Music and Technology: Responding

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, they become focused on one style of music. To combat this trend, it is important to provide young students the opportunity to listen to a variety of musical styles (Bauer, 2014). 

Technology has had a wide impact on music learning. With technological advancements teachers are finding faster and easier methods to teach music. As students become more engrained in the technological world, teachers are forced to find new methods involving technology to reach students through their interests. There are many technology devices that have become standard practice to use in the classroom at the same time as many new technology devices are being developed and are available for use. 

One program able to aid teachers is the use of Spotify. There is a free version available for use with Spotify as well as a premium version available for a small fee each month. The premium version would be ad-free. Spotify is an online radio system that allows for playlists to be created and utilized as well. Teachers can create playlists of songs they are using in class, set to specific concerts or units. The playlists may be shared with students for access at home. In addition, students may be given an assignment to create a playlist over a specific topic. Students may then share their playlists with other students and teachers. Spotify also allows for students to collaborate on an assignment from different computers or locations. In this way, students can complete group projects utilizing Spotify. As songs were made available online, many teachers began to create playlists on Youtube. While Youtube served the purpose of saving music, it also caused many teachers to have multiple open windows on their computers for each playlist needed for classes that day. Spotify alleviates this problem as each playlist is easily accessible on the side menu. Teachers need to consider their purpose of playing the music as Youtube still provides the opportunity for students to see a visual of professionals performing on their instruments. 

As internet has become more widely used, teachers have bookmarked specific websites onto their computer. One problem-the bookmarks are only saved to the computer you are working on. Many teachers may have worked around this issue by bookmarking the website onto their school computer, but also emailing the bookmarked pages to their personal email. This causes an overabundance of emails in an account, which can easily be mixed in with other emails unless sent to a specific folder. Even if separated into folders, teachers are required to go through each email to access the website they are looking for. Fortunately, social bookmarking is available online. Social bookmarking allows for teachers to save websites to a digital interface that can be accessed from any computer or mobile device. One social bookmarking tool is called Diigo. On Diigo, teachers can easily add websites, pdfs, photos, or documents which can then be shared with other teachers or groups. 

In selecting internet sources to use in class, teachers need to be aware of the internet sources available for use. Teachers and students may use websites, blogs, podcasts, wikis, and more. Since some sites are based on teacher input, each site needs to be carefully evaluated for quality and authenticity. Teachers may develop a checklist to determine the authenticity of a site. Some questions to ask may include who the author, domain, and credentials of the site. Teachers need to determine the content of the website including the curricular goals, music standards addressed, and how current the material is. Teachers should consider what the purpose of the internet resource, if bias is present, and if the resource is supported by an outside group. It is important to determine whether internet resources are appropriate for student use, but it also important for students to learn how to evaluate their own internet resources. In evaluating internet resources, students will be able to pick and choose their own resources to use, but will be better at choosing internet resources available in other disciplines (Bauer, 2014). 

When selecting software to use in the classroom, it is important for teachers to evaluate each software program. In evaluating software, teachers need to review several questions. First, teachers need to determine some general information about the software program including when was it published, what computer systems or devices will the software run on, are there mobile apps available for use, is it downloadable or web-based, what added technology is needed for the program, and finally what grade level and class is the program designed for.  Next, teachers need to determine documentation and instructional support. Teachers need to determine if there is a user manual or if information is available online, whether lesson plans are available, and what other materials are available for student use. Third, teachers need to review the content addressed in the program and state music standards the program aligns with. Fourth, teachers need to be aware of instructional feedback available on the site, is the site easy to use or difficult to understand, what kind of software it is for example informative, practice, games, creativity and finally is there a price for the program. Lastly, teachers need to assess the software program overall and give the software a rating on a scale of one being the lowest up to four being the highest (Bauer, 2014). 

