One of the most important activities that music educators need to do is encourage our students to listen to music and to expose them to new music. Listening to music provides exemplars and a target for students to reach for. It also fosters musical maturity and appreciation. The difficulty is that this takes time.
Like most classrooms, time in a music ensemble rehearsal is a very precious commodity. It is a struggle to determine what is the best way to spend that time as we need to divide it between warm-ups, rehearsing, announcements, and various other activities and discussions, such as listening activities.
Technology could hold the answer to this dilemma. Music has come to exist mainly online now, rather than in record stores, and thus it has become much more accessible. Increased Internet speeds and technologies, such as the iPod, have increased accessibility and changed the way that we are able to listen to music.
This means that these listening activities could occur at home without the need to spend precious rehearsal time doing so. This however creates a crop of new issues/problems:
· What if a student doesn’t have access?
· What technology is the most effective to use? Podcasts? Internet radios?
· How do we monitor and hold students accountable for listening?
· How can we assess their understanding of what they are listening to?
· Copyright and fair use issues
I believe in the end, the solution must address these issues for it to be a worthwhile and truly make a difference. The ultimate goal is to expose our students to new music and develop a deep understanding of music.
Eric, I love your goal of encouraging students to listen to music and exposing them to new music! And, I would imagine you are right -- so much is now available online.
ReplyDeleteTime is certainly a concern...both in the classroom and outside of it for both teachers and students. Accessability and assessment are also important issues to consider. I have some thoughts to share...although I'm sure some of my ideas are things you are already thinking about...
I imagine you would want to search for and choose the musical pieces yourself, and arrange them by genre for your students to choose from. I also thought the music could be presented in a couple of ways -- either by WebQuest or by iPod. (1) A WebQuest would be available anytime there is Internet access. Do most of your students have access to this either at home or a local library? (2) iPods are portable which makes this a nice choice. Maybe grant funds could help with the purchase of a classroom set? (I remember you have 110 students, though!) Of course, you'd have to deal with signing out and getting back your equipment!
Both WebQuests and iPods allow a student to do this as homework...moving it out of the classroom.
For assessment, what about a collaborative effort with an English instructor (write a reflection paper), Math instructor (hmmm?) or History instructor (write about a historical composer). This could, potentially, make for a great project with dual credit for the student, which is an added incentive!
Eric: Great ideas! All four of my children stayed in the band through high school, and one of the benefits was their understanding and appreication of music.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if there is any teenager on our planed who does not own an iPod so accessiblity may not be an issue. iPods seem more prevalent than high speed Internet access.
There are several ways the iPods could be used. You could have students listen to and critique performances. You could also use them to introduce different composers and genres.
Unfortunately, in our test based culture, the arts get pushed asided. You really are helping your students develop some life long skills.
The power of music, I feel, is underrated by many. Whenever I experience moments of complete and utter frustration about a task - I close the door to my computer room and "jam" to the Beatles. It's amazing - after one CD the thoughts and ideas are flowing - no more grid lock!
ReplyDeleteI guess in reading through your post, my guess is that the problem you want to focus on is how to "squeeze" everything (listening to new music genres) into a already jam packed instructional day. And that students are to listen to different types of music, using the genre presentation as a scaffold from which to build/enhance their own vocal skills. I agree with you, listen tasks can easily be given out and completed as homework assignments. Question about copyright and fair use considerations - What procedures are you currently using now for music? I know Durand's band needs to purchase rights to use any music they use. Or can you generate genre listening lists for students so that they can use music they already have at home? Are you working with chorus (credit class in Michigan) or choir (non-credit in Michigan) ? That makes a difference in how serious students are about getting their assigned tasks done=8-)
If music can be legally stored at school in a "network" folder, students could access the material using any school computer. All they would need is a set of ear buds/headset.