Smart Boards in Music Education

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.

Technology and Pedagogy

    

The lesson plan I chose to analyze and deconstruct was a 6^th grade general music lesson plan on Chinese music. Kieth Watlington created this lesson plan for the South Brunswick public school system. I chose this lesson plan because it addressed several New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards, and was addressed to general music, which is a subject area I hope to teach. The technology used in this lesson was not very detailed throughout the plan- for example, the lesson plan talks about explaining elements of the lesson to the students, and it lists several different technologies that would be necessary to conduct the lesson such as internet and video, but is very vague as to how these technologies are used. Though the lesson is overall very cohesive, it lacks clarity in the use of the technologies.

The technologies that were discussed in the lesson plan, such as using Prezi presentations and videos, as well as the use of keyboards, are useful and fit very well into the lesson. However, the lesson could use some more. Instead of watching one video over the five-day unit, I believe that it would be beneficial to incorporate more video clips. For example, a video of someone performing “Silver Moon Boat Song” would be very helpful and would help the students understand the elements such as form and structure, which they are intended to learn during the lesson.

Additionally, a video on the influences that Chinese instruments and musical traditions have had on world music would be helpful in integrating New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standard 1.2, History of the Arts and Culture. I also believe that the integration of Smart Board technology, assuming that it is attainable for this particular lesson, would be helpful. Using the smart board to teach the grand staff, as well as different time signatures, would allow teachers to write on a staff and erase easily. I also feel that it would be beneficial for not only long-term knowledge retention, but for the happiness and excitement of students, to use recording technology to record the performances for the students. This lesson plan was already good, but with the integration of additional technologies, I believe that the unit would be even more successful.

Technology and Pedagogy Supplemental Spreadsheet

The Advantages of Recording

Since my first semester as a student at Montclair State, I have had lessons with a private voice teacher. My teacher requires all of her students to record their lessons on some sort of recording device. I have had about 100 lessons in the past three years, and I have one 50 minute recording for each of these lessons. To be honest, I thought that this was a waste. I hated carting my laptop around campus every Wednesday for my lesson, and it seemed like the recordings were just taking up space on my hard drive. But lately I have been thinking about the benefits of recording music lessons.

It is a common practice for private teachers to have their students record their lessons. This technology allows us to go back and see something that we did a few days ago or even a few years ago and reflect on it. I am able to go back to a song I performed when I was 18 and can compare the differences with the click of a button. I can go to my "lessons" folder and find the lesson I had a few weeks ago to recall a new technique or to try a warm-up that I forgot about. 

I believe that, through recording or filming your lessons, you are creating a larger window for success and improvement on your instrument. While I do not believe that people should be reliant on technology, I definitely think that it has its benefits. This method of learning is similar to recording your lectures on your phone or listening to podcasts. You are still learning in the moment, and you are still immersed in the learning process, but you are given the opportunity to learn and re-learn, and from there you are able to improve and ultimately succeed.

Virtual Choirs: Yay or Nay?

A few years ago, I got an e-mail from the administrator of the music school encouraging us to audition for a virtual choir. Eric Whitacre, a grammy-winning American composer and conductor, commissioned a virtual choir project. Whitacre's virtual choir began with Lux Arumque, featuring 185 voices representing 12 countries. His project and has evolved significantly over the past few years, and his latest project features 5,905 people from 101 countries, and his youtube videos have acquired millions of views. While this development is exciting and demonstrates the progression of technology and the capabilities of music in technology rather efficiently, it does not seem conducive to successful music-making. 

Singing in a choir is the world's most popular past-time. People sing in choirs for many reasons, but it is mostly to feel a sense of community and to share music and passion with others. How can you do that through a computer? Whitacre's choir is composed of video submissions- people choose a voice part, learn the piece, and submit a video of themselves singing it. The video is then cut and edited to create a choral piece. None of the participants ever sing with one another, and they never rehearse as a group. They never experience the excitement and joy of performing with their choirs, and will never personally feel fulfilled when the auditorium rewards them with applause and excitement in sharing music. While it is exciting to be a part of something so cool, for lack of a better word, it doesn't really do anything.

How do you feel? I'm interested in the opinions of others. Would you encourage your students to be a part of this youtube sensation? If so, for what reason? Does it seem valuable, or is it simply an opportunity to be a permanent part of the internet? Do the youtube views mean more than the personal gain of performing with other musicians? Or is it debatable that sharing music with others is a huge part of music making?

Virtual Choir 1: Lux Arumque

Virtual Choir 4: Fly to Paradise

History of Technology in Music Education

Since WHA began to broadcast music education programs on the radio in 1917, the radio has been an effective and efficient way to provide music education to children both in and out of the classrooms.

