Integrating Technology in the Music Classroom

With so many wonderful new resources at our fingertips it is easy to get swept way in the 'bells and whistles' of the technology world.  While an interactive lesson is an great avenue for students to be engaged, it is so important for the focus to be educational.  There needs to be a lesson in place, and then a technology avenue to drive the idea home so all students reach understanding.  Technology is also a great way to check for understanding after the lesson, which may or may not have included technology.  Blogging is a great example of this.

It is a crazy idea to bring a bunch of lap tops into a general music room, or a band/choir room and expect the instructor to give up a rehearsal for blogging.  It is however an awesome idea to cover a broad spectrum of curriculum to encourage blogging!  In a world driven by test scores and bottom lines, we simply cannot afford NOT to push the limits outside of our own classroom.  Let's say we are covering Peter and the Wolf (one of my favorite lessons to teach-- simply for the reactions and emotions of the kids!), I want to hear what every child thought about the famous clarinet line.  Did they imagine a cat?  Were they even thinking, and imagining the scenes?  It is just as crazy to go around the room of 20 something students and ask for reactions as it is to bring in lap tops!  Send the kids home and ask them to blog!  Now we are on to something!  Now we are dipping into reading, writing, thought processes, and feeling the music all while using technology!

A pod cast or youtube is a great way to keep this rolling!  With all of the great SmartBoard lessons and interactive listening maps, it should be impossible to lose a child's interest!  Aside from being able to reteach via podcast, we can also encourage student interaction outside of the classroom.  Encouraging the saxophone section to get together and have an improvise session on youtube, open up the discussion boards, and see what happens!  Now they are creating, evaluating, and really experiencing music rather than sitting down, playing what's on the page, packing up and calling it a true musical experience.  Assign your men in your choir to watch a Broadway selection, and then create something as a team, and challenge the girls of the choir to do the same.  Sounds like a Glee episode but really we are touching a lot of the standards with a little thing called youtube! 

All of these tools are wonderful in moderation.  Assigning the jazz band an improve session via youtube is not teaching.  But it does encourage practicing and participation outside of class.  The teaching happens in the class room and can have plenty of technology too!  Watching Maynard Ferguson go to town on youtube as a bell ringer is an experience most teens don't seek out.  But, once seen, they may go home and try to emulate!  What a goal! 

One of the first lessons I have with the fifth grade band is a rhythm lesson on the SmartBoard.  It begins with simple rhythms and how to count.  The rhythms become more complex as the lesson goes on.  The student listens to a rhythm and has to match a corresponding soda pop to it.  For example: Four claps, or four quarter notes is selected.  The student moves to the board and places four sprite cans in the boxes to match the rhythm.  We review the game through out the semester but before Winter break, we raise the stakes.  We divide into teams, and the prizes are, you guessed it-- SODA! The kids really have no idea how much they are learning and having a blast!  It is a win, win situation!

I have the same lessons with my first and second grade music classes but with pantomime.  I was blown away when I used this lesson.  Listen, Look, and then match.  Sounds elementary I know, but who would have thought first and second graders could recognize pitches (sight reading mind you!) and rhythms?  My excitement was overhelming, and the students did not understand what the big deal was.  "It's just a game Mrs. Hahn" and "Wow this is neat" were some of comments from their little voices.  They had no idea what they were really doing!  Our lessons soon became more complex and the initial lesson is now a great assessment tool-- AND FUN!

A classroom page is a great way to stay connected and lose the "I didn't  know the assignment" factor as well as share links and encourage participation.  I have found that the parents really enjoy being able to see what is going on in class and this holds the student responsible, as well as the instructor.  Posting assignments and lessons encourages communication between the child, parent, and teacher on a daily basis.  Johnny comes home and mom or dad asks how his day was and if he learned anything interesting.  The parents can now know the answer and can dig even deeper for an answer!  Who is Wagner?  What do you know about this composer?  Now we have the whole family thinking about the lesson you taught earlier that day making it almost impossible to forget!

While these are great tools, they cannot be utilized without instruction.   My experiences and observations  have been somewhat 'old school' and I have had to get creative with technology in my own classroom.  I am fortunate to have had the mentors I have (although some have and never will jump on the technology bandwagon) as they have taught me how to create an extremely educational lesson, and with technology I am able to drive it home.  I am, however, a firm believer in the good old fashioned lesson.  If you are just throwing technology around to say you are using technology then you aren't teaching anymore.  Build your lesson, and use technology to enhance.  Now you have a well rounded classroom for the technology generation!