S and Lourdes D, two of Tutorfair’s lovely language volunteers. As respective native French and Spanish speakers, Annick and Lourdes have used their impressive language skills to tutor Senior students at Pimlico and Paddington Academy. We help them tell their stories below. Although the two tutors volunteered in different schools and in different subjects, both Annick and Lourdes are in the unique position of learning how to teach  a group of less-than-timid teens a language that has been innate for most of their lives. “I was a bit . . . a bit shocked,” Annick begins, recalling her first day at Pimlico Academy. “[The students] don’t sit down, they’re not quiet, and they’re very tiring.” Annick reminds me of some of my own favorite High School educators: patient enough to teach, with a no-nonsense attitude that suggests that you listen. Carefully. “But,” she continues, “as they get to know you and you get to know them, you find some middle ground. You learn to take it as it comes, and if you don’t think of a solution or a way to do it better, you let [the students] get on with it. Then you go back in a few minutes and maybe they will get it. Maybe there is progress.” When I speak to Lourdes a couple weeks later, I am struck by the parallels between her and Annick’s experiences, right down to their first day. Lourdes remembers, “I went to class, and the teacher introduced me to the students who had more difficulty. The teacher said, ‘Don’t be afraid because their behavior is not so good,’ but it was fine with me because I used to work with difficult children. I understand that sometimes they’re difficult, and that’s okay. I just like to work with them.” In these few sentences, Lourdes exemplifies a quiet kind of perseverance, and immense dedication to her students. When I ask her what motivated her to reach outside of her comfort zone and become a volunteer tutor, she says simply, “The children.” “They are special, they are innocent, they are funny, and I have fun with them. Sometimes it is difficult, but you have to give your time, because it will make you feel like a better person, too. These children are the future.” Despite her earlier reservations, when I ask Annick the same question she remains focused on her pupils, too. Her favorite part? “The interaction with the students,” she says. “Opening their mind to other things, and showing them there is more around that they could explore.” It’s easy to see why these two make such fantastic volunteers, isn’t it? Thank you, Annick and Lourdes! If you're a tutor, teacher or an aspiring educator looking to make a difference, visit the Tutorfair Foundation to find out how you can join the future of tutoring.