Irving All Stars' Music and Dance Review

Talented Irving Students reach out to Bethany Home residents with a show that wows 'em.
Video and Production stills by Gary Olsen

ubuque Schools has always had an innovative and enthusiastic performing arts program. Song is the very hearbeat of America, and it's always been an important part of a public education. Music makes better students. So is it any wonder that one of the most award-winning schools in our district (Presidential Blue Ribbon, The State of Iowa Fine Award for Reading Achievement just to name two) is a school with a rich performing arts curriculum? That's Irving Elementary. According to principal, Barb Shoenauer, "The arts and music go hand in hand with educational achievement, productive learning habits and a sense of accomplishment among students." Adds vocal music teacher, Mary Beth Hendricks, "Learning music sharpens communication skills and develops poise and self confidence." So let's give a hand to Irving's All Star Music and Dance Review as it makes a tour stop at the venerable Bethany Home.

The senior citizens on this early spring day were in for a treat as Irving students rolled out their newest innovation, the traveling and completely portable sound amplifcation system provided them by the generous parents of the Irving PTA. It took a while for things to get underway in the cavernous Bethany Home multipurpose room. The crew had to find a live outlet. But when they did (it was under a big oak table in the corner), the electric piano was suddenly hot, the new wireless microphone was crisp, and several Bethany residents could be seen adjusting their hearing aids. Nonetheless, this was a great shakedown cruise for the kids and their new equipment.

Enjoy the video clip. It's about 7 minutes and available in two speeds. The rabbit button above is for a faster connection which affords a larger video window. The turtle button is for phone modems. Expect a somewhat halting performance if you are on a phone modem. It's best to wait for the video to download entirely into your computer's cache memory, then play it again, and it will perform more smoothly the second time around. Video performance depends on connection speed and your computer's performance characteristics. We hope you have a good connection so you can view the larger video.

And if you like the production stills at right, click on any one you would like a larger, more printable version of, and you're good to go. Complete instructons are available by clicking on this button at left.
Instructions For Those Outside of Our School Network (The General Public)

We are now providing a choice of RealPlayer applications for you to download and install on your computer to enable you to view the video and audio files. One is RealPlayer8 and the other is RealOne Player, which is an excellent player with many new features. It's easy to install, so just follow the on-screen steps. You will be required to register with Real.com, but these are free software applications (there are versions you can pay for if you choose, but they are not necessary for basic viewing and listening).

Which Player is Best for Me?

Of the two types of free players available, RealPlayer 8 is the traditional player that is free and will work beautifully to access Web based multimedia files from our site. There is also a new player available, which is also free, called RealONE. Either player will probably work for your operating system. If your system is older (Windows 95, NT), however, you may want to use the RealPlayer 8 software. If you are running a newer, faster system like Windows 98, ME, XP, or 2000, go for the RealOne player.

Macintosh Owners:

You can get a RealPlayer for Macintosh, Visit Real.com to download their free player options. Remember, look for the FREE players. They are sometimes difficult to find on their Web site.

Oh, and one more thing... sometimes when you click on a sound or video file in our Web site with the RealPlayer installed, you get a little commercial window that pops up on your desktop. It's annoying, but a small price to pay for the privilege of having the free RealPlayer on your system. Just click it off, and it will disappear.
Instructions For Machines on our School Network (Teachers and Staff)
We are recommending (and IT is supporting) RealPlayer8. This is for ALL computers on our network (in all school and administration buildings throughout the District). This includes all Windows 2000 machines. Click here to get the free player from our network server. If you do not have administrative priveleges, please call your building media specialist to help you.

 

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