Ipad in the classroom

I've been doing a lot of thinking recently; the music classroom has changed so much since I've gone through it. The technology available to us as students and educators has progressed so vastly in the past few years that its definitely hard for us to imagine how to properly integrate it. I stumbled upon a blog by Dr. Christopher Russel called Technology in Music Education and his experiences utilizing iPhones, iPods, iPads, and other technologies into the music classroom. I've found many of his posts interesting, informative, and though-provoking about how I could use any, all, or none of these in my classroom.

Recently, I've found myself seeing YouTube as a very hit-or-miss addition to a lesson. If the lesson has a video thrown in to "fulfill a technology requirement", they're often lacking in content and doing just that - fulfilling a requirement. I came across this post from Dr. Russel and was completely blown away. Here's why:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tt6oc1frNsQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

My primary instrument is French horn. This video, while only 1 minute long, is inspiring and I'm going to go practice. Now.

Max MSP

I've started to develop some curiosity about integrating Max MSP and many of its wonderful manifestations into the classroom and into homework assignments (assuming the school system has blackboard or some sort of digital classroom interface).
Since most of us have taking Music Technology at this point in our degree programs, I'm wondering how we all feel about the program. VJ Manzo had a lot of great programs for teaching music theory, which otherwise could be more than a little bit boring and tedious for students to learn.

Interactivity #5

For this interactivity, I interviewed a band director for the Northern Valley Regional High Schools (I am not stating which school this teacher is in as it will reveal his identity). He directs three ensembles, the Symphonic Band (the freshman band), the Wind Symphony (the sophomore - senior band), and the String Orchestra (all grades).

I contacted him on April 1st asking if he would be willing to participate in this survey and he was happy to assist in my development as a future educator. I sent then him the PDF files in the next email I sent along with the following questions, which I modeled after the suggested survey on the directions:

1. Have you heard of NETS?
2. Has the department or district begun to implement any of these standards? (Since this is only one of the high schools in the district, anything that is implemented in one school must also be implemented in the other).
3. Do you follow any of these standards on your own accord?

His response was not surprising. He had not heard of NETS before I had sent him the document, to which he replied:

I have never heard of these standards before, and quite honestly I do not see how this could be utilized in the music classroom over a long period of time. There are instances where using the technology in the classroom is necessary for the lesson, such as using the projector for a brief lesson on a composer or the recording equipment to playback a previous rehearsal. However engaging anywhere from 45 - 90 students in using any kind of technology in the rehearsal is more or less impossible to control.

He continued to say that he was working on a separate project that would integrate technology into the curriculum, but it would be based around practicing (homework for musicians). There is a program called SmartMusic that he is trying to have the district purchase for each student which has students play along with their computer and it grades them on accuracy of pitch, rhythm, and intonation. This program would replace his former method of grading homework, which was having students come in twice a week during their free periods and practice in the band room while he was there.

I intend on teaching in a high school setting when I begin my career and I can say that the only technology that could effectively be placed in the band and orchestra setting would be the previously noted SmartMusic.   This is efficient to the rehearsal, as it forces students to practice at home in their own time and allows the ensemble to work on focusing on the NJCCS for performing and the creative process.

Google Spreadsheet

Other ways for Sibelius & Finale

I've been thinking recently a lot about other ways to incorporate composition programs into the band or choral classroom without necessarily having students compose. I remembered that there is a feature within Sibelius and Finale that allow a score to be scanned in; this gives us the ability to isolate individual sections in the score.

This capability allows the creation of .mp3 files of one section (i.e. flutes, violins, trombones, etc) for solo practicing as well as creating a file with the entire ensemble minus a selected section. This is excellent to help the student learn how to listen to the rest of the ensemble outside of the classroom.

I know that many choirs have and use practice recordings for at home practice and being an instrumentalist, I believe that this could be very effective for younger ensembles but I'd love some input on this.