Blog Post #2
This week I learned about MIDI technology, studied
the creative process in relation to improvisation and worked with two different
music notation programs. In addition, I
interacted with my Personal Learning Network (PLN).
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) is a set
of digital instructions which tell a MIDI instrument when and what to
play. The MIDI file is not an actual
music file, but just directions for an MIDI compatible instrument. The instructions can tell the instrument
which note, sound, volume and other effects to perform. The files are small and thus can be transferred
easily to other musicians. In addition,
since the file is only instructions, the file can be easily altered to correct
rhythm (quantizing), correct pitches or change the sounds produced. Today, most MIDI files are General MIDI,
which means the instructions can be used to control different brands of
instruments and different computer programs to produce similar sounds.
An understanding of the basic mechanics of MIDI
instruments and files can help a music educator work with students in a
composition setting. The MIDI
instruments can be connected to a computer running a notation program. The MIDI instrument could be used as an input
device. Also, the notation program can
produce or create a MIDI file for transfer to other instruments for playback
and editing.
I have used my understanding of MIDI to set-up our
music computer lab and to troubleshoot problems with our input and notation
hardware and software. The students in
our Music Theory I and AP Music Theory classes use the computer lab and the
Finale notation software to complete part writing assignments. The use of MIDI keyboards is an important
part of these classes. Though the
students do not have to understand how this technology works, they do have to
have working technology. Thus, we as
teachers must understand how to set-up and fix these devices. We have used both USB inputs and MIDI to USB
converter boxes for use in our lab.
Depending on the devices used, we have to be able to troubleshoot for
our students. I have also used my understanding of MIDI to connect
keyboard synthesizers to sound modules for use in our musicals. An understanding of MIDI is necessary for
proper connection and use.
The Creative Process and Improvisation
Teaching students to be creative
thinkers and creative musicians is an important part of music education. Though many people believe creativity is a
mysterious concept and only a few people are capable of creativity, researchers
have described many different types of creativity and outlined the steps of the
creative process. This research can
provide a guideline for educators to follow while guiding our students through
their own creative processes and help them recognize that creativity is a
process which can be practiced and utilized by all.
The four stages of The Creative Process according
to Graham Wallas are:
1.
Preparation
2.
Incubation
3.
Illumination
4.
Verification
In relation to improvisation, these four stages can
be outlined for the students by the music teacher. Stage one, Preparation, involves acquiring
the technique and theoretical knowledge necessary to understand the process of
improvising. This could include the
understanding of chord structure, musical style, posture, and fingerings, in
addition to many other aspects. Stage
Two, Incubation, involves stepping away from the problem (improvisation) and allowing
the knowledge from stage one to become internalized and connect to the
problem. Stage Three, Illumination,
involves the sudden solution to the problem.
In this situation, illumination would be the trial and error process of improvisation
when the technique learned in stage one and the internalization from stage two
come together to allow for an improvised musical idea. Stage Four, Verification, is a performance
for an audience. The audience can give
feedback and this feedback can be used to improve the performance.
After 12 years of working with a high school jazz
band and years of playing in college and high school, I am just starting to
feel comfortable with how I am helping my students learn to improvise. I think the most important thing we’ve
developed is a culture of experimentation and acceptance. The students are willing to try things and
make mistakes. We also try to reflect
upon each solo. What do we like? What could the soloist do differently? For each jazz tune we work on, I have every student
write a solo that follows the changes.
During rehearsal, each student will play their solo. I remind them that even if they don’t know
how to notate what they want to play, to write something that will help them
remember what they want to do. This has
seemed to work well. The solos tend to
follow the chord progression, which is much more mature sounding than using a
blues scale over everything. In
addition, the students hear each other play and borrow licks and rhythms from
each other. We also talk about building
a solo with a clear beginning middle and end.
In my concert bands I attempt to incorporate
improvisation into our daily rehearsals. During class warm-up and fundamental time, I
ask the ensemble to perform a Major Scale (whichever key center is the focus
for the week) for 8 beats per scale degree.
One section improvises using the root, 3rd and 5th
of that scale degree. This exercise is
free improvisation in a small group setting using a changing diatonic chord
structure.
I also have created a few pentatonic accompaniment “licks”
for my ensemble members. Small groups of
students work together to play these pre-composed accompaniments while other
students improvise pentatonic solo lines over the top.
Notation Software
This week I worked with two different free notation
software programs, Noteflight and Muscore.
Each of my middle school students has a subscription to Noteflight and
we use this program for most of our class composition activities. Unfortunately, since I have used Finale for
the last 17 years, I did not take the time to learn this new software program
with my students since I thought it was an inferior, student level
product. The tutorial I completed this
week, displayed at the end of this blog post, helped me understanding the basics of this software
notation system. Friday morning, during
our middle school “Composition Club” I was able to help these students
troubleshoot their compositions much more effectively than I was able to
previously. Though I am more familiar with
Finale, and still enjoy using it more, I appreciate the sharing capability of
Notability. I like that students can
share their compositions with each other and can share the compositions seamlessly
with the instructor. Students no longer
have to e-mail me .mus or .xml files which may or may not work on my
computer. Now, I can just open their
files from my browser and make comments.
MuseScore was another notation program I used this
week. The tutorial videos were very well
done and helpful. They walked me through
the process of creating two musical examples. One features I liked about MuseScore was the
ability to “drag and drop” musical items into the score. We used this feature when adding a repeat
sign and an ending. These are two of the
more complicated simple Finale functions.
I like this “drag and drop” feature and hope Finale incorporates it into
their program. I also liked the
simplicity of creating a decent sounding drum-set example. Very simple and the drum sounds were nice.
One thing I liked about both programs was their
ability to support .xml files. Thus, I
could create a file in Finale and open it in MuseScore or Noteflight. In addition, files created in these free
programs could be opened and edited in Finale.
Personal Learning Network
This week I used my Personal Learning Network (PLN)
to connect with other music educators. I
found more organizations and music educators to follow on Twitter. I learned about MT (modified tweets) and RT
(retweets). Though not music or
education related, I also engaged in my first Twitter conversation.
I am enjoying reading articles through the Feedly
service. I am still thrilled I can get
so much information sent directly to me instead of spending time searching for
it. As I said last week, I have used RSS
services in the past, but never for specific information. I was only using it for general news sites
and college hockey stats and stories. Using
the subscription service for music education and music technology information
has been useful.
I don’t feel as connected to Google+ as I do to
Twitter or Feedly. I will explore this
site more in the next week and attempt to make a greater connection.
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