Posts tagged technology

Check out this video, first: the guy basically simulates the texture and sound of a band using his loop pedal station. Around the 3rd minute he even adds harmonies! The song’s also pretty catchy.

Now this one: this guy demonstrates the pedal station using voice (and you also get a clearer idea of how the thing works). Also, I like his dancing skillz.

Boss RC 50 Loopstation Demo by ricoLOOP
Uploaded by ricoloop. - Explore more music videos.

So what does this have to do with music education? Well, if you can use loop-based software like GarageBand in the classroom for composition, why not loop pedals like this?

I definitely think it’s a good and accessible way to draw students into composition and creative activity because students are likely to be familiar with this kind of looping, even if they don’t realize it. Check out 5:30 and above in the below video to see how KT Tunstall uses a loop pedal in her music. (the rest of it prior to this mark is her explaining how the loop pedal works and is also worth watching.)

Besides, there’s a chance some of your students might already be doing this.

That said, students can’t really dive into using this kind of technology as easily; there’s definitely a steeper learning curve. In order to use this in the classroom, the teacher needs to be very familiar with the way the loop system works and facilitate the activity for students. Plus, timing is everything when you’re live looping. (I kind of think that this could be turned into a kind of aural skills game: does it match up? does it not? what kind of rhythms are you creating? etc.) And, finally, perhaps not the best kind of thing for all of K-12. 

In the interest of total disclosure, maybe the title of this post should rather be “Why I want to play with a Boss RC-50 and then figure out how it would be best used in a music classroom,” but, that said, I still think there are possibilities. I’m loving the idea of a teacher pre-recording a back-up track and students trying to improvise a melody or a harmony that goes with it, either with voice or instruments or both. Any snippet of sound or a rhythmic/melodic motive can be recorded and used as a jumping off point for creative collaboration. And finally, I think it makes a great talking point in the classroom and a way to get students thinking about how loops and musical phrases are found in all kinds of music, not only contemporary.

(Disclaimer: My blog posts are auto-tweeted to my Twitter and Facebook accounts; I’m not actively doing it.)

For Lent this year I’m giving up Facebook and Twitter. It’s not that I use those services all the time, obsessively, but like most people my age, I’ve gotten used to having Facebook as something to kill time with (read: procrastinate assignments with) on the internet. Twitter is just another distraction. (I’d give up Tumblr too but I kind of need to access it in order to post these blogs! I just don’t check my dashboard as much.)

What’s been really interesting about this little experiment so far, even though it’s only been the first day, is that I’ve already felt disconnected from things. I don’t mean just the people I’m friends with on both services, but also just the world in general. I hadn’t realized how much I rely on Twitter to keep up with what’s going on in the world. I follow a lot of news services on Twitter, like the Guardian, the New York Times, Huffington Post, and the Daily Beast, to name a few. I’d even taken those same services off of my Google Reader because I saw all of their updates on Twitter. I suppose I have to add that back to Reader before I fall behind on what’s going on.

I’ve been maintaining for a while that the majority of Facebook is totally unnecessary, anyway. I don’t really need to know all of these details about people’s lives, and if they really wanted me to know, then they’d probably just tell me. The people who I really keep in touch with can all get in contact with me in ways that aren’t Facebook and Twitter, anyway, so I suppose this’ll also be a really interesting experiment regarding my relationships.

Well, I suppose that’s the end of day one!

marcusod:

Young people’s writing: Attitudes, behaviour and the role of technology
Christina Clark and George Dugdale

From the Executive Summary:

3001 pupils aged 9-16 from England and Scotland completed an online survey in May 2009. There was an almost equal gender split, with 48.6% of boys and 51.4% of girls taking part. The percentage of pupils who receive free school meals (20.2%), which is frequently used in educational research as a crude indicator of socio-economic background, was higher in this survey compared to the national average for primary and secondary pupils. Some of the key findings of this survey are:

• 75% of young people said that they write regularly. Technology-based formats were most frequently written. For example, 82% of young people wrote text messages at least once a month, 73% wrote instant messages (such as messages on AIM or MSN), and 63% wrote on a social networking site. Of non-technology based writing, 77% wrote notes or answers in class or for homework at least once a month followed by 52% writing notes to other people.

