6.Music Technology

Embracing Technology

There is very little doubt that digital music technology will change how we learn and teach music for the years to come. Students now have the means and the capacity to learn music at a rate faster than we as music educators can teach. We need not be scared of this fact; rather, we need to embrace it.  Innovations in digital music develop at an ever-increasing tempo. It makes little difference whether one is a performing musician, producer, composer, editor, etc., music technology will undoubtedly play a central part in the future.

STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

For many "traditionally" trained music teachers, music technology will no doubt present unchartered territory. One should not be surprised when one sees students creating digital music with previously unknown dexterity.

For many teachers, this will require them to step out of their comfort zone and become real "risk-takers." I feel we need to look at these moments as opportunities.

We need to consider it a victory when students start showing teachers musical creations we thought were not possible or we had no idea how it was done. 

ABOUT THIS CHAPTER

These pages are by no means intended to be an all-inclusive overview of the use of music technology. Most of the material presented here will be approached from the perspective of the novice music technology teacher. These represent some very basic guidelines we hope you find helpful. 

We should make it clear there are countless numbers of music programs available. We are by no means suggesting you need to use the programs that are included on these pages. We've tried to include elements that can be easily transferred across many different programs and formats. 

Don't feel you need a limitless budget to initiate music technology in your classroom. Many programs unaffordable years ago are automatically included in basic laptop and mobile phone products. 

In this chapter you will find:

  • An Intro to Music Sequencing Software
  • A basic toolkit of helpful elements or music production 
  • Some basic lesson ideas for the implementation of music technology 

Selected Pages

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