Interactivity #3

-How might this technology inventory serve your purposes (if at all) in CURR 314 and READ 411 this semester?

Because I haven't been able to take my Music Technology class yet, doing the research for this assignment really helped me learn about the tons and tons of new music technologies to help with composition, arranging, editing, performing, recording, listening, conducting, and so much more.  One of my favorite discoveries was SmartMusic, which is a computer program that offers a student version where you can practice with background accompaniment, and a teacher version where you can have students record themselves playing and send the file to you for evaluation, rather than having to schedule playing times.  This particular program made me think about how it connects to CURR 314.  That class is all about the different ways to assess your students and SmartMusic is an interesting, new, and easy way to assess.  Another way that you could possibly connect these technologies to the other classes would be that, although we are not teaching students how to read English, we are teaching them to read a different language: music.  The strategies that we are learning in READ 411 about how to teach struggling readers can also apply to musicians who are struggling with aspects of reading music.  Also, the characteristic list of dependent readers can be used to identify students that are just "faking" their way through a piece of music in an ensemble.

Interactivity #2

Towards the very beginning of the video we were assigned to watch for this interactivity it mentioned specifically music education.  In 1917, WHA started to broadcast music education programs on the radio.  It took three years for the concept of educational radio to be commonly used in the classroom.  As far as the video assignment is concerned, this was the biggest influence in education for my content area.

In my opinion, the piece of technology that had the most impact on music education is the CD/CD player.  With it's creation in 1969 and then eventual spread to common use about 15 years later, the CD player revolutionized the musician's capabilities of musical interpretation.  Today, recordings of live performances and studio recordings are widely utilized in the classroom to assist teachers in getting the students to understand what a piece they are working on is supposed to sound like.  For example, students may be having a problem with a certain rhythm and if continuously trying to help them count it out on their own, a recording can really come in handy to hear the rhythm in context if they follow along with their own music that's in front of them.  Recordings also can be used for inspirational means.  I know that when I was in middle school and high school I was always in awe of the sounds I heard coming from the musicians on professional recordings and it always made me work harder to achieve such warm and emotional or bouncy and exciting sounds.  CD players made using recordings a helpful and essential part of the instrumental/vocal setting.

Although CD players weren't specifically mentioned in the readings, I feel that it is just an extension of the phonograph which was clearly mentioned as being used in the classroom in the early part of the period we are discussing.  The CD player is an upgraded and modern version of the mechanisms of the past.

Even the most distinguished musicians can improve with ease and momentum through listening to those that came before them.