Module 7 Reflection

Before I used technology to enhance my teaching, I fully embraced its ability to enhance my personal productivity and organization. I have since been able to apply that knowledge to my classrooms and administrative duties, and I still believe that technology can do wonders for simplifying the massive amount of behind-the-scenes work that is required of music teachers.

I oftentimes think of this poster that I've seen in many choir rehearsal rooms that was created by a company called Tone Deaf Comics. As music teachers, we strive to create the best quality opportunities and education for students, but being a team of one makes the workload daunting. Technology can help ease the burden. Dr. Bauer (2014, p. 169) states that utilizing technology can help in "completing [duties] in an efficient and expedient matter [which] reduces stress and leaves time to concentrate on what's really important: teaching music." Technology can help teachers get bak to what really counts. This week's reading and assignments realigned me with just how much technology can make our teacher lives easier.

For one, Google's extensive technology is lifesaving, and it has great capabilities to assist in assessing student work. In a data-driven society, there is great need for students to receive a variety of assessments while also providing documented evidence that "give[s] students a clear picture of their progress ... [and] how they might improve" (Bauer, 2014, p. 132). Electronic based surveys such as Google Forms can create summative assessments in the forms of quizzes that can formally assess student learning. It can also assist in conducting authentic or performance-based assessments, where teachers can input a specific checklist, rating scale, or rubric and quickly assess students with the push of a button, eliminating the need for stacks of paper and tired hands.

Google Sites helps with developing student learning portfolios, and electronic compilation of work that allows students the "opportunity to show what they can do" (Bauer, 2014, p. 141). This easy-to-use interface allows website construction at a basic level while still looking professional and put-together. Google Sites is also an excellent path to creating interactive web-based assignments, such as a web scavenger hunt or a Webquest, to aid in fun and engaging student learning.

On a practical level, Google Calendar has kept my life in order for years, and I employ its use in the office to keep our staff's calendars in sync and broadcasting our organizational calendar to our community and parents. I enjoyed learning about tools like Google Hangout from my colleagues in the discussion forum, as well as sharing many resources I've picked up along the way.

This week also focused on professional development. My mentor as a high school student always lived by the mantra "when you stop being better, you stop being good." I too strive to live into that way of being, and I think the path I need to take is developing my TPACK, as well as finding more ways for technology to streamline administrative processes in my work and home life. One thing I have enjoyed is developing a "personal learning network" (Bauer, 2014, p. 175) and being able to interact with my colleagues from across the country to share ideas and learn from each other. My eyes have been opened to new possibilities as a result of our interactions, and I am excited to see what will come during the next school year!

Overall, technology has the ability to make a huge difference in our life. The title of this course is Technology-ASSISTED Music Learning. While I do not believe it is wise to lean on technology and expect effective teaching, but with careful planning, a strong TPACK, and a strong will, technology has the ability to transform our classrooms, lighten the workload, and expose students to broader experiences in music learning and personal success.

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Bauer, W.I. (2014). Music learning today: digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Bogenschutz, John. (2012). The many hats of a choir director [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.tonedeafcomics.com.

Module 6 Reflection

From how people learn to copyright laws, this week's reading was full of information that is applicable to the everyday music teacher. Not relegated to textbooks, music teachers, especially ensemble teachers, have great freedom in designing instruction for their students. With that level of freedom comes great responsibility, and this week's reading from Dr. Bauer's Music Learning Today (2014) equips teachers with the foundations and tools needed to create effective (and legal) high quality instruction.

Music teachers have a wealth of resources at their fingertips to help inform and design effective instruction. In addition to national and state standards, initiatives such as the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (Bauer, 2014, p. 153) and National Education Technology Standards for Students (p. 153-154) give teachers tools, terms, and benchmarks that can help aid in developing strong learning outcomes. I was particularly enlightened by the 21st Century Skills model and their central 4C components: "creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration" (p. 153). These four components have great ties to music instruction, since they are all at the core of "creating, performing, and responding to music" (p. 153). The chapter also discusses the concept of "backward design" (p. 152), which is an instructional design model that centers first on the learning outcomes and then extrapolates the learning process and assessment, not the other way around. In this instance and in the others already described, I felt this chapter is illuminated with scholarly writing that discusses what are commonly referred to as "best practices," and it served as an eye-opening read as well as a needed reminder of just how much thoughtfulness is required to create effective, lasting, and truly educational instruction.

