Technologically teaching,...

As a teacher of this digital age, it’s baffling to step back and see how much technology I use each day in my classroom.  When the power went out in my classroom for several hours a couple of weeks ago, I realized how much I depend on technology.   It also made me thankful to be an experienced teacher who could quickly reformat lessons to work without the carefully laid-out Smart Notebook files I had prepared. 

In this week’s reading, we followed an instrumental music teacher as he taught different grade levels at different schools.  The passage described how he used technology throughout his day – interactive whiteboard, sound system, digital audio recorder, laptop, document camera, iPod, DVD, software, etc. (Bauer, 2014).  If I reflect on the lessons I taught just today at my elementary school, I used many of the same tools – interactive whiteboard, projector, stereo, CD, desktop computer, CD-ROM, and iPad (for iTunes, camera, and email).   

While I find myself fairly dependent on technology in the classroom and I have transferred most of my lessons to Smart Notebook, I think it is also important to get students “off-screen” as well.  For example, I keep my sets of hand-written, tag-board, rhythm pattern cards for reading practice with my classes.  My students read the cards using rhythm syllables or play the patterns with body percussion or drumsticks.  While they read, I often play various genres of music in the background to keep the beat and to keep it exciting.  I also use a lot of paper manipulatives in the classroom.  For example, when my first grade students are making patterns of jelly jars and bowls (to go with the song,  “Jelly in the Bowl”), we start as a class using the icons on the interactive white board.  While each student will get a chance to manipulate icons on the board at some point during the year, it would take too long and would not keep the students engaged if every student had a turn every time we did that kind of activity.  Instead, I create small paper copies of the icons in baggies and have the students create patterns in small groups.  We use technology to begin the activity, and then move on to a different way of learning. 

The modeling aspect of technology is incredibly beneficial for music students today.   As the textbook mentioned, many method books and song collections now come with CD or mp3 examples and accompaniment recordings.  It is also easy to search on YouTube for examples of pieces.  My own daughter recently began taking violin lessons.  Her teacher has assigned small research projects on contemporary violinists such as Joshua Bell and Hilary Hahn.  My seven-year-old was excited and inspired as she watched performances on YouTube.   Video examples also provide an opportunity for evaluation. 

The way students can practice music on their own has changed dramatically through technology and supportive programs such as Chromatik (https://www.chromatik.com/) and Smartmusic (http://www.smartmusic.com/).  I will reflect on these tools in my next blog post.  

Our text had a section on new performance possibilities.  I was reminded of the Eric Whitacre virtual choir (http://ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir).  Literally thousands of people can take part in a virtual choir.  With video and audio technology, sound and video can be perfectly mixed by engineers.  Although this is an amazing idea and would be fun to participate in, I still believe that performing in a live format side-by-side with other musicians is an experience that cannot be matched through technology.

As I said above, I believe we need to find a balance with technology.  We, as music teachers need to use technology appropriately to give our students the best instruction possible.  Technology is a powerful tool that can supplement and aid instruction, but it cannot replace human expertise and human touch. 

Bauer, W. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York, NY: Oxford.