Technology Integration Plan

My lesson plan is about critical listening in music and how even something as universal as music cannot be taken for granted. The lesson plan is intended to be used for high school students, and is based around Ann Sharp’s philosophy of a “community of inquiry,” where participants dialogue with each other, raise questions, and form conclusions. The goal of this lesson is for students to learn to think critically about the role of music in different communities, and how their ideas about music should be flexible and open to revision. One of the ways in which students will do this is by researching how music is used in contexts outside of their own culture. Some of the key questions for students to think about are the role of music in culture and community, the importance of music, what makes music “high” quality or “low” quality, whether or not the way music has evolved today is productive for our society, and how music can be used to communicate.

The first row of my matrix is about how students will access the information necessary for them to begin the process of dialogue and research. In order to facilitate discussion about music, the teacher will begin by presenting a lecture about different kinds of music. The lecture will include video and audio presentations of different genres of music and the different roles it plays in various communities. This will be followed by a class discussion of the music, centered around questions such as: Why were some genres familiar and others were not? What qualities of the music enable you to recognize it as music? What were the different functions of music? After the lecture, discussion, and listenings, students will break up into small groups, where they will use computers to research different genres of music. They will be required to come up with a list of at least 3 qualities of music that are common across different genres, and 3 qualities that differ.

In the second row of my matrix, students will begin to analyze and evaluate some of their findings in their research and dialogues. In order to answer some of the questions raised in class discussion, such as the qualities of music and the function of music in different societies, students will do their own personal research to do individual written assignments about these topics. Because their assignments will need to include specific examples of music, cultures, and artists, they will need to use the computer and the Internet to research and put together their data.

The third row of my matrix focuses on the communication of ideas about music and the different findings of students in their individual research. This will include a class discussion of what different students found in their research, as well group presentations. The group presentations will need to be done using software such as Powerpoint or Keynote, so that students can present their findings in a visually clear and impactful way. The presentations will include the students’ reactions to different musical styles, and their individual and collective responses to specific pieces or cultural uses of music. 

The fourth and final row of my matrix focuses on the students’ final production of what they have learned through class discussions, their own research, and their group work. Students will be divided into small groups to do their final presentations. Each group will be assigned a different genre of music from a different culture. Groups must do a presentation about that music, as well as a short musical performance. Groups will have the choice of performing a song from that genre, or composing a song of their own that they believe to be representative of that genre. If they choose the later, they must specify the different musical elements that they used to achieve this. In their presentations, students will choose at least 3 different works of music to present. The music must all be from the same genre or culture, but can be contrasting to each other. Students must explain why they chose those particular songs, and describe the elements of each song. They must give examples of how those songs or that genre of music functions within a particular culture or society, and whether or not they believe that function to be a productive or necessary function. In their presentations, students will be encouraged to use all the technological resources available to them. Students can perform their music using instruments in the classroom such as an electronic keyboard, and in their presentations, they can include audio clips, pictures, music videos, and more.

Link to matrix

Record Players and Music Technology

Today, the most popular and easy to access form of music is digital music. With mp3s and CDs, it is now easier than ever to bring your music collection with you wherever you go and play it from your phone or iPod. Music can be shared instantly, and you have the luxury of purchasing that one favorite song from an album without having to buy the entire album.

            However, one of the first advances in music technology, the record player, is currently experiencing a renewal in popularity. It was initially replaced by CDs and then mp3s, but now more and more artists are also making their music available on vinyl as well as CD and mp3. Popular stores like Urban Outfitters are now selling both vinyl records and record players. So what is it about records that make this “old” technology still relevant?

            My dad recently took it upon himself to restore his record player, which had been his back when records were the main music technology.  He explained to me a lot about how it worked, and it sparked my own interest in this technology. Since then, I’ve been building up my own collection of vinyl records and have really come to appreciate this technology. I acquired a lot of records from an old teacher of mine who was moving, and also found many in thrift stores and used bookstores. I also purchased some albums from more contemporary artists who made their music available on vinyl.

            There are two main reasons that I enjoy the record player for listening to music. One, the sound quality is better – even though older records may be scratched or there is more static and background noise, the sound you get from them is so much more authentic and, in my opinion, better, than music that has been digitized. Even though digitized music may be clearer, I feel like it loses some of the quality and realistic sound that is preserved in vinyl recordings. The other reason I like listening to records is that is forces you to listen to an album in its entirety. I think some of the effect of music is lost when you skip around songs and listen to a few but never hear the album as a whole, as it was intended to be.

