Interactivity #4

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Atb02nrpTTXpdHI0SkJYWWp3WHRHQ1J0QzI2RngzUmc

(link to spreadsheet)

When approaching this activity, I wanted to choose a lesson plan that was clear and detailed. I chose this lesson plan because it was a simple theory lesson that is a staple lesson in any musical theory classroom. I also chose this because if I continue on to teach music, I will inevitably encounter, or use, this lesson with my own classes and I felt it would benefit me and my future students to further analyze this lesson.

I noticed three (3) gaps within the lesson plan in specific teaching strategies. I notated my own changes in blue font. The first change, or gap, that I filled in was in establishing and helping the students to better understand what the chords sound like, and what they should expect to hear and sound like when their chord is required. I included a teacher-centered step in which the teacher plays each chord on the piano as the students build and sing it. This provides a base for the students to help them with their intonation and general understanding of the sound of the chord. The second change I made was another teacher-centered step where the teacher went through and demonstrated how the students are to step forward and what actions they are to take when required to participate. The last change I made was a student-centered step where the teacher played a chord on the piano and, without the help of the teacher, the students built and identified the chords on their own. This is somewhat of an assessment stage for the teacher to recognize if the students are understanding the lesson and their roles in the chords.

The technology used is essential to teaching this lesson on chord progressions because it is a previously recorded, pop song that the students may have had the opportunity to encounter before. This technology is also essential because it is a common, easy to listen to recording that uses other instruments, different rhythms and other musical decorations to go along with the chords. These decorations can either guide the students to correctly identifying the chord progressions, or provide a challenge in recognizing the chords, which will occur more and more further on into their musical education and at a more challenging level.

Interactivity #3

I feel that music is one of the subjects that has fully embraced the good (and bad) of technology within education. Technology has taken over so many parts and processes of music over the years that it may even wipe out live performances all together. Yes, technology has given us recordings of live performances, cultural reach, and a world full of information we wouldn't have had such easy access to without it...but BECAUSE of these advances, the job market for live musicians is becoming smaller and smaller. The good in the relationship between technology and music, I believe, lays mainly in a classroom or academic setting.

Technology is a great tool to utilize and teach in the music classroom. We divided our chart into specific categories of technology and then added data based on those categories (composition/arranging, cross-cultural, recording/performing, etc). I feel that as the list goes on, the examples start out broad and then shrink down into detailed programs and applications. In fact, most of my own data is derived from applications for already existing and mentioned technologies. What our chart shows is that there are so many different resources for just a few specific aspects of music. Each is slightly different in their own way, but they all basically do the same thing. I believe we should teach the importance of technology in music along with the importance of keeping live music in the spotlight.