Thing 6b: Exploring Grooveshark

So, when I looked at Thing 7 I realized that we were already supposed to explore a photo sharing site, so I decided that it might be a good idea to comment on a second site.  I chose to comment on Grooveshark, because that I have become pretty familiar with in the last two weeks (I wanted to check it out after Dr. Luck talked about it on the first day of class).

I cannot get work done when it is quiet.  I have three younger brothers, so my house was always loud growing up.  Quiet makes me nervous, because quiet means that someone is planning something nefarious.

When I use Grooveshark, I can create playlists like the ones used on iTunes without having to pay for the music (although if you want to make it portable you have to subscribe to Grooveshark Anywhere).  Setting up a playlist is fairly easy.  You can search for either the artist or the song that you are looking for in order to find music.  If you look up music by artist, then you can look through a list of songs by that author, view playlists that other Grooveshark users have created that contain songs by that artist, and see what events that artist might have in the next few months.

I do wish that Grooveshark was a little easier to search.  If you are looking for a song that also happens to be the name of a musical group and the name of an album, Grooveshark pulls up all songs connected to that information.  An advanced search feature would make searching a lot easier.

I often think that people discount the power that music has in helping people learn.  I'm an auditory learner, so I have always used music as a way to remember things.  I can still sing most of the Schoolhouse Rock! songs that I learned in elementary school.  Most of the Schoolhouse Rock! songs are actually on Grooveshark.  In addition to listening to music for what you can learn, it can also be fun (a shock to everyone, I'm sure).  I was reading a post about how teachers incorporated movement into their day, and one elementary teacher talked about how he uses music during his transitions.  Between math and reading, for example, he would play music.  While the music was on, students moved around the room putting books away and getting what they needed for the next lesson.  I'm sure that there are plenty of great ideas for how to use music in class.

Here's the link for Grooveshark!