Sounding the Teaching III: Facilitating Music Learning with Music Tec Sounding The Teaching III
sounding the teaching III
FACILITATING MUSIC LEARNING WITH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
A Publication by the Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR)
We would like to express our appreciation to Marvin Leung Wai Chi, Arts Education Branch, for providing feedback and advice to the Networked Learning Community. PRINCIPAL, STAFF AND STUDENTS OF: Deyi Secondary School, Evergreen Secondary School, Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School, Yishun Secondary School
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. No part of it may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts.
sounding the teaching III
FACILITATING MUSIC LEARNING WITH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
A Publication by the Singapore Teachers' Academy for the aRts (STAR)
PRELUDE
EXPOSITION
Foreword 06
Clifford Chua Academy Principal Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
Introduction
Chua Siew Ling Master Teacher (Music) Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
12 Investigating Students’ Decision-making Processes in Musical Arrangements on Digital Audio Workstations
Ho Tze Liang, Shaun Subject Head (Aesthetics) Yishun Secondary School
30
21
Critically Evaluating the Benefits of Deliberate Online Social Spaces on Students’ Learning
Samuel Soong Rui Music Teacher
Evergreen Secondary School
Facilitating Musical Theoretical Understandings through Blended Learning 36
Lim Xian Quan, Ronald Music Teacher Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School
Taking Creative Risks: Facilitating Critical Thinking in Jam Band Contexts
Ho Si Liang Music Teacher
Deyi Secondary School
DEVELOPMENT I
A Reflection
44
ICT and Relational Musicking –Reflections on Classroom Observations
by Yap Li-Ren, Research Assistant (2018)
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
Observations on Pedagogy
50
Scaffolding and Personalising Learning with DAW
Chua Siew Ling Master Teacher (Music)
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
DEVELOPMENT II
64
Getting into a Flow: Supporting Songwriting with Technology
Chua Siew Ling Master Teacher (Music)
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
Discussion on Pedagogy
86
Listening as a Pedagogy
Tan Li Jen, Adeline Senior Academy Officer (Music)
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
92
Re-examining Assumptions Involving the Use of Technology in the Music Classroom
Tan Li Jen, Adeline Senior Academy Officer (Music)
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
Foreword
Technology has become ubiquitous in modern society and permeates every aspect of our lives. As a platform for learning and innovation, technology has been so integral to the music industry that its significance to education is impossible to ignore. The learning of music can perhaps be seen as an apprenticeship. Music teachers do more than just teach students about music – they mentor and guide their students, encourage and challenge them through their gestures, expressions, dialogues and performances. Technology challenges this apprenticeship model of music learning through its affordance of an asynchronous learning environment, allowing student learning to take place anytime, anywhere.
Students today are already consuming and creating music through online platforms such as Spotify and GarageBand. Those wishing to learn how to play an instrument can leverage countless videos posted on YouTube to pick up the skills. When technology disrupts or augments the conventional model of music learning, teachers will need to rethink their pedagogical approaches and consider the affordances that technology offers to strengthen and enhance music learning in our schools. One of these advantages lies in the ease with which technology supports learner-centredness. Learning through technology allows students to control the pace of learning that is most suitable to their learning needs. The interactivity that technology offers also allows for a certain customisation of learning which targets
students’ specific areas of need. In essence, technology holds the potential to help teachers become better educators.
In this issue of Sounding the Teaching III, the third one in this series, music teachers involved in STAR’s Critical Inquiry Networked Learning Community (CI NLC) chronicled their journeys of discovery as they re-examined assumptions and gained new perspectives on their practices. In their exploration of the possibilities emerging from the intersections between technology and music education, they constantly find themselves having to reshape their pedagogies in order to exploit technology to better engage and enhance student learning in music. In following them on their journeys, we hope this volume will also spark new kinds of conversations and alternative ways of using technology that will help teachers grow as educational connoisseurs as they translate these ideas into their own music lessons.
Technology, as valuable as it is, can never fully replace the role of the teacher. The value of the in-person interaction/experience between a music teacher and his or her student cannot be easily duplicated. The teacher’s skill in choreographing the different demands of music education through technology is critical in ensuring that our students’ experience and engagement with music in school remain positive. I trust that this publication will go some way in inspiring you as it has for me.
Clifford Chua Academy Principal
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
Introduction
This third issue of Sounding the Teaching features a collection of inquiry studies from music teacher-leaders who participated in a Critical Inquiry Networked Learning Community (CI NLC) in 2018. The focus of the inquiry is on music learning and teaching in an environment enabled by digital technologies. The inquiry also discusses how music learning can be better supported, reimagined and re-balanced.
RE-EXAMINING OUR ATTITUDES
Firstly, so that we can develop an openness to re-examine music and music teaching, we can re-examine our attitudes. Himonides (2017) believed that it is “not our attitudes towards technology but our attitudes towards diversity, originality, and the celebration of creative expression and learning needs that do not necessarily align with our own” (p. 4). The teachers who embarked on this critical inquiry journey have modelled for us this openness as they interrogated their own practices and reflected on their own identities as music teachers. Therefore, these articles do not just describe their pedagogical journeys; they also articulate their deep reflections, thoughts and beliefs. One example is Ho Si Liang’s discussion of the tensions she faced as a music teacher and her negotiation of her teacher identity.
RE-EXAMINING MUSIC LITERACY
Literacy has been defined by UNESCO (2005) as “the ability to identify, understand,
interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts” and “involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society”.
Given that digital technology has influenced communications in various forms and how we receive and experience the world around us, music literacy might also need a re-examination. Music learners now have much greater and broader access to multiple modes of musical stimulus beyond the sound as can be seen in YouTube, video tutorials, and other resources afforded by digital technology. One example is seen in Ho Tze Liang, Shaun’s use of video tutorials in facilitating music arrangement. Another is Si Liang’s use of a YouTube video to facilitate the creation of soundscapes as an avenue to engage students’ thinking in music. Therefore, we shall be continually challenged by new technologies to redefine what music is or define when music is,
Chua Siew Ling
Master Teacher (Music)
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
and how we can make sense of music to express ourselves and participate fully in our community and the wider society.
RE-EXAMINING MUSIC MAKING
Digital technology has expanded the notions of composition and performance to include processes such as recording, sequencing, mixing, production, virtual performances and beyond. At times, they no longer belong to neat categories of “composition” and “performance”. To add to the complexity, contexts of music making have also expanded. Tobias (2013) observed that “the line between studio and stage will continue to blur as technology and popular music evolve and transform how we create, perform, listen to and interact with music” (p. 228). Technology has also enhanced accessibility to collaboration and feedback, supported multiple revisions of work and broadened the scope of creative processes and activities. The articles featuring music arrangements on DAW (by Shaun), songwriting on iPad (by Samuel Soong Rui), listening and jam band (by Si Liang), and the software and apps explored in blended learning (by Lim Xian Quan, Ronald) are all examples of the broader range of music-making activities afforded by digital technology.
RE-EXAMINING MUSIC LEARNING
If we re-examine music literacy and music-making processes, then we should also re-examine music learning. How should students encounter music learning experiences and would these be more musical, more technological or somewhat integrated? My observation of Shaun’s approach in Scaffolding and Personalising Learning with DAW found that such learning experiences could be an integrated one. Shaun’s own study in Investigating Students’ Decision-making Processes in Musical
Arrangements on Digital Audio Workstations reveals how music learning is personal and complex.
While we can be excited about the vast possibilities for music learning with new technologies, it remains an assumption that technology will naturally engage our students who are known to be “digital natives”. Several articles in this volume will reveal why this may not be true.
RE-EXAMINING MUSIC TEACHING
Even as digital technology becomes more visible in our lives, the use of these technologies need not always be conspicuous in our teaching. In the spectrum of technological integration in our teaching practices, Tan Li Jen, Adeline in her article Re-examining Assumptions Involving the Use of Technology in the Music Classroom found that a simple substitution in technological use can also be innovative and can have a powerful effect on music learning. Indeed, music teachers need not feel that they need to be technologists to be effective with technology.
Perhaps, for a start, there could be a consideration to develop learning ecologies (Yelland, 2018) so that technologies are incorporated into learning scenarios, such as in the use of apps and online social learning spaces to support collaboration and learning. Such learning ecologies can be powerful in empowering students as musicians, as alluded to in Samuel’s inquiry on Critically Evaluating the Benefits of Deliberate Online Social Spaces on Students’ Learning
What then is the role of teachers in the face of an influx of information which we see may not always be a positive musical diet for our young? How do we mediate students’ encounter with influences from digital technology-enabled mass media culture? Instead of shunning to “protect”
students, there is perhaps a more activist role the teacher can now play to help our young become critical consumers, and to appreciate their own potential as moral and civic agents. We can start with our day-to-day interactions with our students, the language we use, the negotiation with students’ emotions and their insecurities, such as in the teacher-student dialogues I have documented of Samuel in the chapter, Getting into a Flow: Supporting Songwriting with Technology. Ronald’s experience in Facilitating Musical Theoretical Understandings through Blended Learning also demonstrates a need to leave space for students to explore and to build in “creative playgrounds” for deeper learning.
We teachers can now let go of the notion of ourselves being the know-all sage (if we have not already done so) to embrace our activist self to be open to and adapt to changes, our musician self, our moral self, and our identity as facilitators of learning and ambassadors of music to engage and create confident students and musicians of today and tomorrow.
ORGANISATION OF PUBLICATION
This publication is organised into three main parts:
1. The Exposition begins with an inquiry into the learning and teaching experiences of four music teachers who have embarked on their classroom inquiry projects being part of a Critical Inquiry Networked Learning Community. The Codetta concludes this section with a reflection from an observer, a research assistant in these inquiry projects.
2. The First Development discusses close observations of music learning and teaching in the context of music lessons in digital technological environments, through an etic perspective. It also illustrates the nuances of student-teacher
interactions in such environments and discusses the implications on pedagogy.
The Second Development takes an aerial view of the pedagogical processes to provide suggestions to give greater attention to listening processes that are fundamental to music learning, especially with the affordances of digital technological environments. Finally, it re-examines assumptions about music teaching in this digital technological age.
3. The Coda summarises key learning points from the various articles about music learning, pedagogy, learning ecologies as well as the role of teachers in enabling their students’ musical engagement and development.
REFERENCES
Himonides, E. (2017). Narcissism, romanticism, and technology. In S.A. Ruthmann & R. Mantie (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education (pp. 489-494). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Tobias, E. S. (2013). Composing, songwriting, and producing: Informing popular music pedagogy. Research Studies in Music Education, 35(2), 213-237.
UNESCO. (2005). Aspects of Literacy Assessment. Topics and issues from the UNESCO Expert Meeting. June 10-12, 2003. Paris.
Yelland, N. J. (2018). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Young children and multimodal learning with tablets. British Journal of Educational Technology, 49(5), 847-858. doi:10.1111/bjet.12635
This section focuses on students’ learning experiences as investigated by four teachers from different secondary schools in their respective music lesson contexts. It throws light onto the complexity of learning and the intricacies of negotiating teaching moves to engage students while harnessing digital technology in music teaching. The teachers share the new insights they have gleaned about students’ learning, their own teaching and their own beliefs at the end of their inquiry journeys.
Investigating Students’ Decision-making Processes in Musical Arrangements on Digital Audio Workstations
Yishun Secondary School
INTRODUCTION
My critical inquiry aims to investigate students’ decision-making processes as they work on musical arrangements on Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs). GarageBand was the DAW that I used.
