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There are many master teachers who make middle school general music a wonderful class where students learn about music and achieve national and state standards.

For others, however, the mention of middle school general music produces a shudder.

The Problem

In some schools, general music is where students who want nothing to do with band, orchestra, and choir are placed. "Placed" might be a politically correct term-"dumped" may be more accurate. In such classes, behavior issues are rampant, and administrators experience a heavy disciplinary load from those classes.

Seven years ago, my district added a high school and moved from the junior high to the middle school model. General music was eliminated, and every student was expected to enroll in band, orchestra, or choir (with exceptions made only for programs such as AVID and remedial math and English courses). Although I do believe that music is for every child and that every child is for music, I do not believe that band, choir, and orchestra are the solution for every child. As a result-my own philosophy is at odds with that of our middle school model.

The problem is clear-any student who doesn't play an instrument, doesn't want to practice at home, or doesn't want to pay instrumental fees (rental, books, reeds, oil, etc.) signs up for choir. This means that our choir ends up with two kinds of students-those that want to be there, and those who were placed there against their will.

We follow a PBIS-like strategy in our school, trying to encourage students to be above-the-line. Even so, some students deliberately choose to be below-the-line. I do not have any issue teaching these students (and usually have good relationships with them), but I don't think choir is the right place for them. Some teachers simply want to get rid of those kids-I just want to teach them in a different setting.

The Solution

Thankfully, my administration was willing to let me hand-pick a group of 8th grade students - who have negatively impacted choir rehearsals in the past - and to put them into a non-singing class. My school is a 1:1 iPad school, and in an attempt to best serve these students, I created an iPad Music Class where we can meet state standards through music technology, rather than singing or playing a traditional instrument. I would note that this class is not open to everyone at the school, as we don't want to impact enrollment in our band, choir, or orchestra programs.

The "iPad Music Class" is based on the concept of using GarageBand on the iPad to teach about music technology. I am developing the course as I go along, but I am relying on Barbara Freedman's book, "Teaching Music Through Composition: A Curriculum Using Technology" and Mark Czech's Music Technology course at Hopkins High School (Minnesota). As both Ms. Freedman's and Mr. Czech's work is at the high school level, I have had to adapt the material both to work on GarageBand for iOS as well as to work with middle school students. My goal is to make something that works, that kids like, and is sustainable over time.

This is the beginning of the process, but so far, the students I chose for the course are happy to be there, and the students remaining in the choir are pleased not to have the disruptions of the past. There has not been a single complaint from students in the iPad course or from those in choir. Two weeks in, the course is a win-win, and when my principal recently stopped in, she was amazed to see kids working on projects, even though we are in the early days of the class. Barbara Freedman suggests offering a lot of discovery (or "play") time in the process, and so I have done so; it is amazing how much energy students will put into creating music with GarageBand.

As we go I am creating a book for students (there is a lot of terminology in music technology!), and we are using Schoology to list student assignments-all which are to be done (and graded) in class. The goal isn't to make homework for students, but to help them to enjoy learning about music.

Why GarageBand?

GarageBand is free, and every skill learned in GarageBand for iOS can be transferred to any other DAW. Furthermore, GarageBand for iOS offers touch-based instruments plus the ability to connect instruments via USB or Bluetooth MIDI. We also have a few JamStiks in our program (a MIDI guitar with "how to learn guitar" apps) and there is a plethora of piano-learning apps on the market. As a result, students should also be able to learn some guitar and/or basic piano skills throughout the year.

What's Next?

I am interested in bringing another non-singing course to our 7th grade students next year. As a middle school, we see students in grades 6-8. I feel strongly that there is nothing wrong with asking students to try a year of choir in 6th grade. By the end of 6th grade, we clearly know who is enjoying the choir experience and who might need another option.

My thought is to move those students into a 7th grade ukulele class (I still have to figure out how to get ukuleles and how to play one myself), and then into the 8th grade music technology course. The key for us, however, is to avoid making the non-singing courses an option for students but instead to leave those courses for hand-picked students. The end result is a win for everyone involved.
Christopher J. Russell, Ph.D, is a middle school choir teacher at Oltman Middle School in St. Paul Park, Minnesota, which is part of the South Washington County School District. He speaks across the country on the topic of technology in music education, is the author of a blog called techinmusiced.com, and has two books on the subject available on the iBookstore.
Photo by December Orphen

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Rethinking Middle School General Music | SmartMusic

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There are many master teachers who make middle school general music a wonderful class where students learn about music and achieve national and state standards. For others, however, the mention of middle school general music produces a shudder. In some schools, general music is where students who want nothing to do with band, orchestra, and choir are placed.