          I think that talking about records and possibly using a record player in the classroom would be a really innovative way to talk about the history of music and technology, as well as spark discussions among students about the way we listen to music. It could also be a way to connect with older students by using something that is currently experiencing some popularity and that they may also be interested in.

Music and the iPad

One popular technology that is becoming more frequently used in classrooms is the iPad. At first, I thought giving students iPads was a little extreme and an expensive use of resources. However, as a recent iPad owner myself, I have come to see that this technology does have many valuable and educational uses, especially in my content area of music.

I personally use my iPad often at school in my musical studies, and I have come to see many opportunities for using it in the music classroom. One of the ways in which I use my iPad is during masterclasses. As I listen to each performance, I am able to quickly and easily look up the score on imslp.com for the piece that is being performed. I’ve found that having easy access to the score helps me to get so much more out of the masterclass, because I am able to follow along with the music and see exactly what the teacher is talking about.

I also use my iPad for my personal study of my repertoire. Using imslp.com, I can quickly look up different editions of a piece and compare them. Even though I don’t use the iPad in place of paper sheet music, it is a good way to carry around a library of music easily for travel. If I need to study my music and am not able to bring all my books, the iPad lets me carry around all my scores in one place.

I also use my iPad for some of my classes that require me to print sheet music every week. Instead of wasting paper and ink to print examples that I will only use once for the class, I pull up the PDF on my iPad and use that instead. With iBooks, I can easily store all the PDFs in a collection for a particular class.

With apps such as YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes, I can also look up and listen to many different recordings on my iPad and also pull up the music and follow along simultaneously as I study the score. I can also share music and recordings with others quickly and easily. Other apps such as metronome apps, tuning apps, and keyboard apps are also useful for practicing. Basically, you can carry around all the resources you need to study a piece of music in this one technology.

For schools that are fortunate enough to have the resources to use iPads in their classrooms, I think it is a great investment. Particularly for the music classroom, it provides many different features all in one technology. It saves on paper and ink, and can be useful for students to look at many different pieces of music and access recordings quickly, and store everything in one place.

Roland Fantom-X8 Keyboard

The Roland Fantom-X8 keyboard is more than just a keyboard. In fact, it is listed as not just a keyboard but a Workstation Keyboard, because of its vast capabilities that go beyond a regular electronic keyboard. I am fortunate enough to own one of these, and the technology available through it is amazing. Check it out here!

Just a few of the features listed on the website: 

• 128-voice workstations with an 88-note Progressive Hammer-Action Keyboard
• Seamless integration of audio and MIDI using gorgeous new ROM waves and sampling with realtime timestretch capability
• 8 stereo audio tracks integrated with internal MIDI sequencer
• Color LCD screen - a first in a workstation keyboard! 
• 3 MFX processors, plus dedicated reverb, chorus and mastering processor
• USB port 
• PC card slot for backing up samples and data with up to 1GB capacity
• 4 Line outputs (2 stereo or 4 mono), stereo Line input and 24-bit S/PDIF I/O

The Fantom-X8 offers many features of an electronic keyboard, such as weighted keys, input/output lines, a metronome, and recording capabilities. However, it goes far beyond this. The soundbank is the most extensive I have ever seen on a keyboard, and you can re-create the sounds of any instrument or sound effect imaginable. 

One of the most useful features of this workstation is its recording capabilities. You can record a song and play it back through the keyboard, but then you can edit it, layer it with other tracks, and save it, much like you would do through a computer program. 

The Fantom-X8 also features a color LCD screen, which makes navigating all of its many features a little easier. My personal favorite feature is the option to switch the keyboard to functioning as if it were a grand piano:

This feature allows you to choose from dozens of different piano sounds, but it also has the ability to lower or raise the lid of the piano on the screen, imitating the effect of closing or opening the lid on an actual piano. As a pianist, this option provides me with a great alternative to practicing when I don't have access to a piano. Although playing on a keyboard is never quite the same as playing on a real piano, this comes the closest! 

Even though I have had this keyboard for a few years now, I still feel as though I have barely scratched the surface of its capabilities. Every time I use it, I discover some new feature. If you look at the first picture, you can see that on the right there is also a drum pad (the orange square buttons). This is touch sensitive and can be programmed to record drum tracks, and is the next feature that I want to explore and become more familiar with on this workstation. 