The inspiration behind my project was Byrne’s (2018) research on “learning narratives” in computer compositional strategies. “Learning narratives” refer to students’ unseen perspective during the compositional process. In her research, she worked with secondary school pupils who were composing using computers. To collect data, she used Camtasia, a screen-recording software, which captured students’ actions when they were composing on the computer. Her analysis brought to light how students learn, which sometimes takes place in silence and is invisible to the teacher.
RATIONALE
In Yishun Secondary School, we offer Music for Upper Secondary Normal Technical (NT) students as one of their subjects for their ‘N’ Level examinations. As part of their coursework, the students have to create musical arrangements of pop songs based on a given context. Having guided students through their coursework multiple times, I was intrigued by the unseen process by which students make musical decisions
during the creation of music, and what really goes on after the teacher gives feedback and leaves the student to work. Sometimes feedback such as “work on the riff in the bassline” could result in an incongruous and/or unexpected outcome where the student creates chords in the bass guitar or creates conflicting bass notes that do not align with the music. Hence, I chose my Secondary 3 NT music class for this project.
CONTEXTS
Overview of Lessons
The project was carried out across 10 lessons or approximately 2 months. There are 2 lessons per week, each 90 minutes long.
Task
Students create their own instrumental arrangement of a 4-chord song using GarageBand. It is a song with a consistent harmonic rhythm over 4 chords.
Why this task?
• Music arrangement is part of coursework in the NT Music syllabus.
• Students tend to struggle with this component.
• The purpose is to find out how students make musical decisions when creating their arrangement.
Ho Tze Liang, Shaun
Subject Head (Aesthetics)
Schedule
LESSON 1 Introduce song Construct chords and bass notes
LESSON 2 Create bassline with appropriate patterns
LESSON 3-4 Create drum patterns
LESSON 5-6 Create drum patterns and fills
LESSON 7 Create drum fills and pads
LESSON 8-9 Explore pads, intro/outro
LESSON 10 Balance
NOTE:
Students began with the bassline as it only required them to sequence single notes. The sequencing of drum patterns and fills took a longer duration as the students had to construct the drum parts without using the smart drum function in GarageBand.
Student Profile
There are six students in the Sec 3 NT music class.
• Three play the guitar but have no or minimal experience with GarageBand on iMacs.
• Three play the keyboard and have tried recording into GarageBand on iMacs and are familiar with the interface and recording functions.
• All are kinesthetic and visual learners and have short attention spans.
• All have used GarageBand on iPads in Sec 2 during their iPad Band module.
• One student has special educational needs and needs more time to complete class work and tests.
• Two students have irregular attendance which affects their motivation and continuity of learning.
Resources
A few resources were given to the students to aid their work.
a. The first was a teacher’s arrangement, so that students could refer to the song anytime. The four layers of melody, harmony, bass and rhythm were included in this arrangement. Two layers of harmony were included to demonstrate that different instruments, patterns and chord structures would lead to a different arrangement.
Fig 1: Screenshot of teacher’s arrangement
Instrumentation:
Melody (without lyrics)
–Soft Square Lead Synthesizer
Harmony 1 – Jazz Organ
Harmony 2 – Classic
Suitcase Mk IV Keyboard
Bass – Picked Bass
Guitar
Rhythm – SoCal (Kyle)
Smart Drums
b. The second resource was a lead sheet The students know how to read chords to create their arrangement.
c. The third resource was a worksheet of empty keyboard charts. The purpose was twofold:
• To familiarise students with the keyboard if they do not already know the keyboard.
• To help students remember the notes of the different chords. The students would shade the respective notes of the chords in the diagrams.
Click or scan QR code to listen to the teacher’s arrangement
Click or scan QR code to listen to an example of the video guide Lesson 5, Recording One Bar of the Closed Hi-hat for Rock Drum Pattern 1
1 There are other video guides created by AEB – namely the Ballade and Electronic Dance Music styles. For the purpose of the students’ task, the Pop Rock style was used.
d. The last resource given to students were the Video Guides to Music Arranging (Pop Rock style) created by Arts Education Branch (AEB)1. Students were instructed to view the guides to review the concepts taught by the teacher or to review the step-by-step process for certain functions within GarageBand. As the lessons progressed, every student had their own learning and working pace. The videos were especially useful in engagement when everyone was working on a different area in their arrangement.
RESEARCH QUESTION
a. How do students make musical decisions on Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs)? What are they considering before making a decision?
For example:
• Choice of instrument
• Register
• Patterns
• Balance
• Imitation of the video guide or teacher’s demonstration
• Knowledge of conventions or students’ personal musical background
b. What impedes students from making musical decisions?
For example:
• Lack of knowledge of interface/ functions of DAW
• Lack of knowledge of conventions/ musical background
• Lack of musical ideas
• Memory lapse from previous lesson
• Poor knowledge of keyboard geography
• Hardware issues
• Distractions
METHODOLOGY
This project’s methodology was a qualitative case study as each student is unique and faced different issues during the task. The data was collected through screen recording and video recording of lessons.
Screen Recording
• QuickTime Player – to record the screen
• SoundFlower patch – to record both the audio and video
Fig 2: Image of worksheet of empty keyboard charts
NOTE:
I started the recordings before students entered the class so as to ease the logistical issues once lessons began. Another common but less frequent issue that I faced was that the recording stopped on its own due to technical errors. After each lesson, the videos would then be exported.
Video of Lessons
The lessons were also video recorded in class. Both Swivl and static cameras were used for different lessons due to resource constraints.
NOTE:
• If the lesson was recorded without a Bluetooth microphone attached to the teacher, the feedback to individual students could not be heard.
STUDENT A EVENT
00:00:55 Tries Picked Bass
• The timing of the recording of lessons did not correspond to the screen recording, which made it difficult to check what exactly was going on at that particular moment – whether it was teacher intervention, the exact feedback given and if it were a teacher demonstration.
Data Collection
From the students’ screen recordings, I would:
• Review each video
• Keep a time log
• Code the activity through themes
THEME
3: Snapshot of my time log and coding of student A’s work
SUB-THEME
Instrument / Timbre Exploration
00:01:24 Adjusts volume, louder Dynamics Louder
00:01:45 Plays through half of song
00:02:06 Tries recording bassline but records chords
00:02:53 Teacher demonstrates 4 notes of bassline
00:03:00 Changes to Liverpool Bass, tests sound
00:03:20 Deletes recording
00:03:35 Adds new bass instrument, Stinger Bass. But somehow the drums layer changes to Stinger Bass instead of the newly added instrument
00:04:45 Restarts GarageBand
00:05:12 Opens new file, tests drum sounds
00:05:49 Adds new instrument, tries Stinger Bass, Upright Studio Bass, Fingerstyle Bass
00:06:10 Max volume for bass
00:06:30 Starts recording bassline, from beginning to end. No variation. 4 beats to each note
Music Creation Bass
Music Creation Misconception
Instrument / Timbre Exploration
Instrument / Timbre Exploration
Instrument / Timbre Exploration
Instrument / Timbre Exploration
Dynamics Louder
Music Creation Bass Pattern
00:07:50 Reviews recording Self-assessment
00:07:58 Adjusts volume for drums, softer Volume Softer
Fig
Analysis
A snapshot of a time log of Student A’s work is given. From here, we can glean the musical decision-making process, not just view his final output.
During this lesson, he was working on creating the bassline. The columns, from left to right, show the timing of each event and the description of the event or decision the student made as captured on screen. The events were then categorised through different themes. Within some themes, a sub-theme would be attached to a particular event. For example, between 03:35 and 05:49, Student A goes through a cycle of trying out the sounds of new bass guitars before finally deciding on the Fingerstyle Bass. I categorised these events first under “Instrument / Timbre” while also noting that it was an “Exploration”. Student A then adjusts the volume for the bass guitar, presumably to hear the bassline as clearly as possible. He starts recording the bassline from the beginning to the end of the song, albeit a simple bassline of 4 beats per bass note. This was categorised under “Music Creation” and the sub-theme of “Bass Pattern”. After which, Student A reviews his own recording, under the theme of “Self-assessment”.
FINDINGS
Overview of Themes
The table below shows the different thematic categories. The themes were arranged according to the frequency of decisions that Student A made.
Table 1: Thematic Categories
2 Learn Musical Concept 29
3 Instrument / Timbre 22
1. “Self-assessment” refers to the event of improving his own work through listening, deleting, editing and re-recording. A closer look at this theme will be explored below. Significantly, there was a large occurrence of Student A deciding to self-assess. This would correspond to the student’s desire to improve or check his work.
Click or scan QR code to view example
2. “Learn Musical Concept” refers to the event of watching or referring to the video. It also includes the teacher’s intervention or demonstration. A high frequency is unsurprising as students were instructed to view the video tool to learn different concepts. The videos were supposed to enable students to be self-directed learners. However, some students are unable to transfer the knowledge to their own context. For example, the video guide used Pachelbel’s Canon in D which has a different set of chords.
3. “Instrument / Timbre” refers to the selection or changing of an instrument in GarageBand’s library. Click or scan QR code to view example
4. “Music Creation” refers to the sequencing or recording either through the MIDI
keyboard or the piano roll. This theme is differentiated from “Self-assessment –Re-recording” as “Music Creation” is the act of creating an original layer of music. Click or scan QR code to view example of music creation — drum patterns
Click or scan QR code to view example of music creation — bassline
GarageBand. This was counted as a decision as there was some deliberation before he acted.
Sub-theme of Self-assessment
5. “Distraction” refers to the non-musical or unrelated-to-task decisions. A common occurrence was surfing the Internet. It could suggest Student A’s lack of focus at times. On the other hand, it might have helped Student A with his workflow since he tended to complete the task early and he decided to do something unrelated to take a break from the intensity of his work and to motivate himself.
Click or scan QR code to view example
6. “Dynamics” refers to the adjustment in the velocity of notes.
7. “Practice” refers to events where the student is heard rehearsing his part on the MIDI keyboard. The low occurrence for practice could be due to StudentA being an adept keyboard player. This confidence was displayed through an immediate “Music Creation” or “Self-assessment – Re-recording”.
8. “Volume” refers to the balancing of volume between the different tracks in GarageBand. In this case, Student A did not do a thorough job of balancing the tracks towards the end of the task mainly due to a lack of motivation to finish the task well.
9. “Articulation” refers to editing the notes on the piano roll so that it changes from legato to staccato or vice versa. There was only one instance of this as this was not covered in the video guide and not explicitly taught by the teacher.
10. “Accidental” refers to the student unintentionally deleting a track inside
On further analysis of the theme of “Self-assessment”, the most common occurrence shows Student A listening to his work before further action as indicated in Table 2. This establishes the critical aural skills that all students of music should develop during their course of study and reflects a conscious decision made by the student to assess the quality of his own work.
Table 2: Sub-theme of Self-assessment
“Deletion” features quite regularly in Student A’s work. This type of deletion tends to be wholesale, instead of the music industry practice of deleting bits and pieces that are undesirable. I wondered if Student A preferred wholesale deletion as it involved only a single click as opposed to selective deletion which requires finesse and a greater deal of practice to master. Besides, the different methods of editing were not explicitly taught to students, maybe signalling the helplessness of students who would resort to the only solution which students know of – which is to delete the work in its entirety.
“Deletion” also frequently precedes “Re-recording”, which demonstrates his preference to record an entire passage. While Student A is an above-average keyboardist, the action reflects his musical know-how of performing part of a song instead of mechanically playing the entire song. Ultimately,
Drum patterns
Bassline
Click or scan QR code to watch and listen to Student A’s work
the prevalence of deletion could also reveal the lack of patience that Student A and many other students have for the refinement of music arrangements in DAWs.
