Final Project

For this final project, I chose a lesson plan that engages a student in learning how to read and perform music written in a new style of notation: lead sheet. This lesson plan, by the title alone, suggests having support from NJCCCS 1.1.12.B.2, “...performance of complex musical scores from diverse cultural contexts.” With the addition of extra teaching and student strategies and the integration of technology, many additional standards can be met in the lesson.

If you take a look at the technology matrix I have created, it connects standards and teaching strategies with technologies. Here’s a row-by-row breakdown for a detailed explanation.

Row 1 is the educational goal of the lesson. By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to not only read and perform a lead sheet but also understand its significance as a notation style, particularly in the pop and jazz music traditions. Row 2 houses the column titles: Standards (referring to NJCCCS and NETS-S), Strategies (both student and teacher), and Technologies. The final box in this row says “key” and that column lists two short notes about the matrix.

The matrix is organized in chronological order as the lesson progresses, and I will group the following into separate paragraphs.

Row 3 notates “Access,” referring to the following two rows. 4A and 4B note the music standard that is being achieved in this part of the lesson. 5A and 5B note the technology standards that are being achieved. 4C and 4D show the strategies, and 4E shows the technology. The teacher teaches the student about lead sheet, show the student an example written on Finale, and will playback the example to listen. The student will then be able to try playing the piece alone. Using Finale, the student will be able to edit, alter, and create their own lead sheet in the process and access different examples of lead sheet through Finale File Sharing.

Row 6-8 shows the “analyze” stage. The student will be analyze the chords written on the lead sheet (to play the correct notes and to transpose) and the teacher will engage in a discussion as to the analysis. This will be an assessment of theory analysis. Using Smart Music will allow the computer to check student work at home if the assignment is extended to a homework assignment. The student can also use the software to play back his/her analyzed music to check for comprehension.

Rows 9-11 dives into the “evaluate” section. Student will, after playing through lead sheets, research the history behind pop and jazz genres using lead sheet as a notation system.

Rows 12-14 explain the “produce” stage of the lesson. When combining the evaluation of the student’s past performance and the insertion of historical research by using the internet, the student will dive into researching the performance of lead sheet, finding live performances where lead sheet is being used. This portion can become a homework assignment, in which case the last section of the lesson will be pushed to the next lesson. The student will be allowed to use all forms of research media to explore how to correctly perform and read lead sheet. This will be student-driven research.

Rows 15-17 show the “communicate” section which will act as the true assessment of the lesson. Because this is an assessment (whether formal or informal), the student will perform without teacher intervention. The nature of lead sheet notation allows for improvisation and therefore covers the “improvise” standard. In the process, the performance will be recorded and the student will be able to edit mistakes through the edit options of Garage Band, which is a new technology being used. The student is assessed on their ability to play correct chords, sing correct notes and lyrics, and keep a steady tempo.

The technologies I’ve selected cover a broad range of technologies. Finale, a program used to notate and playback music, gives students the ability to read music and compose their own pieces. In addition, Finale offers an online file-sharing service, where anyone can upload their own music or download other’s compositions. The service is also beneficial for copyright purposes; once the piece is uploaded, the date is stamped and any copyright issues can be defended. Smart Music is accessible from any computer and checks student playing and work for accuracy. Many teachers use it to check student practice times and audition students over the summer. YouTube, while unreliable, offers students exposure to music and is a source of performance research. Although Garage Band is overused in lesson plans, it can be a great addition for students to edit out mistakes and make their work sound professional. 

Google Chrome

These are my favorite commercials, ever. Not only do they hi-light technology and its influences on our culture and America, it shows how music can enhance film. Watch any of these videos, then simply hit the "mute" button on your computer. Notice the difference? The plot line immediately suffers crucial developments due to the lack of music. Music expresses the emotion that the creators wish to invoke, and writing music to fit specific times and moods makes it easier to understand the point of the commercial. They're all fantastic commercials both in production and direction, and it show off how technology has clung onto our lives. The only sad moment is the end when you find out a private company funded the commercial, much like the Dr Pepper commercials which reveal personal flaws and experiences but ends with a crowd drinking up a soft drink. I pose the question to non musicians: How effective would film be without music? Would Titanic be the number 1 movie of all time? Would John Williams be a household name? Would Steven Spielberg?

