Saxophone3286's Blog

On September 3rd, 2009, I had the opportunity to ask a Middle School band director about their usage and philosophy regarding integrating technology into the classroom. Before this interview, I always considered technology in the music class to be as basic as using a CD player. However, from this interview, I realized that there are many more ways to include technology in the music class.

First of all, the teacher that I interviewed said they have easy accessibility to computer labs, keyboards, midi files, professional metronomes and tuners, as well as CD players, TVs and media. She also finds all of these items very helpful in her classroom. She believes that some of the most important pieces of technology in her classroom are the tuners and metronomes. “I require that every student has a metronome and tuner available to them at the beginning of the year,” claimed the teacher. She believes that these devices are exceptionally useful when teaching 7th and 8th graders, because they “allow students to work on intonation, time, rhythm, and musical performance in class as well as at home while practicing,” (anonymous teacher). She also thinks that these devices are practical to everyday use for musicians of all ages.

The teacher also mentioned the importance of computers in the music classroom. She believes that computers are an essential part of music simply because there are unlimited resources available on the Internet. She says “I previously have assigned my students to watch a video of a professional artist on www.youtube.com, which gave them practice on a computer….I also had the students use the internet to reasearch different composers.” She also mentioned the use of music notation software and midi files from which she had given students group projects and asked them to use computer notation software to compose and listen to their music.

Overall, the teacher believes that the use of technology is important in schools because it allows for them to further develop their musical skills. She believes that technology should be a necessary part of music education because it gives students access to new information and learning material that they wouldn’t normally have access to. She also thinks that the use of technology makes teaching basic concepts easier, and enhances their learning potential. “One of the most important reasons to incorporate technology into schools is to not only teach them music skills, but also to give them necessary skills that will transfer to the real world, and other classes as well,” (teacher).