This workstation keyboard is one of the most innovative and powerful keyboards available, and is a wonderful technology not just for pianists but for any musician interested in exploring music through audio and recording technologies. Although it is not quite the same as working on a computer, it provides many of the same capabilities along with something I thinks is very important - the ability to play along on the keyboard while working, allowing you to interact with the music on the instrument at the same as recording and editing. 

Music Notation Software

One of the most useful music technologies is music notation software. For centuries, composers had to write down all of their compositions by hand or with the use of a scribe. Music notation makes notating compositions much easier by allowing you to notate everything on a computer rather than by hand. You can also use an electronic keyboard and hook it up to your computer, and have the software notate what you are playing on the keyboard.

Two of the main leading notation softwares are Finale and Sibelius. Users are usually split between those who are devoted Finale users and those who are devoted Sibelius users. While both programs offer similar features, the layout is different and users may simply prefer one over the other. For me, it is simply a matter of which I used first and became used to, which was Finale. I think for many people it is simply a matter of which program they are more familiar with. I would encourage students and musicians to try out both for a little while before deciding which one they prefer.

Both Finale and Sibelius offer a free 30-day trial of the program, which can be quite useful in determining which software you prefer to use. The software can be downloaded from their websites:

Sibelius: http://www.sibelius.com/home/index_flash.html

Finale: http://www.finalemusic.com/

Because I am a Finale user, I will speak to some of that program’s features. However, many people I have talked to have said that Sibelius is easier to use and more intuitive. I have found that Finale can be sometimes time consuming when you need to select each tool before using it. However, this also gives you more freedom to place markings more specifically. So there are positive and negative aspects to both programs, and I know some people who actually use both. The main feature of the program is being able to enter in musical notation and markings for a score. The program has the option of adding in many details, such as dynamic markings, articulation markings, etc. You can also play back what you have entered in so you can hear how it sounds. I would encourage students to download the free trials of either program and play around with them. Sometimes it is easier to hear your composition if you can have the notes played back to you after you enter them in, and it is easy to change or delete notes. Finale and Sibelius are great tools for both amateur and professional musicians, and musical notation programs of some sort should definitely be something that students are introduced to.

Using Google for Music Students

One of the technologies that I discussed in my technology autobiography was Google. I still believe this is one of the most powerful tools of technology available to us, especially as educators, because it can lead to so many other useful resources and discoveries. Something that I have been discovering more as I teach in my private lessons is that because students have access to such personalized technologies like smartphones, iTouches, and laptops, they tend to want to explore things on their own and through technology. I try to incorporate this into my lessons by encouraging students to look up music on Google for themselves. Aside from watching Youtube clips of songs they are working on, which I also encourage, I want students to learn how to use Google for their own personal discovery and enjoyment of music.

I teach both piano and guitar, and for my guitar students, one of the biggest challenges I have faced is their lack of motivation. Of course, I experience this with my piano students as well, but it seems to be more from the guitar students, which caused me to try to figure out why this was the case. After talking with several of my students, I came to realize what one the problems was. Many of my students were being forced by the parents to learn an instrument, and so they chose guitar, wanting to learn all the pop and rock songs and play only chords. Many of them are not interested in learning music notation, theory, or more classically-oriented music that requires the technical skills of fingerwork and picking. But of course, for many of their parents, this is what they want their child to be learning – and then they can learn the chords. The even bigger challenge is that many of the guitar methods books have the same approach, introducing music reading, theory, and melodic material long before they touch on chords.

What I’ve found to be a good method in response to this issue is to teach chords to students along with the other material from the beginning. This keeps their interest and allows them to make connections between the chords in the pop songs they want to learn and music theory. When they learn chords, I also have them choose their own songs to learn along with their lesson material. I show them how if go to Google and type “-insert song title- guitar chords” they can find easy chords and tabs for almost any song, print it out, and try it on their own. It’s been very rewarding as a teacher to see how excited some students about this discovery. I had one student come to his next lesson with four or five songs printed out that he had found and started learning. I also encourage my piano students to look for familiar songs they are interested in learning, and I’ve found that taking advantage of technology to point students in the direction of learning and discovering on their own gives them some independence to make their own choices and have a say in their learning.

Two of the sites I often use for students:

http://www.makingmusicfun.net/

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/