Blog Post #5

Blog Post #5

Topic: Summarize and reflect on what you've learned this week.

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            Technology as a music instructional aid is something I have always considered important.  As this course unfolds, however, I am beginning to understand it is no longer an aid, it is the new medium that textbooks, yearly trips to the Fabulous Fox and tape recorders used to be. The ability to listen to and assess and evaluate performance is an essential skill for students so they can become more productive and successful musicians. Technology has increased the opportunity to expose students to their own recordings and the recordings of others a thousand fold. Today, technology is the doorway to all the musical teaching tools music educators have organized access to for students, and the doors are many. Technology can certainly help accelerate the learning process of concepts such as performance evaluation. There are several ways this evaluation can take place, but I have two favorites that I will discuss in this post.

            Recording performance for future playback and evaluation is essential, in my opinion. With the abundance of smart devices, the ability to record at a moment's notice is now extremely simple. Other higher definition recorders such as those made by Zoom, pictured above, are also available alternatives and have there advantages. In order to have criteria to evaluate, Bauer (2014) suggests creating a rubric with criteria as suggested by students and including aspects of musicianship the educator would like to bring attention to. This could be a rubric created through class discussion about elements of musicality the director and ensemble consider to be most important for continued growth. The students can use these self-created rubrics to assess the recordings. These types of assignments could be used to assess self-performance along with group performance.

            My second favorite is an online service that “makes video come alive” called Zaption. Zaption gives you the ability to take videos, such as YouTube or Vimeo, and turn them into interactive lessons. You can create quizzes, overlay text, and ask for answers directly in the video. This service would be particularly useful for listening exercises at home or during class on new music. I created an exercise with Zaption for use with my middle school band on a new piece of music. I always guide students through a mapping or “roadmap” exercise when we start to rehearse new music. Using Zaption I can do this is a different yet engaging and fun way for the students. They can complete it at home or as a group in a computer lab or together with the rest of the ensemble as a large group in band class. I have watched several directors incorporate the use of Zaption with great success and look forward to using it more in all my classrooms. Sign-up is free and the interface is super user friendly.

Reference

Bauer, William. (2014). Music learning today – Digital pedagogy for creating performing, and responding to music. New York, NY. Oxford University Press.