The event of “Editing” mostly occurs during the sequencing of drum rhythms and drum fills as the students had to adjust and quantise notes within the piano roll. It is standard practice in the pop music industry to edit during production sessions. Hence, as teachers, it might be useful for our students if we align our teaching practice to industry practice.
Click or scan QR code to view example
Case Example
Student A started work on the bassline in this lesson and used the MIDI keyboard to sequence. The key events are as follows:
0:00 - 0:52
0:53 - 1:13
Student A tries out the sounds and timbres of different bass guitars and bass synthesisers on the MIDI keyboard. He cycles through 3-4 instruments before deciding on one.
Student A practises along to the teacher’s track. This period of exploration also reveals a breadth of creativity of bass patterns – almost no two patterns are alike.
Key Observations & Discussion
Timbre or instrument choice was generally the students’ first consideration and what they largely spend time on before moving on to other aspects. It seems that students prefer to select a sound that is suitable before sequencing and not vice versa. In hindsight, I could have given students a list of suitable instruments for each layer of music, so the choices could be more focused. On the other hand, this task was the first time the students had extensive contact with GarageBand and perhaps it was good for them to explore as much as they could.
1:14 - 1:21
Student A records the bassline from the chorus.
Another observation made was the length of time a student takes before arriving at a decision. Since Student A was adept at playing the keyboard and seemingly comfortable with GarageBand’s interface, each decision was made rather briskly. The same cannot be said for the other students. The length of time that the others took to make a decision increased when they were less able at playing the keyboard or had less knowledge of keyboard geography. This could also boil down to students’ lack of musical ideas when given the opportunity to create music. Upon further analysis, Student A tends to be easy-going and does not mind taking risks, which could explain his occasional rapid-fire decision-making. How students make decisions could reveal much of their personality, though one student took a longer duration due to her special educational needs.
Expanding on the thread of students’ deleting work, sometimes students do not improve their work after wholesale deletion, which begs the question of whether the time taken to delete and re-record was worth their while. The loop function and further editing through the piano roll can definitely be explored in future tasks as it will save students time to sequence.
The last key observation was about students not being able to apply the concepts learnt from the video guide to their own context.
Fig 4: Screenshot of Student A’s work
This occasionally occurred repeatedly before the teacher intervened. Students start by copying exactly from the video guide, before realising that the musical context is different.
IMPLICATIONS TO PEDAGOGY
From the data, music teachers can glean some implications for our pedagogy.
1. Our (sometimes indifferent) approach to choosing appropriate timbre
In my teaching practice, there is a tendency to hurry students through the exploratory process of choosing an instrument in the DAW, instead of wanting them to focus on the creation of music.
One area of growth could be to inform students how to make decisions based on timbre, instead of merely exploring and selecting what sounds best to their musically untrained ear. An example would be selecting the grand piano with all its glorious sound for use in electropop styles. Or using a synth bass for a light ballad. Moreover, in instruments such as drum sets, their timbres are different for different genres of music. Should teachers then set aside one or even a series of lessons on timbre? Perhaps one factor that dissuades teachers from starting and dwelling on choosing timbre would be the lack of time. However, if students find their musical voice, within certain boundaries, would this then lead to a greater ownership of their own work?
2. Industry practice for music production
As mentioned earlier, the industry practice in music production is to edit instead of delete. To students, deletion seems like the faster option as it requires the mere click of a button. While it might be a lengthy process to bring students through the editing technique, would this be a case of wasting time in the present so that time will be more efficiently used in the future?
3. Individualised curriculum
All six students involved in this project started at the same time with identical resources. However, each progressed at a different rate which resulted in the need for an individualised curriculum, especially for students who needed more guidance. Some teachers might feel that it may require too much effort to conduct a lesson that caters to each student and that might certainly be the case if the class size was bigger than six. Ultimately, it goes back to a curriculum that is student-centric and places students’ needs as the foremost consideration.
4. Process of scaffolding
I have used leading questions to help students make their musical decisions and to get an insight into their thought processes. The other end of this form of scaffolding would be didactic instruction, explicitly informing the student what or what not to do. What makes each music arrangement unique are the different decisions each student makes along the way, which leads to different aspects of music that they and the teacher have to consider in making a good arrangement. In turn, this would lead to greater ownership of their work as it is their own decision.
5. Use of video guide
Lastly, the video guide, while beneficial for students to refer to at any point during the lesson, could become a crutch when students do not tap on their own creativity or end up imitating the guide fully. It is necessary to emphasise to students that the video guide is a means of “how to do” instead of “what to do”. This will allow students to know that their task is of a completely different context from the video guide. The use of the video guide could also have resulted in a lower occurrence of original and creative ideas. Some students applied the same patterns that were demonstrated by the video.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this project has given an insight into the usually unseen process that students undergo to make musical decisions and the issues they face during a music arrangement task on DAWs.
• Students seem drawn to the process of exploring instrumental timbre.
• They need time to explore and make musical decisions, and the process differs with each student.
• They resort to deleting work in its entirety rather than refine their work.
• They are not able to, on their own, apply concepts from an instructional video on their music decision-making.
The implications are that:
• In future music arrangement tasks, teachers may give more time for an exploration of instrumental timbre and provide listening examples to instrumental timbre in different musical contexts before and/or as students work on their arrangements. This exposure will enrich students’ musical diet that could lead to more appropriate musical decisions.
• More instruction or support (such as video/slide tutorials) to enable students to understand the process of editing so
that they have more options than simply deleting their work in its entirety.
• While there are lesson and curriculum objectives, each student’s creative process is different and hence apportioning more time to support students as they work, rather than instructing the class as a whole (which assumes everyone learns at the same pace), could offer more opportunities for them to receive individualised help to personalise their learning.
• While resources such as video guides provide support for students’ independent work, they should not be seen as a crutch. They should point students towards “how to do” instead of “what to do” and teachers could encourage original and creative ideas from students.
Apart from the themes that I have found in this study, there could be other aspects in students’ musical decision-making since this study focused on a small group and students worked on the same song. The understanding that students’ musical decision-making process is personal and complex made me consider how the use of technology should not be about the hardware or software, but why and how we use it for our teaching and learning. It is how we are going to enable our students to be better musicians and make meaningful musical decisions.
REFERENCES
Byrne, J. (2018). Learning narratives pave way to modify computer compositional strategies. In E. Himonides, A. King & F. Cuadrado (Eds.), Proceedings of the Sempre MET2018: Researching Music, Education, Technology (pp. 53-56). London: University College London.
Critically Evaluating the Benefits of Deliberate Online Social Spaces on Students’ Learning
Samuel Soong Rui
Music Teacher
Evergreen Secondary School
INTRODUCTION
As teachers, we constantly strive to create a better learning environment for our students so that they can achieve as much as possible within the limited time frame. When I first started teaching at Evergreen Secondary School, I realised that the level of ICT used by the average student was vastly disproportionate to that of adult students, to whom Google Docs and sharing drives were commonplace as part of everyday work. I decided to try implementing a substantial amount of ICT tools to facilitate students’ learning, and because of that, they will be more engaged in their learning of musical content creation.
After experimenting with different tools, I decided to create a website using wix.com to pull together all the little ICT tools into a one-stop web portal, designed to create a private workspace for students to collaborate and to store work online. However, while there were students who enjoyed the lessons, it was unclear as to whether the substantial use of ICT tools played a major part. This was an important discussion because creating and maintaining the aforementioned workspaces required a lot of effort and man hours. Google Docs had to be created and linked to private social spaces that were password protected,
social walls had to be policed, and this had to be done for each of the 50-odd students from three classes. The main question I had was, are these beneficial enough to warrant the effort?
PURPOSE
This study seeks to investigate how beneficial deliberate online social learning spaces (Google Docs, social walls) are for a songwriting module at Sec 1 level in terms of:
• Empowerment: sense of being better musicians, feeling more confident in music lessons, sense of being able to create their own music and express themselves through music
• Joy of learning: enjoying music in school, finding tasks during music lessons interesting
• Ownership of work: effort and time students put in for their work
• Rigour of work: quality of work measured against the benchmarks set from the onset of the class, in terms of how well the song was organised, whether or not the number of syllables in each line was not too dissimilar, and whether or not the meter was strictly followed and chords equally spaced out
METHODOLOGY
• Two classes, 1RSP and 1ITG, went through the same songwriting module and were given the same handouts and various online resources.
INTRODUCTION
SONG STRUCTURE
LYRIC WRITING
• Play along, counting in time
• Term 3, Week 1
• Song structure (e.g. verse, pre-chorus)
• Term 3, Week 2
• Lyric writing, rhyming structures
• Term 3, Week 3
CHORD SETTING
INSTRUMENTATION
MERGING LYRICS AND CHORDS
MELODY
RECORDING OF SONG
• Play and decide on chord progression for song
• Term 3, Week 4/5
• Record instrumental parts and create “backing track” for song
• Term 3, Week 6/7
• Fitting lyrics into the pace of chords
• Term 3, Week 8/9
• Develop melody from the lyrics to fit with the chords
• Term 4, Week 1-3
• Sing with their “backing track” and record their song
• Term 4, Week 3
• 1RSP was given a deliberate social learning space in the form of an online private workspace (one per group of students) while 1ITG was not. The online
private workspace would consist of a webpage for each group, accessible only via password by group members. The webpage contained interactive features like a button that hyperlinks to a Google Doc, another button that hyperlinks to a Google Slide and a social wall that students within the group could post on (See Fig 2 and Fig 3). In contrast, 1ITG used conventional worksheets as they worked on their projects.
• The project students would be writing and recording their own original pop song in groups of two to three students. Both groups would still have ready access to the GarageBand app through iPads. They would learn about using and arranging chords and instruments, and placing them in multi-layered tracks, organising lyrics to fit them, and then reciting the lines across the music with a rhythm in timing with the music. A melody for their lyrics was optional. They would end the programme by recording what they had decided. The programme would take 1½ terms including the recording session.
2: View of students’ workspaces
Fig 1: Overview of the songwriting module
Fig
Fig 3: Example of students’ work on Google Docs
• The data collection and analysis included: Comparison of the classes’ responses to pre- and post-module questionnaires
Assessment of the classes’ work with a set of rubrics
Comparison of how often students in the respective classes used the online spaces and what they used them for outside of music lessons
~ Comparison of the average length of work, the amount of time spent on recording their songs between the two classes
Observations of the differences in behavioural patterns between the two classes
Imperfect
Written and Performed by Student S & Student A
Key F#
Verse1: F#
When people misunderstand, E bm when things get out of hand.
B
This doesn’t mean you change yourself C# to be somebody else. F#
All your insecurities
E bm it doesn’t matter, you are you. Only true friends would understand.
Pre-chrous: E bm B
Walk away from all this hate, just stop.
G#m C# You just gotta tell yourself.
Chorus: F#
Imperfections E bm can’t be corrected.
B
C#sus C# Without them you are not who you are, please just understand. Imperfections can’t be corrected. Without them you are not who you are, please just understand.
B C#
They make up the beauty.
FINDINGS
Empowerment
Music lessons make me a better musician
I feel confident in music lessons
I am able to create my own music I
• Empowerment is defined here as enabling students to feel that they are better musicians, more confident in music lessons, being able to create their own music and express themselves through music.
• Students from 1RSP (with social learning space) generally felt more empowered than 1ITG (without social learning space) after the module even though both classes had approximately the same mean rating before the start of the module.
