Appademia

Another partner I found on the website of TI:ME (see previous blog) was this website for a company called "Appademia". It's a company that creates applications for either your phone, ipod touch, ipad, etc. for an educational purpose. I'll leave the link here so that you guys can go to it and see what it's about and if you like it, let me know! I'll keep doing some research to find you guys some cool things for music education and technology!

Twelve-Tone Matrix Generator

PST! A quick tip, they have some blogs that are really interesting read about some of the effects of technology on education. The link I will post at the bottom of this post will lead you to a post about the common problems with e-learning and what to look out for when delving into the world of e-learning!

The Future of Education: E-Learning?

OnMusic Series

Today, I squandered about the internet to find topics to write about for one of my blog posts that wasn't an interactivity. I came across this website and saw that it was a 501-c3 non-profit educational organization (TI:ME - Technology for Music Education)... specifically for integrating technology into a music classroom! I was really excited because I work at a non-profit organization for jazz-education and was hoping to see if I could find some fresh ideas for working with the students there.

It seemed to have chapters that you can become a part of, much like our regular NAFME (national association for music educators) and ASTA (American String Teachers Association).  However, the website itself wasn't as fruitful as I had hoped. I searched through the website itself and found mostly nothing...except this, in it's partners list was this link:

Connect4Education: OnMusic Series

This website was another story! Basically, it's a bunch of online text books that have assignments and information that is content-specific, and you can teach through your computer. It has a bunch of textbooks that are specific to online teaching and technology. The great thing about these books and programs is that once you purchase them, you keep using them.. So the school district really would just pay once, and there it is! You've got yourself a new way of integrating technology into a classroom setting with music! It teaches music history, comprehension, composition, theory, appreciation, and even- get this- it has one on HOW to teach music! Good for us, isn't it? 

Interactivity #5

Spreadsheet from Interactivity #4

The teacher I interviewed works in the Ridgefield School District as a music teacher for grades 10-12, but also works with the marching band that encompasses grades 8-12.  This teacher was not knowledgeable about the NETS-S or the NETS-T.

Initially, The teacher I interviewed was trying to figure out what the acronym stood for and almost made it, but didn't ever actually get it. He actually thought that the acronym stood for a type of standardized testing! His initial reaction to the standards was actually “understanding”. The teacher began to speak about how he did not know that these standards existed at all and wishes to know more. However, the teacher went on to explain that he implements some of these standards without really knowing what they are because he uses technology in his classroom frequently. >During the interview, I asked the teacher what would happen if he were to be handed the NETS-T or the NETS-S and if he would implement all those standards within the classroom.

The teacher replied: "Absolutely! I'm always looking for new ways to teach and for ways to improve my teaching. If I'm handed a list of standards I haven't seen before I'd use them in my classroom." That's when I told the teacher the main idea of each standard and asked him to reflect on whether or not he has seen it used throughout the school and/or the district. The teacher said yes, and began to speak about the smart-boards that he used within his classroom and how other teachers like to take their students to the computer lab and have them create things using computer programs on their own. However, because of the financial state of most of the families that come from this area, they cannot expect to assign homework that utilizes technology to this extent.

Another thing he added was that he would be able to teach his class without technology, but it wouldn't be as enjoyable for his students, and the assignments wouldn't go by as quickly. I was not surprised with any of this teacher's answers, but I was happy to find that despite not knowing what the specific and proper names of these standards were, he was still having the students compose music and creating and learning to be literate with technology via research projects and being able to evaluate what is useful and what is not about technology.

As a future educator, I would speak to others within my school by first getting in touch with the computer teachers within the district because I would like to get as much information as I could about implementing the use of technology and all of its possibilities. I would also insist on collaborating with teachers from other content-areas so that we could utilize the idea of collaboration and communication through technology. I would try and bring up the importance of not only utilizing technology to increase the fluidity of classroom time but also the practical uses for it!

Interactivity #4

My Lesson Plan Analysis Map

I chose this lesson plan about saxophones because I find it important for young students to understand and know which instruments are which by their timbre, dynamic range, physical look, and to also know their basic history and their use in different genres of music. Also, it is a really good lesson plan to use in my future career as a teacher in a general-music setting.

A very important part that was missing/should have been changed about this lesson plan was the grade-level. I believe that it should be pushed down to about the 4^th or 5^th grade, because the curriculum goals and NJ standardized goals were very out of touch with each other.

I think this is a good lesson to demonstrate the use of technology to show the movement of sound and the affects of physicality on the sound. If an instrument, namely the saxophone and any other wind instrument, has longer tubing, then it sounds lower. This lesson plan also emphasizes CD players and the use of computers and preferably smart boards.

