177 | Become your “Inner Popstar” Teacher Mic Tips & Tricks
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[00:00:00] Bryson Tarbet: Before we get started today, I'm going to be showing you a lot of, a couple of my favorite microphones, um, like visually. So if you're listening, if you're one that typically listens to the podcast on iTunes or whatever, uh, this might be an episode that you go and take a peek at over on YouTube. With that being said, I'm going to try my best to talk through it.
[00:00:17] Bryson Tarbet: So even if you can't watch it, um, you'll be able to kind of understand where we're going from. Embrace your inner pop star. We're talking about microphones in the elementary music classroom. You're listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tarbin, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher and the elementary music summit.
[00:00:43] Bryson Tarbet: Each week Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve show notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at that music teacher. com[00:01:00]
[00:01:05] Bryson Tarbet: Hello everyone and welcome back to that music podcast. Yes, today we are going to be talking about microphones for classroom use. When I say, when we're talking about microphones, we're not really talking about. Like for performances and all that. Cause that is a whole other can of worms. Uh, but this month we're talking a lot about vocal health and vocal health.
[00:01:23] Bryson Tarbet: You know, we can't get much not easier, but like the, the place to start is with using voice amplification. So I want to share a couple of my favorites today, but before we talk about. which mics I recommend. Um, I want to talk first about why use a mic. And I think it's really important for us as, as teachers.
[00:01:44] Bryson Tarbet: Um, if you kept caught last week's episode with Dr. Jennifer Whitehead, we talked about, you know, being professional voice users, right? And we, we are as music, as teachers in general, but especially music teachers. And it's really important for us to protect that voice. Um, not only just for [00:02:00] the day to day, making sure you have a voice at the end of the day, um, but we're going to be doing this for a long time, right?
[00:02:05] Bryson Tarbet: You know, 30 some years we're going to be teaching. So we need to make sure we're taking care of that instrument. So why, why a microphone? First of all, the music classroom is loud. There's going to be kids that are singing. Um, hopefully you're not in a super, super small space. So you have to kind of have your, your, your sound, your voice project a little bit.
[00:02:23] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and when doing so it's really easy to just get louder and if you get louder. What is everyone else gonna do? Probably get louder, right? It just kind of raises the whole thing But if you're able to bring it in and bring it into a microphone or something like that just to kind of Make it so you don't actually have to put the physical effort of yelling in that can be really helpful So I first had a microphone when I was student teaching It was one of those little like lapel mics that was kind of on a lanyard.
[00:02:47] Bryson Tarbet: I loved it I could be like hello everybody, please stop talking and listen to me In a kind of brought everything up back up. Um, but that was in classroom where it was kind of a new classroom. Um, it was an add on in the building. So they actually were their [00:03:00] speakers in the in the ceiling. So if you have that, that is where I would start first.
[00:03:04] Bryson Tarbet: A lot of a lot of classrooms have that. I wish more did. Um, but that's kind of the first place to start. Uh, even if you aren't a really big fan of the microphone that comes with that, just having already having that, that speaker system that, um, Um, You know, the voice amplification software kind of hardware, I guess, you know, in your cabin or somewhere, um, you can always change up a microphone with something new.
[00:03:25] Bryson Tarbet: Now, the majority of us probably don't have something like that. Uh, so let me show you a couple different options. So this is the one that I used for, um, a long time. Um, and my principal, she'd be like, I said, I can't, I can't, I can't handle you right now. Or she'd be like, hey, Brittany. Or, you know, the Backstreet Boys are back, you know, I, I got it all.
[00:03:44] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and there are a few things that I like about this one. And there are a few things that I don't like about this one. One, um, I'm not a huge fan of the way that it looks. I do, I do kind of look like I'm in a call center or I'm going to be doing my, um, Vegas residency, which. You know, whatever [00:04:00] own it. Um, but honestly, it's not my favorite microphone.
[00:04:03] Bryson Tarbet: What I do like about it is, is Bluetooth. So it's wireless. There's nothing like heavy connected to me. Um, but I had to use essentially a, a speaker that I had on my, like either, you know, put it around my neck or, um, you know, it has a clip. So I could clip it on my, my, my belt or, or something like that. And I think there is a way so that you can pair this, um, this speaker or this microphone with other Bluetooth speakers.
