Music students in middle and even
high school get a very limited view of what the music industry looks like. They
mostly see the rehearsal and the performance side, sometimes they get the
theory side; rarely do they get into the creating side. I wasn’t exposed to the
technical side of the industry until college. It’s difficult to cover all those
areas in the short time that you have students while also successfully getting
them through whatever pieces you have them learning for whatever concert is
coming up. Or is it? What if there was a way that students could talk to people
in the industry and ask them questions about what they do? What if students
could do individual projects on something that interests them in the industry and
share them with the rest of the class? What if students could write reviews of
concerts they went to and share them on a blog for the rest of the class to
enjoy? Turns out they can do all those things and a ton more.
Something that my high school
always did every year that I thought was great was they brought in a guest artist
to play with student ensembles. It’s such a great idea to give kids a chance to
interact with pros, but at the same time, it costs a lot of money. With all the
budget cuts and money problems that schools are dealing with now, it’s not
always feasible to hire and artist to perform with students. But you can Skype
them or Skype an audio engineer or a composer or whoever in the industry that
you can get a hold of and it doesn’t come with a huge price tag. Something as
simple as that opens a dialogue about the other aspects of the industry that middle
school orchestra students wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
I’m not going to lie. Orchestral music
isn’t the most exciting thing in the world (to some). There are many students
in orchestra classes that are there because they need the credit, or a parent
is forcing them. How can I engage these students? Let them learn about what
they are passionate about! Have them research an artist they enjoy listening to
or do a report on how recording equipment works. And then share them with
everyone else. Start a blog for students to post their work on. Have them
create videos in groups. Do a jigsaw with different topics students want to know
about. There are so many options for students to expand their learning outside of
what piece we are playing next.
A
huge part of being a musician is listening to other musicians perform and
reflecting on what you hear and see. But students are busy and can’t make it to
very concert available. I think having a class blog for students to share what
concerts they went to and what they saw would be a great way to not only expose
students to more performances but also to open a dialogue about what students
see at these performances. Having a blog like this doesn’t take much class time
but gives the students 29 other peoples’ point of view of a performance that
they can comment on and ask questions.
Music is a very large industry and middle
school orchestra, band and choir students only get to experience a small part of
it through rehearsing and performing, but with the help of technology, the
whole industry is at their disposal.
Hello Caylee,
ReplyDeleteComing from a fellow orchestra student, I remember one of my favorite performances was when we got to perform with Project Trio (the beat boxing flutist). What an awesome solution to budget problems video calling professionals could be. I think that you bring up an important aspect with the idea of not only including professional musicians in the line up of skype calls, but also audio engineers and composers, etc. If playing the instrument isn't a student's ultimate passion, the other side of what is out there in the music industry might be. I think you have a lot of great ideas! (makes me wish I could have been in your class!)
-Lily
Music is definitely a tricky subject to incorporate technology into - it never seems like we have enough time to get our music performance ready, let alone figure out how to incorporate technology into it. I really liked your idea about a blog for students to share their thoughts about their concert experiences! As a very heavily involved music student from elementary through undergrad, I know how valuable listening and watching performances are... but I also know that high school kids in general (but especially music kiddos is seems) are busy! They don't have time to go to every single concert (or even one or two), but they will hopefully have time to read two or three blogs about performances and reflect on them. Another route I could see being successful is having students listen to (and/or watch) three or four different versions of the same piece being performed - this could be a fantastic way to integrate video or music streaming into a class or into homework. When we have the opportunity to listen to and watch different ways of doing the same thing, it sets students thinking about what they're doing when they perform, and why they are doing it that way!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of a blog! It is a great way to engage students and learn what they are truly thinking! I also like your idea of skype so students can learn so new skills. It seems like you have a great idea on how to incorporate tech into your classroom. It seems to be that you would be able to gather the attention of those students who you seem to be missing.
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