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* Record music in a home studio setting.

* Create beats for music production.

* Create original music for media use.

* Develop an online music presence.

* Distribute music online.

* Drive traffic to your online music websites.

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Record music in a home studio setting. * Create beats for music production. * Create original music for media use. * Develop an online music presence. * Distribute music online. * Drive traffic to your online music websites.

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The purpose of the Music Production & Engineering class is to introduce and foster the study and practice of where the technology and music worlds intersect. This program can serve all of the...

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Like more and more states around the country, my state is experiencing growth in music technology programs in our schools. A major challenge for many of these teachers is that they were not trained to teach music technology. My music education degree included classes in brass, woodwind, string, and vocal methods - and I had to pass a piano proficiency exam - but I had no classes in music technology. While some colleges are now offering some classes in music technology as electives, many post-secondary music education programs still do little to prepare graduates to teach music technology.

If you are going to be teaching a music technology class, the first question to be answered is, "What am I supposed to be teaching in my music technology class?" The NAfME national standards for music technology offers is a great place to find the answers. If your school system doesn't currently have any curriculum standards for music technology, NAfME has several great resources that provide direction about how to adopt the national standards at the local and state level here and here . Given those resources, I will not go into creating and adopting standards. Instead, I will address the question of what you are going to be teaching in the music technology class.

Simply put you are going to be teaching three things: creating, performing and responding. For this article, I will focus on the standards under "creating."

Creating

I know I risk upsetting some people with this statement, but we really don't teach much about creating in our ensemble classes. Our ensemble classes focus on performing. Students learn to perform the rhythms, melodies, structures, and expression that we ask them to play on their instruments. We don't generally ask them to create the rhythms, melodies, etc. One of the unique and really wonderful things about teaching music technology is that we are actually teaching them to create the music that will later be presented.

Creating is broken down into four sub-categories: imagine, select, evaluate and refine, and present.

1. Imagine

The first standard is "imagine" which is described in the NAfME standards as "generating rhythmic, melodic and harmonic IDEAS using digital tools." Lesson plans for this standard must include teaching students about the digital tools that they will use to generate their ideas. One of the first lessons that I teach my beginning level students is called Exploring the MIDI Keyboard. Here students learn about all of the different sounds that the keyboard is capable of making, from a basic grand piano to guitars, brass, strings, and synthesizers to drums and ethnic instruments. The students spend most of the class with headphones on listening to sounds and creating a list of their favorite sounds that they discovered.
Exploring the MIDI Keyboard Lesson Plan
Another lesson under "imagine" is Melodic Improvisation. In this lesson, I provide the students with a template file that contains a four measure bass loop using a I-V-vi-IV chord progression. I use a whiteboard marker to indicate the root notes for each chord on the keys of the MIDI keyboard. The students first practice playing the root notes with the chord changes as they listen to the bass loop. When they comfortable with hearing the chord changes and playing the corresponding root, I talk to them about placing notes in between the root notes to create a melody. We discuss contour, stepwise versus disjunct motion, etc. in creating a melody. Once they have created something that they like through their improvisation, they record their melody in the DAW.

2. Select

The next standard in the Creating category is to "select melodic, rhythmic and harmonic ideas to develop into a larger work using digital tools." Again you will be teaching students how to use digital tools to take their ideas and begin developing them into larger chunks of music. One of the first lessons under this standard that I use is the AABA Project. The focus of this lesson is for students to begin to learn the simple forms and structures of music and how to use digital tools to create them.

I provide a template with four tracks labeled drums, guitar, bass and keyboard/synthesizer. The students use loops to create a four measure drum, guitar, bass and keyboard track. Next, they learn how to use the copy and paste function of the DAW to copy their four measure phrase into the second and third A sections. They will then use contrasting loops to fill in the B section creating a sixteen measure AABA song. For those students who quickly grasp how to use the digital tool to create their AABA song, I may have them create other songs using different forms such as a round, rondo or ternary forms.
AABA Project Lesson Plan
3. Evaluate and Refine

The third standard under Creating is "evaluate and refine": "Drawing on feedback from teachers and peers, develop and implement strategies to improve and refine the technical and expressive aspects of draft compositions and improvisations." For this standard, I will usually refer back to their earlier Melodic Improvisation assignment.