[00:04:27] Bryson Tarbet: I just never figured it out. Um, what I liked about this one is when we had to teach outside during COVID. This was able to come with me and this is actually where this one started, I think, uh, if I think back correctly, I think, I think, I think I got this first when we were doing, um, you know, teaching during with masks and things like that.
[00:04:42] Bryson Tarbet: I'm like, all right, I, I've waited long enough. I need to get a shot or I need, I need to give it a shot and see what happens. Um, so the thing about this is you charge it via the, um, mini USB. My guess is the new ones, or at least there are some new ones that you can do with, with, um, USB C, um, because kind of everything's going on that.
[00:04:59] Bryson Tarbet: What I [00:05:00] will say is, I'm not a huge fan of like things touching me. Um, Speaking of literally something just came off of it. Um, But like this is um, I don't mind this too much. It didn't fall off a lot when I was teaching it stayed on Um, I could get really close if I needed to I could keep it back a little bit farther Um, and what I liked about this one is if I wanted to I didn't do it often with this one But like if I had a student that was really struggling with um Projection or, you know, they wanted to be involved, but they weren't very loud or during game.
[00:05:29] Bryson Tarbet: I don't know. I could take it off and they could they could do this. Yes, there's a germ side of this thing. So be aware of who you give it to and you know what ages. But I used this one for a couple years. It was fine. Um, I, I really wasn't looking for a new one. Um, and then David over at make moments matter, he posted on his, I believe, I think it was him.
[00:05:48] Bryson Tarbet: He posted on his about this guy and I was sold. Um, so what this is, it's another Bluetooth one and it's wireless. So you can clip it on here. Uh, you can clip it on your lanyard, which is what I did most of the time. [00:06:00] And it comes with two microphones. Um, so I actually use this one the most, I just short it out, which is the only reason I don't use it.
[00:06:05] Bryson Tarbet: Um, so really what it has is. I could like take this part and put it down where my, um, what's it called? Like on my belt. Um, and then this guy, I could clip wherever I wanted and it's a real, it was actually a really good microphone. Um, it, it picked up pretty well. Um, and then what I liked about this one.
[00:06:25] Bryson Tarbet: Was a couple of different things one It gave me the opportunity to have a longer cable or to keep it shorter Um if I needed to because so it kind of came with those two mics Um, and then it came with two this kind of different options First of all this connected via bluetooth to a speaker that I already had Um, and it was a good one.
[00:06:42] Bryson Tarbet: It was like one of those bows speakers So it you know, even though they weren't in the ceiling it was able to it was loud enough that Because that speaker was a high quality speaker, even though it was old. I was able to connect to it Then it also has this little guy. So basically it's USB powered And it's like [00:07:00] look, it's your little I don't know antenna But what I liked about this one is it also has a an aux input So what I could use is I could actually have Basically, this is the receiver instead of just connecting it directly to the Bluetooth a speaker.
[00:07:15] Bryson Tarbet: I could connect it to Basically, these two things would talk to each other, and then I could connect, um, connect it from here. So that way, my speaker, my music, and my, uh, microphone was coming through the same speaker. I didn't have to, like, keep switching inputs. So that's really the two that I liked. I, you know, if I were still in the classroom, I'd be using this one.
[00:07:37] Bryson Tarbet: I'd probably get a new cord just so it's a little bit longer because this one tends to allow me to be more direct. Obviously, I lost the thing. I think Kat took it. A little wind guard. But I really like this. Now, if you type in You know, microphone for teachers, you are going to get like seven bajillion different things, um, on Amazon.
[00:07:57] Bryson Tarbet: And I think that that's good for [00:08:00] some reason, some things, because they're, they're going to bring the price overall down. Um, but then you're going to get some that are just really not good. Uh, and I think that's going to be, you're going to want one that's going to last a while. The big thing about both of these is you want one that the battery you don't have to charge during the day.
