Getting Started Creating Music

Getting those creative juices flowing!

Introduction

As a high school student, I remember walking past the MIDI keyboard lab everyday on my way to class.  It was a mysterious place to me.  Piano keyboards and tubby Dell PCs sat there with an enigmatic and unapproachable vibe.  As a band, choir and full orchestra student, I had a quite intense schedule during (and before and after) the school day, but never once can I recall asking about that room.  I had assumed that if I were to be introduced to me, that it would happen during one of my classes -- not so much.

My junior year I took the music theory class, which happened in the band room away from the instruments.  One of our projects was to arrange a movie theme of our choice for an instrument/ensemble of our choice.  In retrospect, I have no idea why we did not get introduced to those MIDI keyboards at this point, but it never came up.  We used a free Finale version (NotePad) on school owned laptops to generate our arrangements for the project.  Although this hooked me as a lifelong Finale user, I managed to slip through high school (and college!) without having used a MIDI instrument.

The prospect honestly scared me!  MIDI instruments seemed so mysterious to me until 3 years ago at an OMEA conference, where I sat in on a session regarding technology in music.  In a 50 minute session, the presenter managed to thoroughly convince me that MIDI keyboards are among the fastest and most practical digital notation devices known to man.  I bought one that day (Akai 25 key) and plugged it into my school computer the following Monday.  I was floored.  Point and click had been my MO throughout all of college and in one hour's time, I had learned how to cut my notation time by 75%.

 Resources for the director

My conference experience taught me a valuable lesson about avoiding technology.  After embracing the use of a MIDI device, I immediately increased my efficiency and reduced the number of hours it takes to complete a project.  As a rural band director - this is a God send!  Every year, particularly in marching season, there are a myriad of needs for quick part writing.  Sometimes there is a part missing, sometimes a show needs tweaking, and frankly sometimes a piece needs flat out arranged.  With the incorporation of a MIDI keyboard in Finale, I am often able to play a part in real time (via the Hyperscribe tool) and then continue on from there.  In my experiences with Noteflight and MuseScore this week, I was reminded of how much the point and click methods slowed me down.  I did not use the MIDI keyboard for either of these programs, but instead experimented with the use of the keyboard/number pad combination.  While I found this very fun and quick to understand in Noteflight, I admittedly struggled in MuseScore throughout the process.  I don't mean to knock MuseScore here - it is a well designed setup with several features uniquely thought out, but the keyboard shortcuts for this program struck me as a larger learning curve.

When it comes to being an ensemble director, this week has been a game changer for me with technology.  I have struggled for a long time with how to engage my students with creative part writing outside of the use of pencil/paper.  While I own a personal copy of Finale and my trusty Akai 25 keyboard, I have used them primarily to create things myself.  What I've learned about Noteflight and MuseScore this week will allow me to engage my students on their Netbooks/Chromebooks to start writing/arranging their own music.

I have often cringed at the thought of trying to teach my students basic composition/arranging skills because I have viewed it as a money heavy endeavor.  With the advent of this beautifully open sourced software, I will be able to engage my students on what interests them in order to both fulfill the state requirements and also to help them develop their interest areas further in the notation realm.

Resources for the student

Improvisation is an under appreciated aspect of music in my classroom.  The way in which I plan to integrate with process now is by dedicating periodic classes to the fundamentals of this artform.  While I will also integrate this at a more basic level with my general music class, I will focus my immediate efforts on the high school band.  Since improvisation is an intelligently guided practice, not just a random smattering of notes, I plan to walk my students into the process by creating a basic controlled musical environment and starting them on the smaller steps.  Things like improvising with only a few notes or small rhythm with guided accompaniment will help me to get their creative juices flowing.  Once we are established on this track, I would like to have my students access some of the band in a box resources available (Garage Band on my iPad, for instance) or some free apps (Rhythm Pad, SmartMusic)  to get them engaged.  I think a mixed integration of "analog" and digital instruments might be the easiest way to ease both myself and my students into this process.

Composition and arranging are still aspects of the musical spectrum I would like to see my students engage with more, but I foresee this being more individualized to the students.  Composing in particular is a great tool for all musicians to have some guided basics with but beyond that depends on the intrinsic drive of the student.  I would like to leave this more open ended as an independent study project where my students could explore comfortable composing mediums with me.  Arranging is something I would like to start using more immediately with all of my students.  Something as simple as transcribing a part from an unrelated key instruments (Bb to Eb for example) would help them start to grasp concepts like interval relationships and key signature relationships quicker than a more academic approach might offer.

Whew!  What an ambitious and challenging week this has been for me on the learning curve!  The most important and significant take-away I have had from all of this is to get engaged and experiment with new tools to see how they might improve your arsenal -- and get the creative juices flowing!

Adventures with Noteflight

Hi everyone,

Here is my first foray into Noteflight.  This was with the basic software (not the upgraded Crescendo version):

Bicycle Built for Two

My overall experience was very positive.  I am an avid Finale user, but did not use MIDI input for this particular project - just point and click.

First impressions:

Pros:

• Free - while there is an upgrade-able version (Noteflight Crescendo) with more options available, it still feels like a fully accessible program.  I did not get the "freemium" impression/pressure so common with software/apps nowadays to upgrade in order to have true functionality

• Intuitive - as a person already familiar with some notation software basics, I had an easy time adjusting to the layout of the program after a brief learning curve;  I also feel that any beginner would only struggle if they were unsure of what the actual musical symbols mean

• "Guided" notation - no 20 questions to get started here - just start a document and start editing it.  This would be especially handy for students with no previous experience.