Using the DAW we take a close look at the rhythms and note lengths of the original. The students learn how to use the quantize feature of the DAW to correct rhythmic inaccuracies. We also discuss how we can use the digital tool to keep notes lengths consistent and how to create a legato or staccato articulation. Finally, they learn how to use automation to create crescendo and decrescendo to further enhance expression in their melodies. Finally, I will have them share their revised melodies with their neighbors to exchange feedback before making final revisions.
Melodic Improvisation Revision Lesson
4. Present

The final standard in the Creating category is "presenting or sharing." This one is pretty self-explanatory, but can be the most difficult to get some students comfortable with. I've performed plenty of bad music at a fairly high level of performance, but at least I wasn't the one who created it! Creating something and then presenting it to the world can be a scary proposition. You invest a part of yourself into something that you create and by presenting your creation to the public you are putting a part of yourself out there to be judged by others.

I begin by asking students early on to share their ideas with each other to get them comfortable with sharing ideas. I encourage students to listen to each other's work and offer feedback and suggestions. Students have to be taught how to do this. I explain my process in assessing their assignments. An important concept that I stress is assessing music is not about personal preference. I don't care how well a chef can prepare a piece of salmon. I don't like how salmon tastes, but that doesn't mean that I can't assess the skill and artistry of the chef in how it was prepared.

Students are taught to use musical and digital terminology to make specific comments about whether, or not, the assignment meets the parameters of the assignment. For example, I may not like the genre or style of the loops chosen for the AABA assignment, but the assignment was about musical form. Was the composition constructed using the appropriate form? If it does, most anything else is irrelevant for the purpose of feedback and assessment. I always tell students that it is most important to me that they like their creations.

Hopefully, this article provided you with some ideas and resources to get started with the NAfME Music Standards for Music Technology. Getting comfortable with teaching music technology is a process, not an event. The first year that I spent in my music lab, I spent as much time figuring out how to get all of the equipment and software to work as I did actually teaching anything relating to a performance standard. Embrace the chaos!

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Creating a Music Technology Curriculum | SmartMusic

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Like more and more states around the country, my state is experiencing growth in music technology programs in our schools. A major challenge for many of these teachers is that they were not trained to teach music technology.

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I teach in Gwinnett County, Georgia, one of the largest urban school systems in the country, serving approximately 187,000 students. Our high school music programs had an established music technology curriculum in place and access to the equipment, hardware, and software needed to have a music technology class. I came up with the idea of creating a music technology course at my middle school. My theory was that general population students would be much more interested in this subject than they would be for general music. I presented the idea to my principal and fine arts director. They were both in favor of the idea, but there were a few obstacles. We had no lab, no hardware, no software, no specified class to schedule the students into, and no curriculum.

Undeterred, I pushed ahead. We have several computer labs in our school that teachers can reserve to take their classes to for specifics projects so I went in and reserved one of these labs for every period that I had my 8 th- grade general music class. I had our school's computer tech person push out Audacity onto all of the computers in that lab. I leveraged as many free loop sources and sound generators as I could find online and pushed ahead with teaching the class as I made up lesson plans and activities on the fly. It wasn't what I would call particularly effective instruction, but the students were engaged and interested. Nevertheless, we had no official class to register the students into and still, no curriculum.

Somehow our fine arts director was able to secure the funds to provide the hardware and software to create a music tech lab for my middle school and four other middle schools in our system. I am fortunate to be in a system that was able to supply 32 student workstations with Mac desktop computers, 61 key MIDI keyboards, USB audio interfaces, and a teacher hub to connect all of the workstations. There are very viable ways to create a music technology lab with far fewer resources than what we have, but that is a topic for another post.

While I continued teaching music technology to one section of 8 th graders the following year in a real music lab, we still had no curriculum. I would spend the next two years on working committees to create a curriculum for middle school music technology including student learning objectives and common assessments for our county. I also served on a working committee that created new state performance standards in middle school music technology for the Georgia Department of Education.

As you can see, we really went about this backwards. "Building the plane as we were flying it," so to speak.

A Paradigm Shift

As I worked with colleagues to create these new standards, the most important question we had to answer was, what exactly is music technology? As music education majors, we took pedagogy classes in brass, woodwinds, strings, percussion, voice, guitar, and piano; but nothing involving technology. Coming from a background based primarily on performance, a product-based subject like music technology required a major shift in our educational paradigm. The toughest thing to get past was the idea that we were not teaching anything through technology.