[00:08:16] Bryson Tarbet: That's another one, that, another thing that I really I didn't get into a lot of issues here, but I only use, you know, my other, my one building had a microphone built into the school. Uh, so I use that there, but this would get me through the microphone on this, the headset would get me through basically half of the day.
[00:08:34] Bryson Tarbet: Um, I never really tried to do it more longer than that because I didn't want it to run out in the middle of the day. Cause that happens sometimes. And I'd have to like, well, I guess I don't have my microphone anymore. Um, so you have to be consistently charging it. Um, finding one that has a good battery that's going to last a long time is going to be helpful.
[00:08:48] Bryson Tarbet: Um, but really the sky is the limit. There are so many different microphones that are already out there, um, that you can connect to Bluetooth speakers that you may or may not already have. There's some that have like kind of the one I showed you [00:09:00] earlier that has its own little, I don't know, speaker pack that comes with it.
[00:09:04] Bryson Tarbet: Um, little bonus on that one. You could also connect your phone to it if I wanted to use that outside for my Bluetooth speaker. Um, But there's kind of pros and cons to all of them, right? I would say there are some that are very expensive, and then there are some that are a little bit more affordable.
[00:09:19] Bryson Tarbet: Sometimes you get what you pay for, and then sometimes these are just overpriced. Sometimes if you're able to come at this to your administrator from a like workplace safety thing, um, especially if you've had any. Sort of, um, vocal health issues in the past. Um, I know some people that I've seen online that they've actually, um, you know, if they have actual vocal health issues or if they get a scope, they'll actually have their doctor write a, essentially a prescription for a microphone.
[00:09:42] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and basically use that as, Hey, this is a workplace safety issue in this. For me, um, and they might be able to use a different money for that because it's coming from an employer side of things rather than coming out of a student facing budget side of things. Um, but honestly, even if they say no, they're not, you can find ones that [00:10:00] are fairly affordable.
[00:10:01] Bryson Tarbet: You know, my, my administrator, um, uh, I just kind of, I got my own, uh, because I, I, I didn't want to wait, quite frankly, to go through all the different noobs. I just wanted to get try out some different things, and I knew that I'd want to be able to take them with me if I ever ended up leaving. Um, so I hope those were helpful.
[00:10:17] Bryson Tarbet: Uh, whatever microphone you end up using, I highly encourage you to give one a shot. Give it a couple of weeks to get used to. Um, be aware of, be aware of what you like and what you don't like when you buy a microphone. Uh, look at the reviews, um, and just kind of see what you, See what you want to get the most out of it.
[00:10:35] Bryson Tarbet: Especially if you're someone who doesn't really have a lot of vocal health issues, and you just want to make sure you're maintaining it. You might not need one that's super loud or super, um, I don't know, super high, high intensity. You might be able to get away with something more like this, even with just in small form factor.
[00:10:50] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and kind of clip it here just to give it a little bit more so you don't have to yell. Um, a little added tidbit that I have is, first of all, don't yell into these. That's [00:11:00] not going to help anyone. That's just going to create a sensory nightmare. Uh, but. What you can do if you really do want to get people's attention, um, you can really get close and don't yell, but just be like, hello, I am ready to like turn into a robot, not a loud robot, but really get in there.
[00:11:13] Bryson Tarbet: And like, that will change up the timbre of it. And sometimes that'll help you break, break through the kind of the noise and the chaos. So I hope I've helped you kind of figure out where at least you want to start this next conversation. If you use a microphone, I would love for you to share in our community, which ones that you like.
[00:11:29] Bryson Tarbet: Uh, so if you're watching on YouTube, put them down in the comments, or if you are, you know, hanging out with us somewhere else, let us know what microphones you like, which ones that you've tried. And they're like, really not for me. Um, and anything in between. As always, thank you for listening to this week's episode of that music podcast.
[00:11:45] Bryson Tarbet: If you have not lost us a review on Apple podcasts, YouTube, wherever you're watching or listening, please give us a review. It helps us get in front of new music educators, but it also helps us figure out what you want more of and what you want less of. With that being [00:12:00] said, thank you so much for making a difference in the lives of the students that you teach.