In this same light, I was introduced to Driscoll's model of learning (p. 147). Driscoll describes learning as "contextual, active, social, and reflective" (p. 147), and I immediately made connections to music instruction. Contextual learning surrounds the concept of "prior knowledge" (p. 147), meaning learners compare new concepts to that which they already know. In this light, I am reminded of the big transition from middle school choir to high school choir, and how frequently my colleagues remark that they have to "reteach" musical concepts or "get everyone on a level playing field." It's important for music teachers to understand prior knowledge and have a good idea of how to adapt instruction to build upon or even at times rise above that which was taught before.

Continuing with Driscoll's model, active, social, and reflective learning play a large role in the music classroom. "People learn by doing" (Bauer, 2014, p. 148), and a lot of instruction in the music classroom is surrounded by guiding students to play or sing a particular passage correctly consistently--a very active process. Students also learn socially by comparing their performance by that of the teacher or by those around them, which is supported by the social constructivist approach to learning, which states that "learners evaluate their own understanding...by comparing it to that of others" (p. 148). This process also involves reflective learning, or one's ability to "set learning goals, plan learning strategies, monitor one's progress and adjust the approach to learning as necessary" (p. 149). In order to help guide students toward mastery of a musical instrument or concept, we must adopt a version of Driscoll's model in order to reach all levels of the learner. I liken this to the oft utilized learning approach that caters to the visual, aural, and kinesthetic learner. Driscoll's model is also one that I will strive to carefully incorporate into my future instruction.

With these learning processes in mind, I was excited to get started on our WebQuest project. I chose to center my project around performance practices, and as I designed the outline I tried to incorporate all aspects of Driscoll's learning model, as well as aspects that appeal to the visual, aural, and kinesthetic learner. Google Sites seems to be an excellent mode to piece this complex project together, and I am excited to spread my reach and incorporate many of the technologies that we have experienced in the class thus far.

One consideration I was pleased to see in the limelight was the issue of copyright. I have been sensitive to this issue as an educator for quite some time, and I am glad the text addressed it in such depth. It's important for educators to know the in's and out's of copyright law, since in today's age it is hard to tell what one is able to get away with. As a composer myself, I do appreciate with people purchase the music instead of photocopying, since the latter affects my livelihood. The Creative Commons organization (Bauer, 2014, p. 163) was an entirely new discovery for me. I think it's a brilliant concept that individuals can license their works freely as well as provide conditions that are clear and to-the-point (unlike copyright legislation). I am hoping to incorporate Creative Commons into my WebQuest project.

This week was in some ways a strong reminder and in other ways an eye-opening revelation which focuses on the importance of thoughtful, well-designed instruction. As educators, if we are to truly guide young musicians toward a deeper understand of music, then we owe them the best quality instruction that will set them up not only to succeed, but to have a lasting effect on their minds and lives.

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Bauer, W.I. (2014). Music learning today: digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York: Oxford.

Module 5 Reflection

Before now, I did not realize that there was a word that means "to music," as in referring to music, and all aspects of making it, an action. Philosopher Christopher Small calls it musiking, and explains that "to music is to take part, in any capacity, in a musical performance, whether by performing, by listening, by rehearsing or practicing, by providing material for performance ... or by dancing" (Bauer, 2014, p. 106). I love the idea of referring to music as a verb. To create it, or to participate in it, takes great action. It is an active process that can broaden the mind and touch the soul. This new word and definition inspired me as I learned more about responding to music utilizing technology.

Dr. Bauer (2014) explains on several occasions that music experiences often have different meanings depending on if they occur at school or away from it. He notes that "students frequently differentiate between the music they experience in and out of school," (p. 107), and that they also "often use music as a means of emotional regulation while at home" (p. 107). He also notes that for most people, "music listening has a social context" (p. 112). In these analyses, it is hard to ignore the innate difference between school-guided and self-guided musical experiences. It's important for music teachers to take note of this so that when we work to design experiences or assignments meant to be done outside the classroom, we also need to understand that we are encroaching on a different state of mind. Technology may help bridge these differences because the students in schools nowadays have not grown up in a world without technological advances. If we are mindful of the accessibility and design of the software we use and the interactiveness and level of engagement we insert into our at-home experiences, there may be opportunity to maximize music learning both in and out of the classroom.

