Technology & Pedagogy

The lesson that I used from www.lessonplanspage.com is meant to to teach high school students about intervals, scales and triads. These three concepts are key to understand different musical styles and genres, as well as being some of the most basic and universally used ideas in music. Whether they realize it or not, students play intervals, scales and triads, in performance based classes on a daily basis. 

I found the lesson plan to be pretty complete, but it lacked a technological aspect. There are so many music programs and interactive website available, that I find it senseless to not utilize them within a class. I adjusted the teaching strategy a bit to make it more interactive, but I believe that both my way and the original lesson plan do fall in line with the curriculum goals. That being said, I did make a two big adjustments to how the teacher would give out the information. Rather than using a chalkboard (or whiteboard), I am using a SMARTboard for this activity. The SMARTboard gives both the teacher and students the chance to visualize as well as hear the concepts being discussed. It is incredibly important for students to know what each interval sounds like as well as looks like, and this isn't possible with a regular chalkboard or whiteboard. To show the musical staff, I decided to Finale (a music writing software). Finale enables the user to write (and edit) musical notation, and then play back the audio of the music written. These technological advances make the lesson much more interactive and challenging for the students, and I feel as though the concepts will resonate much more if they are to learn through the technologies that I have come up with.


Here is the link to my spreadsheet: 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Avdvspao4UKkdGVQZUkyODhZZ05jN2tfWENhaUo4dmc&usp=sharing&hl=en&forcehl=1#gid=0

Music & Social Media

I've stated in a few of my assignments & blogs that there is a disconnect between music classes and technology in the classroom. This is mainly because the classes are performance based, and are essentially a rehearsal rather than a traditional class. Technology does, however, play a big role in how music teachers connect with their students and parents. 

Emails, blogs, message boards, Facebook and Twitter are all great ways to keep in touch with parents & students when they aren't in the classroom. Often times the group of students in a music class (i.e. a band, orchestra or choir) have outside commitments or performances to attend. If you, as the teacher, set up a blog or message board (and keep it updated) parents & students have a quick way to check the status of their rehearsals, performances or appearances. I have a friend who is a H.S. Band Director, and he uses Wikispaces.com to keep kids and parents in the loop. The website provides students with the information I mentioned above, but also keeps them connected during the summer months in preparation for marching band. Students can download audio clips and PDF's of the music so that they can learn it during the summer. I think this is a great way to keep band in the minds of these kids, who could easily forget about their responsibilities during the summer. In addition to all of these great features for kids, the director also uploads videos of each performance for them to see. 

I think that when I eventually am teaching in public schools I will definitely be using this technology for my classes! Until then I'll keep looking for new ways to connect & teach through technology.

History of Technology in Music Education

The Television: Our source for entertainment and information in music education!

I had a hard time coming up with a viable option for the most influential technology in music education. To me, music education hasn't necessarily been on the same technological wave length as many other subject areas, simply out of practicality and the nature of a music classroom. Most music classes are not focused on receiving and storing information, but creating and exploring through a musical instrument, ensemble or one's own voice. That being said, I believe that the most influential technology for music education is the television. 

Although it is not used very often, the television, in my opinion, is the technology that music teachers us most. Whether they are showing a video of a concert, a musical, an instructional video or recordings of the ensemble's own performance, students are learning about music through this visual medium. 

The most obvious reason that a music educator would use a television in the classroom is to show a video of a concert or performance by another, presumably more advanced ensemble. I can remember when I was in elementary school (which is much longer ago than I'd like to admit), we would often watch performances by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra during our music (orchestra) classes. Our teacher used these recordings as instructional aides, always asking us what we thought of the performance. The easy answer of "It was good" or "I didn't like it" would never suffice. We were challenged to think about the complexities of the music being performed and how the musicians were performing, rather than give our opinions on what we saw. This was one of the first times I learned to be objective about something that I was exposed to. 

Along with watching other ensembles perform, the television provided a way to critique one's own performance within an academic setting. For example, I know of a music teacher who has used video of his marching band's performances to go over what was good about their performance, and also how the ensemble can improve. Each Monday after the band's Friday or Saturday performance, they sit down at the beginning of class to examine their show, and each week they learn from mistakes and get better. This is helpful to students who are visual learners, especially. As someone who learners better by seeing or doing rather than hearing or reading, I would have benefitted greatly from this teaching technique had my teachers used it. We, as musicians are often told what could be fixed, but rarely are showed where and how the mistake(s) happened, leading to much frustration. The television, in my opinion, alleviates that issue.

Informational and instruction videos are also available for music teachers. There are a number of instructional series on a variety of musical instruments, which are helpful for a music educator who is teacher his or her students about the many different musical instruments and musical instrument families there are to learn. Although we all are supposed to study each and every instrument before being sent out into the workforce, it is also true that each music teacher has their strengths and weaknesses. I, for example, would not be the best teacher to show kids how to play the oboe or tuba. These instructional or demonstrational videos are a way for students to be exposed to very good players or singers, if their teacher isn't able to give them an in-person demonstration. 

If you have ever been a part of a musical ensemble or class, you understand that technology does not play a concrete role in the everyday workings of the class. There are instances, however, where technology, mainly television, can add a spark or a little something different for learning about music. 

Photo Credit: http://www.smartgirl.org/writing/forum/images/television.jpg