Sunday, September 13, 2009

Week 4 blog on readings

These articles are referenced in this blog:
  • Notation Software and the National Music Standards – Bb (pp. 99-100, Technology Strategies for Music Education)
  • Creative Thinking and Music Technology – Bb
  • The Vermont MIDI Project – Bb
  • Sibelius: A Comprehensive Guide… – Chapter 14
The Vermont Midi project is an internet based program designed for students in grades 2-12. The project allows the students to share their work regardless of their geographical location, because all of the feedback happens on the internet. The project was born in 1995 when a group of music educators met to discuss the National Standars for Music Education.
The most obvious tool for learning about composition is music notation software. The students write music in several stages and the mentors provide feedback along the way. When a composition is complete, the student can submit their work to the Vermont MIDI project to be performed by a professional ensemble in a sponsored event.
What a great learning experience for both students and teachers. This is using the internet to its full potential! There is no drawback for any music educator to participate in this project. If the teacher doesn't know something about the composition process, it is easy to find out when there are a number of willing collaborators on the other side of the world. Access to knowledge is easy in this forum for both student and teacher.
Creative Thinking and Music Technology provided me with a lot of teaching ideas. One of the most pertinent to me right now is the point that the author makes about putting an 'edge' on teaching strategies. When I teach, I find myself getting into a predictable pattern. Music technology composition software can help me help my students. I will show my students the Noteflight software and show them how to use the software in their private lessons. I will have my students think about what they need to work on in their lessons and have them use the software to create an etude or exercise, which I will print and add onto. I think it will pique my student's interests, too.
Chapter 14 in the Sibelius book also gave me a lot of good ideas. I am realizing that Sibelius is a really powerful tool that I can utilize to help me teach my students in a variety of ways. The plug in for the note names and fingerings will help my students memorize new fingerings and patterns. I often talk about emphasizing the tonic and dominant notes of the pieces that my students memorize. The highlighting and coloring notes plug in will help my students have a visual cue. As a horn teacher, I see students struggle with transposition A LOT. In the professional world, transposition is a skill that must be second nature. If a student is a visual learner, I imagine that using the transposition tools in Sibelius would make it a lot easier to understand transposition. The hundreds of worksheets/warm ups that I will be able to create using Sibelius will be invaluable to my students and myself.
I am realizing that there are a lot of practical and useful applications for educators in the field of music technology. There are powerful tools that I can utilize to be an example for my students so that they will be able to utilize the technology that I never learned as a student.


1 comment:

  1. It will be good to create a software part of your lessons. I like the idea of students creating their own etudes.

    ReplyDelete