This week, I really appreciated
reading about incorporating technology into music performance. I thought all of the resources mentioned were
helpful for both individual practice and ensemble rehearsal. Some of the technologies mentioned I already use
during rehearsal time. One of these, is
the use of a hand-held recording device.
Bauer states, “Research states that middle school and high school
students are not always aware of mistakes and when they make them during
performance” (2014, p. 87). I have found
this statement to be absolutely true in my rehearsals. I have also found that, because students are
learning and perhaps do not know what exemplary performance sounds (or feels)
like, they need to be constantly encouraged not to settle for mediocrity. Being about to play back a live recording for
them to hear gives them a totally different, outside perspective. Some of the best conversations about balance,
blend, intonation, phrasing, and dynamics happen after the students have
listened to themselves perform and realized that it’s not as “good” as they
originally thought. It pushes them to
work harder as a team, develops their aural skills, and encourages more
introspective listening. Being able to
record during rehearsal really is an invaluable tool.
On this topic, I have an idea that
has been floating around in my head to try for next year. I haven’t worked out the details, but here’s
what I have so far. I teach Treble Choir
during the school day. They come into
the class as beginning singers and, because it is a small ensemble, we are
really able to work on developing their individual (as well as corporate)
musicianship during the school year.
They often leave much more confident singers than when they
started. I would like to create a
portfolio of live recordings to track our corporate progress throughout the year. This way, they are able to see where they
started from and where we progressed to by the concert. I could definitely use audacity as a tool to
accomplish this. It would be really easy
for me record and save files and then upload them to a class website. Then, students would be able to reflect on
our performance progress, give feedback about what still needs work, and hear
their growth as an ensemble. It would
add a totally new dimension to our classroom rehearsals and I’m excited at the
possibility of piloting that next year. Eventually
I could even see it evolving into the integration of individual student
performance portfolio’s as well to track their sight-reading and part-singing
progress. I would love to get feedback
on this from teachers who may have integrated something like this into their
classroom already.
Lastly, I’m really intrigued by
Smartmusic and Cyberbass. I will keep my
initial thoughts about Smartmusic to myself for now, since I will be looking
into that software more thoroughly this week.
However, I looked into Cyberbass a bit on my own, and the midi
recordings seem to be extremely helpful for each piece included on the
website. I love that they are
immediately downloadable in tutti or for individual voice parts. My only thought was that there was not a very
comprehensive collection of choral repertoire on the site that I could see
myself using. However, it has intrigued
me to look into creating midi recordings for my specific repertoire choices. It seems daunting and time consuming, but
hopefully I will learn to use technology quickly and efficiently for this
task! I do think it will be worth it in
the long run!
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