With this frame of mind, I was eager to experience and evaluate the many technologies we experienced this week. For my software review, I chose Sightreading Factory. While I know the concept of sightreading is not the most exciting topic for students, I appreciated how user-friendly and customizable the web-based program was. I was particularly excited about the group sightreading feature that is possible using an SATB choir, or any variation of voicing. The teacher can set the parameters, and the class can go. What really stood out to me was the program's ability to randomly compose new exercises using the same parameters with the click of the button. I had visions of healthy classroom competition, which is one of the proven strategies I've used to get students excited about sightreading. Though the thought of doing these exercises at home seems a bit monotonous and boring, I do believe it is an excellent low-cost alternative to programs like SmartMusic.

My experience with Music Ace was slightly different. The colorful interface and larger-than-life graphics seem to engage a younger audience, so I was eager to see how the program would scaffold the instruction for an elementary classroom. While how concepts were presented were fun and interactive, I felt like the lessons were throwing too much information at students at one time. I had wished these concepts were broken up over more lessons. For example, concepts like staff, grand staff, treble clef, and bass clef were identified by name and not really explained their meaning and context. Additionally, I experienced several issues with sound, and the program often created a very loud din that forced me to restart it several times.

I was particularly impressed with the capabilities of MusicFirst, the cloud-based program presented by Dr. Jim Frankel. I enjoyed the variety of programs that are easily accessible, as well as the wide range of skills they can be used for. I was excited about the unique assessment feature, allowing the teacher to create new assignments or search a database of tried-and-true ones, as well as being able to differentiate criteria amongst one's specific student population. The ability to tie these lessons to national, state, and professional standards is a plus.

I was particularly intrigued by PracticeFirst, especially because in my professional life I am in the process of writing a grant proposal for a major music technology overhaul. I have been evaluating many online practicing programs, and I felt like I was compromising my needs until I saw PracticeFirst. I was impressed by its vast library of titles that are easily searchable for practice and assessment. I also liked the unique error detection tool, utilizing a spectrographic line that changes colors based on accuracy instead of coloring the individual note heads as one goes along. I like the easy score upload tool as well as the ability to create audio only exercises (which would be really good in a pinch). I am eager to reach out to Dr. Frankel to try out a demo of MusicFirst and its capabilities.

For our bookmarking assignment, I seized the opportunity to search for articles that support technology in the music classroom. Diigo proves to be an excellent educator-friendly way to store these searches. While I did not find a lot of techologoy-specific articles that really stood out to me, I was able to find a few gems that I will pull from when writing this grant proposal, as well as many others that can inform my teaching and professional practice in the future.

The Spotify project opened my eyes to the possibilities of what Spotify and YouTube could do for in-class and out-of-class listening. I always struggle to find the recordings I'm looking for, and being able to put them in the same place would be a valuable resource to share with my students. Utilizing this technology, I can fulfill my desire to have students listen to their music at home while also listening to a healthy vocal model.

Overall, this week served as a turning point in my relationship with music technology. Before taking this class, it seemed like a thing that every teacher should do in the 21st century, and I really wasn't seeing how beneficial it could be. But after reading about how technology can support curricular music goals over the past several weeks and really investigating just how its use can help meet, even strengthen the learning results, I am excited to incorporate it more into my own classroom.

Module 4 Reflection

One of the characteristics of strong music classrooms, whatever discipline, is constant evaluation and innovation. Technology provides music teachers ways to explore musical concepts and teach musical and performance skills in ways that have not before been possible. As I studied these ideas this week, I was delighted to make lots of connections to my real world work at the Pensacola Children's Chorus. Technology's ability to elevate our standard of performance and education is exciting!

Chapter 4 in Music Learning Today illuminated connections between performance skills and the technologies that can be used to teach them (Bauer, 2014). I was specifically drawn to the substantial passages devoted to musical practice, a skill set I truly lacked as a developing musician. While practice tapes have never been foreign to vocalists, I remember my high school voice teacher discouraging me from practicing to such tapes for fear I would develop unbreakable habits. On the contrary, the textbook suggests that "students generally prefer to practice with accompaniment" (p. 82), and that furthermore, "individuals have also indicated that they believe the computer is better than a live accompaniment for repetitive practice" (p. 82). In this specific light, I was interested to learn that SmartMusic features "intelligent accompaniment," (p. 84), where the software will actually follow the soloist as they play, similar to a live accompanist. Additionally, playing with an accompaniment or the full ensemble could also help improve a student's intonation (p. 83), since the accompaniment allows them to hear their part within the whole harmonic context of the piece. Technologies like Sing and See and Sightreading Factory have more singer-specific practice techniques.

