Responding to Music Using Technology
In this week’s chapter, Bauer describes different ways technology can be used to help students respond to music. Creating call charts to aid in student listening, evaluating music and sharing music with peers and are three ideas I can use in my classroom to help my students respond to music.Call Charts
In my band rehearsals we listen to recordings of our performance literature prior to sight reading and at various points in our music learning. While listening, I ask the students to follow along with the music notation and finger along on their instrument. While the recording is playing, I notify the students of important events as they occur in the music. Bauer suggests using a more formalized call chart to organize these interjections. One of his suggestions was using SoundCloud to mark a .mp3 file with comments that display at specified points in the music.
After reading the literature this week, I signed into SoundCloud and began experimenting with creating an annotated music file. I uploaded an .mp3 of one of our concert band pieces and began adding written annotations which are displayed as the sound file plays. I was able to embed this file right into our class LMS (Schoology) for the students to use. It didn’t take very long to do, and I can imagine the students listening individually and following along. In addition, I can ensure each class I teach will receive the same information. When teaching three sections of the same class, sometimes the third explanation is much different than the first.
Music Evaluations
Bauer suggests the use of written and verbal music evaluation as a way for students to respond to music. Critiquing music using set criteria can help students gain an understanding of music performance and the aspects which can make that performance successful. Self-evaluation can allow students to hear their successes and areas for improvement and develop ways to improve.
Every two weeks my students are assigned an individual etude to perform, record and submit. After completing the recording using Explain Everything, an iPad app, each student completes a personal evaluation of their performance. The students listen to their recording and prepare a written evaluation in four areas: Pitch Accuracy, Articulation, Rhythmic Accuracy and Dynamics. The students are asked to provide two comments for each of these four areas. The comments describe where an error accomplishment occurred, what the event was and exactly how the error could be fixed for a future recording.
For example: In measure 15 I did not observe the crescendo. Next time, I would begin the measure at a piano dynamic and gradually increase my volume to forte over the course of the measure.
Listening to their own recording and writing an evaluation of their performance, helps the students become more aware of their own performance and helps solidify their understanding of performance related markings in their written music.
Sharing Music
Bauer suggests allowing students to share the music they enjoy with others. By sharing and discussing the musical components of their choices the students can solidify their understanding of music and music performance.
This year, I asked my students to create a Personal Music Presentation. In this presentation, the students share YouTube clips of two favorite pieces of music from each of three time periods in their life. The students are asked to explain why the piece is important and describe some characteristics of the music. This students use Padlet.com, a web based interactive bulletin board to compile and present their information to the class. The project allows the students to share their favorite music with each other and helps them increase their music vocabulary through written descriptions of music.
Software Evaluation
This week I reviewed a piece of music software. This review was completed using a formal software evaluation form. This form is very similar to the form my school district requires teachers to complete when requesting new software for use in our classrooms. In the past our tech department completed his form and made the software request, but recently teachers have been asked to make these requests and evaluate the software prior to approval by our tech department. This assignment helped me learn about a new piece of software and helped me understand the components of a software evaluation.
I reviewed the iPad application, Rhythm Sight Read Trainer. The Rhythm Sight Read Trainer is an excellent application to help students progress in their rhythmic understanding and performance. The user is asked to perform a given rhythm along with a metronome by either tapping the screen, clapping, singing or performing on an instrument. The performance is assessed and a score is presented to the user. As rhythms are successfully performed, the challenge increases. The level of difficulty can be set for elementary level beginning rhythms to professional level rhythmic examples. Progress is recorded by the application and summary charts can be sent via email to outside evaluators.
Social Bookmarking
I learned about, explored and added to Diigo, a social bookmarking site. Social bookmarking allows your web bookmarks to be organized according to tags. Diigo users can search for relevant websites other users add. Brief descriptions of the websites are provided by users and a rating system can be used. In addition, on screen annotations can help other users find information you find interesting quickly and easily. Overall, this system can help manage the web in an easier way.
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