Technology for music teachers is typically used as a tool to teach some other musical concept. In contrast:

" The goal of a Music Technology class should not be to teach theory, piano, guitar or any other musical genre using technology."

The other idea that we had to accept was music technology isn't just about teaching music. Students must also be taught the technology: hardware, DAW, microphones, cables, connectors, acoustics, input vs output, plug-ins, etc. This is the definition that I have used as the basis for all of my standards and curriculum decisions that I think best describes what a music technology class should be teaching:

" Music technology is about creating and capturing sounds then using technology to manipulate, edit and produce a final product to achieve specific artistic and functional goals."

What Is the Benefit for the Students?

I also want to share some information that may help convince administrators and stakeholders that beginning a Music Technology program is a valuable and viable program for the students we serve. Georgia Tech University in Atlanta, GA is one of the most respected technical and engineering colleges in the nation. They began offering a music technology bachelor's degree in the Fall of 2016. When a university wants to start a new degree program, they must get approval from the state Board of Regents.

Dr. Frank Clark chairs the School of Music at Georgia Tech and he shared some of the data that he collected for his presentation to the Board of Regents. Burning Glass Technologies was contracted to collect data on employment trends. They tracked changes in the numbers of job postings in Georgia and nationally from 2007 to 2012 requiring a bachelor's degree with core skills tied closely to music technology. Nationally, there was a 225% growth in postings from 2007 to 2012. Within Georgia, there was an even stronger growth of 250%.

In 2017 Atlanta's WSBTV produced a show called "Georgia Goes Hollywood." Statistics in this program reported that the Georgia music industry is currently estimated to support almost $9 billion in economic output, compensation, 85,000 employees with billions of dollars in wages, salaries, and benefits. In addition, for state and local government combined, the movie, media and music industry is creating millions of dollars in revenues. These numbers have basically doubled in the last 5 years and the job growth is showing no signs of slowing down.

From the standpoint of providing students with an academic program that leads to a viable and sustainable path to college and a professional career, music technology is one of the fastest growing industries in the nation.

Reaching More Students

Furthermore, and I think most importantly, music technology programs in our middle and secondary schools are serving what is currently an underserved population. The students that I have in my music technology classes are not in our guitar, piano, band, orchestra or choir programs. I believe that the students who want to learn who to play an instrument or learn to sing in a choir are going to join those programs, but there are many students who have no interest in doing that. It's not that these students don't enjoy music. We know that they enjoy music because they are human beings, but most schools do not currently offer an option for these students. Music technology classes provide another opportunity to expose students to music education who would not otherwise be enrolled in a music class.

If you are convinced, or just curious, that starting a music technology program would be worth pursuing at your school, check out part 2 of my post where I will dig into the NAfME National Standards for Music Technology and how that can be used to design your local standards and instructional plan.

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What Is a Music Technology Class (and Why Should I Teach It)? | SmartMusic

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I teach in Gwinnett County, Georgia, one of the largest urban school systems in the country, serving approximately 187,000 students. Our high school music programs had an established music technology curriculum in place and access to the equipment, hardware, and software needed to have a music technology class.

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Music unleashes creative powers in the classroom. Students learn to think beyond the parameters of passing an exam. They open up their brains to deeper critical thinking. And they learn that they can connect with one another through a single, common thread.

During my 20 years as a music teacher and band director at Far Hills Country Day School, a Pre-K through 8 independent school in Far Hills, New Jersey, I have had wonderful success integrating music across multiple curriculums, including history, math, science, writing, PE, art and world languages. Throughout these years, I have learned that integrating technology can be a great way to enhance music and cross-curricular activities because it is an amazing tool, especially when it comes to music creation and music composition for younger students.

Music Beyond Borders

With my third grade students, I integrate the study of America into our music class. This year, students were assigned states and asked to write an eight-measure melody corresponding to their assigned states. They added lyrics about that state to their melodies-creating their own state song-then we imported them into an online tool called Soundtrap, a cloud-based recording studio that lets students make music or audio recordings within an invited and secured group.

In our school, we use Chromebooks in grades three and up and iPads in grades PreK-2. Soundtrap works across multiple devices and operating systems, such as iOS, Android, Chromebook, Mac and Windows. I chose the app because I wanted the students to be able to work with one another on a variety of devices, which was challenging to do on other platforms I have tried, such as GarageBand.

