Technology Challenges in Music Education: Moving Forward

As we try to incorporate more and more technology into the classroom, better preparing our students for the world today, we still meet with resistance from a variety of sources. One of the main sources of resistance comes from teachers who are unwilling to try to new things. 

When the high school I work for was splitting into two campuses a few years ago, the administration wanted to offer certain classes on one campus and use long-distance learning technology to teach the same class concurrently on the other campus. Businesses teleconference with each other all the time, why not do the same in schools? However, the teachers at my high school were very upset about this turn of events! Perhaps they feared this was one step closer to their jobs being irrelevant? They fought and overturned the proposed long-distance learning project before anyone knew if it could work.

Last year the music theory class in my high school had the chance to move music theory from a regular classroom into a computer lab. The teacher declined because she was afraid of having to incorporate computers into the curriculum! And yet, there are so many terrific music theory training websites and software programs that could help the students improve their understanding of music theory. I am frustrated by this 'fear' of change in schools. But, how do we change this kind of thinking?

I am not sure, but I do think that we have to encourage our students to love learning and embrace change. We have to help our students understand that flexibility and adaptability are imperative in the 21st century! Jobs are changing at a more rapid rate than they ever have in history and if we don't equip students for this, they will likely experience much frustration. Hopefully over time this mindset of resistance can be transformed into a mindset of openness!

American Idol Songwriting Contest: Real Deal or Rigged?

Okay, so is the American Idol Songwriting Contest the real deal? For just a $10 entry fee, you too can have a chance to have your song sung by the next American Idol! Of course, last year they apparently received 200,000+ entries, (which means they made a lot of money) and I wonder who listened to all of those songs? Did they really get a fair hearing by industry professionals? It seems doubtful. Almost all of the final twenty songs just happened to be written by people with industry connections! And, P.S., most of them were not great. Did you hear the winning song, "This is My Now?" It got airplay for about a day after Jordin Sparks won and then it fizzled! Because it was a horrible rambling song with no good hook. How does this happen? I'm sure that there were good songs in that 200,000+, but no political connections meant they had no chance. It really is sad. I was hoping that idol would give songwriters the same chance they gave aspiring vocalists all over the country. I guess we will have to see if they come up with a good song this year or another dud. My advice - take the time to listen to the real folks who submitted - you might find a real gem!

My Brain Hurts

Don't get me wrong - I love technology, at least I love the end results of technology. I am amazed by state-of-the-art websites with their creative use of Flash animation; I love the resources that we have as educators to teach music students about theory and composition; I am simply excited about being able to take my computer with me wherever I go. However, sometimes when I am trying to learn something new, like how to use ActionScript to create a game, my brain just hurts. Today is one of those days!!! I am having trouble grasping all of the commands and functions. I know what I want it to do, but trying to figure out how to tell the machine to do it is another story. Trial and error prevails for now. Hopefully, a solution will present itself soon. Perhaps a nap would help me process....

Does Music Technology Improve Learning?

We all know how fun and motivating it can be to bring a music class to the computer lab and have them experiment with Finale, GarageBand, Audacity and more. But, do these experiences increase student learning and musicianship? Can a program like SmartMusic really improve student performance at concerts? I think that these are important questions for us to address as music educators. 

I found blogging to be a great tool for my music theory class. I was able to organize ear-training links and skill-building sites in one place for my students to explore. It was great to have a central site that they could be involved with. Composing with the assistance of Finale gave my theory students an opportunity to write for small ensembles and to preview their pieces. My orchestra students enjoy visiting my website where they can listen to past recordings and be inspired. These activities are great, however they just scratch the surface with where we can go with technology. And at this point there isn't much written about how utilizing technology translates to learning and musical achievement. I hope that by posing this question we can get a conversation started. Where do we go with technology in music education and how do we measure its effectiveness?

Kaltura

In my exploration of Adobe Flash on the internet, I came across this bizarre website: www.kaltura.com. Kaltura is a collaborative website, like wikipedia, but it focuses primarily on media. You can create collaborative music videos, films, activist sites, etc. I watched a few of the music videos and was just a little perplexed by them. I guess the idea of Kaltura is kind of exciting - being able to generate a music video or film with people in the Kaltura community from all over the world - but you have to be willing to give up some creative control in the process. It's kind of like playing the story game, where each person contributes one or two sentences and the end result can be unpredictable, bizarre and amusing.

Maybe this is the next step after social networking sites - places where people can create together; generate ideas and mobilize together? Am I too skeptical about this? Maybe I just need to give it a try to understand the process better....