In this light, I wonder how my students' individual performance could be increased with the use of accompaniment tapes. My once-weekly rehearsals are rigorous, and retention from week-to-week is high, but if I focused a bit more on practice education and provided technological tools to support them at home, I imagine our standard of performance would be elevated. I'm eager to test this in the coming weeks on my high school choir as we prepare for a summer choral festival (with limited rehearsal!).

Technology also provides many ways to create more effective ensemble rehearsals. I have used a camcorder in the past to record the expressions on students' faces while singing, only then to turn around the play it back live in class for students to assess their own performance. Dr. Bauer (2014) suggests that these types of recordings also "allow students to focus on listening while not playing," (p. 89) which is something that as a teacher I'm quick to forget. As the instructor, I'm constantly evaluating sound while it's being made, and I easily forget that developing musicians would respond better to separating the two activities. In fact, instruction could be catered to quicken the students' response to personal errors so that the need to "stop and fix" becomes less and less.

Technology has such wonderful implications for teacher education as well. I was intrigued my several of the videos hosted on Lynda.com. For instance, the concept of sound compression had been such a mystery to me. I had toyed with it on Garageband and similar technologies, but until watching an Audacity training video (Chow, 2015), I had never had a firm grasp of what it is. Being able to then toy with it in Audacity itself was a great real-life application. Though I must say, I would be eager to utilize what I consider more user-friendly technologies such as SoundTrap and Garageband. I found Audacity's interface quite technical. However, Audacity could prove useful in creating accompaniment tracks with its easy solo and mute features, as well as the ability to fine-edit live recording. Still, I would prefer to put workstations like SoundTrap and Garageband in front of my students for classroom applications before introducing Audacity's more technical interface.

It is difficult to ignore that technology, if used correctly and effectively, is quickly changing the scope and quality of education that can be offered to our students. As a teacher of a classroom that strives to be innovative, I hope I can use this deeper knowledge of technology and its implications in the music classroom to meet my students at a level in which they can more deeply understand the concepts we are working on. In the end, it helps build stronger, lifelong musicians.

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Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York: Oxford University Press.

Chow, D. (Author). (2015, August 14). Using compression. Learning Audacity. Video retrieved from http://www.lynda.com

Module 3 Reflection

Unabashedly, I am a strong proponent of teaching composition skills. I was excited to jump into composition pedagogy, and I was equally excited to see how technology can open more doors and enhance students' learning opportunities.

I truly enjoyed the readings this week, particularly the passage about how to be a successful composer-teacher (Bauer, 2014). Margaret Barrett lists several "best practices" of composer-teachers (2006), a type of teaching mold that at times I believe I can fit. Her steps to success seemed to be surrounded by structuring activities around the students being their own critics, fans, and editors. I agree that classroom activities geared around composition will be successful when students are empowered and encouraged to be able to praise their strengths and evaluate and improve their weaknesses. The avenues beyond music composition that these skills apply to is infinite, and thus I think there is great value in teaching composition. 

I enjoyed learning about (Schroeder, 2007) and toying with digital audio workstations during this module. Prior to this week, the only experience I've had with a DAW is Garageband, and the more I use it, the more I have become frustrated. Soundtrap provided an invigorating new way to compose. The technology provided an easy-to-use interface and informative tutorials, and I was quick to find success in using the program (an aspect of technology that in my experience is critical for students to see its value). The program immediately allowed me to get creative without bogging me down with too many music and audio vocabulary words or complicated interface deterrents. My biggest complaint is that the loop search engine could be expanded, and sorting options could be in place to see what loops and instruments are accessible with whatever subscription level you've purchased. Complaints aside, I really enjoyed working with the software. (Song link HERE.)

That being said, using Soundtrap still required a substantial amount of music-speak, and in order to use the MIDI instruments, you had to have proficient keyboard skills or a musical ear. In exploring Dr. Bauer's online book portal, I was immediately intrigued by applications such as Isle of Tune and Hookpad. Isle of Tune offers picture-based composition, creating musical compositions by designing a road (path) and adding sounds to it (texture). I loved the micro and macro levels of the software, almost as much as I loved how accessible it is to non-musicians. Hookpad produced a similar effect, though it does require more knowledge of music. What I enjoyed most is that it gives suggestions as to what musically makes sense. In this sense, both technologies provide a crutch to those who do not have developed theoretical knowledge like that of classically trained musicians.

