Music & Technology

As music teachers, our goal is to provide music learning for all students. My district goal is to provide students with the ability to appreciate music for their entire lives. In order to best appreciate music, students need to develop their ability to listen to music. Students need to train both the expressive ear which captures the phrasing and timbre in music and the analytical ear which focuses on musical elements and themes. To increase student listening, students should be encouraged to verbally explain the music they are listening too as students will take ownership of being active listeners. In addition movement may be used to develop student listening. Bauer (2014) states, “bodily movement representative of musical sounds can facilitate meaningful music listening,” (pg. 110). By encouraging students to utilize movement to demonstrate specific music elements, students are listening closely, making internal connections, and reacting individually to music. As students grow, ...

Music performance requires usage of a range of skills. Multiple skills must be in use at one time to achieve a successful performance of music. To achieve success, the necessary skills must be trained through practice and performance on a specific instrument. Learning the specific skills may be difficult and boring to many students, but with effective practice, proper feedback, both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, students will attain the skills needed to perform.                  In learning music, specific psychological skills are employed. First students must use their psychomotor skills to begin the process of learning music. Psychomotor skills means that students are able to learn and realize what it takes to make a musical performance. Within psychomotor skills, students will learn music through a specific process. The first stage is called the cognitive stage. Within the cognitive stage, ...

This week we discussed ideas for ways to reach the Other 80% of students in the schools. Across the nation, there are currently only 20% of students in schools that are participating in music courses. The primary courses offered in schools nationwide are primarily performance based including band, orchestra, and vocal classes. Few schools offer additional courses in music theory or music history which is marketing to upper music students. Unfortunately, students outside of performance based classes have little to no course offerings in the secondary schools. Some schools are adding courses in guitar, keyboard, ukulele, mariachi bands, or music technology based classes. In the technology based courses, students are able to use different programs to improvise, compose, learn, and experience music. These alternative courses will draw students that are in the Other 80% into the classrooms and provide music learning to the students. In addition, performance classes may benefit from the...