NYU

NYU has been, on and off, my top choice graduate school for many reasons. When stumbling along the site this weekend, I found something I've never seen before; NYU offers degrees at all levels in music technology. NYU is known as being a place for philosophy and practicality and it makes sense that the school would have such a program. I'm interested in seeing their labs; they have phenomenal recording hardware and the location is rivaled only by USC's metropolitan location. I'm interested, however, how many careers can come from a music technology degree. Perhaps a mixer, recording engineer, even acoustician? I worry, though, that these graduates will end up competing with graduates of Berklee College, USC, UCLA, and more open-minded programs such as "music business" and "sound production" which are geared more directly to the field. Either way, here's their website!

The Internet

The internet has not only opened up sources such as YouTube for musicians but has allowed easy access to music history. As a performer, musicians simply convey what a composer says to. In order to correctly perform a piece, therefore, musicians must have a working knowledge of the composer and the context of the piece they are performing. The internet has given musicians instant access to thousands of resources to research such context. Just today while developing a lesson plan for Music Classroom Methods 2, I discovered the tune Yankee Doodle was originally a British fight song mocking the Yankee troops and Americans turned it into a patriotic slap-in-the-face to England. Without internet access, I would never have time to research music context and I not perform as well as I now do. Anyone else have this problem?

EastWest Software

EastWest is an umbrella program that produces high-quality digital recordings. Within EastWest there are various "plug-in" programs that work with each other to translate written notations into audible sounds. The recordings are almost indistinguishable as digital. Programs like the ones on this website are used by composers of all sorts, namely film and multimedia scorers. I'm still in the process of understanding it all and I've given up on the site and began to ask people to explain it. I'm making a trip to the music tech lab this week to learn more about it.

I'm interested in the program for composing. Although I bought my first notation software in 6th grade, I never really understood composing software. With software like this, students (and myself) can produce amazing results with their own compositions and market them along with live recordings.

One of the plug in programs, Symphonic Orchestra, has a number of demos you can explore by clicking on "Demos" on the lower navigation bar. Some of the demos even include choirs in the recordings. I recommend the tracks "Action Adventure," "Protector Of The Skies," "Journey To The Stars," "Chasing Sunrays," (awesome mallet use) "Goodbye," and "Eruption of Mount Jodesius" (***This one uses choir!).

Interactivity 5

Spreadsheet from Activity 4

The teacher I interviewed is a teacher of middle school science in Denville NJ. Middle school is grades 6-8. He was unfamiliar with the NETS. The initial reaction to the NETS was confused and he was unsure why they were necessary. Because of the environment that comes with the teaching science he felt that using technology was inevitable in the classroom. I asked the teacher if he would look at the standards and talk about one in particular and he chose NETS-T 2.B, “Develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals...” The teacher understands the pressure to teach for the student and let students guide their own learning, but fears giving middle school students too much power before they can handle the responsibility of determining their own learning. The teacher has been teaching for nearly 40 years yet makes it a point to use technology in the classroom including a smart board for in-class notes and reviews, computers for researching and conducting experiments, and dozens of science technologies such as Bunsen burners.

The district is apparently unaware of the NETS -T and -S. There is not much in the area of media literacy, as the district doesn't have money to buy the required materials to teach students. However the teacher expressed interested in the NETS-S 5. Like myself, the teacher feels that social media and new technologies require our culture of a responsibility we have not yet learned. Children can get into trouble for posting comments like “I’m going to shoot myself;” when written it is considered a suicidal thread but when said aloud is an expression of disinterest in an ongoing activity. Because text does not convey inflection, every person interprets text with a different idea based on his or her own way of typing. Due to my own curt way of expressing emotion via written text I am often mistaken for being rude or exerting power when I am simply using as few words as possible.

I wasn’t surprised at the teacher’s responses; I have known the teacher and district for some time and expected the answers I received. Because of the organization of school districts in New Jersey, small towns have their own districts with many less students than districts in other states. Therefore the districts have fewer resources in their community and their boundaries are much smaller. This created numerous budget-funding problems long before we entered the recession, which means technologies in many schools in the area are decades outdated. The only digital technologies in my high school music classrooms were a single PC operating on early Windows XP and an old CD boom box. As a future educator, I would collaborate with other music teachers and in cross-curricular projects to integrate technology into student learning. Once the NAEPs become active I feel it will be easier to understand technology in our schools.

