MUE6696 - Week 4 - Audacity and Three Programs

This week's adventure with technology exposed us to four programs.  The following four programs are a welcome addition to any classroom as long as the resources are available for students to utilize them fully.  They are the four top programs that were discussed this week in class.

Audacity is an audio editor used to create or recreate musical selections.  There were two projects done in this program, one that  called for us to edit a .wav file by amplifying and fading sections.  The other project had us "remix" a familiar piece, creating a new selection in the process.

Music Prodigy is a practice assessment tool, that assists teachers in keeping track of students' practice time.  This program is designed for use with Apple iPad and iPhone, as well as Android devices.  There is a special feature in the program that has tone recognition which alerts the teacher to what needs to be worked on. 

SmartMusic is a program that allows students to perform along with the computer in preparation for rehearsals with a live accompanist or group.  Because there is immediate feedback with the use of this program, students' skill levels increase at a pretty rapid rate.

For many years, YouTube has been used by educators as a learning tool in the classroom.  Nine out of ten times, you can find a near perfect rendition of a piece of music that you may be working on.  By sharing these videos with students, they develop an aural appreciation for the work they may be working on.

Additionally, our reading provided some information that can be used if your are developing a unit plan or are building a syllabus.  The information is broken down by age group for ease of use.  Technology in the classroom is the wave of the present.  All the activities in this course are directing us in that path.