Since adopting Soundtrap, my students have been able to collaborate on projects with their classmates, but also with students around the world. As a music teacher, I am always trying to connect my music class globally-a goal that can be more readily attainable through technology. My whole classroom is on Twitter, which is one way my students are learning beyond the walls of our school in New Jersey. By reaching outside the community, students gain an awareness of how big the world is, and that music is universal.

Digital Magic in the Cloud

Many music educators have commented to me that our students spend too much time staring at computer screens and that they do not need to do this in music class. I understand this concern, however, there is a difference between passive and active participation. Technology assists my music students in active musical creation. It also helps them tune into learning experiences that are meaningful, personal, and easy to access in their everyday lives. It is another musical tool that I can use to reach them.

Many of the second and third-graders I work with are very comfortable with touch screens and technology, and it's natural for them to view and complete assignments in this format. Using our touch screen tools in class, I will show students a loop in Soundtrap and they can hear and identify the rhythm patterns and the instrumentation within the loops.

In the spring, when the third graders composed their melodies, I gave them different musical styles to create the accompaniment and they worked together in groups. It was thrilling to hear third-graders comment about the musical styles that would accompany their melodies. Would it be jazz, pop, rock, R&B or electronic dance music? They were making songs that they adored and taking ownership of them. It was remarkable to be a part of something that was so exciting for them.

Their conversations were fascinating. They were commenting on items like, "The drum beat is too much for our melody. Let's go with a simpler drum beat." They are clicking and dragging, listening, auditioning and analyzing numerous musical loops to create wonderful accompaniments to their melodies. They were also mixing the music to make sure that the melody is more prominent than the drum beat. This was very intuitive musicality for a class of seven-year-olds.

Engaging the 'Other 80 Percent'

In high school, research shows that only 20 percent of students participate in band, orchestra and choral programs. But what about the other 80 percent? To spark interest in students who don't have traditional music training or skills, educators can again look to technology.

This is where collaborative, easy-to-use tools like Soundtrap are again useful, as they provide openings for students to create music in ways that works for them. In the future, I plan to develop a class for eighth-graders that requires them to create a soundtrack to copyright-free movie clips. I have seen other schools offer this class and it is wildly popular.

In addition to introducing students to new music tools, my teaching philosophy involves introducing students to music at a very young age. Studies have shown from birth to age six is one of the most critical periods for a child's musical growth-whether that be playing instruments, singing, composing or simply developing an appreciation of it. I am fortunate that I teach my students beginning at age three, in addition to a Mommy and Me music class where I work with kids as young as age one.

In my classroom, technology serves as a tool amongst many others that I use to teach music. I am an elementary music educator-my students sing, perform, play instruments, dance and compose. But I also use technology, and have seen it enhance their musical experiences.

Amy Burns (@awillis2) is a music teacher at Far Hills Country Day School in New Jersey.

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Thinking Outside the Music Box: Using Digital Tools to Teach Music and More - EdSurge News

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Music unleashes creative powers in the classroom. Students learn to think beyond the parameters of passing an exam. They open up their brains to deeper critical thinking. And they learn that they can connect with one another through a single, common thread.

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After Kevin Lane watched the Beatles play on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February 1964, he knew he needed to get his hands on a record player.

Lane, age 5 at the time, hounded his parents, who eventually gave in. He listened to the performance over and over, cataloging the different sounds in his memory: the guitar, the bass line, the voices harmonizing. He remembers asking an adult whether he might be able to make something like that, and being told no. "Only special people get to go to recording studios," was the message that stuck with him, he said.

Now an elementary music teacher himself, Lane gives students at Woodstation Elementary School in Rock Spring, Ga., the opportunity he wished he could have had at their age: time to create and record in a "studio" of their own.

In Lane's classes, students use iPad tablets to record themselves, mix arrangements, and play and replay their work.

"Without digital technology, we wouldn't be able to do this," said Lane.

Teachers say tech tools give young students more creative freedom in music classes, and offer older students who haven't participated in band or choir an entry point into the subject. Integrating digital instruments and audio software has changed the landscape of music education, teachers say, broadening course offerings beyond ensemble performance and encouraging students to become authors of their own musical experiences.

"Historically, you were either a performer, a composer, or a listener," said David Williams, the associate director for the School of Music at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Technology in the music classroom is starting to blur those lines.

Creative Exploration

Even though Lane weaves tech throughout his instruction, his students don't start the year looking at screens. "I'm very old-fashioned when it comes to teaching the basic skills of singing and movement," he said. His students begin by learning about rhythm and clapping along to call-and-response songs.

