What I see now is that the MIDI capability allowed me to create a four-part work and hear how it worked together in real time. I loved that I could listen to just one voice, or all of them together. It was easy to change octaves if the voicing was muddy. When it came time to write the recapitulation, I could literally copy and paste the themes from the First and Second tonal areas. I could input the pitches using the MIDI piano keyboard or the computer keyboard. If I wanted to, I could record something in Performer (I think it was a precursor to ProTools) and have it notated for me with the push of a few buttons. As a classical violinist, this made the compositional aspect of the project more manageable for me.
Fast forward ten years to when I started teaching elementary music: Teaching students to create is a daunting task. For one, I never considered myself very creative, but I was talented and could perform what others had written. My first experience in real improvisation was also in high school - too late, in my opinion! We had a guest musician in to give a master class and he encouraged us to improvise on our instruments. I looked at him like he had three heads! "Are you nuts? I am a violinist! I play classical music! I don't do jazz." Finally, as an elementary general music teacher, I have accepted the role of improvisation in my life and encourage my little ones to experiment as much as possible on instruments, with their voices, and with their bodies. Mostly I use hands on activities with classroom instruments or movement. I do some short composition projects with pencil and paper as well as playing without notating. I see these students for 50 minutes a week, assuming we have all 5 days of the week. I currently do not use notation software or programs in class. Were I to have more than one computer in my classroom, I think I would be more willing to teach my older students (3rd and 4th graders) about a notation program like MuseScore or NoteFlight. As it is now, I feel the technology would be useful but a time eater.
Personally after using these two programs this week, I was pleased with how much can be done with free software. I have been using Finale NotePad (shareware) for many years, ever since I lost my full copy of Finale. I will now switch to MuseScore! There is so much more flexibility in this program than the free Finale program. I can add voices in the middle of my work rather than having to know right from the start what I want the orchestration to be. I can change the key while working. I haven't dived deep enough yet to see if I can insert key changes within the piece, but I think at least one of these two programs should be able to do that! Using notation programs has saved time in preparing concert arrangements, worksheets, and my "Mystery Song of the Month" bulletin board. I think it is important for students to get the fine motor practice of handwritten notation, but I also see the value of while you write as Dr. Bazan mentioned in our lecture for the week.
I too had my first experience with Sibelius in high school in our music and technology class. It was really cool being able to hear my compositions as soon as I had written them. I still have copies of the music!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about what you do in your class as far as improvisation. I agree that high school is too late to learn how to improvise. At that point, I know at least for me, I was too self-conscious about what other people would think of my solo that I never wanted to improvise and the reason I was self-conscious was because I had never done it before. I like reading the notes on the page exactly the way they were written! I could definitely try to have my students experiment more especially since they’re so young and don’t really care what they sound like as long as they get to have fun. The more they grow up doing something the more comfortable they are going to feel.
I very much agree that there are some great ways to use these notation programs but using the technology is a time eater. I might be able to take the students to the computer lab but sometimes just to log takes ten minutes. I am also a firm believe that the kids still need to write and draw these music notes as well. It does help with those fine motor skills for the younger kids. I know many schools are going to a 1 on 1 iPad or laptop type of system and if my district were to implement that, I can see it allowing for a lot more technology use in my classroom.
My experience in high school was not as focused on creation/composition/improvisation but much more on performance. At the time, this did not strike me as unusual since I was involved in so many performance ensembles. As a bassoonist, I was under the impression that my instrument was also not one of the "jazzy improv types" because it is so traditionally orchestral and band focused.
ReplyDeleteIt really wasn't until college when I first improvised in my jazz methods class where I was taught that there is no limitation simply because of the instrument type. Now, as an educator, I am also of the opinion that the earlier students become comfortable exploring their instrument the better they will develop improvisational and compositional prowess and confidence. I love the idea of your classroom board as it should help your students to interpret notation earlier in life. What great ideas!
Thank you for sharing your experience and opinions!