The readings of this week examined the
importance of teaching composition through the use of technology to help
students tap into their musical creative potentials.
I
myself fall into the category of teachers who strongly believe in the
importance of music literacy. However, now I am convinced that I should be more
open to trying new conventional and non-conventional ways to reach all students
and help them explore the realm of music regardless of their level and interest
in the subject.
I only teach composition to my music
production students. The general music students have completely missed out on
composition. To me, the idea of teaching composition in a general music class has
always been a bit daunting because the classes usually consist of students that
do not have any musical background. The general music classes that I teach have
become more music appreciation oriented due to the fact that I did not know
about the technology we have been exploring in this course. During these couple
of last weeks, the readings and projects that we have been working on have
brought to life a new horizon with new opportunities and possibilities for me
to explore and have given me new exciting teaching ideas which are having a
great impact in my lesson planning for the next school year. One of them is
composition. I believe that music should be about creating and improvising and
not merely interpreting the works of other people. “Some people believe
composition is one of the highest forms of musical expression. Beyond the
opportunities for creative thinking and expression, engagement in composition
can also result in a deeper understanding of music”(Bauer, 2014, p. 68).
According to Bauer composition should
make up a great part of the music curriculum. It can be taught as a single unit
in any music class, general and instrumental or as a dedicated course. With
today’s available accessible technology teaching composition seems to be easier
than ever because “students can also hear their compositions performed
immediately and are not limited to only composing at a specified difficulty
level for musicians who happen to be available”(Bauer, 2014, p. 63).
My general music students have been using
computers on a regular basis but mainly for preparing presentations and have
been missing out on notation and composition. Although I teach some basic
keyboard I still feel that is not enough. With the web-based technology platforms
such as Soundation and Noteflight that I plan to use next year,
students will be able to enter different scores, compose and also will learn
how to read rhythm and notes correctly.
Even though these technology tools are
great at reaching all students to some extent, they will only be helping tools
to teaching music. My main objective will always be the musical expansion of my
students. I will always guide and remind students that in order for them to
reach their musical growth regardless of their age and musical abilities, they need
to remember that they are the “most important compositional tool and that the
technology doesn’t substitute for their musicianship” (Bauer, 2014, p.66)
References
Bauer,
W. I. (2014). A conceptual framework for technology - Assisted music learning.
In Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and
responding to music (pp. 63-66-68). New York, NY: Oxford University
Press.
I also found the arguments between notational versus loop-based composition to be interesting. As with anything in life, I believe it is important to find the balance here. As musicians, sometimes it is easy for us to get wrapped up in the notational side of the argument because, for one thing, it is how most of us were probably taught before technologies like this were available. We also do not want to dismiss the importance of music literacy. However, if taking notation out of the equation gets students in the music classroom who otherwise never would have signed up and allows them to use creative thinking to create and explore music, then I cannot say no to that. This could also open a door to them feeling more comfortable in exploring music notation in the future. Musicianship can still be encouraged in a class like this. One way to encourage musicianship is by setting objectives in the framework that would still require students to consider musicality, even if it is not notation-based at first. Things like giving specifics on the form of the piece they are composing, or dynamic or articulation considerations could still develop their musicality.
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