Module 4: Performing Music with Technology

This week, our focus was all about performing music with technology. We interacted with our PLNs, watched videos about Digital Audio and Audacity on lynda.com, did a project using Audacity, reviewed SmartMusic and youtube as performing tools, read the chapter in the book on performing, and discussed what we read in the discussion boards. We also discussed last week's projects from using Soundation.

First, I read about performing with technology and got lots of great new ideas for using technology in the band room.  I already use quite a bit of technology at the elementary level with performing (to the point where if my technology is not working for some reason, I am at a loss as to what to do sometimes), but I have been greatly struggling with teaching band.  I sent home a survey.  It seems that most of my band students have access to what I would consider the normal types of technology at home, including a working computer and internet access.  I am considering looking into pricing for SmartMusic, because I think it would greatly inspire my students to practice at home.

I contributed my pinterest board about school-related projects on my PLN, and I've gotten several kind remarks about it's helpfulness and several new ideas for things to pin from others. Pinterest is a great social media tool because you organize and permanently post whatever you want to remember in a place that is easily accessible and can be seen by many others.  I have found it to be a useful extension of my PLN.

I found the videos on lynda.com related to Digital Audio Principles to be much easier to follow this week, primarily because I have so often used the technologies describes such as input/output devices, misers, and microphones.  I found the course about Audacity to be wonderfully helpful.  I would have been remiss without its instruction, as I found the Audacity project to be rather taxing.

The Audacity project involved using a lot of features of Audacity that I have never before used.  For the most part, I have simply recorded into one track whatever I've needed.  I have never used Audacity for mixing tracks because I use a mac and am used to and know GarageBand better.  I found Audacity to be quite comparable to GarageBand, however.  The most complex part of the project was undoubtedly trying to cleanly edit an extremely syncopated piece of music, all of whose musical phrases seemed to start on beat two of the measure instead of beat 1.  Overall, the project was very informative and helped me to become familiar with software that I would not have originally chosen.  I could see it being very useful in my classroom since GarageBand is not readily available.  I have already talked to the technology person at my school about downloading the software into the students 1:1 mini laptops.

Bauer, W.I. (2014). Music Learning Today. New York, NY: Oxford.