How other countries rank

Because of my interest in world music, ethnomusicology, and especially the music of Ireland, I find myself reading Irish news sources more frequently than American news. I like to find things about music to learn the terminology and culture of how music is practiced on the Emerald Isle. I recently stumbled upon (not via StumbleUpon) this article and felt it was worth sharing. I like to call Ireland the "last" western European country; it tends to follow the rest of Europe in trends. The people of Ireland retain their non-western heritage through music and other artistic outlets despite heavy British influence over the centuries. Driving from one coast to the other it is easy to drive for miles upon miles without running into a small town, making the countryside much different from mainland Europe. Ireland, it looks like from this article, is also last in technology. Perhaps this is due to the collapse of the Irish economy or perhaps they never had enough resources to buy required technology but either way, it offers a good comparison; Ireland is in many ways a very small America.

Irish Technology

"Less is more"

"Less is more," a phrase first written in a poem by Robert Browning in 1855, has a different meaning to everyone. To those who read the Browning poem Andrea del Sarto, it can explain artistic minimalism in a true minimalistic fashion. To others, it can refer to the title of artist Natasha Bedingfield's 2011 North American tour, "Less is More Tour." To me, it refers to teaching more by using less.

NJ Standard 1.1.12.B.1 states "Examine how aspects of meter, rhythm, tonality, intervals, chords, and harmonic progressions are organized and manipulated to establish unity and variety in genres of musical compositions." While this standards resides in 1.1 "The Creative Process" it implies using teaching methods that sit more with 1.3 "Performance." The only way to authentically meet this standard is to lead students in genuine performance of world musics. Instead of conducting a band in 3 concerts of western music each year, I suggest teachers explore music written for other ensembles to teach students. True musicians understand music, not solely western music. How else can a student truly understand this long list of musical ideas?

How can you possibly teach so many cultures in one year? You can't. Pick one each year. By the time your students finish in your program they will have a broader view of music and also of the world. Teaching through performance guarantees that student's will not be as affected by stereotypes seen through technology. Let's face it; there is a point where computers just can't do what humans can do.

To stay on my theme of Less Is More, I will end this post in under 300 words to be sincere in my post without diving in much deeper.

Related Article

Copyright vs. technology

The biggest problem with music technology is copyright infringement. It is commonly accepted among musicians that YouTube is both the greatest and most detrimental technology in the musical world. Almost everything posted on the media website is infringing on some part of the US copyright law, but most of these infringements are allowed to remain on the site. Why? Free promotion. Here's another blog post from another source on the issue.

Blog

Interactivity 4

Spreadsheet

I choose this lesson plan because it can draw cross-curricular ties with other subjects and current changing education policy. While the lesson is, as written on the website, not only boring but severely lacking in educational value, with the addition of asking students to write their own music it becomes immediately relevant. Many genres of popular music rely on little to no notation, which is an outcome of this lesson. Students will compose their own pieces without musical notation. In addition, students must understand the function of lyrics in the genre. This could also tie into a social justice unit a music teacher may choose to teach (a common unit focus in the music classroom). The gaps between the three columns of information were bridged with the addition of the final piece of the lesson plan, the composition of music. The use of technology acts as the backbone of the lesson. With that in mind a clear curriculum goal was established while hitting on numerous standards and using both methods of teaching strategies. The technologies used are commonplace in today's classroom and do not require much preparation, another reason I chose this lesson. I am always aware of the problems technology comes with and understand that a back-up plan is always necessary. It is however essential to teaching this curriculum goal; without technology, students of music would continue believing they are the best performers they have ever heard. Without exposure to performers through media technologies, students would not be able to learn anything about performing.

Interactivity #3

Music is a subject that not only embraces technology but almost requires technology. In order to run a band rehearsal an electronic tuner, a CD or other playback device, and other ways of amplification are necessities. In the general music classroom, lessons can be fully reliant on technology. A teacher who doesn't use some kind of technology can't truly be teaching music (instruments are technically a technology). 