• 56% of young people said they had a profile on a social networking site, such as Bebo or Facebook. 24% said that they have their own blog. While frequently vilified in the media as ‘dumbing down’ young people’s literacy, this research shows that technology offers different writing opportunities for young people, which is seen in a link between blogging and (self-reported) writing ability and enjoyment of writing. For example, young people who write on a blog were much more likely than young people who do not write on a blog to enjoy writing in general (57% vs. 40%) and to enjoy writing for family/friends in particular (79% vs. 55%). Young people with a blog (61%) as well as young people with a profile on a social networking site (56%) also displayed greater confidence, believing themselves to be good writers. Blog owners and young people with a social networking profile were also more prolific writers than their counterparts. They held more positive attitudes towards writing and computer use, and viewed writers more favourably.

• Owning a mobile phone does not appear to alter young people’s enjoyment of writing, their writing behaviour or their attitudes towards writing.
• Most young people said they used computers regularly and believed that computers are beneficial to their writing, agreeing that a computer makes it easier for them to correct mistakes (89%) and allows them to present ideas clearly (76%). Overall, nearly 60% of young people also believe that computers allow them to be more creative, concentrate more and encourage them to write more often.

• Young people are ambivalent about their enjoyment of writing. 45% of young people surveyed said that they enjoy writing. However, enjoyment of writing is related to the type of writing being done. When young people were asked to rate their enjoyment of writing for family/friends and their enjoyment of writing for school separately, some differences emerged. Young people enjoyed writing for family/friends more than they enjoyed writing for school, with over two-thirds of young people enjoying writing for family/friends and only half enjoying writing for schoolwork. Most young people agree that they enjoy writing more when they can choose the topic (79%).

• Echoing US research (Pew Internet, 2008), just under 9 in 10 young people see writing as an important skill to succeed in life, but this means that a sizeable minority (12%) do not consider it an important life skill.

• When asked how good they think they are at writing, we found that there was an almost equal split between those who said that they are either very good or good (52%) and those who felt that they could be better or were not very good (45%). Those who responded that they are a ‘very good’ or ‘good’ writer were then asked to select from a list the reasons why they think that they are good at writing. Most young people felt that they were a good writer because they use their imagination (39%), know how to type (36%) and spell (33%). By contrast, young people who didn’t believe that they were good writers were more likely to emphasise the transcriptional aspects of writing. For example, the most common reason why young people think that they are not good writers is that they are not very good at writing neatly (23%), followed by them not enjoying writing very much (22%), not being very good at spelling (21%) or at checking their work (20%).

There were also important age and gender differences with a dip off of enthusiasm for writing occurring between 11-14 and girl’s enjoying and engaging with writing more than boys. Socio-economic differences did not seem as pronounced.

Full report and details available here.

There’s a lot of really interesting stuff here. I’d like to have seen a distinction between writing for communication (e.g., the writing they mention as being composed over IMs or texting, writing on social networks like Facebook and Myspace etc.) and writing for other purposes (e.g., writing creatively, journalistically etc.), though. Again, we see a huge bias towards technology as a facilitator and a means through which youth communicate.

It appears as though [my classmates] seem to be on the “friend” side regarding this debate; I am one more person who is on this side. I agree with those who have said that these kinds of games can be a really great way to reach kids. On a related note, I also think that it’s really important to make sure that kids don’t feel alienated in the music classroom because their “school music” doesn’t match up to their musical experiences they have outside of the classroom. It seems very counterintuitive to discourage kids from having an interest in something that promotes music. Plus, as others have already said, playing these games outside of the classroom can help students realize the amount of dedication and practice that being successful in music often requires.

Regarding these video games in the actual classroom, I think that, if the teacher were interested, Guitar Hero/Rock Band could play a supplementary/reward type of role in the classroom (maybe on a certain Friday of each month or the day after a concert?). I am wary, though, about using them more than this; I can see them easily becoming a distraction in the classroom, especially if the teacher is attempting to teach towards a quickly approaching product like a concert or recital.

From the TC New Technologies blog.