In terms of feeling that music lessons made them better musicians, the mean rating of students from 1RSP increased from 3.41 to 3.89 on a 5-point Likert Scale
In terms of feeling confident in music lessons, the mean rating of students from 1RSP increased from 3.16 to 3.43 on a 5-point Likert Scale
In terms of being able to create their own music, the mean rating of students from 1RSP increased from 2.96 to 3.67 on a 5-point Likert Scale
In terms of being able to express themselves through music, the mean rating of students from 1RSP increased from 3.56 to 3.78 on a 5-point Likert Scale
• For students from 1ITG, the only rating that increased was their sense of being able to create music which increased from 2.75 to 3.25 on a 5-point Likert Scale. It seemed that the absence of the online learning spaces might have negatively impacted their learning experience and sense of confidence as musicians, and ability to express themselves through music.
• On average, 1RSP felt more empowered than 1ITG after the module.
Fig 4: Empowerment of students after module (on 5-point Likert Scale)
Ownership of work refers to the time and effort students put into their work.
• Joy of learning refers to the enjoyment of music lessons in school and finding the tasks in music lessons interesting.
• Students from 1RSP enjoyed music lessons more than 1ITG and their mean rating increased from 3.41 to 3.89 on a 5-point Likert Scale.
• Students from 1RSP also found the tasks they did during music lessons interesting and their mean rating increased from 3.16 to 3.43 on a 5-point Likert Scale.
• Students from 1ITG were observed to be less enthusiastic in their music lessons from Week 5 onwards, whereas this dip was not observed in 1RSP. Perhaps they lost momentum without the online support to allow them to carry on with their work outside of music lessons, and perhaps the songwriting became too challenging for them without the constant online support.
Ownership of work through time taken in recording studio
Time taken in recording studio
• Students were allowed to use the recording studio for as long as they required. Therefore, the assumption made here was that the amount of time spent was proportionate to how determined they were to do a good job, as longer time spent in the booths meant making more attempts, probably because they were not satisfied with the quality of their work. On average, student groups in 1RSP spent more time in the booths (25.14 minutes) as compared to student groups in 1ITG (14.58 minutes). The longer one spent in the recording studio could be an indicator of the amount of effort put in.
Revisiting of work outside of music lessons
The data of 1RSP outside lesson efforts was retrieved by checking the log data of their Google Docs. The data of 1ITG’s efforts outside lessons was based on students’ declaration in the mid-term survey since they did not work on Google Docs.
Fig 6:
Fig 5: Joy of learning during module (on 5-point Likert Scale)
I found that:
• More students in 1RSP as compared to 1ITG revisit their work at least once a week.
• Not only had many groups in 1RSP continued working on their work after school, many of them made substantial changes to the contents of their Google Docs, i.e. changing lyrics, rearranging the material, organising the
different sections of their work according to font and colours.
A mid-term survey done by 1RSP and 1ITG revealed that:
• While 25 1RSP students revisited their work at least once a week, only 15 1ITG students revisited their work at least once a week, with 4 (1RSP) and 14 (1ITG) students confessing they never revisited their work outside of lesson time.
• By tracking 1RSP’s changes on their Google Docs, it was noted that students who logged into their Google Docs outside music lessons edited their work heavily. This included: working out their lyrics (six groups); re-organising their whole document such as through colour coding, font differences and headings (seven groups); trying out new instruments/chords (three groups).
lines of suggested themes and topics of discussion July 9th, NLT [9.26pm] Added 1 line of yrics
July 11th, LT Added 1 line of lyrics Added Sectioning Added Instrumentation Added Chords Edited notes for suggested mood of song
Work July 9th, NLT Added Full Song Summary Added Full Lyrics July 11th, LT Added Chords and Instrumentation for 1 and V1
Final Draft No use
Sketch Pad No use
July 17th, NLT Added more instrumentation
July 15th, NLT Added Chords and Instrumentation for the rest of the song Deleted the lyrics
July 17th, NLT Edited the Chords and Instrumentation to fit the prescribed chord progressions
7
6
5 Rough Work No use
Final Draft No use
Sketch Pad No use
Rough Work July 11th, LT Added Song Summary
Final Draft No use
Sketch Pad No use
Rough Work July 11th, LT Copy-pasted whole list of prescribed chord progressions, added chord
Final Draft No use
Sketch Pad No use
8 Rough Work July 11th, LT Copy-pasted whole list of prescribed chord progressions, added some remarks (value judgement) for some chord progressions
NON-LESSON TIME LT: LESSON TIME
July 18th, LT Added Intro Section
July 17th, NLT Added whole lyrics (15+ lines) Added more chords to chord structure
July 18th, LT Added chord structure for whole song with chord count
July 25th, LT No changes noted
July 18th, NLT Added more lyrics (5+ lines of lyrics) Changed chords of chord structure
July 24th (X2), both NLT Deleted whole list of prescribed chords, added title of songs, reorganised chord structure and coloured text
August 1st, LT Added 4 lines of lyrics Added title
July 25th, LT No changes noted
July 25th, LT Added Instrumentation
Fig 7: Number of students who revisit their work outside of music lessons
Fig 8: An example of
Overall for ownership of work:
• The statistics showed that 1RSP seemed to have put in more effort in their work and gave themselves a higher expectation on the quality of their work.
• A higher number of students in 1ITG seemed to have relied more on direct instructions given out during class time and to work only during lesson time.
Rigour of Work
The rigour of work refers to the quality of work measured against the benchmarks set at the beginning of the class, in terms of how well the song was organised, whether or not the number of syllables in each line was not too dissimilar, and whether or not the meter was strictly followed and chords equally spaced out.
Average length of song
• On average, if the student groups followed the required song structure (Intro, Verse 1, Chorus, Musical Interlude, Verse 2, Chorus, Repeat Chorus, Outro), their songs would be at least 2 minutes long, or longer if the song were a slow ballad. If the average duration dropped below that, chances were that several groups compromised on the song
structure, perhaps only delivering half of what was expected. For 1RSP, the average runtime of each song was 3.33 minutes, significantly longer than that for 1ITG which was 1.51 minutes.
BACKGROUND OF THE GROUP
Students E, W and X were put together into a group by the teacher as they could not find a group on their own.
• Students E, W and X had difficulties working with one another. They were observed to be quarrelling very often. Student E threw tantrums easily and was observed having emotional breakdowns and giving up by just doing his art work in class. Student X was known to disrupt the class and group. Student W often complained about both, and Student E often complained about Student W.
• There were also issues with student discipline. For example, Student X was found misusing the iPads on various occasions.
• However, these students were able to put together a song entitled Friends and recorded the song by the end of the module.
Assessment
• Grades were given based on a set of rubrics that awarded marks for how well the song was organised musically and lyrically, i.e. whether the same chords were played in timing, and whether non-pitched percussion instruments kept the same tempo as the chord-playing instruments. 1RSP were awarded more A’s and B’s than 1ITG.
Click or scan QR code for a song example by the group of students
Fig 9: Average length of song
DISCUSSION
Summary
EMPOWERMENT
JOY OF LEARNING
OWNERSHIP OF WORK
More students in 1RSP than 1ITG seemed to view themselves as better musicians and songwriters and have more confidence at the end of the module.
More students in 1RSP than 1ITG seemed to have enjoyed the whole process a lot more.
More students in 1RSP than 1ITG seemed to have shown more ownership of their work through the amount of time spent at various junctures.
RIGOUR OF WORK
The average grade obtained by students in 1RSP was higher than that of students in 1ITG.
Additional Observations
• While most groups in 1RSP used Google Docs, only one group used the social wall, and even then, their usage was due to novelty rather than practicality; they were simply using it to greet one another. My guess is that students have more accessible means of communicating with each other online, i.e. WhatsApp, and therefore do not need this additional social wall.
• Only two students from 1RSP compared to five students from 1ITG gave feedback in the questionnaire about not having enough time to complete the work, even though 1RSP had one less week of lessons compared to 1ITG (due to a music lesson falling on National Day). It suggests that students in 1RSP were able to better manage their time and project with the support of Google Docs.
The findings represent a strong endorsement of how the online social learning space, in particular the Google Docs platform, is a critical influence on students’ learning
experience and outcome in the songwriting module. The use of the Google Docs, as it facilitated students’ work in and outside of music lessons, had provided greater access and moderated the challenge of the songwriting task for 1RSP. In contrast, students in 1ITG might have had less success in navigating the challenges of the songwriting task over time without such a tool. Such a social learning space might have contributed to 1RSP students achieving a state of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997) since the activity provided support to engage students in the challenge and possibly moderate their level of anxiety. The affordance of ICT tools to facilitate such flow experiences would merit further study.
CONCLUSION
• While students do see the benefits in online collaborative tools, most Sec 1 students would not use them on their own. The class, although not facilitated with such ICT tools, was not prevented from using them; students could still have used them on their own. However,
only one group was using Google Docs. It could be because they are unaware of such tools. Hence, while we assume students to be more “IT savvy” than their teachers, students might not have thought of how they could use them to make their work easier. The implication is that teachers could have students learn to use such tools to facilitate their work.
• The provision of the online learning space would facilitate students’ learning if they could be provided greater access. Hence, sharing platforms such as Google Docs, rather than the other aspects of the social wall, have shown to positively impact students’ learning and outcomes. This can be seen when students from 1RSP actually professed to enjoy music lessons more. The implication
is that teachers could use ICT tools in such a way as to provide collaborative opportunity and greater access to students’ work in and outside music lessons to support challenging tasks.
• All in all, the study has suggested that ICT tools may even be integral to student success in more challenging projects such as songwriting. Moving forward, we could start harnessing different social learning spaces to derive similar benefits for our music students.
REFERENCES
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding flow: The psychology of engagement with everyday life. New York, NY, US: Basic Books.
Facilitating Musical Theoretical Understandings through Blended Learning
INTRODUCTION
The inquiry is on a programme which was targeted at students in music-related CCAs who do not take private music lessons in a formal setting. The programme aims to develop in students greater aural awareness and musicality, including harmony, music writing and arranging, while promoting e-learning readiness for future courses that they embark on. During the process, I hoped to gain insight on how best to facilitate learning among students through online platforms.
CONTEXT
1. The objective of the project is to bridge the gap between students’ music theory knowledge and students’ musical experiences.
2. The secondary objective is to explore how students without the additional music lessons outside of school could be helped to achieve the requisite knowledge and skills so that they could be eligible to offer ‘O’ Level Music at Sec 3.
3. There are four Sec 2 participants who opted for the course which is conducted outside of curriculum time.
PARTICIPANTS
The participants and their brief music background are as follows:
L Sec 1, Theory Grade 2 (2017), taking music lessons privately (since 2015), Chinese Instrumental Orchestra
T Sec 1, Theory Grade 4 (2016), stopped music lessons at 2017, Concert Band
S Sec 2, no private music lessons, Concert Band
R Sec 2, no private music lessons, Concert Band
Lim Xian Quan, Ronald Music Teacher
Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School
1 Week 1 Pitches, Major Scales, Chords
2 Week 2 Clefs, Keys, Minor Scales, Intervals
3 Week 3-4 Rhythm, Form Plenary Session 1 on Week 4
6 Week 8-9 Assessment and Music-writing Assignment
7 Week 10 Consolidation and Review Plenary Session 3
APPROACHES AND OBSERVATIONS
The three main approaches used in this blended learning project and their respective observations are: a. Leveraging Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)
• Students signed up for a course in Coursera – Fundamentals of Music Theory run by the University of Edinburgh. There are five topics (refer to the first five phases in the Schedule above). For each topic, students can refer to supplementary material (referred to as elective components), which can be found here
• A WhatsApp group was created to provide a platform for discussions related to content.
I will offer suggestions if students come across a query they cannot answer among themselves.
• All students met at the first plenary session to consolidate their learning, review and provide feedback on their experience. This plenary session would be conducted before the students attempt the structured creative task (second approach).