This is where this lesson plan was lacking; I really feel that the use of a smartboard and the program MAX-MSP would serve as a really good medium of demonstration in this setting. The students would have been able to see a physical manifestation of the dynamic ranges on the board as the music would pass by, and they would be able to make comparisons between the different types of saxophones. This would be easier than conceptualizing timbre and dynamic range as an abstract idea. Without the specific technologies listed, we would not be able to listen to the recordings that use the saxophone. This would probably defeat the purpose of this lesson entirely, so the technology that is used in this lesson is integral. 

Interactivity #3: Authentic Online Collaboration

Overall, I would like to think we did a generally good job collaborating with this interactivity concerning our circumstances. Although we were all busy, at some points we would find each other online and explain to each other what was happening, our opinions, and if someone posted one of your ideas of technology already, then we just had to find another one. I think it was an unspoken rule that we couldn't take someone else's technology (for the most part, I DID see a little bit of repetition here and there). Although some people had some difficulty editing (which got fixed) due to the fact that "mail.montclair.edu" was not a supported domain-name by google.docs, we found our way around to help everyone that we could to log in and contribute! Another issue that arose was that some students' blogs were nowhere to found, or some other students had little-to-no information or communication when we first began to embark on this interactivity.

This interactivity had me questioning the concept of working with others online and whether it was really effective in getting things finished. I mean, I almost feel like this assignment would've taken more time in person because we would've had to argue all of our points and come up with, but I do think we collaborated our ideas and created one large spreadsheet! It was easy to set up, it was organic, and it was quick- which is what I would like to think is the point of using technology within a classroom.

Another part that I questioned was: How do we work through situations where we are made to work with people who do not communicate via e-mail at all? It goes to show how much the world has changed because of technology. This made me really grateful that all of our contributors (or most, rather) were willing to work with us and if most of them weren't e-mailed, they immediately e-mailed us to find out what was happening!

I really believe that with what we had, this was a much better result than I had expected!

The Phonograph -> The Radio -> iPod (?)

One piece of technology that I believe had a huge impact in the world of music, nonetheless the world of music education, is the phonograph. The phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Alva Edison. Although there were other inventors that created devices that could record sounds, Thomas Edison's phonograph was the first to be able to reproduce the recorded sound. The phonograph gave a new medium of listening and experiencing to music.

Phonographs were definitely used in classrooms for things that weren't music related, but I would like to believe that it made a huge impact in the world of music-education. If there was a classroom learning music that had any access to electricity, they had access to classical music performances, or any type of music performance. They could record and hear their own performances and hear the mistakes that they didn't hear while they were making music. This device would also give students access to music that they've never heard before, because the phonograph was able to take an imprint of something that naturally passes in time and bring it into the classroom.  Another thing that was great about this invention was that it is the precursor to any type of recording-technology/music-player technology that we have today.  Any mp3 players we have, any Zoom-recording devices, and even the parts of our laptops and whatnot that help us to listen to music branched off of the phonograph!

As for this video, the first thing I immediately thought of as influential in a Music education setting is the radio. Not just music-education radio, but even just listening to music and things for enjoyment. There is a difference between pleasure and enjoyment. Pleasure is something that occurs naturally, and enjoyment is something that people go out and seek, and I believe that when a student listens to the radio for enjoyment, especially when they're listening to music, it exhibits a behavior within the students to go out and search for music that they enjoy. If they know how to utilize the radio within the classroom setting, they may be able to go out and utilize the radio at home to their own enjoyment, and maybe turn on some music. In Music Education, listening is important, and the radio allows students to do just that. There are no visual distractions, which is a good thing. It forces students to utilize their ears to know what is happening, just like they would need to do in music.

Without either of these inventions, we could not share music with each other, and that is a huge part of music-education!

On the contrary, if the students did NOT have the technology at home, like a radio, they could have had the exposure at school. They can experience great music in all forms and be able to appreciate everything that is happening within it, without having to spend the money to go and actually see it. The radio brought things to people, nonetheless students, that they did not experience before. Therefore, the radio played a large role in the world of music education. Speaking to other music majors, you can ask them about the radio and it's importance in their lives. Music students are constantly surrounded by music-making and rarely get a chance to listen to music, which is probably what initially captured their attention about the subject. Since the radio has evolved, it has really become so much more accessible and has become an easily-accessed journey to enjoyment for musicians.

Interactiviy #2: Influential in Music Education

Think about it: Without the Phonograph, where would our classrooms be today? 

Website for this picture is linked through this text!
(I had to slice the picture into 3 parts so that it would be able to be seen)