The Ever-Evolving Role Of Technology In Music Education

I must admit that technology as a whole is a topic that I have extremely mixed feelings towards. As one could say about almost anything in life, there are undoubtedly positives and negatives to this subject. The prevalence of more sophisticated computers and the internet in public schools had just begun to pick up steam when I was entering the second half of elementary school. I vividly recall visits to the library during fourth and fifth grade, when the librarian would access the internet via America Online (AOL), which along with Netscape, was one of the only games in town when it came to web browsers. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome were not even a twinkle in the eye of consumers worldwide. There was only one connection speed available to the general public: dial-up. While some of the readers of this blog might not have a concept of the aforementioned term, I am sure that many of us clearly remember the process of hearing a dial-tone, as one would when picking up a conventional telephone, followed by the applicable access number being automatically dialed, a brief pause and then that ever familiar hiss as our individual modem attempted to connect/log-on to the internet. This could be a painstakingly slow procedure, meaning that "surfing and/or browsing the net" might be even slower still. One absolutely had to have patience to survive in this pre-high-speed/broadband/cable environment, because depending on how much "traffic" permeated the digital world at any one time, it might take as long as ten or fifteen minutes just to load one web page. We whine, moan and groan in 2015 if it takes our browser beyond five seconds to complete a task. How would the children of this current generation have tolerated the internet in its infancy of the 1990's? Can't you just feel the nostalgia when watching and listening to the clip below? What fond memories of all the time spent instant messaging friends, family and acquaintances to find out if spaghetti-straps would be allowed at the seventh grade dance, when the next family reunion was scheduled to take place and how many pages of To Kill A Mockingbird Mrs. Martorelli expected your English class to read for the following day. 

My own experiences in the public school music curriculum did not feature much, if any technology. Would I have learned more from the presence of iPads, SMART boards, classroom computers, frequent use of an iTunes library, access to You Tube videos and the incorporation of digital audio workstations a la Garage Band, Band-In-A-Box or Pro Tools? Had any number of these technological tools been present, my musical education would have been different to say the very least, but not necessarily "better" or "more informative". There is a large part of me that looks fondly upon having to take part in the quest for knowledge. I feel that the journey to find that which I seek is where much of the true learning takes place. A primary danger or drawback of the technology currently available to the general public is that it has the potential to breed laziness and complacency. The intricacies of a library's card catalog and the Dewey Decimal System governing it have become an after thought for a twenty-first century populace. I can simply "Google" any question that I might have and find thousands of webpages dedicated to my inquiry. However, the ease of creating a blog, wiki or website has thrown a glaring wildcard into the field of research and actions of study. The average internet user must be that much smarter, savvier and more discerning when deciding what information is valid versus that which is patently false. Has the boom in technology made our society, "Better, stronger and faster," as proclaimed in several hip-hop songs of the 1990's and 2000's? Is it possible that we find ourselves in a precarious position, where we are so dependent on technological devices that we risk losing a major component of our humanity? Below is a picture of Albert Einstein, a man who clearly held a strong opinion on the application of technology in the modern world. Will his dire prediction come true or has it already?

