Technology Integration

Though I view technology as an important aspect of the modern classroom, the question that always comes to mind is “How can I use technology in a meaningful way?” In a previous post I gave some examples that can be used as jumping board for ideas of integrating technology. Now, I would like to dedicate some time looking at a lesson plan and then exploring ways in which technology might be utilized to create a meaningful educational experience. I will use the same lesson plan I used in my lesson analysis in order to branch out this idea out as far as possible.

To integrate technology in a meaningful way, the lesson might have to be expanded. After this lesson was completed the students could create a video where they acted out the story they created. Students could even edit their videos using simple video recording/editing programs on the internet. This project, once fully fleshed out, would continue the concepts being learned and use technology in a way that is relevant to the students.

A small reflection assignment can be given that helped the students think about how music is conveyed to express certain emotions. After thinking of their story they will watch the clip in the movie where this music is from. The students will reflect upon how the music attempts to embed the feelings expressed on screen. Then the students will compare and contrast their story with the movies. Questions like “Did your story/feelings compare with those on screen?” or “In your opinion, was the composer successful in attempting to create a certain mood?” will be asked. These two assignments are small continuations on a lesson plan for the integration of technology. With more reflection the lesson can be made into a unit that fully incorporates technology.

Technology & Pedagogy

My goal for this post is to fully examine a lesson plan in order to see clearly the goals, teaching strategies, and technologies used. After some research I found that most of the online resources for music lesson plan were uninspiring. For this reason I chose to analyze my own lesson plan. This way, I can begin to grasp a knowledge of the requirements necessary to make a good lesson plan, but also see where some of my thinking falls short.

The lesson plan itself is a sort of open canvas for work. Originally, I only chose the standard 1.4.P.A.3 which is to “Describe feelings and reactions and respond in an increasingly informed manner to stories and dramatic performance”. But, as I continued to look through the NJCCCS I found a couple different standards that either could be applied to this lesson or could easily be tailored to incorporate. In my analysis I included two standards that could be incorporated.

One aspect of the lesson that was lacking was the use of technology. Though there are some technologies used (markers, whiteboards, sound system, etc.) I would hesitate before saying that this lesson plan integrates technology to its fullest extent. Some changes would have to be made to the overall structure of the lesson to accurately incorporate these ideas. For example, this lesson could be changed into a project where students have listening assignments. They would go on the internet to research aspects of the piece (composer, styles, and compositional reasons). If these changes were to be made the goals and standards would either change or more would be added since different concepts are being added. As it stands right now, the lesson uses technology in a way that facilitates learning. We want to keep this aspect, but the only way I see is to add more concepts to the lesson itself.

My analysis can be found here.

Notation in the Classroom

My last post I discussed the different technologies available to the average guitar music teacher. Upon reflection this way of posting might not be ideal for in depth analysis of music technology in the classroom. It seems as though it is a surface level way of talking about technology in the classroom. So, this post I want to go more in depth about technology and how it has been integrated, successfully or not. We are going to take our lens and dial it back a couple of clicks. I want to talk about sheet music and its’ influence in the classroom.

Music by definition is the sounds that are created for the purpose of experiencing. Before there was written notation, music was learned by listening and then imitation. This process of listening and imitating has to be one of the earliest forms of human learning and is known as aural tradition which is still very prevalent to this day. If we think of infants, their earliest behaviors is to imitate what is around them. Even though aural tradition seems to be the most fundamental human learning experience, if you have ever played the game telephone then you will know the pitfalls that accompany learning through memory alone.


The technology of paper has changed how we learn music from aural tradition to the more sustainable, written language. Of course paper (and thus sheet music and written notation) is very old, but the difference it has made is crucial to development of the standardization of music repertoire. If we did a quick google search of music classrooms we can see that notation is everywhere. The New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards have a number of different requirements for the learning of written music. Today, it is one of the main forms of music literacy and is reinforced to the college level of music education. Overall, music notation has helped a great deal with the standardization of repertoire. But, there are cons to this technology that I will discuss in my next post.

Guitar Technology: Part 1

Last week I gave a general overview of what sort of technologies one could use in the music classroom. If we narrowed the spectrum down into instrument specific technologies we could talk even more about all of the different kinds we have. Because I am a guitar major I will briefly touch upon the technologies available and which ones would be applicable to the classroom. This is not including the standard technologies that a teacher would definitely want to have e.g. whiteboard (with markers), a computer, paper, pencil/pen, an overhead device, etc. This post will serve as the beginning of a bibliographic series that go into detail about the different technologies and how best to use them in the classroom.

Tuning

The first issue to think about when it comes to the guitar are the different tuning instruments. Do you want a hand crank for new strings? What tuner should I buy? Should I have them rely on their ears? Do I actually have time to tune? These are questions that a teacher must ask before making the purchase because it will probably come out of your own pocket. In my opinion, tuning is important. With that said, tuning by ear must be encourage but should not be the sole form of accomplishing the end goal which is to be tuned. Tuning by ear can take some time even with a trained ear let alone the student’s ears.

 Personally, I own the Korg CA-1 which is an “orchestral tuner” meaning that you play a pitch and it tells you how sharp or flat you are to the designated pitch. It runs on battery and is reliable. It also plays any note you want which is great for large classrooms, especially orchestra and band. After internalizing the pitch, the students can tune individually before instruction begins.

There are a number of different head-stock tuners specifically made for the guitar. These work really well since it operates from the vibrations through the guitar not the frequencies which can be easily distorted.

The way my High School instructor tuned was by passing around a headstock tuner during instruction. When the tuner reached you, you would tune as silently as you could and then pass it along. This method seems the easiest form of tuning without sacrificing much time.

Here are a list of brands:

Korg

Snark

D’Addario

Intellitouch

Taylor

History of Technology in Music

Jane is learning the latest popular tune thanks to recording technology!