Module 2 Blog Reflection

This week’s focus was on creative musical skills, especially improvisation and composition, and the ways technology can aid both the teacher and the student in those areas. Bauer (2014) offered many suggestions in how technology can help students work on the skills needed to be able to comfortably and fluently improvise. I thought it was interesting that many of the skills are musicianship skills that align with other curriculum goals, such as performing and understanding music theory. One point that I found important was how it is important for an improviser to have opportunities to perform with other musicians. Improvisation is very interactive and conversational, and improvisers need practice and experience in the interactions in order to develop the crucial skills. However, this can be difficult logistically, especially in a school setting. I really liked the alternative solutions in having softwares that help students get the interactive experience without having to deal with the physical set up and logistics. I also like the emphasis on using technology to provide context for students in their creative music making. Listening to examples helps them formulate ideas. In addition, providing an accompaniment for improvisations puts their music making into context. I think the use of accompaniment is especially useful in my teaching setting because it allows students to hear how their part fits into the whole. However, it is not easy for me to play the accompaniment and help individual students at the same time. This is where technology can be extremely useful. It allows me the freedom to teach while providing musical context at the same time. There are many softwares that can be used for this purpose. While the readings mention Band-in-a Box, SmartMusic, and iRealb, I can also see how the playback feature on MuseScore and Noteflight can be used for similar purposes. With MuseScore and Noteflight, one can arrange specific notes and rhythms in the accompaniment to best support the student and the curriculum outcomes in mind. I really enjoyed working on the MuseScore and Noteflight projects. I actually used the programs for my own teaching purposes this week! For instance, I used Noteflight to write out this third position exercise, "In Springtime", for my viola student. It was originally from a violin methods book that is not published for viola. With the help of Noteflight, I was able to use this exercise with my viola student even though the method book did not exist for viola.
Previously, I have only used Noteflight and while I still like the program, I prefer MuseScore for how many features it has for being free. The shortcuts make note entry extremely quick and efficient and the options for editing the layout make for an end product that has a sleek, professional appearance. I also think that the instrument timbres on the playback sounds more sophisticated and has a more realistic sound. I really enjoy arranging music for my students and look forward to using MuseScore more in the future.

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