Music Tech Week 4

Week four’s focus was performing music with the use of technology.  While I am familiar with groups like the Stanford Laptop Orchestra and the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra, I always thought that expensive or complicated equipment or software was needed for these ensembles to exist.  After watching the video of the iPad Ensemble from Baker Middle School, I am thinking much more about trying to incorporate this type of performing using technology in my program.  While I would not be able to establish something like this as a class in the near future, I would like to try and integrate a unit about digital ensembles like this into my general music class, if there is enough interest from students, a digital ensemble club might be an option where students could create more sophisticated projects and perhaps even perform at our school concerts or assemblies. 

Bauer (2014) mentions that there are advantages to ensembles made up of digital instruments or iPads/computers.  One advantage “to an ensemble like this is that its members need little technical skill to get started, unlike a traditional orchestra that requires players who have had years of study and need hours of individual practice” (Bauer, 2014 p. 92).  Even students who enjoy playing traditional band or orchestra instruments might not want to spend the time needed to practice individually to improve and even if they like music, they might quit because they are involved in after school activities that are also demanding of their time like sports or work.  An ensemble that does not require students to practice as much out of school as band or orchestra might keep these students involved in the school music program.  Also, for the 80% of students who generally do not take part in their school’s music program, “the ability to experience music making with others without the barrier of refined instrumental technique opens up ensembles like these to many students who aren’t traditionally part of school music programs” (Bauer, 2014 p. 92).

For traditional music programs, software like PracticeFirst, Sightreading Factory, and SmartMusic offer great services for practice and assessment of student skills and knowledge.  It would be great for a teacher to be able to give a practice assignment to students and then allow them to practice and turn in an audio recording of their best performance of the assignment for the teacher to genuinely assess the student’s progress and practice.  Playing tests in class can give an indication of how much a student has practiced, or how well they have practiced, but there are other factors that can make playing tests unreliable assessments of the student’s practice or knowledge.  For example, if a student has practiced a piece for hours but gets nervous playing the piece in class for a grade, being able to record the piece without others around to turn in to be graded could better demonstrate the student’s knowledge and practice time.  One issue with sites like PracticeFirst and SmartMusic is that they can be costly and with many music programs having limited budgets, purchasing this software for students could be a daunting task. 

Websites like aQWERTYcon, Virtual Boomwhackers, and Groove Pizza allow students to instantly create music and get immediate feedback, without needing to have any prior musical knowledge.  While I never thought of these types of websites as “performing” music sites, I can now see how sites like these allow students to perform using technologies in ways I did not consider before.  These would be great websites to introduce students to music performance and would not require a large financial investment and would not require extensive training to teach or learn how to use. 

Reference

Bauer, W. I. (2014).  Music learning today: digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.