Tech for School Concerts

The Zoom Q8 HD Video Camera

              I recently saw use of Periscope, an app that allows the user to live stream video from their phone to a chosen recipient. It reignited my interest in live streaming orchestra concerts, and I thought a blog on this and other uses of technology specifically for school concerts might be of interest.

              The most basic thing we have done for several years is to scroll a PowerPoint presentation before the concerts. Since many of our patrons (parents) arrive early to drop off their student, we capitalize on their time in the auditorium to scroll meaningful quotes, music education-related statistics and advocacy ideas, jokes, and other student celebrations and recognitions. Click HERE for an example. This low tech, easy-advocacy tech is a must for this season of concerts.

              At our winter concert this December, we may roll out an opportunity for patrons to donate via text. A popular method of giving demonstrated so strongly by the Red Cross and other disaster relief agencies, “text-to-donate” options are plentiful. Several sites are available, each with nominal percentage or subscription costs and a seeming high ease of use. My only hesitancy thus far is that I don’t want to replace the larger thoughtful giving that happens in our community with impulse giving in the $5-10 range. Obviously more research needs to happen on this front, but since I have a projection scrolling, it is worth a try to garner more community support.

              Recording concerts has become much easier and affordable. For quick and easy recordings, usually for back-up to our primary recording, we use a Zoom H2. This handheld, battery-powered unit has stereo condenser mics with 90^o or 120^o configuration patterns and can record around two hours at highest quality on a 2GB SD card. The quality is great for our purposes, and with the use of recording software (Audacity is free; I use Sony SoundForge to edit recordings), we can make a near-professional mp3 files to share through Dropbox links on our website and other media. This is a great option to share student recordings without worrying about the mechanical licenses needed to produce and sell each song on a CD (Important note: it isn’t legal for a school to sell a CD of a concert recording without paying for the appropriate licenses…do the right thing!).

We use a Zoom Q8 HD video camera with built in stereo condenser mics (or the option to input your own higher end mics) and a 32GB SD card. This is enough memory to record over eight hours of high HD quality video with really clear audio. The Q8 will be the link to live streaming our concerts in the near future. Youtube has started a service, and there are numerous video tutorials on how to set up your Google+ (Youtube) account to process live streaming. Our performance venue has a strong wi-fi signal, but a hard-wire internet connection to the laptop is preferable.  We have media releases in place for our students, so now the only remaining challenge is to find a volunteer to hit record while I conduct!