For interactivity number 3, I incorporated the use of Smart Boards into my lesson based on my experience during high school with smart boards and music. From here, I researched smart boards in music education classrooms a little more and learned that there are uses beyond what I was aware of.
As a musician and a former music technology student, I am familiar with the Finale software. Finale is a music notation software that enables you to create, edit, publish, play, and print musical scores. Finale is extremely useful for musicians and is a fun tool for beginning music fundamentals (for a free trial, click here!). I learned that Finale has an interactive software program for Smart Boards where students can draw on a music staff on the board and sound the notes. This is incredibly useful for teaching notes, solfege (do re mi fa sol la ti), chord structure, and scales. While it is just as easy to draw the triad you are working with on the board and sound it on a piano, it is so much more beneficial for the student to be able to manifest the notes with the pitches and create it themselves.
Another program that is accessible to Smart Boards is SmartMusic. SmartMusic is another interactive software that allows students to experiment with and practice music while also recording their progress. SmartMusic (learn more here) has play along capabilities, which allow students to play along with music on the screen. it also has a tuning application which visually manifests tuning and demonstrates pitch tendencies. There are also recording capabilities enabled through Audacity, which is a recording software. The most exciting element of this software, however, is the ability for teachers to assess their students through the software in a way that is fun for the students.
While the possibilities are endless for SmartBoards, and the software is not limited to these two programs, I was specifically excited about Finale and SmartMusic (which, coincidentally, are affiliated). While I do believe that piano, staff paper and pencil are the most organic means of musical notation and learning musical theory, with technology advancements and the mass integration of technology in schools, I feel that it is necessary to try incorporating these elements into the music classroom.
Hey Stef,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this a lot. There are a lot of programs accessible through smart boards that I was totally unaware of. They really are such useful tools for the classroom.
I've taken music history tests through smart boards where the questions were on the board and each student had a handheld control which they used to select their answers. I thought these were pretty useful because each student could then review the test and see what questions they got right and wrong.
Once again, good job!
-Peter
This is a wonderful use of smart boards! I am very happy to see smart boards being used in the classroom. Too many times I have witnessed a smart board just sitting in the classroom unused. This program allows the students to interact with the smart board in class which is a very big deal. Students need interaction with technology so they can build up their technological literacy skills. In a world that is becoming ever more dependent on technology, this is just one more way we can help students understand the developing world around them. Your are absolutely right when you say that we need to incorporate these elements into the classroom.
ReplyDeleteSmart boards are a great tool in the classroom for showing the students how to us the great programs you mentioned. Smart music for example is a great tool because it record your students performances and even grades it. Some of the grading actually aligns with NJCCS for music. I used a leson plan with the objective SWBAT identify define perform quarter notes, and depending on what band instrument the first five notes in Essential elements 2000. Which is as you probably know is the band standard. Some of the essential elements actually come with a CD in the back which use smartmusic! Also compositionally and for writing ,weather for yourself or for your students to write, Finale is another standard.
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