Music Technology in Schools

Most public schools lack music technology. I’m not saying that schools don’t have technology in music- my high school music theory teacher had a smart board in her classroom, and was able to use the computer and projector and other technological classroom devices during out class. Most schools don’t have the computer technology associated with music. Programs such as Sibelius and Finale are obsolete in most schools. This, to me, poses a deficit for students who wish to learn more about music.

Early on in my music education cycle, I observed a music teacher in an elementary school with a few students from my class at the time. While we were there that day, the music teacher took his students to the computer lab. The computer lab was equipped with enough computers for the students to each have their own, as well as headphones for private working. The assignment the students were working on was music composition. I was shocked to see that they had the necessary music technology to complete the assignment. In all the schools I have been to, whether it is to observe or during my own course of education, I have been to one that had recording technology and composing technology.

This concept seems a little abstract for people who aren't invested in music or who don't understand much or care much about it, so let me put it into perspective. Imagine, as a mathematician, not having access to a calculator. Imagine, as a writer, not having a computer as your scribe. Being a musician, especially someone interested in recording or composition, it is crucial to have a program that allows you to do these things. Imagine how long it took Beethoven to write down his symphonies. How would recording artists record their music without the recording technology we now have?

While things are changing and many more schools are bringing music technology into schools, the ratio of schools with technology to schools without it is heartbreaking. Even more so, the amount of schools that have technology available for many other subject areas is just as sad. What efforts can we take as future educators to open the eyes of school boards to explain the importance of music technology? Organizations such as the National Association for Music Education work to promote music in schools and supports those who do. It is up to us, though- the future educators of America- to really start the movement.

http://www.nafme.org/

Technology Autobiography

The three most important communication technologies that have influenced my life up to this point are the computer (more specifically, the internet), the telephone, and smart phones. I ranked these three communication technologies by not only their importance in my life, but their presence and consistency throughout my life.

The computer has been a pathway for communicating since I have been young. Aside from its useful functions such as word processors, the computer is our number one connection to the information superhighway. The Internet connects people worldwide in merely an instant.  I can remember back to when I was in elementary school and we were encouraged to use the Internet for research papers and as a helpful at-home learning tool. I have used the Internet as a substitute for my television for years- I cannot remember the last time I watched an episode of Game of Thrones on TV, but HBO GO is bookmarked on my computer. While the Internet has proven to be incredibly useful, it has some downsides. I often find myself procrastinating my homework with Facebook, and there are days where I can spend hours in bed with my MacBook. It is my opinion that our generation, myself included, has become too reliant on our computers and on the Internet. Books have become nearly obsolete, and the need for records and CDs is also almost non-existent. Artists sell more iTunes copies of albums than CDs, and some even see it as a waste. Society seems to forget about things that aren’t connected to the Web.

While the Internet has provided me with IM and E-mail and even Oovoo and Skype, it cannot replace the endless hours I have logged on the phone, hearing the steady buzz of the connection along with the voice of the person on the other line. As a child, I found solace in knowing that Grandma’s number was speed dial 2, and Daddy’s cell phone was speed dial 3. In an instant, I could be connected to someone in a way that was fascinating. Even before I could understand how a phone worked I knew what it was- I had a red plastic toy phone with a rotary dial, and I had some of my most important conversations on it. I got my first cell phone when I was 13, and before that I had an address book with all my friend’s phone numbers in it. The telephone connects people to the world. Aside from being harassed by telemarketers and the endless voicemails from ex-boyfriends (thank you, ignore button), I cannot think of a reason that the telephone has negatively affected my life. Being able to hear my mom’s voice on a whim after moving out, or being able to tell my sister to have a great day at school from miles away is a wonderful thing.

Many people believe that the smart phone is God’s (or Allah’s, or Zeus’s, or whoever you believe in) gift to modern technology, and I do not disagree. However, I do not believe that the smart phone has influenced me as much as the Internet or the telephone has throughout my whole life; so smart phones get the number three spot. Smart phones connect us to everything- the Internet, text messaging, Instagram, Facebook, e-mail- and are sleek, stylish, fast, and incredibly convenient. I seldom leave the house without my iPhone. It is comforting to know that, should I need to find out if the lead singer of that hot new band is married, I can do it in a minute or less. With wifi, our smart phones are unstoppable. There are many things I can say to promote smart phones, but there are some detriments. A young girl in the video we watched said that her phone was her second hand. This, to me, is unsettling. It is just a phone. We have become so reliant on our phones that we spend more time texting than speaking, and value our headphones and Pandora Radio more than good conversation and the music of life.

Overall, while communication technology influences our lives in many very positive ways, such as creating pathways for learning and knowledge, they sometimes hinder our ability to be humans. As one of the girls in the video said, “I am a person, not a computer.” Technology is a gift- we should not allow it to consume us, but rather should learn to use it in a way that is beneficial while still living our lives.