In his textbook Using Technology To Unlock Musical Creativity, Dr. Scott Watson, a veteran music educator who has taught for over twenty-five years in the Parkland, Pennsylvania School District, as well as at Villanova, Cairn (formerly Philadelphia Biblical) and Central Connecticut State Universities respectively, takes a productive, uplifting and engaging look at the many creative possibilities that exist when the ambitious teacher decides to incorporate technology into the music classroom. One of the first items of interest that Watson brings to the reader's attention is a device designed and marketed by Korg, which they call the Kaossilator "Dynamic Phrase Synthesizer". This handheld object "...levels the playing field between students with and without traditional musical (instrumental or vocal) training." (Watson, 59) The synthesizer gives students the ability "...to improvise and record gestures on a touch pad, which are translated into patterns of various scales and timbres depending on a number of intuitive variables. Each new pattern can be layered on top of previous patterns for complex textures." (Watson, 59) Ideas conceived via the Kaossilator are recorded through the audio output jacks. Dr. Watson goes on to make a very important point when he says that, "Because the Kaossilator calls on such radically different paradigms of sound organization, it is hard to know whether to call it an instrument or music production hardware. One thing is certain: Creative technology tools such as this prompt students to create in new and interesting ways." (Watson, 59) Technological innovations can contribute to our world in fascinating and breathtaking ways, but in my opinion, it is of the utmost importance that we always recognize the possibilities of the human mind. Someone, somewhere had to invent the Kaossilator, Garage Band, Band-In-A-Box, Pro Tools and any of the other electronic resources a music educator might choose to call upon within the confines of his or her classroom. Artificial intelligence, robots or machinery, regardless of what terminology you might use for these entities, a human being conceived them. The human mind is at the forefront of creativity, innovation and artistic expression. A synthetic manifestation will never surpass the potential of humanity. It is our students who will discover increasingly sophisticated, unique and clever ways to incorporate technology into their musical arsenal. Barbara Freedman, Electronic Music and Audio Engineering Instructor at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Connecticut, uses the Kaossilator to bring music students of all ability levels and backgrounds together in creation and performance. When researching Ms. Freedman a bit further, I discovered that among her extensive list of accomplishments and credentials, she is frequently associated with her motto, "Teach music. The technology will follow." Her summation perfectly encompasses an important part of my own philosophy on music education. This video features the ensemble "Total Kaoss", a group assembled by Freedman, consisting of the following unconventional instrumentation: Korg Kaossilators, miniKPs, iPhones and the Alesis SR-16. 

As an aspiring music educator in 2015, I think that it will be important for me to continue to learn as much as I can about various technological devices, programs, digital audio workstations and resources. During my final two years at Simsbury High School, I spent half of the day at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. Through friends and teachers, I discovered the expansive realm of electronic music, particularly as documented by Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Stereolab and the band Radiohead. I was fascinated by the diverse textures and often other-worldly sonic palettes of these artists, because truth be told, I had never given much thought to how one might make music without the use of conventional western instruments or the voice. As an undergraduate at The Hartt School, I began teaching saxophone, clarinet, oboe, trumpet, trombone and baritone horn lessons at Martocchio Music in Simsbury, Connecticut. A colleague of mine, Tom Crean, an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator specializing in so-called "electronic and computer music" broadened my horizons even further to include avant-garde, electronic and neo-classical artists such as Alvin Lucier, Milton Babbitt and John Cage. This secondary education completely opened me up to the possibilities of what "music" could be. In his textbook Using Technology To Unlock Musical Creativity, Dr. Scott Watson cites Robert Sternberg and Wendy Williams's book How to Develop Student Creativity, which posits, "We all have assumptions....Creative people question those assumptions and eventually lead others to do the same." (Sternberg and Williams, 11) Watson goes on to comment that, "The more broad our answer to the question 'What is music?' the more open are we to experiences with electronic sounds, sound-scape/collage-type compositions, aleatoric elements, graphically notated scores that use symbols rather than notes on a staff, and other unconventional musical formats." (Watson, 60) Dr. Watson emphasizes how important it is to expose our students to a wide variety of thought-provoking examples, through listening, examination/analysis and discussion/reflection. He especially recommends the use of electronic art music, minimalism and serial music. I could not agree more with Watson's assertion, for the average student in today's educational environment frequently has no concrete opinion on what music is or isn't. If a music educator is passionate about material that he or she presents to a class filled with students of any age, academic level or ability, chances are these pupils will eventually become mildly curious about the information or content therein. The You Tube clip below is the title track of Alvin Lucier's 1969 album "I Am Sitting In A Room", which is arguably his most famous work. The song at hand evolves over forty-five plus minutes through continual looping and re-recording by Lucier himself. His goal was for the resonant frequencies to reinforce themselves. 

The ultimate conclusion that I have come to is that while technological advancements are inevitable, they need to be kept in perspective and utilized in a responsible manner. When this happens, then the end results are inspiring, captivating and often defining over successive generations. Music educators and students alike should be fully aware of and reasonably proficient in the use of several electronic resources, which should change depending on the class in question and the specifics of any given curriculum. Just as technology will continue to evolve and improve, so will the human condition. There will always be a demand for technological advancements and the conveniences that they bring, but I honestly believe that in order for this to happen at its highest levels of efficiency, the best and brightest from all corners of the globe will need to make themselves known.