As the number of bits computers are able to receive grows (broadband to you and me), so the popularity of using them to play film clips or listen to audio increases. This opens up many possibilities for adding whistles and bells to end-of-term productions.
The most obviously useful piece of technology is a webcam to video rehearsals and polish performances. Uploading a recording of the final production to the school’s website lets those missing out on the first night enjoy it too. Software bundled with webcams allows editing and recording of narration.
If you don’t have a webcam, consider adding sound effects. This is even easier and well within the capability of a network of multimedia computers. The internet has extensive archives of professionally recorded sound effects.
Pupils could start by deciding where in the script they want effects and which sound best captures the moment. Searching online for sounds is easy. Archives such as the Sound Effects Library are the best starting place, and files are usually free for teachers requesting sounds for educational purposes.
Sound archives are likely to use compressed file formats for transfer over the internet, so schools will need to unpack (or unzip, to use the jargon) files using a utility program such as WinZip that can be downloaded from the internet for less than pound;20. Similarly, for less than pound;50, a sound editor program will allow children to add distortion, echoes, delays and repeats to sound files.
Cool Edit is a popular downloadable program for sound editing. The biggest advantage is that computers dramatically increase your options with sound files. Tape gives you no effective way to mark sounds and control the order and timing.
Being able to connect to the network from anywhere in the school means you can access sounds from a variety of locations. If the hall has no network connection, save sound files to a portable laptop, which you can plug into the amplifier system using a cable and the line inout jacks.
A word of warning. You need a dry run for any new task on a computer network, especially when relying on the internet. We invited a class of Year 6 pupils at a school in Oxfordshire to add some sound effects to their production, starting with the Sound Effects Library.
The school’s ICT suite was installed at enormous expense about two years ago, and it attracts politicians looking for photo opportunities like bees to honey. But it has proved less sweet as a teaching resource.
The network’s browser, which is the program that enables you to see web pages, was so out of date that it did not support the free plug-in required to use the Sound Effects Library website. An upgrade costs pound;95, which the school did not have. Instead, the recordings had to be done on someone’s home PC, depriving the pupils of a valuable creative experience.
Debbie Davies www.sound-effects-library.comwww.syntrillium.comcooleditSoftware for reviews and to download sound editors and compression programs www.zdnet.co.uk
