This week I am attending the Massachusetts Music Educators’
Association All-State Conference in Boston.
Technology is enabling me to keep in touch with my schools through
email, my middle school students learning with Socrative, check in with my Kent
State cohort through Blackboard, and complete my homework with Noteflight and
MuseScore. I have attended a few
sessions so far, technology and string education mostly. The more I learn at Kent, the more I see at
conferences, the more I want to have my students improvise and compose. In the past I have tried a few projects, but
I am still apprehensive about teaching musical creativity.
As I was reading chapter 3 this week, I read about Hallam’s
work on page 50. “To establish an
environment conducive to creativity, educators can provide (a) creative
opportunities, (b) necessary resources, (c) appropriate stimulation, and (d)
sufficient time” (Bauer, 2014, p.50). I
can do this in each level of my teaching!
Creative opportunities can be rhythmic or tonal improvisation, composing
using graphic notation, conducting the performance of the graphic notation, or
directed improvisation. Necessary
resources will be iPads, dry erase boards, and good old paper and pencil. Appropriate stimulation can be tricky, but
think of real life situations where students can connect. How about composing a loop in Garage Band
that could be used as the on hold music in the school’s telephone system? What about recording a directed improvising
as the “sound track” to a picture book, theme music for a video game, or for a
character in a TV show? Sufficient time
is going to be the hardest step. I need
to choose carefully and thoughtfully what skills I want the students to
develop, and be sure the class has enough time to explore, experience and
develop the skills. As one of my
favorite clinicians says; “Teach an inch wide and a mile deep”.
PS – As I continue going to sessions and talking with
people, the more grateful I am for the Kent MMME program. In most sessions, I have come across an
author or a book that I’ve studied in another class, software program, and even
the APA formatting!
That's great that you are able to stay in touch while at MMEA through technology! In fact, it's great we can all stay in touch and even take this course from all across the country because of technology. I wanted to respond to your post this week because, while I'm not at a conference, I am assisting at our county's band and orchestra assessment festival this weekend. The middle and high school orchestra and band programs from across our county attend this festival every march where they are professionally adjudicated. It’s a great way for the student’s to feel success after all their efforts throughout the year. I was concerned this week that I wouldn’t be able to meet the deadlines of the course because I would be so busy with the festival. Luckily, I can complete all the assignments between performing groups, and enjoy beautiful music while I work!
ReplyDeleteIt’s very interesting how you are attending technology sessions while taking this technology course. Has it helped you to understand the presenter’s discussions any better? Have you been able to contribute to the discussion at all? I always get so excited when I learn about something, and then hear about it soon after. It’s also great to hear that the Kent State MME program is very relevant with current MEA events and conferences. Although I already felt confident in the program, it is always nice to have reassurance.
I like how you referenced instances in the textbook that are already taking place in your classroom, then went on to explain how each is occurring. It seems that you have many resources available to your students, which is really excellent! Sufficient time seems to be everyone’s biggest concern. There never seems to be enough time with the students to get everything accomplished. I really like your quote about teaching deep not wide. I agree. I would rather the students truly understand a few things than cover many different topics, but have students who don’t grasp all the concepts. You have many excellent ideas about tech integration for your classroom! I hope you enjoy the rest of your conference!
I was excited to see some other ways technology could be used. When the presenter asked who knew or used Noteflight, I could raise my hand! I also did not need to go to any of the Noteflight sessions, so I could use my time to learn something else! I got lots of recommendations for iPad apps and ways to teach composition and improvising. It was a good conference, but I have come home with too many new ideas. Now I need time to sift, sort, and organize.
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