Each student’s progress in Coursera is shown below (see Fig 1). Most students stopped at the third topic which coincides with the first plenary session. They showed greater engagement in the new task introduced at the first plenary session which might have led to them discontinuing with Coursera. Student R did not even complete the first topic.
Fig 1: Completion of topics covered in course
b. Structured Creative Task (step-by-step assignment)
• Students are introduced to an online Digital Audio Workstation on Cloud Platform – BandLab.
• Students are required to complete a task set by the teacher which involves completing triads, changing the bass and sequencing a melody, based on the song Photograph by Ed Sheeran.
• Teacher provides a visual demonstration at the plenary session.
• Students complete the task on their own.
This is an extract of my arrangement of Photograph by Ed Sheeran which was given as sheet music to students.
During the second plenary session, I found out that student L did not work from the project template I had provided, but instead started a new empty project and sequenced the melody by ear. Student L did not have any prior experience with sequencing. Click or scan QR code to listen to Student L’s work
After the second plenary session, Student L went on her own to sequence an original drum beat. She did not use any preset loop. Click or scan QR code to listen to Student L’s drum beat
c. Unstructured Creative Task (stimulus with free response)
• Students were introduced to a simplified web-based DAW –Hookpad2 (see Fig 3a).
~ Limited to single diatonic melody, with smart harmony
~ The limited options available on Hookpad made it easier for students to start composing. Students were shown the platform, then told to explore how to use it on their own. The intuitive nature of the platform allowed students to compose very quickly.
• Students were required to compose 16 bars which include a melody and harmony.
~ During their tasks, I was there to assist with some specific functions (e.g. specific time value, rests).
• Students attended the third plenary which covered the topic on harmony by exploring circle of fifths. They improvised melodies from melodic stimulus (refer to Fig 3b) and took turns playing given chords. They then worked on music creating using Hookpad where the first 2 bars, which is the musical stimulus, were used by students to help them get started. Students have the option
Fig 2a: Sheet music given to students
Fig 2b: Screenshot of BandLab project given to students
The instructions were indicated under Lyrics/ Notes on the right panel.
to modify the stimuli. One student requested to come up with her own. Students were told to figure out how to use Hookpad on their own.
2 https://www.hooktheory.com/hookpad/app
3b: Musical stimulus
Example of Students’ Work at the Plenary Session
Sample 1
Student T rewrote part of the stimulus and had a significantly different Section B. Student T could not name any specific music reference.
Click or scan QR code for Student T’s work
Sample 2
Student S did an original creation from scratch.
Click or scan QR code for Student S’s work
STUDENT FEEDBACK
a. About Approach 1 – Leveraging Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)
~ T: It’s very detailed, too detailed
~ R: It’s a good thing but it can make us confused
L: They like to skip to complicated parts all at once
S: Do all in one day as (I don’t) have access to the computer all week [borrowing sister’s computer]
L: A lot of talking and talking
~ S: They could have put the main points in the video instead
~ L: Not show the people so much, instead of showing (visuals/pictures of the concepts being taught)
S: Have PDF or notes that can help us recap by ourselves
b. About the creative activities in Approach 2 and 3
L: Cannot remember my password
~ S: Mr Lim, for Photograph, is it B major first or C#m first [pointing out the teacher’s error during a correspondence via WhatsApp]
~ S: There’s a lot more terms in music than I thought it would be and it’s very complicated so I will get confus(ed) easily and I will forget it easily also
Fig 3a: Screenshot of Hookpad project given to students
Fig
3 BandLab Education, which was not available during the study, would be more suitable for classroom purpose.
c. Whether students intend to take up ‘O’ Level Music at Sec 3
• L hopes to take ‘O’ Level Music at Sec 3 and indicated a rating of “7/10” for the likelihood of taking up the subject.
• T strongly wishes to take ‘O’ Level Music at Sec 3, however, it clashes with T’s similar wish to take Pure Science. T had shared that, “My two dream jobs involve Science or Music.”
• S shared concerns about the difficulties in taking music and does not intend to take ‘O’ Level Music at Sec 3.
• R would prefer to take Pure Science and would not be taking ‘O’ Level Music at Sec 3.
DISCUSSION
The shortfalls of the blended learning are as follows:
• Coursera is known to be “pitched to everyone” but my students found that it too dry and too “adulty”.
• E-learning readiness was an issue. For example, there were log-in and password problems. Some participants used their school e-mail accounts to sign in to BandLab and Hookpad, and had forgotten their passwords to their school e-mail accounts. They subsequently could not access BandLab and Hookpad when they requested to retrieve the passwords as these were sent to their school e-mail accounts.
• There were difficulties making copies of the teacher’s project/template of the task as everyone would view the changes they made on the master copy via BandLab3 BandLab was not designed to duplicate copies of project/template.
• The plenary sessions were held outside the students’ curriculum time, often between other activities and commitments. There were absences during plenary sessions due to personal or last-minute CCA commitments.
• I was unable to determine if the musicality displayed in students’ creative tasks stemmed from what they had learnt from the blended-learning sessions. They could have also picked up musicianship skills outside of class.
The benefits of the blended learning I saw from my students were:
• The creative tasks and online platform allowed students to learn at their own pace, and there were several instances of them exploring related topics and coming up with their own activities that extended their independent learning.
• The community-based learning (plenary sessions, WhatsApp) was helpful for students to pose questions and offer suggestions in an environment of like-minded learners as it encouraged experimentation and exchanges. In particular, the WhatsApp chat group was utilised greatly for clarification and feedback.
• Easy access/transferral between personal/school devices made it possible for students to learn at home or on the go (highlighted by students L and T).
REFLECTIONS
• Participation in blended learning
The discontinuation of participation in Coursera raises the question of how participation could be encouraged from students. In this study, I have used other approaches to engage students in the
blended-learning process. However, it was still unclear how students could continue to be engaged in such modes of learning as Coursera.
The lack of online participation also raises further questions about motivation in online learning. For example, how student ownership of their work could be raised through online sharing and reviews, whether automated notifications and reminders would impact completion rate, how routines and habits could be developed to enable e-learning readiness.
Students’ attendance at the plenary sessions was affected by other school commitments as the sessions were conducted outside of timetabled classes. There would be a higher success rate if the face-to-face sessions were conducted during timetabled classes.
• Solo versus group learning
I observed that individual tasks might offer more freedom to learn in meaningful and substantial ways for motivated students. For those lacking in motivation, there might have been some inertia to get started, but when the learning gets going, there was evidence of learning (e.g. Student T) beyond what was expected or instructed to do.
• Quantity of resources does not equate to quality
Although the Coursera course provided many resources, it does not necessarily lead to more engagement and better learning. Information overload could also demotivate students.
• Consider allocating creative tasks first before introducing theoretical knowledge
Starting with creative tasks before introducing content could help students understand where their theoretical gaps are and learn them better when they are introduced.
CONCLUSION
I have explored three approaches in the blended-learning course and found more success in designing creative tasks as more students were engaged compared to content-based online courses. The creative tasks also provided me with feedback on the students’ musical understandings in note literacy, harmony and music writing. I have also found that although students are digital natives, they are not always ready for such structured e-learning. There is still a need for the teacher to consider how tasks could be designed such that students are motivated online and to guide students to work independently online.
The study of my blended-learning approach has reminded me of 間 (Ma) philosophy which appreciates the negative spaces – gaps between two purposeful structural parts. Lesson activity after activity without the time and space to dwell deeper into a concept or an idea being discussed needs to be addressed by introducing think time and questions to examine alternative approaches, perspectives and application. This is perhaps akin to eating without thorough chewing, which leads to indigestion. It makes it harder for one to internalise and achieve clarity. Hence, I am reminded of a need to leave space for students to explore and to build in “creative playgrounds” for deeper learning. I think of the creative tasks, particularly the third approach as the most enjoyable/memorable/meaningful part of the course, which occurred because students had the time and space to explore without me limiting their approach/perspective (i.e. my takeaway was a shift from “do this, this, this” towards “here’s something, what do you make of it and where would you go from here?”
Taking Creative Risks: Facilitating Critical Thinking in Jam Band Contexts
INTRODUCTION
This inquiry is a qualitative study of myself in:
a. Facilitating critical thinking in lessons for a class of 40 Sec 2 Express students leading to students arranging and performing in a jam band harnessing technological tools
b. My experiences of using various strategies in the module to facilitate music learning and music making
The inquiry is motivated by:
• Personal development to be a better facilitator
Taking on the creative risk to try out new strategies
Negotiating personal habits in teaching to be more critical of strategies undertaken
• Personal desire to improve the quality of learning for students
~ How I can better scaffold students’ learning
~ How I can enable students to make musical decisions
PURPOSE
There are two issues which I wanted to address in my inquiry.
a. Critical Thinking of Students
• How we are equipping our students to make musical decisions
• How we can better enable our students to think independently
b. Achievement of Learning Objectives
I reflected on my Scheme of Work from 2016-2017. There might have been a lapse in balancing the achievement of all five Learning Objectives (LOs) as follows:
LO1: PERFORM music in both instrumental and vocal settings individually and in groups
LO2: CREATE music in both instrumental and vocal settings, individually and in groups
LO3: LISTEN and respond to music
LO4: APPRECIATE music in local and global cultures
LO5: Understand musical elements and concepts
In my inquiry, I aim to find a way to pay more attention to achieving LO3-5 as students will achieve LO1 and 2 in their jam band activity.
DISCUSSION OF APPROACHES & THEIR IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ LEARNING
In this section, I describe three approaches in facilitating critical thinking to achieve the LOs of the syllabus. The findings on their impact on students’ learning are also illustrated through students’ responses.
Ho Si Liang
Music Teacher
Deyi Secondary School
Approach 1: Active Listening
Active listening was introduced (to achieve LO3-5) by having students listen and respond to various excerpts of music, and having students discuss music elements and concepts, hence demonstrating their appreciation of the music.
Logging into Mentimeter (www.menti.com), students were required to respond to 2 questions:
1st Question:
Identify the type of mood or function that best represents the music that was played (students can choose more than one).
1: Illustration of differing levels of students’ responses to 1st Question as assessed by me
The percentages of the respective levels of responses produced by students are indicated in Fig 2. It can be seen that most students offer Level 1 (34%) and Level 2 (34%) responses. Some students offered Level 3 (20%) responses. A few students were able to produce Level 4 (12%) responses.
Responses
2nd Question:
Using musical elements, explain the reason for your choices.
Students were also asked to respond to the second question which required a brief analysis of the music excerpts. Examples of their responses are in Fig 3. Sometimes, their responses revealed stereotypical views held about music. For example, some students associated slow music with sad emotions. Students were then challenged to give examples of music they have heard in their lives where slow music could express happy emotions, hence encouraging them to think more critically about the music they listen to.
2: Percentage of level of responses to 1st Question
3: Example of students’ responses to 2nd Question
Fig
Fig
Fig
4 Students were required to make a cover of their chosen song in their jam band
5 Students were to select a song from the 19 songs provided on the teacher’s website. They were placed into friendship groups to produce a cover of the song. They also had a choice of instruments to perform on. Refer to the website which had been designed by teachers to support students’ learning in jam band:
Approach 2: Making Musical Decisions through Creating Soundscapes
In this approach, students watched a short silent movie. They had to create sounds spontaneously as the silent movie was being played. As they had to improvise sounds collectively and collaboratively as a group, the approach encouraged students to listen to one another and respond to various stimuli, and to make musical decisions spontaneously. They were recorded as they performed. They then listened to their recording as a class and evaluated their performance as a class. The approach hence achieved LO3 and 5, encouraging students to think critically about their spontaneous musical decisions. The activity was carried out within a lesson.
