01/08/18
First Technology in Music Education workshop done! After touching on some of the technical elements of the course and discussing some of the overarching ideas, I am looking forward to extending my skills and knowledge in technology as a musician, and am excited to work out how to use these in an educational context.
I realised how I didn’t know too much about MIDI and sequencers, but I found some videos and this article that helped me understand them both a bit more.
Here's a pretty entertaining video for absolute beginners of MIDI.
From what I’ve seen so far, the use of MIDI and sequencers both have a lot of potential benefits in music education, particularly the accessibility and ability to experiment and explore sounds and structures in a way that doesn’t depend on proficiency in notation or on an instrument. However, there are limitations to both. The fact that MIDI is actually code instead of live/recorded sound means that the sounds that students experience are sometimes of a limited quality and are unrealistic in nature (of course, there are cool sounds you can get from MIDI that aren’t possible otherwise). While using sequencers is extremely accessible, this article points out that the ‘human element’ of music making is lost. Although it seems that the potential benefits outweigh the cost in a stage 4&5 context.
I really liked the idea of using DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) in a classroom context. Particularly, the wide range of activities and skills available to then set parameters and limitations for students, encouraging creativity while also scaffolding a minimum level of success.
Also, the Chrome Music Lab seems like a really cool resource that I’m putting here for safe keeping. E.g. I will definitely be using this to help explain harmonics to my keen violin students.
