YouTube: YouTube is the biggest everything for music education (yes I said biggest everything). YouTube is the largest catalogue for studio-recorded and live music (and integrated arts) in every genre from Jazz to Classical to K-Pop and Bollywood. YouTube offers access to lessons and performances by independent artists in ways never though possible before. Just imagine teaching musical form to high school theory students using this!
The possibilities for using YouTube in the classroom are possibly endless, BUT I believe that it should be used as a supplementary resource. YouTube is a tool, it is not the teacher and it should not replace the teacher.
Ultimate Guitar: ultimate-guitar.com is a library of user-created guitar and bass (and occasional ukulele) tablature and chord charts. Users also create and share reviews of guitar and bass products as well as reviews of new albums. All of the chord charts are transposable in all 12 keys which makes this a wonderful tool for finding accompaniments that fit a student's vocal range. I used this website to teach myself guitar and bass in high school. Do I have impeccable technique from this website? No. What I did gain from from this website over time was the ability to quickly recognize chord progressions, transpose them on the fly, and learn several songs in a short period of time to accompany a large number of performers. Overall a very solid tool for teachers and students that is also available as an app for mobile devices.
Finale, SmartMusic, and Auralia: In my opinion, Finale, SmartMusic, and Auralia are the three most important software programs for the modern day music educator. Briefly, Finale is the industry standard music notation software, Auralia is the industry standard for ear training and assessing aural skills, and SmartMusic is the industry standard for practicing and assessing sight-reading. I've personally have barely scratched the surface of what is possible with these softwares, but I know that the concrete assessments that SmartMusic and Auralia provides to teachers is vital data that administrators will demand from us.
I could go on and on and on about all of the countless other music apps, softwares, and hardwares of that music educators have access to. With technology, music education has become an exciting new frontier and the possibilities for what students can do in the music classroom is truly endless. I believe that these technologies should be embraced. I do not think that technology diminishes the need for music education in the classroom, but rather enhances the opportunities that we offer to our students.
Other music technologies and websites teachers should be aware of:
- www.sfskids.org
- www.soundation.com
- www.classicsforkids.com
- www.incredibox.com
- www.melodystreet.com
- www.isleoftune.com
- Garage Band
- Amp Modeling Technology
- Live sound and Recording Hardware (mixers, speakers, interfaces, microphones etc..)
Why can't youtube be the teacher? Isn't there a TEACHER, they are just on youtube?
ReplyDeleteApologies to the ensuing rant but you got my juices flowing! Sure! There are teachers on YouTube, but what are these teachers teaching? When learning an instrument, most kids use YouTube to learn HOW to play a song they like. That is how I used ultimate-guitar when I first started. However, where YouTube, ultimate-guitar, and now Yousician fall short is the WHY! WHY am I playing what I am playing and WHY does this order of notes work together? Why should I play this phrase soft and the next phrase loud? WHY is when music theory and musicianship are applied to the HOW of playing a song. Through YouTube, students may get some sense of the WHY, but struggle to define the WHY. Teachers help students define the WHY, encourage students to use higher orders of thinking, and give real-time feedback when these technologies cannot.
DeleteWith YouTube, students learn to play notes in order. With a teacher, students learn the WHY. Notes on staff become dynamic phrases with questions, answers, and cadences. WHY leads students to transposition and improvisation. Understanding WHY separates a student who can play notes on an instrument and eventually quits band by 8th grade (true story) from the student that becomes a lifelong musician, whether or not that musician becomes their career path. Most importantly, WHY gives students the foundation to create their own music.
Let's just say I'm really thankful for the teacher that finally helped me discover what I now call the WHY.
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