Matt's Musical Mind

Module 5 Each individual person has their own style of music to which they enjoy listening and their own environment in which they prefer to listen to music. I was surprised to read some information from Bauer (2014) which declares, “music is listening it often contextual. Researchers have found that most music listening is done in conjunction with some other activity” (p. 107). As someone who is a serious musician, I set aside specific time to listen to music – and intently, I might add. I am glad people enjoy music so much that they want to make it part of their daily activities by listening to it as an extension of what they’re doing (washing dishes, working out, etc.), but I wonder how much more meaning the music would have for them if they simply sat there and actively listened to their favorite song. Bauer (2014) elaborates that “listening skills are essential to being able to think critically about music” (pg. 106). Putting some thought into the form of the music or what is...

Module 4 There is a lot of research being compiled and published about best practices in music. Some practices are simply tried and true but there are many other better ideas coming to fruition. Most educators would agree that the first lessons are critical in the development of foundational music skills including posture, breath support, instrument position, finger positions, and embouchure (Bauer, p. 81), but after beginning the work to establish those fundamentals, several different routes can be explored. Technology is a great aide in this process and should be used to help students, but most importantly, practicing needs to be the highest priority. I think that the word “practice” has developed a negative connotation in music. Even I sometimes protest the action of practicing and I love playing my trumpet. Of course once I take out my trumpet and start making music, I enjoy it, but I can understand why students grumble at the demand to practice. Bauer (2014) suggests we s...

Module 3 Composition is an important musical experience and should be a regular part of every child’s music education. In recent years, there have been many new programs developed which have changed the composition process for amateur composers and have made the activity more accessible. Bauer (2014) shares the five-point rationale for why all students should be able to study composition put forth by Kaschub and Smith (2009) in which the points are made that composition “develops a way of knowing that complements understandings gained through other direct experiences of music” and that it “invites the child to draw together the full breadth of his or her musical knowledge” (p. 59). One area of composition in which students tend to struggle is usually the notation aspect. If educators want students to be able to draw together the full breadth of their musical knowledge, it is important to find a way to remove (or at least modify) that struggle so students can still compose. Prog...

Noteflight I found noteflght to be a good program for students to use when composing. It is convenient to use noteflight as it is web-based. This allows easy sharing for teacher and student. However, in working with both noteflight and musescore this week, I did find musescore to be more user friendly and to provide more options. I found the playback quality to be more realistic and pleasing on musescore than noteflight. Both programs allow the user to add or remove instruments after the composition process has begun. Noteflight does not have every instrument available you would find in a band, but musescore has an extensive list. Both programs allow the composer to adjust the layout of the page by moving measures to the lines above or below which is a nice feature. It seems to me that noteflight can do most anything a student would need to be able to do to compose a piece of music, but musescore has more options. I would gladly use either of these two programs (noteflight and...

Module 2 “Improvisation is musical creativity expressed in real time” William Bauer in Music Learning Today, pg. 58 This week’s readings reminded me that even though not all students are performing musicians through participation in band, orchestra, or choir, there are still many students who wish to be musical. Bauer (2014) encourages music educators to consider “developing new types of classes and utilizing instructional approaches that are more appealing to this population than traditional ways of learning” (p. 46). I already experienced this briefly last week when I began implementing Incredibox into my fifth grade general music class. Students in the class who had participated in beginning band last year in fourth grade but had dropped it this year were extremely engaged in this project. Many of them showed a lot of promise as young band musicians and I was sincerely upset when they decided band “wasn’t for them” in the beginning of this year. However, even though I...