Having practical experience is critical in the music teaching industry. Today, Music educators can leverage various strategies to boost their teaching skills. The Music Tech Teacher is one of the most effective methods teachers can use. Read on to learn more about this platform and how to incorporate technology in a music class.
About the Music Tech Teacher Podcast
This podcast show is ideal for instructors who are passionate about music education. Midnight Music’s Katie Wardrobe hosts this podcast, whose episodes come with actionable ideas, tips, lesson plans, and tutorials. Apart from being a consultant, speaker, and education trainer, Katie has experience in music technology.
Aspiring music teachers who do not know what’s new about the podcast show should understand that there are numerous informative listings available. Musictechteacher.com, on the other hand, is a non-profit and personal website that Ms. Garrett founded. The site incorporates Ms. Garrett’s music technology classes and comes with music composition tips, a quizzes page, lessons, student work, games, and worksheets.
Integrating Technology in a Music Classroom
Not many music educators know how to integrate technology in a music classroom or the available options. Often, the availability of numerous options leaves you overwhelmed and confused. What devices should you buy to help you work smoothly full time and give you sufficient knowledge? Read on to learn what you should do.
- Choose and focus on one activity.
- Do it repeatedly until you become an expert.
- Practice consistently every day to catch up with advancements in the industry
Remember, having an emergency strategy is critical regardless of what you choose to do with technology. Be prepared to handle things should they happen against your expectations and know what to do in the event of a worst-case scenario. Here are tips to help you integrate technology into your elementary music lessons.
● Leverage Video
Advancements in the technology industry have made video recording tasks easy. Whether you are a piano teacher or even a high school student, you can easily record videos using a mobile device. Experts say that video is a powerful capture and feedback tool. Today, nearly everybody owns a video creation gadget that they can use to record captivating videos. Teachers and their students can use video in various ways, as seen below.
- Produce tutorial videos
- Record students as they perform
- Provide assessment and feedback
- Allow students to demonstrate their skills
- Magnify music instruments
Teachers can use their iPads, tablets, or smartphones to record videos. Students, on the other hand, can borrow their parent’s gadgets. Teachers can even use advanced cameras to facilitate proper recording practices. Extra equipment that can aid video recording activities includes a mount and tripod to stabilize the camera and enhance video quality and an external microphone for better audio quality.
● Laptops
A laptop can come in handy to boost performance in a music composition project. You can use SoundCloud, an application that requires the use of laptops. This application is free, and it allows users to upload backing sounds during a music lesson. Music teachers at the Green Acres school can even upload the full format of these songs.
SoundCloud is an excellent platform where music educators can upload musical creations from their students to facilitate marking. This software is audio-only, and it eliminates pressure from your students who have difficulties recording videos.
SoundCloud liberates the students and helps teachers execute precise marking. Using laptops in a music classroom is an ideal way of saving printing paper. It allows your students to listen to themselves when you playback their recordings to them. You can also share tasks with your learners virtually.
● Create Quizzes
Technology-based quizzes are reusable, media-smart, shareable, engaging, and fun, and you do not have to struggle with marking. What’s more, there are numerous quiz pages online that meet your specific needs. Again, you can leverage available online quiz tools to create and customize your quizzes depending on your preferences. Some of these include Kahoot, Plickers, Quizzes, and Playposit that allow you to create video-based quiz templates. Quiz pages come in handy to help you with:
- Assessing and strengthening music theory understanding
- Analyzing student listening and response activities
- Analyzing and strengthening music history and style knowledge
- Including timed questions that appear while the video is in progress to enhance it
- Examine music knowledge and skills such as notation software shortcuts.
- Creation of exit tickets
● Interactive Whiteboards
Interactive whiteboards are fast becoming popular and overtaking traditional chalkboards and whiteboards. With these boards, teachers can demonstrate notes for their students onboard, allowing them to make changes on the go. You can use these whiteboards for song sharing, teaching music notes and what they mean, and music writing procedures.
Examples you use on the interactive whiteboard enables students to view and hold discussions when the whole class meets. Interactive whiteboards feature pens and erasers that you can use to highlight critical points and fix errors.