The big tech-related project in Lane's class comes in the spring. After learning how to play chords on the ukulele over the course of the year, his 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders arrange and record their own original jazz songs in GarageBand, a digital audio platform for Mac and iOS devices.

With digital tools, students don't need to know how to play scales on the piano or coax notes out of the clarinet before they can experiment and compose. "The good sound, the quality sound, comes out of the digital instrument from the start," said Williams, from the University of South Florida. "What the teacher is allowed to do, then, is work with students as creative music-makers, not so much as a technician to make the instrument work."

First, students in Lane's classes record themselves playing a short set of chords on the ukulele, and upload it to the digital platform. A loop of this piece forms the foundation of their song. Once the recordings are in GarageBand, the students have the option to add in riffs with other digital instruments. Exploring the platform is "like walking into a recording studio," said Lane, with virtual basses, drums, guitars, and pianos all at students' fingertips.

Lane's students don't actually know how to play these other instruments, let alone play chords on them. Playing chords on a ukulele is different than playing them on the piano. Instead, they use GarageBand's "Smart Instruments." If students want to include piano in their song using this tool, they won't see a keyboard. The screen displays a set of vertical bars, labeled with individual chords. Clicking on one will play that piano chord, or a pattern of notes from that chord, which students can then add into their songs.

Creating and exploring with music is a shift from how the subject has long been taught in U.S. public schools, with a focus on "traditional Western ensembles," like band, choir, and orchestra, said Williams.

Centering music education on these offerings has excluded countless students over the years, said Anne Fennell, a music teacher and the creative arts department chair at Mission Vista High School in Oceanside, Calif., who is known in the field for her work with innovation in music education.

The idea that students can't participate or create until they've mastered technical skills-like how to play an instrument, or how to read sheet music-is "an old mindset," said Fennell, who teaches three levels of music composition, including one for beginners.

And while lots of subjects offer courses for students at different proficiency levels, few require prior knowledge as a prerequiste for studying the subject at all. "Math does not get to audition their students," said Fennell. Why should music be any different?

Digital Production vs. Ensemble Performance

Cost is often a barrier to using tech for this kind of differentiated instruction, in any subject. But integrating music production software can cost less than outfitting a band or orchestra with instruments-especially if the school already uses laptops or tablets for other courses.

Starting a music tech program "isn't as expensive as some people might think," said Williams. Most music-production software, like Ableton or Pro Tools, can be downloaded using schools' existing technology-devices for a 1-to-1 initiative or desktops in a media center. And some platforms, like GarageBand and Audacity, are available for free.

But new music teachers often don't have experience using digital production software, or even composing in a classroom setting, said Brian Meyers, an assistant professor in the department of music at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, who works with preservice music educators: "They're coming from high schools that are very traditional: Sit down, practice, leave."

In Meyers' introductory music education course, first-year education students explore and learn how to use composing software and platform-based music games, and they practice remixing recordings with digital tools.

Some current music teachers are wary of this new model, said Meyers, and he can understand why. Funding for music programs, and arts education in general, can be tenuous, and music teachers often feel as if their jobs are on the line. If schools implement music-tech programs, some teachers worry, their expertise in leading ensembles might be deemed irrelevant, said Meyers.

But introducing digital composing courses doesn't necessarily put ensemble teachers out of work, said Williams. In fact, tech-infused courses can engage students who wouldn't otherwise be interested in the subject, he said.

Giving Students Options

When Richard Maxwell started working at Arcadia High School in Phoenix as a band teacher almost two decades ago, he realized that his class was off-limits to students who hadn't taken music in middle school. And if students were interested in music, but didn't want to play an instrument, there weren't many other options for them. In his band class, "we were always recreating somebody else's art," he said.

So in 2008, he proposed a new music program through his school's career-and-technical-education track: an "exploration of the music industry" that would be open to any student, regardless of prior experience.

The Creative Musical Arts and Sciences program functions as the school's own record label, allowing students to take on the role of artist, producer, or music marketer. Some compose music across genres-country, pop, rock, electronic dance music-recording their own albums and participating in performances. Others learn how to run a sound stage or produce in the studio.

Students can work in groups and get feedback from each other, but they also have the opportunity to pursue independent projects-something that isn't really possible in an ensemble class, said Maxwell. "If I pull my trumpet section from my band, we're going to have a problem at our next concert."

