Blog Post #4

Blog Post #4
Topic: Summarize and reflect on what you've learned this week.
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            The material in this week’s module highlighted several ways technology can impact music performance.  I am consistently seeing that the way students interact with technology can impact their personal and educational lives in extraordinary ways. Technology not only can allow us to draw the student into a lesson in order to better their musicianship but it can also help create a learning environment that encourages problem solving and boundless creativity. On another note, music educators have struggled in their efforts to encourage students to maintain an individual practice schedule outside of school. With so many students having access to personal devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers, both the student and the educator can access a tremendous amount of technological tools that can support student practice and performance. The best part is these tools can be used free of charge to students and teachers alike.
            Metronomes, tuners, practice tracks, modeling examples of both how to sound and how not to sound can be readily found online. Students can use any or all of these applications to progress their practice time and develop better technique. When these applications are used alongside practice technology such as SmartMusic and/or the DVD’s and CD’s offered with many method books, students have a complete “toolbox” of practice material at their disposal. This type of practice could be done either at school or at the home depending where the technology is available. I do not currently use SmartMusic in my classes, however, many of my colleagues and peers are very pleased with how it allows students to practice etudes, full pieces, or exercises. It also records their performance and even allows teachers to assess the recordings at a later date in lieu of classroom playing tests. It is now cloud based and can be used on any device with a modern browser. For more information please visit https://www.smartmusic.com/.
            Another program that students can use to record, analyze, and critique their performances is Audacity. This week, we used Audacity to edit audio files. Not only could students create their own mixes and “mash ups” where several songs are spliced together, but they could also use Audacity for recording their practice and self reflection. This software could be used to teach students about producing, mixing and several other music careers. With the increased availability, affordability/free usage and popularity of this type of software, there has been an increased interest in and resurgence of EDM and DJ mixing. The computing requirements for Audacity are very basic as well as free and allow it to be used on much of the technology schools already have on hand.
            Using technology, students can interact with their own practice performance in a myriad of different ways. The apps listed at the beginning of this post are free, yet essential for students practice toolbox. SmartMusic and Audacity can elevate practice to new levels by allowing students to record and critique their own performance, as well as their teacher. All of these utilities can aid students in reaching a new level of personal performance through practice. Anything we as music educators can do to encourage our students to practice on a regular basis will be positive for our programs. The use of technology could be just the ticket we need to engage them on a new level. Through the use of technology students maybe able to reach an understanding of their practice that has greater depth and potentially fosters significant advancement that classroom study alone cannot offer. Music educators have struggled forever with keeping students motivated and interested in the tedium of private practice. Technology and all of its offerings seems to have a variety of intriguing and interesting ways both the student and the professional can increase their practice motivation. SmartMusic and Audacity are both free, accessible applications that could be utilized to advance instruction by both increasing interest and providing immediate feedback while allowing the student to be more independent seekers of their own musicianship.


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