While the basic technologies listed in our inventory are beneficial, we collectively ran out of technologies after a while. You can group many of the technologies into categories like "Mac Apps," "Video games," and "Recording software." Many of the technologies we listed were similar or almost exactly the same as other technologies. I don’t believe I will use most of these technologies in my classroom as I feel most of them inhibit learning. Using a computer notation software allows students to rely on prefabricated sounds instead of training their ears to hear the notes. YouTube can be a great tool to expose children but more often than not ends up giving a false understanding, not to mention most performances on YouTube are not good performances. I would obviously use metronomes and tuners, but I’m not sure all of our fancy teaching assistance technologies help us; I fear they allow teachers to know less and allow a textbook or other source to teach a class for them. 

Interactivity 2: The Phonograph

The technology I feel that has had the greatest impact on music education is the phonograph. Invented in 1877 by New Jersey’s own Thomas Edison (whom I share a birthday with), the phonograph allowed not only for sound to be recorded, but also allowed playback of recorded sound. Before the introduction of the phonograph, students of music spent hours during their studies traveling to cities and concert halls to hear music being performed live just to take notes and learn a thing or two about music. J. S. Bach once traveled 280 miles through Germany to hear Dietrich Buxtehude play a recital and ended up staying several months to train with the organist. The phonograph and recorded music paved the way for contemporary music education and public school music education.

The invention of the phonograph allowed music to come to the classroom. A new group of recording musicians, who we now call ethnomusicologists, emerged and began traveling the world to record the music they heard in different cultures. One such recorder, Frances Densmore, took a liking to Native Americans. Her work recording the sounds of Native Americans brought a new light to a population largely misunderstood. She recorded songs used for rituals and praise, but more interestingly recorded sounds that the Native Americans used in every day speech. This was not only important for those studying music but also ethnologists, anthropologists and psychologists in understanding the culture of Native American tribes.

Such recordings were not accepted by all, however. There were many, as Vanessa Domine calls them, “protectionists” who felt recording music took away from live musicing process one can only truly engage with in real time. While this is true, recording has an educational benefit that is left out of this argument. Before recordings were available, students relied on their own interpretation for much of what they learned. Music education was something that happened outside the classroom and was seldom taken seriously. It wasn’t until mid-20^th century that music education began emerging in the schools, and even then it differs greatly from what we call music education today. Recording has almost become synonymous with music today and the way people access music has almost reversed. When recordings were first made available, they only appealed to devout musicians and music lovers. Today, it is much simpler to download the newest song instantly through the air to a computer or other electronic device, and it is much more difficult (and much more expensive) to see that music performed live by the artist(s).

While I believe the phonograph was a useful tool and recordings enhance learning to this day, it can be argued that it also destroyed music education. Bringing recordings to the students can be listed as a reason for the “entitlement” students feel they have due to the privileges and luxuries in the classroom. Likewise, students no longer have to put any effort into hearing the best musicians perform the best repertoire. While this opens up more time for practice and study, it lessens the value of the music; you’re more likely to appreciate music you walk 280 miles to hear than music you can download with the click of a button.

As I have argued, the phonograph and general recording has had an enormous impact on music education. Since it’s invention, music has become a highly recorded art, for the sake of distribution and profit. Before recording, one could take pride in truly experiencing the musicing process and, while music has never been free of political or economic influence, feel that music is truly free and written for all people. However, recording music has contributed to an interdisciplinary focus on bringing the world to the classroom for students to truly engage and understand people from around the world. Recorded music is the difference between private and public music education; while private music education revolves around the student’s performance, public music education relies on existing performance and understanding music as an academic subject. 

Picture is in my last post

Interactivity #2: Picture

"A studio recording is perfection, but emotion and passion come only when you turn on the machine and go for the groove." -Chuck Mangione

Digital Language: helpful, or hinderance?

With the creation of the digital world, we have also seen the creation of a digital language. When English was originally written, it was spoken almost the same as it was written. The tradition continued but eventually dialects emerged while the written text remained the same. Even today, we hold a traditional way of communicating through more formal digital means, but we now have three ways of conversing: talking, formal digital (used for academia) and informal digital (used in text messaging and the like). On top of that, many people speak different dialects to many people.