The software program I chose to evaluate was musictheory.net. Musictheory.net is a program for students at various age levels and skill levels to practice music theory concepts. There are both lessons and exercises available for use by students and teachers. Overall, musictheory.net is a great technology tool for the classroom as it will improve student learning of music theory and aural skills. Teachers are able to utilize the lessons in the classroom to cover and review music theory concepts. Students are able to review the theory lessons as needed to aid in completing theory assignments and exercises. The exercises provide good review and practice for students. Students are able to adapt the exercises for their individual use and skill levels. Teachers are also able to create and assign exercises for students to complete. In doing so, teachers need to set the program to challenge mode or there will be an unlimited amount of questions which will bore the students. After completing the assignments, students will be able to assign a verification code to their assignment for the teachers use as well as print off a progress report to sign and turn in to their teacher. I believe this is a very good website to use as students can improve upon their theory skills throughout the course of their classes. 

MusicAce is a downloadable program that provides music lessons, exercises, and games for elementary students. The program uses fun colors and graphics that will draw elementary students in as well as simple, fun exercises for students to complete individually. Students are also able to create their own compositions using the Doodlepad within the program. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any way for teachers to be able to assess student progress. Students are able to keep track of the levels they complete in the program, but cannot share their progress with their teachers. The program was last updated in 2011. While MusicAce is several years old, the basic formatting of the game is still relevant to student learning.

This past week, we had a webinar with MusicFirst CEO Jim Frankel. At the very beginning of the webinar Frankel stated that MusicFirst is “Google Classroom on steroids for music teachers only.” In creating MusicFirst, the creators spent time surveying music teachers for what they wanted in an online classroom program. In doing so, MusicFirst became a program that is online only, utilizes the cloud, and designed for use at all grade levels. MusicFirst is always improving through teacher feedback, does not have a user manual, does not need tech support, and is accessible via computer and tablets. The price ranges for the use of the program. There are many great features available for teachers in MusicFirst. There are over 700 lesson plans available for teachers to access and utilize. Teachers in return are able to upload their lesson plans into the program to share with other teachers. In addition, MusicFirst has a lot of digital music books available for use. Within the program, teachers are able to assign tasks to students. If the assignments are audio recordings, the program can automatically assess the assignment for the student and teacher. This provides immediate feedback for the students and saves time for teachers. In addition, teachers may assign visual assignments, written, assignments, or quizzes for students to complete. Each assignment may be completed and turned in via MusicFirst. Quizzes are also able to be changed to accommodate students with IEPs. MusicFirst has each state’s music standards uploaded making it simple for teachers to link the assignment to the music standards. In addition, the MusicFirst gradebook is able to be exported to several online compatible gradebooks used in schools. There are also several programs available for use within MusicFirst. A few of the programs available include Noteflight, a notation software, Soundtrap or Soundation, an audio software, Auralia Music, for ear training, GroovyMusic, for composition with elementary students, and Practice First, a rehearsal program similar to SmartMusic. 

In my last blog, I talked about theAudacity Program. In one of our discussion posts this week, one task was to listen and respond to our classmates arrangements. In reading their reflections on Audacity, I came to realize there was more to say about the program. Many of my fellow colleagues found that Audacity was a great use to teachers in creating accompaniments for students, but that it was too difficult a program for students to use-even at the high school level. Personally, I think with some careful planning it is possible to utilize Audacity with upper elementary students all the way through high school. While our assignment was designed for us, graduate students, assignments for the students need to be designed at their level. For example, if ABA form is introduced in third grade in elementary school you may do activities with movement. Music form may be revisited then in fifth or sixth grade general music classrooms. At that point, you could use Audacity in a very basic setting. Showing an example on an interactive whiteboard (IWB) of ABA form while students complete the task on their computers or tablets would allow students the ability to learn how to utilize the program. The example would use a song students are familiar with to determine where the parts go. Students could then be assigned a project where they are given an unfamiliar tune and determine where they think the parts should go for a longer music form such as ABAB or ABCA. Students would be given portions of a song in fewer and larger chunks as to keep from overwhelming students. As students move on to the high school level, they could begin experimenting with cutting and pasting in a song, or utilizing a few of the effects chosen by the teacher to utilize. In this way, Audacity would be a tool for students to visualize music form and begin to be able to create their own arrangements over time. 

Bauer, William I. (2014). Music Learning Today: Digital Pedagogy for Creating, Performing, and Responding to Music. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.