Practically, I'll be conducting a Soundtrap experiment of my own in my spare time. At our previous concert, my students wrote the lyrics and assisted in composing the melody to a song that is a response to the struggles associated with pediatric cancer. With the raw vocal file in hand, I hope to create a performance-worthy accompaniment. My fear is that the tempo inconsistencies of live performance may hinder the workload, as I have experienced with Garageband in the past. But I am excited to try out new technologies and see how it can enhance the work and the education of my students!

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Barrett, Margaret (2006). ‘Creative collaboration’: an ‘eminence’ study of teaching and learning in music composition. Psychology in Music, 34(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735606061852

Bauer, William (2014). Music Learning Today. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Schroeder, Dave (Producer). (2007, March 2). What is a digital audio workstation?. Digital Audio Principles. Video retrieved from http://www.lynda.com 

Module 2 Reflection

When I first discovered that Module 2 centered around the concept of improvisation, admittedly I was apprehensive. In my undergraduate experience, vocal improvisation was relegated to the jazz department, and I had no exposure to improvisation in high school. As I've garnered more experiences, improvisation has been the musical area that I continue to be the least confident in, and as such I've shied away from introducing it in a formal way in my classrooms. However, this week did give me some hope.

The first glimmer was in Dr. Bauer's Music Learning Today (2014) when I read about Kratus's seven-level sequence for the mastery of improvisation (p. 52-53). I took solace in the described step-by-step process because it broke up what seems like an elusive concept into easily attainable goals. It starts with simple exploration of sound and works its way up to unique personal improvisational style, requiring the introduction of music theory, musical structure, and musical style along the way. In a way, it reminds me of the Orff method of teaching elementary music. Orff's model is centered around intellectual musical discovery (American Orff-Schulwerk Association, 2017). In fact, whilst exploring the online resource page of Music Learning Today, I came across a page that was also shared as part of our discussion post about improvisation games (Dimoff, 2003). My personal struggle with teaching improvisation is I feel I lack the tools to introduce it in a classroom setting. Trevor Dimoff's approaches to the basics of improv remind me so much of my Orff training, and in reading about his ideas about his activities involving the concepts of call-and-response, rhythmic duration, motivic and intervallic exercises, I was reminded of many lessons that touched on those same concepts in the elementary classroom. These activities can easily be adaptable to a middle or high school classroom and improvisation can begin!

I'm rather excited to move on to the concept of composition with these ideas in mind, since I believe that at the heart of every great composer is someone who is comfortable with improvisation. A fellow classmate reminded me that even though I'm not a jazz musician, much of my performance work in church music was centered around improvising underneath prayers and for filling space in the worship service. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I have in fact dabbled with improvisation, and in looking back, it seems to have laid the foundation to my skills in the realm of composition. The words of cartoonist Scott Adams spoke deep truth when he said "creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." (Bauer, 2014, p. 54). In a way, the first part of the quote seems to refer to improvisation: creating an environment to explore, to learn, to grow, and to make mistakes for the sake of learning. The second part speaks of mastery, of learning the best practices, the best patterns, the logical ways of stringing musical ideas together--ideas that can be associated with quality improvisation and skilled composition. I suppose that investigating improvisation in this way drew tangible lines to what I consider a more concrete concept of composition. Technology also helps bridge this gap.

While most of the online applications explored this week seemed to be geared toward instrumentalists, there may be some applications for vocal improvisation as well. I was enlightened by instrumental classmates who also saw the potential in Band-in-a-Box and others like it which includes accompaniments which could be potentially improvised on top of. Combined with applications like Incredibox that highlight vocal improvisation forthright, it could be a useful way to get students comfortable with improvisation. In the choral classroom, much like Kratus's model (Bauer, 2014, p. 52-53), it seems that introducing these concepts as well as their related technologies must happen step-by-step, not jumping in head first into improvising on top of accompaniment tracks when students have limited to no experience with vocal improv.

This week's MuseScore and NoteFlight projects were a bit challenging for me, since I have been a dedicated (and stubborn) Sibelius user for several years. These two technologies seem to have great applications for notated music and for students who have a basic understanding of music theory. This reminds me of the earlier explored link between improvisation and composition, and I'm eager to see how these and other technologies can help make these difficult educational concepts accessible.

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American Orff-Schulwerk Association (2017). More on Orff-Schulwerk. Retrieved from http://aosa.org/about/more-on-orff-schulwerk/

Bauer, William (2014). Music Learning Today. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Dimoff, Trevor (2003). Improvisation Games: Creating Spontaneous Music in Groups. Retrieved from http://www.acadiau.ca/~dreid/games/Game_descriptions/Improvisation_Games.html#MotivicImprovisation/

NoteFlight Score

My first go-around with NoteFlight was interesting, since I'm a strong Sibelius aficionado.