Cons:

• Limited menu options - not everything is grouped together neatly (it might be overwhelming if they had EVERYTHING there anyway).  

• Saving - saving does not seem to be automatic, so if you are the kind of person that is not in the frequent habit of saving -- you are warned!

• Internet access required - since Noteflight is a website based program, you need to be connected in order to work and save

Educational Applications:

I can see Noteflight being an extremely useful tool in the classroom.  I have a Music History course in my high school that composes a 12-tone composition and Noteflight would be an accessible, easy medium for my students to use.  I also see this website as a fantastic tool for students interested in composition in general.  It would be a good way to help students grapple with transposition, key signatures and all the "inky" details that they (and we, as musicians) often overlook.  This sort of activity helps them to appreciate that every articulation and dynamic change is carefully crafted and intelligently placed.  I recommend that other educators and their students play with Noteflight and see what applications it might have in their classrooms too!

      Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) in                                              the band room

Overview: 

For this blog post, I am going to focus on classroom applications of the Mishra and Koehler educational model -- itself built on Schulman's pedagogical content knowledge base.

Key issues covered/keywords:  

classroom technology integration, pedagogical best practices, content knowledge, differentiation, music education, 21st century music classroom

Questions:

1.) How can I successfully target the effective integration of technology with best practice tools in the band room?

2.) What pitfalls are likely that would need addressing in adapting this in my classroom?

3.) What is my next step as an educator based on this new knowledge?

Method:

Schulman's original method approached the fusion of two different but equally important aspects of the educated teacher - the satisfactory mastery of the content area and the proficiency of disseminating this knowledge to one's pupils in an efficient and effective manner.  Mishra and Koehler take this one step further with the addition of technological knowledge, treating it as a crucial and equally important piece of the classroom puzzle.  The critical mass zone of where these three areas intersect is the mark where an educator can and should strive to be.

The most critical takeaway of this educational method is the most excellent and expedient use of technology as opposed to the forced and awkward thrusting of it as an afterthought.  The temptation of an educator who is not particularly comfortable with technology is most likely to use it sparingly (if at all), and even then rarely for true pedagogical purposes.  Instead an educator very well might remain in the comfort zone inculcated by their habits - e-mail, gradebook, parent communications and perhaps text messaging.  While there are certainly no inherent evils in the use of a Facebook page or Twitter to communicate the date of the next concert - these uses are fringe and mostly administrative in nature.  The method communicated here demands a more thoughtful and organic execution.  Neither is the method here presenting a end-all, be-all, sure-fire message guaranteed to increase student proficiency; rather, the onus of the method is that the educator should use what they can based on why it is useful to them.  An excellent saw is no good if all one needs a screwdriver.

Therefore it becomes the responsibility of the teacher to sort through the technology based on what their needs are instead of starting with the technology and then seeing how they might integrate it.  Is the latter approach fruitless?  Certainly not- many creative minds can re-purpose a tool to fit their needs -- but the better approach is to use a tool because it IS the tool that best facilitates the desired outcomes at hand.

Reflection and Application:

Since technology has so quickly and thoroughly become an integral part of society, it seems natural that this would have gravitated its way into the educator's toolbox.  However, just taking a cursory look at the typical school handbook would show the avoidance and outright combative nature of technological integration at times.  Even in my rural classroom, I often tire of the daily fight to keep students from "illegal" use of cell phones.  It is comical in some ways how arbitrary the rules are.  After all, many of the students bring more sophisticated and better suited technology for the classroom then what is already there!  The instructor must take the role of facilitator at this juncture.  It is up to us to actively seek the technology out that can help move us to a more integrated technological state in our 21st century classrooms.  Searching out software and apps for existing, accessible hardware is paramount.  Using the tools already at our disposal is perhaps the most critical task set before us.

In application (and to redress my questions from earlier), how can I successfully target the effective integration of technology with best practice tools in the band room?

Answer: I should first seek out the ways in which I can use technology already available to myself and my students.  I should also regularly check for updated and new methods that others have created/discovered and should regularly collaborate and share best practice tools with other educators.

2.) What pitfalls are likely that would need addressing in adapting this in my classroom?

Answer: A hardware to application (i.e. buy device then "figure it out") approach is potentially more costly and less effective than an application to hardware approach  (i.e. "What do I need?" then "How can I get it/make it work?).

Also, different students, parents, community members and staff are likely all on different planes regarding the benefits, drawbacks and effective use of technology.  There will be some "hearts and minds" campaigning and advocacy needed at times.


3.) What is my next step as an educator based on this new knowledge?

Answer: What technology do I, my students, my administrators, my district and my community have at my/their disposal?  How can it be used most effectively and what might be available with a little more investment.  A cost/benefit analysis would also be helpful.  A short term and long term approach would both be excellent tools to help guide my professional practices as well.,


Daniel Lenzer

Hello and welcome!

It is hoped that this blog will serve as another in the plethora of resources available to music educators.  In the learning process myself, I endeavor on this blog to learn myself as well as to share what I have learned with others.  Feel free to comment and share your own resources and experiences as well!