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.
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