Regardless, I believe NoteFlight is a very good entry level notation program that could have lots of practical classroom uses. For choral directors unfamiliar with Sibelius or Finale, it would be an easy way to create engaging sight-reading exercises. Students could even create their own exercises. The application's straightforward control layout would facilitate easy note and rhythm input. However, using any notation software requires a lot of background knowledge in music theory in order to not be bogged down by the capabilities of the application. Additionally, while the tutorials were helpful, I found that there simply wasn't enough explained to develop a basic understanding of how it works. I found myself doing a lot of trial-and-error. It was a stark contrast to MuseScore, which had very extensive and helpful tutorials. Nonetheless, its sleek interface and cloud-based design would make notation and composition assignments easy for students to access either at school or at home. It could be a wonderful teaching tool.

Module 1 Reflection

Admittedly, I've purposely steered away from seeking out new technology to enhance my choral classroom. It's not that I am adverse to new ideas or am not technologically savvy, but rather the environments that I have been teaching in lately have not afforded me the time to teach how to use new technology, nor do I have the resources available to try new technological projects. However, now I am in my first year of a new job at the Pensacola Children's Chorus, and one of my early goals is to add a more rigorous educational component to the curriculum. Since my first graduate-level class at the University of Florida on music technology, it seems inevitable that my choral classroom is going to become more high tech than I previously thought.

I began my work for Module 1 with the reading from Dr. Bauer's Music Learning Today. I was immediately struck by the quote by Arthur C. Clarke that opened the first chapter: "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Arthur C. Clarke (1984, p. 36)" (Bauer, 2014, p. 3). I found this quote ironic, since as Dr. Bauer explains further, most of my generation has grown up surrounded by technology, so oftentimes the bigger surprise is when the technology stops working altogether! But the quote served as a wonderful introduction to the possibilities of incorporating technology in the classroom that are defined in the first chapter of the book.

The concept of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) was new to me, but after reflection, it's simply something that all teachers do but not necessarily by definition. PCK is the combination of subject knowledge with the ability to teach that content to learners (Bauer, 2014, p. 14), and when I thought about it, the teachers I strive to be like are ones who know their stuff yet also know how to skillfully teach it. Expanding this concept to incorporate technology (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, or TPACK) makes logical sense: it requires one to learn the technology, evaluate its usefulness, and figure out how to use it to enhance curricular goals.

Keeping this in mind as I worked on the assignments for this work provided a valuable framework to evaluate certain tools, technologies, and technological concepts and their usefulness toward curricular or professional goals. For example, I really enjoyed discovering Incredibox, an online loop-based composition platform with multiple preloaded sounds that you can mix-and-match or turn-on and turn-off as you please. (My composition was called "The Whistle Song.") I found that this would be a wonderful and engaging way to educate young minds about the musical concept of form by creating compositions that explore various types of structures (e.g. ABA, strophic, rondo). It takes what can be a dry concept and makes it fun and engaging.

I also would consider using Incredibox as a pathway to the elusive musical concept of improvisation, one that is seldom covered in a choral classroom. An easy way to perform vocal improv is by repeating a phrase over and over, similar to looping in the recording world. By having the opportunity to experience different loops through the online platform, I suspect students would begin to develop a bank of ideas that would lend themselves to creating their own improvisations.

I also explored Padlet, an online bulletin board of sorts that allows a user to post thoughts, pictures, links, and videos for either private use or public viewing. At first glance, it seemed similar to Pinterest, yet Padlet is really about creating the posts yourself and not "pinning" them from another board. To me, Padlet seems most akin to Evernote, which I have dabbled with in the past. Over the next several weeks, I'm interested to discover the differences between Evernote and Padlet and how Padlet might be useful in the choral classroom.

This week I also dusted off my Twitter account to create a Professional Learning Network (PLN). It's very interesting to consider Twitter as a tool for professional learning, since tweets are so often quoted in primetime news stories and are used as platforms to push an agenda by celebrities through politicians. I have never been a huge fan of Twitter, but I'm going in with an open mind to see how I may be able to engage others with my insights and observations as well as being inspired by the posts of others.

Overall, I've found this first week of diving into music technology really beneficial. Since it is my first class in my online masters program, I feel like it was a good way to jump back into the realm of studying, analysis, and academic reflection. I'm excited for the weeks and work ahead!