The school still has orchestra and band classes-last school year, Arcadia's marching band won a state title. There's some overlap in the students who participate in ensembles and take the creative musical courses, said Maxwell, but the variety of options mean that students can pursue different passions.

For Maxwell, exactly how kids engage with music isn't so important. "What we need to focus on more is, 'What are you interested in musically?' Let's start there," he said.

Vol. 38, Issue 08, Page 6

Published in Print: October 10, 2018, as Technology Turns Up the Tempo in Music Classes

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teaching in today’s tech-powered classroom

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A Recording Studio for Every Student: Teaching Music Class in the Digital Era

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After Kevin Lane watched the Beatles play on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February 1964, he knew he needed to get his hands on a record player. Lane, age 5 at the time, hounded his parents, who eventually gave in.

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Creating: Music | National Core Arts Standards

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Artistic Processes are the cognitive and physical actions by which arts learning and making are realized. National Core Arts Standards are based on the artistic processes of Creating; Performing/ Producing/Presenting; Responding; and Connecting.

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For the past several years, The NAMM Foundation has received hundreds of requests for grants and is grateful for nonprofit organizations around the world who seek to provide opportunities for people of all ages to learn and make music. The hundreds of requests received every year far surpassed the Foundation's budgetary resources for grants.

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"Children can compose, children want to compose, and children possess the knowledge, interests, and experiences to compose," say Michele Kaschub and Janice Smith in their book Minds on Music. Music teachers looking for guidance on teaching composition will find ready-to-use lesson plans in MENC's lesson plan library. For example,

Elementary Level
Strategies for Teaching K-4 General Music Standard 4A
Students create an accompaniment for a reading of the book Listen to the Rain using classroom instruments and vocal sounds. Students make a composition chart with music symbols and terms (dynamics, tempo, instruments, etc.) to map their accompaniment to the story.
Strategies for Teaching K-4 General Music Standard 4B
After listening to and analyzing a song with tempo changes, students compose an original work that includes a tempo change. As an extension, students devise a means of notating their compositions, exchange scores, and perform a composition written by another group.

Middle School Level
Strategies for Teaching Middle Level General Music Standard 5D
After listening to and discussing Schoenberg's String Quartet no. 4, students create and notate a 12-tone composition for resonator bells. As an extension, students experiment with rhythm to make their compositions more interesting.
Strategies for Teaching Technology, General Music 5-8, Standard 4C
Using MIDI keyboards, students compose music using sound effects that convey the mood suggested by a nature scene. As an extension, play music works that are based on nature scenes from composers such as Debussy, Copland, Smetana, and Holst.

High School Level
Strategies for Teaching High School General Music Standard 4C
After listening to sound bites in which music elements are used in a descriptive fashion, students use synthesized sounds to create a short composition describing one of their classes or an event using ABA form. As an extension, students can complete a group composition to describe an entire school day.
VH1 Storytellers: Coldplay
Students discuss how emotion-based lyrics influence the creative aspects in composing a song. They then compose their own songs using lyrics that express emotions, and they use musical elements to evoke an emotional response. Collecting the students' compositions in a book for each student gives them a concrete example of their creativity.

Use these plans as they are or modify them to fit your students' needs. Find more composition lesson plans in My Music Class, search on keyword "compose," choosing Standard 4 and the appropriate grade level.

-Linda C. Brown, March 2, 2011, © National Association for Music Education (nafme.org)

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Plans for Teaching Composition at All Levels - NAfME

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"Children can compose, children want to compose, and children possess the knowledge, interests, and experiences to compose," say Michele Kaschub and Janice Smith in their book Minds on Music. Music teachers looking for guidance on teaching composition will find ready-to-use lesson plans in MENC's lesson plan library.

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The MSO thanks the following funders for their generous contributions in support of the Arts in Community Education (ACE) program: the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF); the Gerda A. Deblak and Eleanor N. Wilson Funds as administered by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation; endowed funding from the Hearst Foundations; Bader Philanthropies, Inc.; the Clarice S.

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Teaching Composition (Classical MPR in the Classroom)

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As a K-5 general music teacher, I noticed my students yearned to create and document music. I wondered how I could provide students with meaningful opportunities to compose in our limited time together-I met with each class once a week for 45 minutes. I decided to start small and build upon listening, performing, improvising, reading, and notating skills my students were already developing.

Here are strategies I found most helpful:

Prioritize composition in your life. Inspire students by composing and performing your own music. Share your compositions to help students understand that composing is not reserved for an elite few. Answer student questions about your composition process.