After Approach 1 and 2 were used, students were asked, “How did the exposure to music of various moods and work/functions help you with your musical decisions of cover making4?”
Out of 36 students in the class, 27 found it useful in their cover creation. Nine did not see the value.
Examples of their responses:
I am able to consider the possibilities of the cover
It got me thinking about how to change the song to make it sound different and/or better to the majority of people
It helps me further visualise how each mood sounds like
It allows us to identify how different types of playing styles apply to different moods of songs
It helps us make a more informed decision on what would suit best
It helps to better convey the message of the song
It helps us to learn that it is possible to use other unusual/uncommon instruments
It helps us to choose what instruments we should use to further evoke the mood of the song
It made me realise that not all slow songs are sad and not all fast songs are happy
Approach 3: Planning and Reflection with Personalised Checklist
As students worked in the jam bands5, they were required to discuss in their groups and create their personalised checklist each week before they start rehearsing. The personalised checklist reflected the goals of the group which were also based on their self-evaluation of where they were at each week. The process of planning and reflecting as they created a cover achieved LO1-3.
Example 1: Personalised checklist of a higher progress group
Example 2: Personalised checklist of a lower progress group
I
Observations of the groups based on their progress:
• The higher progress groups showed plans to work on different segments of the songs and intention to work on specific technical aspects, and to make stylistic decisions.
• Even the lower progress groups came to realise that they had not achieved as a group what they had set out to do.
FEEDBACK FROM STUDENTS
A survey was conducted and students’ responses had been positive. The findings are summarised below.
I was also pleased when students asked me if they could continue with their jam band after school.
After this experience of trying to play as a pop band, I am able to appreciate the work processes behind a successful music performance
DISAGREE
REFLECTION: TENSIONS FACED WITHIN MYSELF AS FACILITATOR
In the course of the inquiry, in facilitating critical thinking, I experienced three tensions:
Tension 1: Personality in conflict with good teaching expectations
I am an extrovert and a divergent thinker. I think aloud and regularly verbalise my own thinking to make sense of my environment. The thoughts which I articulated could also explore diverse ideas which could make it difficult for others to follow. Hence, I felt that my habit and my personality might have hindered my ability to facilitate critical thinking in students. For example, in facilitating critical thinking, embracing silence such as allowing wait time for students’ thinking has been an issue for me. I had developed a habit of answering my own questions.
Tension 2: Negotiating meaningful questioning
As a teacher, I cannot help but wish to answer all my students’ questions directly. The method of asking questions that stimulate critical thinking which I desire to achieve differed from the didactic nature of questions that I was used to giving. For example, when a student was not following the tempo with his/her group, my immediate response would be, “Hey XYZ! You were out of time with each other, follow the beat!” I realised that my response could be to ask questions instead, such as, “Why is it not working? What do you need to do to solve this?”
Besides, knowing the right time to interject with a question is also important as students may also be in the midst of coming to a realisation or an understanding of an issue.
Tension 3: How I was taught in conflict with how I should teach
Looking back at my classical music learning
experiences, how music was taught to me was typically more prescribed, focusing more on how accurately I could portray a music piece as close to the composer’s intention as possible. This contrasts greatly with the process of creation and facilitating students to think. Perhaps I was accustomed to prescriptive instructions that might have affected how I asked students questions.
Given the tensions I faced above and to move forward in facilitating critical thinking, I therefore found consolation in being able to play to my strengths as a teacher in taking creative risks to explore various tools and approaches (both technological and non-technological) that facilitate students’ thinking as discussed above. The approaches have been well-received by students as seen in the feedback from students.
CONCLUSION
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
— George Bernard Shaw
In this journey, I learnt to figure out a style that facilitated critical thinking in contrast to instructions/questions I give/ask my students as I grapple with my pre-existing habits of prescriptive teaching. I had earlier struggled to verbalise deepening questions that enable critical thinking. However, I managed to find some other ways by taking creative risks to engage students’ critical thinking and achieve the learning objectives through the design of tasks instead. Technology was harnessed but made invisible. I was able to challenge my preconceived notion that critical thinking could only be facilitated through meaningful questioning, and that helped me see the change in approaches I take. It has been an insightful journey for me, in which I have sought to find my identity as a facilitator in a classroom that stimulates critical thinking. Like Shaw’s quote, my journey of self-creation is still a process.
CODETTA
This brief section presents thoughts from a research assistant who is also a postgraduate scholar and an aspiring teacher, and who has been visiting three of the teachers in their lessons. We are reminded once again that the key priorities as an effective music teacher, even with technology-based music lessons, resides in positive relationships with students and a positive learning environment as the teacher engages with classroom musicking.
A Reflection
ICT and Relational Musicking –Reflections on Classroom Observations
INTRODUCTION
The act of musicking establishes in the place where it is happening a set of relationships between its participants… Meaning is to be found not only between those organised sounds which are conventionally thought of as the stuff of musical meaning but also between the people who are taking part, in whatever capacity, in the performance. (Small, 2011, p. 13)
At the heart of the above oft-cited quotation is the term “musicking”. “Musicking” as a concept connotes a revolutionary breaking down of traditional hierarchies between composer, performer and listener associated with the predominant Western Classical Music practice. Small is opposed to the concept of “music” as an object produced by “composers” (The term “composer” bears historically contingent and Western Europe notions of elitism and being at the top of the musical hierarchy, particularly from the 19th century onwards). He encourages others to think of music as an active process, in which all participants, regardless of musical literacy and background, can make meaning as they are involved in the musical experience. Small is, of course, one of many other voices in scholarly literature that have been amplified in an effort to champion for Music’s democratisation.
I raise these concepts because they are something that I believe educators, prospective or current, hold dear today.
In Singapore, this would all the more be so, given that we want to believe, as it is written in the current primary and lower secondary music syllabus that “all children are musical” (MOE, 2016, p. 2) and that music lessons unlock the musical potential inherent to every learner. In the context of the “fast-changing and highly-connected world” (MOE, 2016, p. 9) in the 21st century highlighted in the music syllabus, the teacher’s responsibility turns towards nurturing and inculcating skills that will ensure the learner’s success in his or her current and future environments.
It goes without saying that no one, not even teachers, has any certainty on what the future holds. Nonetheless, it is precisely with this conviction, I believe, that the music lessons I observed were designed. The said lessons were delivered by three teachers from different secondary schools across 10 weeks, during which I was serving as a research assistant at STAR. I was also involved in creating video logs and transcriptions of interviews. These have provided helpful insights into the joys and challenges of navigating within the 21st century educational landscape.
BACKGROUND
Having received my pre-tertiary education at the School of The Arts, Singapore (SOTA) and heading to King’s College London to complete my undergraduate degree later, I have had close to no exposure to the
Yap Li-Ren
Research Assistant
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (in 2018)
way music is being taught in mainstream secondary schools, short of a year in Catholic High School. I was pleasantly surprised by how much ICT had become part and parcel of music lessons, at least for the three schools which I visited as a research assistant. ICT was harnessed to bring about enriching musical experiences for their pupils, and becomes a platform from which the teacher can gain a deeper understanding into their students' thinking and learning processes. The musical experience is not just about playing instruments, but also in making musical choices, decisions and responses that are a part of music making.
I am astounded by the high level of creativity, critical thinking and musicianship that was being developed in students through their music learning. In one teacher’s songwriting classes, for example, apart from having to pick from a designated list of chord progressions, the student has autonomy over all other aspects, from the choice of instrumentation to the entire song text. Another teacher’s classes challenge the students to create pop music arrangements using GarageBand and they were supported by video tutorials. Yet another teacher’s lessons, on the other hand, infused ICT to enable students to think critically about their music while learning about musical concepts through improvisation. The students are also expected to create and perform their own arrangements as a part of assessment. Put together, music lessons are no longer about just playing an instrument correctly or accurately, but about equipping the learner with skills and resources that potentially lead to lifelong learning and engagement with music; something that is very much a part of MOE’s goals for music education.
STUDENT-CENTRIC TEACHING PRACTICES
The lesson observations across the three teachers have also offered many examples of positive, student-centric teaching practices.
Body Language
Throughout their lessons, the three teachers I observed avoid talking down to their pupils, often choosing to stoop to their level when giving advice. While it may appear a small gesture, the attention to ensure that body language was non-intimidating was something that was appreciated and commended in the post-lesson conversations with all three teachers on different occasions.
Positive Classroom Management
That being said, the teachers have different styles of communication and classroom management when interacting with their pupils. One of the teachers commands attention from students with a firm tone and stern countenance when required. This is what I am personally most familiar with and is also the approach I have often used in my previous teaching appointments. In contrast, another teacher’s classroom environment can appear casual at times, but a special rapport with students was established with the teacher’s sincerity and genuineness. There was a remarkable blend of respect and appreciation. Both teachers have created a positive classroom culture in their own ways.
I am especially impressed by a distinctive and effective routine for paying attention, where the class completes a rhythmic motif that the teacher starts. This method of getting students’ attention is much more effective compared to shouting, which I personally would have expected myself to do if I were in her shoes. The routine achieves its objective without the teacher having to strain her voice and proved to be a more efficient and, moreover, musical approach to enforcing discipline. This will surely be something I remember to apply in my future teaching practice.
POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS
There were heart-warming moments. I remember a teacher asking a group of
students, “Your song is good, what’s the issue? Is that all you wanted me to say about it?” The students nodded and giggled, to which he responded with more words of affirmation.
In another teacher’s class, I was particularly intrigued by the way the teacher often mirrored the register, tone and turns of phrase of his students. It later dawned on me how such a gesture was crucial in building a kind of empathy between teacher and student. This gesture shows the student that his or her identity as manifested by his style of conversation is accepted. It also helps to establish the teacher as an approachable mentor rather than an authoritative one. Indeed, the teacher was always ever attentive to his pupils’ level of engagement and has never been dismissive when his students express tiredness or boredom. His patience and nurturing attitude are essential to establishing trust.
Certainly, trust is an important driver in the teaching and learning of music. One of the teachers notably asked her class once, “Do you trust me?” This question was posed in the context of an improvisation activity, where she was trying to illustrate the concept of “layers” in music. Each layer is introduced in turn, from body percussion, to sung motifs and instrumental material. Here, the trust that is being invoked is one that is established as a result of relationship. For students, they trust their teacher and that every activity, every instruction is a purposeful and essential building block to the next step. For the teacher, he or she trusts his or her pupils to be proactive and cooperative. Trust is also established with honesty. The teacher I observed is quick and honest in admitting gaps in her planning, such as in one lesson when she realises that her students needed more time on the ukulele. She makes a spontaneous decision to use the rest of the lesson for tuning and strumming patterns on the ukulele rather than pushing through with her original plan. The decision to give her students more
time with the instrument demonstrates her commitment to make sure that her students’ learning is properly scaffolded. Hence, when there is flexibility on the part of the teacher in making adjustments to his or her lessons in the interest of the students, trust is also facilitated. This is a good reminder for me as an aspiring teacher, to be prepared for situations in future that necessitate making spontaneous decisions, while not forgetting to strive for balance between achieving curriculum objectives and providing learning experiences based on students’ needs.
TECHNOLOGY IN ENHANCING PRACTICES AND RELATIONSHIPS
Clearly the teacher’s relationship with the students is an important factor in music lessons. ICT has, in all three cases, been used to enhance this relationship, in allowing teachers to gain a deeper understanding of their students’ thinking and learning processes. One of the teachers harnessed Google platforms to document learning and reflection both within and beyond the classroom. Another teacher used Mentimeter to allow students to give responses to her questions anonymously, which means a higher chance of honest feedback, since there is less stigma for being singled out for wrong answers. These responses are collated after each musical activity, which can include listening to music, instrumental learning and improvisation; they are then discussed in the hope of facilitating critical thinking among students. Yet another teacher’s recording of the students’ work processes on their Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) serves to shed light on how they make decisions.
