Technology in the music classroom provides endless possibilities for creating music. I have regularly used the free downloadable software MuseScore for notating projects of my own but have not turned the power of the program over to the students. This week, students in my drumline class took turns using the laptop to create a composition on either MuseScore or NoteFlight. Almost all of the students chose to use NoteFlight because it gave them the flexibility to work on their pieces outside of class without having to download any software. There were no guidelines or restrictions to the assignment and the completed pieces were pretty outstanding. As an educator, I aim for high performance expectations for the students because I truly believe they will rise to the bar, however this project showed me that I have had low or no expectations when it comes to creating music. I was completely blown away by what these students were capable of doing with a computer and a few short class periods and I will continue to explore ways for them to create written music.

The readings this week also challenged my approach to improvisation in the classroom. I am a mediocre improviser but I regularly trade fours with all of the students in jazz band and we also play along with Jamey Aebersold books and tracks. Before this week’s readings I felt as though I was doing a “good job” in “teaching” improvisation because it is so common for band directors to not incorporate improvisation at all. There are countless strategies listed in the article and textbook readings from this week that could benefit myself and my students, but the approach that stuck with me the most is how Christian Barhard II (2013) uses improvisation in the concert band setting. Incorporating improvisation in the concert band setting will not only reach more students, but could have additional positive effects on the jazz band since students play in both ensembles. We know that improvisation in any ensemble can increase student musical ability in areas such as sight reading and enhanced aural skills (Hallam, 2008).

I believe that by using a variety of the improvisation activities or games on a regular basis will make my students more comfortable with the act of creating music in my classroom and get away from the mentality that they are just there to recreate music. My classroom has several computers which allows students to take turns working on creating compositions, but probably more important is the option to use any of the improvisation games listed in Trevor Dimoff’s article (2003) without any technology. While it is easy to look the other way when it comes to improvisation in the music classroom, demanding performance schedules and lack of teacher ability are not good enough excuses to ignore one of the three areas (creating) listed in the Core Music Standards.

Barnhard, C. (2013). Improvising in Concert Bands and Orchestras. SBO Magazine.

Dimoff, T. Improvisation Games: Creating Spontaneous Music in Groups. Acadia U, 31 March    2003. Web. 4 Sept. 2015.

Hallam, S. (2008). Music psychology in education. London: Institution of Education, University   of London. (Original work published in 2006).