If a stranger was to walk into Chapin Hall on any given day, they may be surprised by the seemingly illiterate students shouting fragments at the top of their lungs. A literacy has risen out of my own friend circle, that of the awful grammer and ear-piercing yelps. Each of us has our own twang on the slang, mine including phrases like "vasdas?" meaning "what is this?" and "you do tings?" meaning anything from "did you eat yet?" to "did you do the homework?" or even "have you studied this music?" Most of my friends, in addition, have their own buzzwords. Samples of these words include "HEP!" "Lady?" yayyy!" and "brrbrbrbrbrbrbrbbr"

What does all this mean? We have many ways of communicating with people, and digital communication is probably the farthest from "correct" English. While I type this blog (with some mistakes I'm sure) I am using a type of English that any literate adult in the country, perhaps even the world, would understand. However, if I was writing this homework in a text message, i wouldnt care enough to type correct grammer everywhere haha lol :D. One reason for this other digital language can be blamed on the physical nature of cell phones: typing fully with the thumbs is a complete role-reversal from typing on a computer keyboard, and is frankly awkward and painful after any set amount of time. I often find myself typing just with my right index setting my phone on a flat surface to relieve the pain.

It is important to consider this type of communication when referencing technology in the classroom. Many professors advocate for the use of digital media, using technology for answering homework questions, using remote controls and personal computers in the classroom. I would have to understand my students well before I implement such technology and be prepared for the answers I receive. While someone may not speak derogatory or intolerant words, they may feel comfortable when they can use an outlet (technology) for these feelings. I fear that the informal digital dialect could be something to consider deeply before using technology.

Music Technology

My high school (something I don't particularly care to talk about) was technologically lacking, especially our music classrooms. If you can call them classrooms. The only technology in our music wing was a Dell desktop shared by the three music teachers in their shared office and a CD player. The administration was more concerned about the falling ceiling tiles and vegetation growing through the walls than buying adequate materials to teach. Now, I think about how much more learning could have been done if we had technology in the classroom. If our ensembles could have recorded rehearsals, listened to ourselves playing, maybe we would have realized how awful we were. If we had technology to assist learning, we could have spent more time looking at music and less time buried in our scores. We could have learned so much about music.
But, we didn't. How could I use technology in my classroom? That depends on the hundreds of different kinds of music classes I could be asked to teach. In a rehearsing ensemble, I could use smart boards and projections of music to talk about phrases, historical context within the music, and I could assign in-class projects to the group. In a general music setting, I could easily navigate between listening to music, individual improvisation and composition, and even conducting new music. In music lessons or sectionals, I could teach my students about their instruments, famous players, and how to produce "good" sound on their instruments. I just hope I have access to such technology, because it now seems almost impossible to teach without technology.

Interactivity Number 1: Tech as Autobio

1. My MacBook Pro
2. iPad
3. BlackBerry

Olivia. Olivia is a child of the times; she enjoys expressing herself through the technology we use today. She text messages, subscribes to Myspace, and doesn't go anywhere without her trusty iPod. Most students in urban NJ districts, especially target districts, live without these luxuries. They follow music on the radio and through what they hear at home, they live without internet access, and they cannot afford cell phones. However, many upper-class suburban districts just about require every student to own their own cell phone and include internet-based research homework.
On a scale of 1 to 10... ham. Students are now using technology for convenience; instead of finding a book from the library down the road, they search the interwebs on their iKindle-reader and download an appropriate match. If they don't like the book, they can instantly choose another. If you've seen the movie Wall*E, you can see that the writers did not have to imaginate a world much different from the one we are living in now. Students can earn multiple degrees from the comfy couch.
Technology is not all bad though. Technology enhances communication, brings information to teachers and students instantly, and creates a global community that stretches from the Australian Outback to the tundra of Northern Canada.

Technology, in my opinion, has one real use; to advance learning. Technology has allowed students to study with teachers in different countries, explore foreign cities through browsing pictures, learn different languages, write their own music, read, write, and even be tutored online. Neglecting technology in your classroom is almost unheard of in 2012.


1. My MacBook Pro
Learning new information can be explained with one website: Google. Through Google, you can access literally any bit of information you could ever desire. Google acts as a gateway to YouTube, Wikipedia, and other sources of learning.

2. iPad
Learning new information is like the laptop. In addition, however, I can download apps that advance my learning and ability to do what I am required to.

3. BlackBerry
The only knowledge I acquire from this device is drama-infested dribble.

I use my phone much like the students in the videos do, however I used my computer solely for work for school and my job (with an occasional peek at Facebook... every 5 seconds). While I use my iPad for taking notes in class, I also use it for the apps I can download on it.