Compose as a group. Provide opportunities for students to observe and practice composing as a large group. Begin by modeling a think-aloud (The Source for Learning, 2012)-create a song and talk through your composition process. Next, guide students in composing a piece as a group. Invite students to name, arrange, and perform the composition.

Improvise melodies over familiar harmonic progressions. Use this tip to scaffold students' composition learning processes. Choose a familiar song and invite students to improvise over the harmonic progression. You may begin by improvising antecedent and consequent phrases, rhythms on the bass line and inner voices, and chord tones (Azzara & Grunow, 2006).

Notate compositions. To build music literacy skills, notate compositions in front of students. Use large staff paper, a whiteboard, a SMART Board, or AirServer (with an iPad) to make notation visible. Invite students to notate compositions. Younger students may trace and color in notated compositions, while older students may notate using staff paper or notation software.

Give compositions the Does it Make Sense Test (Calkins, 2008). Invite students to test their compositions' tonal, rhythmic, harmonic, and stylistic cohesiveness. For example, prompt students to ask questions like, "Does the melody make sense with the harmonic progression?" and "Does the composer reuse rhythmic ideas?" Younger students will intuitively tell you if a composition makes sense. Use composition checklists and rubrics with older students.

Provide opportunities for student feedback. Reserve the last five minutes of instruction for students to share in- and out-of-class compositions. Encourage students to provide feedback using the T.A.G. method (The Source for Learning, 2012): tell one thing they liked about the composition, ask one question, and give one suggestion to the composer. Model T.A.G. several times before asking students to use the method.

Promote composer collaboration. Ask older students to read and perform younger students' compositions. Encourage younger students to learn older students' compositions. Ask students to share compositions with others, such as family members, classroom teachers, and elementary instrumental teachers. Multi-age collaboration extends the music environment beyond your music classroom.

Connect compositions with other repertoire. Guide students in comparing their compositions to other repertoire. Highlight music elements like meter, rhythm, tonality, harmonic progression, phrasing, tempo, and expression. Students build compositional awareness and analysis skills through making song-to-song connections.

Incorporate compositions into music activities. Include student compositions in your general music repertoire. Engage students in performing, arranging, reading, notating, analyzing, and evaluating those compositions.

Post compositions on classroom walls. Create a Composers' Wall of Fame in your classroom. Post student compositions on your classroom walls alongside your personal compositions, class songs, and works by famous composers. Inevitably, younger students will walk into class and ask, "Can you read me this song?" Older students will pass by and sing posted songs. A Wall of Fame board sparks music learning and creativity.
Examples of student work:
Second graders Andrew and Janine composed "A. J." During class, Andrew created the antecedent phrase and Janine created the consequent phrase. Their peers helped name the song and the entire class notated copies to take home. I posted a copy on our Composers' Wall of Fame. Andrew and Janine later solicited the help of their string teacher and fourth grade string students to arrange and perform the song on violin, viola, and harp.

Fourth grader Luke composed "The Inner Core of the Saints." Luke chose to improvise a melody over the harmonic progression of "When the Saints Go Marching In." He decided to extend the composition by creating a bridge with a related harmonic progression. He asked fifth grade peers to arrange and perform the piece for trumpet, alto saxophone, clarinet, and percussion. I find incorporating composition into daily instruction helps students understand that composing is an important part of being a musician. To guide K-5 students in learning to compose, you can easily embed the aforementioned ten tips into existing general music settings.

Azzara, C. D., & Grunow, R. F. (2006). Developing musicianship through improvisation. Book 1. Chicago, IL: GIA. Calkins, L. (2008).

Sample video of Lucy conferring with first grade student [Video file]. Retrieved from http://books.heinemann.com/Shared/onlineresources/E0064/Lucy Video.asp

The Source for Learning (2012). Writers workshop [Online resource]. Retrieved from http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/writers/index.php

- Kerry Filsinger, Temple University

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Ten Tips for Integrating Composition into Elementary General Music - NAfME

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As a K-5 general music teacher, I noticed my students yearned to create and document music. I wondered how I could provide students with meaningful opportunities to compose in our limited time together-I met with each class once a week for 45 minutes.

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Music composition can be one of the most inspirational and enjoyable activities to teach, but it is often neglected in music classes. With the pressure of preparing students for performances, those standards that aren't on display to the public can become a lower priority. Personally, I also struggle with feeling less qualified to teach composition ...