There is, however, another set of relationships that are involved in musicking in the setting of a classroom – I refer to the relationships between the students themselves. I mentioned earlier, quoting an example from one of the teacher’s lessons, that a teacher’s affirmation is highly valued by students. In the same way, affirmation from peers is also effective in building up
students’ confidence. To this end, group presentation is a key component in all three teachers’ lessons. ICT has made it possible for more effective communal feedback. For example, the use of Google Docs has made it easier for the entire class to participate in the reading out of song texts by their peers as projected onscreen. I believe the knowledge of having to present their work motivates students to be more invested and take greater pride and ownership in what they have produced. Finally, the use of Mentimeter, in promising anonymity, is helpful in encouraging participation, especially from students who have a more reserved disposition. The word cloud which displayed all students’ responses makes for a more fun classroom experience as they see repeated responses grow in size amid a sea of words and phrases. The teacher then uses the responses displayed as a basis of discussion and evaluation. Hence, ICT allowed for more communal involvement in students’ learning and contributed to a culture of open sharing.
Indeed, technology in general, with its many benefits, is often being conceived of as a positive development. The term itself is often associated with the idea of an extension of the human body (Livingstone & Lievrouw, 2009, p. 83). Technology, in other words, can realise possibilities that would have not been possible without it. Similarly, ICT has facilitated students’ learning in many ways, such as allowing for the production of an arrangement involving a hundred or more instruments, without actual human players. Yet, one should also note dissenting voices who have expressed anxiety, for example, about how the proliferation of mobile devices has made the music experience more privatised and by extension, possibly made its participants more closed up (Cusick, 2008). While it might sound like stating the obvious, any form of technology remains a double-edged sword. Indeed, every form of ICT will have its limits. One example of this can be seen in the use of Mentimeter. Critics might point out that students could
abuse the anonymity by not responding at all. Moreover, the visual thrill of seeing a particular word or phrase grow in size might prompt students to repeat that answer for pure amusement. Similarly, the ease of adding and removing instruments and musical motifs at the click of a button might give students the illusion of the luxury of time. Students might also be less patient or willing to edit small sections of existing material, and instead, choose to delete whole chunks and start over. Hence, it is crucial that educators are aware of potential pitfalls and challenges associated with particular forms of ICT and make a calculated choice before adopting them as a means of teaching and learning.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I am thankful to have been given the privilege to observe the music lessons of the three teachers. Their classes have offered perspective into the ways in which ICT can be utilised as an effective tool on several fronts in 21st century music education in Singapore. It cannot be denied, however, that challenges are inevitable during the process of teaching and learning music with ICT. Both teachers and students need to work to take steps or strategies to mitigate them. Finally, I am grateful also to have been introduced to and reminded of various approaches and considerations that aid in relationship building in a classroom musicking context. It is my hope that my learning from this experience can translate into more effective teaching and musicking in future.
REFERENCES
Cusick, S. G. (2008). Musicology, Torture, Repair. Radical Musicology, 3(24). Pars. Web. Retrieved January 13, 2019 from http://www.radical-musicology.org.uk/2008/ Cusick.htm
Livingstone, S. & Lievrouw, L. (2009). New Media: A Critical Introduction. London: Taylor & Francis.
MOE (2016). Music Teaching and Learning Syllabus (Primary and Lower Secondary). Singapore: Student Development Curriculum Division, Ministry of Education.
Small, C. (2011). Musicking. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
DEVELOPMENT I
This section puts a magnifying lens on the teaching actions and student-teacher interactions in two of the teachers’ music lessons to uncover the taken-for-granted areas that contribute to engaged learning. Through detailed descriptions, quotations and vignettes, it hopes to stimulate reflection on the less discussed areas of facilitation in music lessons that harness technology.
Observations on Pedagogy
Scaffolding and Personalising Learning with DAW
Chua Siew Ling
Master Teacher (Music)
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
INTRODUCTION
This is an observational study of a lesson (over 2 weeks) that develops students’ understanding of the bass part in a music arrangement and engages students in the creative process that harnesses digital technology
The aim of this article is to:
• Illustrate the various challenges encountered by students
• Illustrate how the teacher approached these challenges to scaffold the learning for students
LESSON CONTEXT
The music teacher Ho Tze Liang, Shaun had six Sec 3NT students taking his NT Music course. Prior to the lesson, students were introduced to chords.
Shaun informed his class that they would focus on creating the bassline in this lesson. He started by demonstrating the process listed on the facing page.
Throughout the lesson, Shaun spent time with each student, providing guidance to their work. This is detailed on the facing page.
Towards the end of the lesson, Shaun had some students play their work to others. He gave brief feedback to each of them.
DIFFERENCES IN WORK PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES FACED BY STUDENTS
The main task for students is to create a bass part for the instrumental version of a 4-chord pop song on the DAW. Although the task for all students was the same and although the teacher had demonstrated how students could do it, there were differences in the way these six students approached their work. The teacher’s guidance also differed accordingly. Even with close guidance and tight monitoring, the range of time taken by students to complete the bassline ranged between 60 and 150 minutes (i.e. over 1-2 weeks since each session is 90 minutes), suggesting that the task was experienced differently by each of the students.
Refer to the Annex for more details of each student’s work progress in chronological order and the challenges faced in the time given.
Click on the icons to view respective students’ work progress
DANIEL
RITA ALI ZULFI JEHAN YANGZHENG
Introducing Objective
Demonstrating Technique
Connecting with Theory
Demonstrating Evaluation Process
• Introduced the objective of adding the bassline.
• Referred to instructional videos* in a thumbdrive which students could view to help themselves later.
• Showed students how to navigate the software GarageBand – adding the new track and selecting the bass instrument.
• Showed students how to listen to their bass part by selecting the bass track and playing on the MIDI keyboard controller.
• Revised with students how they could derive the bass notes from the given chords.
• Demonstrated how to record a bass pattern with the keyboard.
• Showed students how to mute the tracks to listen to the bass recording.
• Showed them how they could check the accuracy of their notes by going into the piano roll and how they could read the piano roll.
• Showed them how they could check the accuracy of playing to the beat by looking at the alignment of the notes (displayed as horizonal bars in a grid) to the bar (top rule) in the piano roll and how they could make adjustments through dragging the notes (or bars).
*The instructional videos were lessons on creating the bass part produced by Arts Education Branch. Click or scan QR code for details of the video guide.
OBSERVATIONS
• The close timings between each contact with students (which is detailed in the Annex) showed the extent of close guidance and personal attention each student was given.
• The teacher introduced both the musical concepts (e.g. register, rhythm) along with the technical aspects of the software (e.g. quantise, loop), using both sets of terms during his demonstrations and in his interactions with students. Perhaps the weaving of both musical and technical understandings gave greater authenticity to the entire music-making experience for the students.
• In his work with students, there was much respect given to them. It was almost habitual that Shaun asked for his students’ permission to check their work. Instead of giving answers and direct instruction to students, Shaun had asked several leading questions to guide students in thinking through their actions in their task, evaluate their work and how they could move forward, trusting that they would be able to do so. For example on the next page:
Click or scan QR code to watch the video of Shaun's demonstration
“OK, Rita, do you want to show me the second pattern first?” asked Shaun. He is checking her understanding through her second pattern.
Rita played and Shaun counted for her. It was 4 crotchets of the repeated bass notes.
“Yup. That works. Record it,” affirmed Shaun. There was a short pause.
“So start from where? Which (bar) number are you going to start from?” checked Shaun.
Rita was about to shift to the start of her song.
“No need to start from front,” Shaun intercepted. “You have got your first pattern. So where are you going to start?
(Bar) 14? 15? 13?”
Rita pointed seemingly at a random place in the music.
“You start from here? (Bar) 12? OK. Where is the next part of the song?” asked Shaun again.
Rita pointed again.
“Yah, so you should start at (bar) 14,” confirmed Shaun.
• The pace of students’ work differed significantly. In terms of creating the basslines for the song, the time taken by students to complete their work ranged between 60 and 150 minutes. Shaun had different strategies to help pace his students and move them forward. For example, for Ali who tended to be hesitant and less confident about his own musical choices, Shaun would watch him work and support him musically by counting with him as he recorded his music. For Jehan and Daniel who were the fastest in their work, he asked them to select their bass sounds and to proceed to add the drum part. Shaun also reflected that with larger class sizes, it would be a challenge to remember and keep track of every student’s pace of work.
• For all the students, regardless of how fast they learnt, the teacher gave them ample time to arrive at points where they could make meaningful musical
decisions. For example, even though Rita made the slowest progress in terms of accomplishing the task when compared to the other students, she was motivated to create a more interesting bass pattern. She ended up with three patterns where she could decide which pattern could be used for the different sections of the song to build excitement.
• There were different ways in which students manifested their creativity even with a seemingly straightforward task of adding a bassline.
The students’ creativity was also partially influenced by the instructional videos which students were told to watch, with some of then expanding ideas drawn from the videos. Shaun, however, reflected that the videos might also constrain some students’ creativity as some tried to copy them wholesale without understanding the context. Thus, the videos should not be the only reference for students and they should also draw from their own musical experiences. In addition, more versions of the song such as different covers by different bands could be introduced to students so that they have a broader musical exposure and more examples to draw from.
~ There were also other forms of student explorations. For example, Zulfi stumbled upon contrasting legato and staccato notes between sections as he fingered on the keyboard differently. His seemingly staccato and legato playing was pointed out by his teacher who made explicit this musical understanding so that it becomes a deliberate musical decision on Zulfi’s part. Ali’s varied bassline patterns also expressed his background in Malay music.
SUMMARY OF ISSUES FACED BY STUDENTS
Here is a summary of issues faced in the lesson on creating a bassline and the corresponding facilitation strategies that were observed:
TYPE OF ISSUE FACILITATION STRATEGY OBSERVED FOR THE LESSON
Technical
No Sound
Alignment of the Notes
Navigating the Software
Recording on the Wrong Track
Musical
Achieving Coherence
Achieving Variety
Wrong Notes
Listening to the Right Part
Not Able to Discern Aurally the Differences in Patterns
• Fixing the problem and showing students how to fix it (e.g. unplugging and going to preferences, turning the computer/keyboard off and on).
• Some sounds in the software were too soft and inaudible (not that there was no sound).
• Showing students how to quantise (selecting the notes in piano roll, zooming out and quantising at the appropriate level). Then getting them to demonstrate to the teacher.
• Referring students to an instructional video for self-help.
• Taking individuals through the video to where they could not understand.
• Asking students which track they should be recording.
• Showing students how to “drag” the recorded sound from one track to the next.
• Getting students to listen and to explain the abrupt changes in their work and the rationale behind the change.
• Asking students if the pattern was boring if maintained throughout the song and where the pattern should change.
• Having students understand that there could be variety in bass patterns in different sections of the song.
• Checking understanding of bass notes with respect to the chords.
• Drawing students’ attention to wrong notes and asking what they were.
• Checking if students knew the notes on the keyboard where they input the notes.
• Watching students record their notes.
• Asking students to use functions of “solo” and “mute” to help themselves listen better as they record or play back their music.
• Asking students to observe visually from the piano roll if the patterns were similar.
Hesitancy in Creating Patterns
Selecting the Right Bass Register
Selecting Bass Sounds
Student Insisting on a Musical Decision
Finding Where the Start of the Recording Should Take Place
Playing on the Wrong Beat
Changing the Chord on the Wrong Beat
• Counting the beats and having students take the plunge to create and record as the teacher watched and supported. Students were able to improvise something when faced with the pressure to do so in the teacher’s presence.
