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.
---
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
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.
---
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
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!
---
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.
---
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/
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.
---
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.
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.
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