Having utilized notation software in my education and teaching experiences, it was interesting to read about and to gain more knowledge about the capabilities and uses of notation software in music education. It was fascinating to find how all three articles provided similar uses for notation software, as well as some of their own unique ideas. It was also exciting and reassuring for me to discover that many of the uses that the authors describe for notation software are concepts that I have used or that I am currently utilizing in my own teaching. However, it was also interesting to learn about some of the different ways that notation programs are being utilized for music education and how I may be able to incorporate them into my own teaching. Also, through reading the articles, I believe that I have been opened up to a great deal more possibilities as I continue to use and learn about music notation software.
As I read the articles about notation software, I discovered that many of the uses the authors provide for notation software are ideas that I am already using myself. Although many of the uses are basic and obvious uses for notation software, it was nice to see that I am making some productive use of my notation software. For example, the authors mentioned using notation software to rewrite, or to create new or more legible parts for students to use. I have found myself doing this many times. I have come across many pieces in my music library that are missing a part. Therefore, to have parts for all the students to play, I have utilized notation software to create parts from the score so that all the parts are available to students. In addition, it has been helpful to cover parts for instruments that I do not have in my ensemble or have a limited number of in my ensemble. For example, I have used notation software to create a part for a different instrument to help fill out all the parts in a piece. With notation software, I have found this to be a much easier task than transposing or converting music by hand. In addition, I have found the articles to be particularly relevant as I am preparing my eighth grade band for a performance with the high school marching band. A concept that was mentioned by the articles, and I have considered myself, but not taken full advantage of, is using notation software to create more legible parts for students to read. In my preparation for our marching band performance, some of the music is hand-written and I have found that many of the students are asking questions about notes because they are not used to reading hand-written manuscript. With notation software I could re-write the parts to make them easier for the students to read, which would probably eliminate many questions about notes and help to make more efficient use of rehearsal time. In addition, through the marching band performance preparation, I have seen how valuable notation software can be when having an instrument that is not typically written for in marching band music. I have an oboe player in my eighth grade band, which is great; however, there are no oboe parts in any of the arrangements that we will be performing. Therefore, notation software has made it easier to create an oboe part from an already existing part through the input and transposition features of my music notation program. In addition to the re-writing and creating of new parts, I have also found some of the other features of notation software that were mentioned to be very useful in my education and teaching experiences. For example, I have found notation software useful when I have had to do composition projects because I was able to use notation software to more easily write the music as well as for playback to hear what I was composing. In addition, notation software has been useful in arranging music. I have found a melody to a song and I have been able to create arrangements for small ensembles. This has been particularly useful when we have students play holiday carols in small groups and we need different instrumentations of the music to meet class needs. I have also found notation software to be extremely useful, as the articles mentioned, for the creation of warm-up exercises and worksheets for the students. In order to facilitate the warm-up process for my ensembles, I have used notation software to create warm-up exercises that meet the specific needs of my ensembles. I have also used the worksheet features of Sibelius to create worksheets to use for my students. For example, it has been easy to quickly create exercises and worksheets about note reading and rhythm values that I have used with my fifth grade students to help them learn basic musical concepts. Along with my own uses for notation software, I have also attempted to use notation software for student learning and composition. As the articles mentioned, I think a valuable use of notation software is for teaching musical concepts such as composition to students. Although my experience is limited, I have taken students to the computer lab to learn about and experiment with notational software. The students always seem to have fun with this activity.
Through my experiences, I have already found notation software to be extremely valuable; however, after reading the articles, I learned that there are many other ways that I could be using music notation software for music education. There are many features of music notation software that I think I take for granted, such as the music playback feature. However, after reading the articles I have realized that there are many more possibilities for music notation software than I have already experimented with in my experience. For example, the articles mentioned using the playback features of the software for listening activities. Students may have to listen to musical excerpts and then write out a portion of the melody that has been hidden from their view, helping with ear-training. In addition, playback features could be used for practice and testing. Through my experience, it has been helpful to have a recording to use as scaffolding for the students. With the playback features, tempos and expression can be added that the students could match in practice or for a playing test. In addition, I think that it could be valuable to use notation software to show students how their parts fit together in a piece of music. A teacher could show the students a score and then play the music for the students, showing them how the parts fit together. I also thought that it was interesting to find that notation software could be used to analyze pieces. I did not realize that notation software could search and find like features in pieces. This could also be helpful in performance because it could allow students to identify like parts in music so that they could practice the music more efficiently, helping them to build confidence. In addition, students could have the valuable experience of experimenting with arranging and musical timbres through the copy and paste and transposition features of notation programs. I also think that it could be valuable to give students a more in-depth experience with composition. Additionally, I thought that it was interesting to learn about the capabilities of notation software to create musical selections for use in other documents or to even create written documents in the notation software in the music itself. This is a tool that could be invaluable to me as I continue my education and teaching.
With all the capabilities that music notation software has, it truly can be an invaluable tool. As the articles stated, there are many ways that notation programs can be used in music education to simplify the process of creating and learning about music. However, as with all technology, it takes time to learn and utilize, but once one learns about the many features of these programs, the possibilities are limitless. I look forward to continuing to utilize music notation software for the many tasks that I already use it for as well as to learn and implement many of the other features that could be beneficial in music education.
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I find that music notation software can help give a more 'customized' approach to the educational environment we are teaching in as well. Like you mentioned above, this kind of technology allows us to re-write or add in new parts to fit the needs of the ensemble, make music more legible, or easily create our own arragmentments catered to the group rather than settle for someone else's which may not work as well. Not only are our students more engaged, but as educators, this is yet another way to become more involved and take greater ownership over our groups which thus give us better quality ensembles and allow music students to advance to a higher level of customized learning.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago, when my marching band was doing an arrangement of Leonard Bernstein’s Profanation from his Jeremiah Symphony, I had to re-arrange some parts for my instrumentation. It may have been a redundant effort but I never use trombones in marching band, I use only baritones. When I received my arrangement from Key Poulan, I had to study the score, analyze it, and determine how best to transfer three trombone and two baritone parts (which weren’t always doubling something else) into three distinct baritone parts. When I was in high school, the first solution to this problem may have been to simply look at all five available parts and hand out the three of the five most relevant to the music. But with the advancements of notation software, I was able to rewrite three baritone parts, occasionally melding two parts into one, and hand it to my students with no worries. Also, since I could listen back to the parts as I was writing them, I could hear possible errors and correct them before I gave the music to them to practice.
ReplyDeleteMark,
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas about using music notation software.
I also like Allysa's characterization of music notation software as being able to provide a "customized" musical education for students. This is probably true in general about many music instructional technologies. I think it also relates to the concept of "differentiated instruction." For instance, see this.