● Video Creation
Video creation tools are crucial in the music teaching industry. You can either create tutorial videos or let students create their videos as they play musical instruments, or sing to facilitate marking. Leverage free sheet music available on various online platforms to make this exercise easier. When it comes to video creation, you and your students can use any techno-savvy video creation gadget you have.
Tablets and smartphones are ideal for video creation. Videos allow music teachers to magnify things, and provide student progress evaluations and feedback. These videos are excellent for visual learners who want to identify and correct mistakes instead of hearing them.
● Rhythmic Patterns
You can create rhythmic patterns using drum sequencers available online or on any free music creation website. With these tools, music teachers can create fun, fast, and flexible song patterns. You and your students can use them in various ways that include:
- Teaching drum kit basics
- Use as an offbeat metronome
- Creating a rhythmic backing for rap lessons
- Exploring beatboxing
- Exporting and integrating them in different software
- Learning a wide range of musical styles
Some of the suitable video creation options include: Incredbox, Isle of Tune, Groove Pizza, and GarageBand app on iPad
● Recording and Composing
You can use digital audio workstations and other robust recording software to execute various creative and valuable tasks during music lessons. While there are numerous software options in the market today, you should only work with the best flexible software to achieve remarkable results. Some of them include:
- Notion
- Soundtrap
- Audacity (no MIDI)
- Ableton Live
- GarageBand
- Logic
- BandLab
- Pro Tools
Digital audio workstations can help you:
- Record audio
- Develop backing tracks
- Compose and produce original music
- Compose video and film game scores
- Initiate digital storytelling
- Create music cover versions
- Create radio shows and podcasts
- Songwriting and Chords
Today, you can access various songwriting and evaluation resources online. Many of these resources come in handy to assist music teachers and learners in the learning process. HookTheory, for example, comes with some essential features that include:
- Harmonic assessment of songs
- Educational songwriting data and techniques
- Playable, interactive, and graphic-based notation
- Graphic-based notation that is compatible with Youtube videos
- Common chord advancement information
- You can leverage the HookTheory platform to:
- Assess the harmonic composition of songs
- Execute songwriting lessons
- Creation of cover versions
- Composition of original songs
- Play-along
Setting up with a Notation and Options for Notation Software
Different notation software is available today. As a result, choosing the ideal one for your needs can be a difficult task. Here are some options to ease your search.
- io and Noteflight are ideal platforms for iPad and online use.
- NotateMe is robust music notation and composition software that comes with excellent handwritten music identification properties. Leverage this application to enter music notation using a stylus or your hand on a smartphone or tablet precisely and fast. You can access this app from Chrome.
- If you prefer software downloads, opt for Finale, Sibelius, Notion, and Dorico.
You can use notation software in various ways like:
- Composing simple rhythms and melodies
- Creating drills and warm-ups
- Musical arrangements
- Write 12 bar blues chord progression.
- Provide examples or worksheets
You can leverage notation software templates to:
- Create a standard score structure for your students that includes instruments, measures, form, and tempo.
- Create a unique melody and rhythm
- Offer your students a notation score that features a pre-written accompaniment. The learners can incorporate their own melodies.
Develop a Singing Wall Presentation
To create a singing wall, add video or audio to your wall presentations and include QR codes. Exhibit a piece of writing, notation, or writing piece and integrate a QR code that links to a video or audio file of the student playing, singing, or speaking.
Display a picture, piece of writing, or notation and add a QR code that links to an audio or video file of the student singing, playing, or speaking.
How to Create a Singing Wall Presentation
- Develop the visual component or something to exhibit on the wall
- Record your students singing, speaking, or playing musical instruments. Your recording should be in video or audio format.
- Upload the video or audio file to an online location like SoundCloud, Youtube, Google Drive, or Dropbox
- Copy the video or audio link
- Paste the link inside the QR Stuff box
- Download the QR code, print, and include it in the display
- Parents, students, and other music teachers can then scan the QR code on their iPads, tablets, or smartphones. Users can download a QR code reader for free.
Take Away
- Music Tech Teacher is an ideal platform for the modern music teacher who wants to take lessons to the next level.
- The music industry is evolving. As a result, music educators should embrace modern tools to boost their teaching skills. Continued learning is also inevitable, especially for instructors who want to beat their competitors.
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