Week 4 Performing Music with Technology

As I am typing this entry, I am attending National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Eastern Division Conference in lovely Providence, Rhode Island.  I’ve already been to the pre-conference sessions and I am looking forward to a full two days of learning.  I have met some friends and am looking forward to seeing a Kent State MMME peer in person!

I really enjoyed the reading this week.  Being an orchestra director in a public school setting, getting students to practice is ongoing work.  Chapter four, Performing Music, in Bauer’s text gave me so many topics to consider.

First, you need to know something about me.  I love referencing research in making changes to or decisions about my curriculum.  As soon I return home from the conference, I will be reading many of the articles Bauer cited in this chapter.  (Thank you Kent State for off-campus connection to JSTOR and other databases!)  Bauer has cited research about motivation to practice, technology and practice, modeling, feedback, and technology in the ensemble rehearsal.

If that were all, I would be a happy reader.  Bauer then gives examples of real-world situations and how technology can be used as a tool to help students learn.  For example, record the ensemble playing a section with dynamic changes.  Play back the recording for the aural learners to assess the dynamic contrast or play back the recording as an audio waveform for the visual learners to assess the dynamic contrast.  (I can’t wait to go home and try this one!)  How about video recording part of a rehearsal and have the students assess the bow strokes, posture or any number of executive skills.  Using technology as a tool to assist the students learning to assess themselves.

The different kinds of technology would be useful for different learning activities.  I will be using technology to create accompaniment tracks for orchestra pieces.  They can practice along with their part, without their part, or play along as a “Music Minus One” practice session.  YouTube videos that I have chosen with examples of posture, bowing, vibrato, and tone will enable the student to learn more meaningfully (Bauer, 2014, p. 85.).

The two tables Bauer has included in this chapter, the Common Curricular Outcomes for Music Performance Classes (Bauer, pp. 78 – 79) and the Performing Music Activity Types (Bauer, pp. 94 – 98) will be very helpful in bringing this information back to my department.  We are in the process of adding technology and revising report cards, both curricular processes that take time.  This information will help guide us along.