• Checking back on students soon after giving them the task to create.
• Asking students to consider the appropriate pitch for the bass.
• Showing students where necessary.
• Asking students to audit the sounds in the synthesizer and finding an appropriate bass sound.
• Asking other students to give their opinion.
• Asking students where the start of the song is.
• Asking student which beat should be played and giving feedback on the beat the student had played.
• Asking students to count the number of chords and number of beats, and to recognise the sections in the music, so that students know if they were early/late.
Playing with Inaccurate Articulation
Creating a New Bass Pattern
• Asking students to compare the duration of the notes aurally and visually (in the piano roll).
• Asking students to take reference from the instructional video to help themselves.
• Getting students to name the bass notes of the chord.
• Providing examples where necessary.
• Checking understanding that a change of pattern is rhythmic rather than changing the pitch/notes.
• Asking students where they wish to start the new pattern.
• Asking students to compare between their patterns and having patterns allocated to appropriate sections of the song.
• Having students show the teacher the patterns they created.
• Having students record the patterns they created.
Motivational
Lack of Ideas Due to lack of musical ideas, students can become restless with what they do.
• Provide more musical examples to excite students.
Students Have Low Expectations of Themselves
Students may be satisfied with what they hear/see and lack resilience to go through rounds of editing.
• Demonstrate potential of their own work by pointing areas of interest and improvement in their work.
Students Are Disinterested in the Task
• Find out reasons for their lack of engagement and talk to them. Help them find ways to work out their issues if necessary.
• Have students work on another task before coming back to the original task.
Lack of Regular Attendance
As a result of a lack of regular attendance, students lose track of their own progress. They therefore lose motivation.
• Have a checklist or progress sheet to help students check their progress (e.g. an indicator could be, “I have created a bassline”).
CONCLUSION
This study has illustrated that there were varied technical and musical issues students faced even with a highly scaffolded arrangement task, which in this case was creating a bassline with given chords to a given song. The various issues and challenges in the arrangement task presented opportunities for the teacher to correct misunderstandings and to develop musical understandings. It could be seen that most of the learning took place when students were working on the task and during their one-to-one interaction with the teacher. The pace of learning of students was vastly different. Students were ready to learn when they encountered issues as they worked. Hence, Shaun achieved engagement through his personal attention to the students which was guided more by what understandings his students required, rather than what he had planned to cover. As most upper secondary NT Music classes have smaller class sizes compared to lower secondary music classes, such a set-up is an opportunity for teachers to give more personalised attention. Even if such a set-up was not possible, the findings of this study reveal that more time could be
provided for students’ individual work instead of class instruction so as to create opportunities for one-toone interactions with the teacher.
As the music lesson focused on creating technologically mediated music, there was integration of both musical and technological concepts. Often, they were explained together, for example, musical concepts were explained through the technical aspects of the software, and technological concepts were explained through musical ones. The integration probably contributed to providing a richer and more authentic experience for students. Students visibly felt that they were enabled to make musical decisions because their understandings of musical and technological concepts were developed, which have probably contributed to their on-task behaviours, and a sense of ownership and pride in their work.
It is hoped that this article, which features the details of teacher-student interactions through student work and teacher facilitation, provides a reference and a starting point for teachers to reflect on their own teaching practices.
Note for interpreting the write-up below
• Each time slot below referred to Shaun’s time with each student at their respective DAW. In between the slots indicated for each student, Shaun was helping other students at their workstations. The time is given here to provide readers with a sense of the pace taken for each student’s learning.
Rita is a special educational needs student who takes time to understand concepts and instructions. She seemed timid, spoke with a soft voice that was almost inaudible, perhaps consciously aware that she was the only female student in the class.
• Pseudonyms are given to students mentioned below to protect their identity. Videos of the teacher-student interactions were also not shown for the same reason.
21:38 - 21:52
(About 4.5 minutes after teacher’s instruction)
27:58 - 29:14
(About 6 minutes after last visit)
41:24 - 43:39
(About 12 minutes after last visit)
47:51 - 51:28
(About 4 minutes after last visit)
Shaun asked Rita where the start of the song was as she had not started at the right place. He asked her to try again.
Shaun checked her work and asked her to come up with a second bass pattern, taking reference from the video.
In guiding Rita, Shaun gave specific directions and checked her understanding at every step she had taken so that she can become confident in making decisions of her own. Annex This section details each student’s work progress in chronological order and the challenges faced in the time given.
Shaun checked her work and pointed out that she had not started at the right beat. He also asked her to view the video to learn to quantise.
Shaun asked Rita if she had seen the video and learned how to quantise. He asked her to show him. She appeared not to understand. He demonstrated how to quantise the first 4 beats, and how to check if she was accurate. He then asked her to show him and she demonstrated that she understood this time.
62:10 - 63:05
(About 10 minutes after last visit)
Shaun also asked Rita to change her bass pattern without changing the chords. He asked her to decide where she wanted her pattern to change –intro or verse – which was where she should stop her current pattern and create a new pattern using the same bass notes.
Shaun asked if Rita had come up with a second bass pattern. She had not. He asked if she had any idea. She was not sure. He asked if she knew how to do it. He asked her to watch the example given in the video and to think about what she wanted.
65:28 - 66:43
(About 2 minutes after last visit)
67:03 - 67:29
(About 1 minute after last visit)
Shaun asked Rita if she could show him her second pattern. She played a simple 4-crotchet beat pattern as he counted for her. He accepted it and asked her to record it. He also asked which bar she should start recording as it was no longer from the start of the song. She seemed to point to a random spot. He asked where the next part of the song was. She was able to point that out, and it was where she should start.
Shaun noticed that Rita could not start recording immediately after she pressed “record” as there was not enough time for her hand to shift to the first note on the keyboard. He asked her to start the recording before the actual beat so that she could start playing on the right beat.
72:23 - 73:56
(About 6 minutes after last visit)
104:01 - 104:12
(Lesson in 2nd week, immediately after demonstration with the class)
107:44 - 111:39
(About 3 minutes after last visit)
Shaun checked her work and guided her to use the loop function.
Shaun tasked Rita to finish up the bassline.
121:10 - 122:16
(About 10 minutes after last visit)
130:28 - 132:03
(About 8 minutes after last visit)
Shaun asked if Rita liked her pattern. Rita indicated she wanted to try a new pattern. He guided Rita to create a new pattern through various questions and asked her to use the videos as guides.
Shaun checked and Rita’s third pattern was the same as the second. He gave her some rhythmic ideas.
Rita managed to create a third pattern but was not playing it according to the beat. Shaun helped by saying the notes rhythmically as she played.
140:59 - 142:16
(About 9 minutes after last visit)
149:15 - 150:00
(About 7 minutes after last visit)
Shaun checked on Rita’s third pattern and set her a new task of comparing her patterns.
Shaun asked Rita which of her bass patterns was most exciting and which of her patterns would fit the intro, verse, pre-chorus or chorus section. He asked her to make adjustments accordingly.
Ali felt he was slow perhaps because he had missed the first lesson. He was part of a Malay Kompang ensemble outside of school which performed regularly at public venues. He showed himself to be fluent on the keyboard during the lesson. His preferred instrument was the guitar.
Shaun sought to understand Ali’s musical decisions at every step of the way, and supported his work by introducing new tools, playing together with him and giving suggestions.
23:36 - 24:17
(About 9.5 minutes after teacher’s instruction)
26:20 - 30:43
(About 2 minutes after last visit)
Shaun checked if Ali knew how to add the bass.
36:01 - 40:32
(About 5.5 minutes after last visit)
Shaun then guided Ali to check if the notes were aligned.
He taught Ali to quantise. He then asked Ali to decide how long he wanted his first bass pattern to go. He continued to guide Ali on the length of the bass notes.
Ali had deleted his first 4 notes. Shaun asked Ali if he would like to hear the rest of the parts so that he was able to play the bass notes to fit the rest of the parts. He watched Ali record the first pattern. He guided Ali to use the loop. He watched as Ali recorded and asked Ali to play back to listen. He reminded Ali to quantise and watched him do so. He also taught Ali to use the loop function and asked Ali to decide where he wanted the pattern to stop.
52:15 - 54:19
(About 12 minutes after last visit)
61:36 - 63:12
(About 7 minutes after last visit)
Shaun checked and Ali had created a new pattern. Shaun guided Ali to quantise and to observe from the piano roll if the patterns were similar.
Ali seemed to have deleted his work again. Shaun offered to help him press “record” so that he could get ready to play. Ali played whole notes for each of the bass notes. They established the first pattern. Shaun went through the process of checking if the notes were aligned once again.
Shaun checked if Ali knew what the bass notes were and their positions on the keyboard. Shaun told Ali to record the first 4 bass notes and watched him do so.
He asked again how long Ali wanted the pattern to be played. They established that a new pattern would be needed for the pre-chorus. Shaun asked him to show him the second pattern later.
64:58 - 67:06
(About 1 minute after last visit)
68:51 - 69:48
(About 2 minutes after last visit)
73:33 - 76:25
(About 4 minutes after last visit)
Ali started to explain that from the pre-chorus, he wanted the energy to be high. Shaun insisted that Ali show him his pattern. He started to count and Ali played his pattern. (This helped Ali move on with the process since there had been much hesitancy thus far.) Ali managed to play his pattern fluently. Shaun then asked Ali to play again as he pressed the Record button. The recording was completed. Shaun tasked Ali to play back and check.
Shaun checked and Ali said he was happy with his pattern. Shaun checked and Ali realised that he had yet to quantise.
CASE 3: Zulfi
76:41 - 77:18
(In less than 1 minute after last visit)
81:00 - 81:31
(About 4 minutes after last visit)
Shaun checked and found Ali had quantised his work. Shaun realised that Ali had created a varied rhythmic pattern which sounded improvised across the bassline. He showed Ali how the pattern should be consistent and asked Ali to stick with repeating the rhythmic pattern he had chosen for each of the bass notes.
Shuan checked if Ali was happy with the pattern and whether he had quantised. Ali was then left to loop his pattern.
Shaun checked if Ali was working on the third pattern. He watched as Ali recorded his music, hence getting Ali to move forward in his work. (Watching and supporting at the side helped Ali get on with his work.)
85:48 - 86:26
(About 4 minutes after last visit)
Shaun watched as Ali played and recorded. He made sure Ali completed the last part of the song, which was the Outro. Ali’s work was finally completed.
Zulfi constantly required affirmation at every step he took. He did his work as he was told throughout the lesson and demonstrated pride in his work.
Shaun supported Zulfi’s creative work by referring him to new tools and concepts, and making explicit certain musical decisions Zulfi had made.
19:45 - 20:17
(About 2-3 minutes after teacher’s instruction)
24:55 - 26:05
(About 4 minutes after last visit)
33:33 - 34:47
(About 7 minutes after last visit)
Shaun asked Zulfi to watch specific videos in the video guide.
Shaun helped Zulfi to fix the sound problem. He taught Zulfi to go into “preferences” to adjust the audio.
Shaun showed Zulfi how to quantise.
Click or scan QR code to listen to the audio of Zulfi’s work played at the end of the first lesson
38:39 - 41:03
(About 4 minutes after last visit)
44:07 - 44:55
(About 3 minutes after last visit)
Shaun checked Zulfi’s work and asked Zulfi to come up with a second bass pattern. He asked Zulfi to watch the video to help himself.
Shaun checked if Zulfi had any questions from the video. Zulfi asked why he needed to do the second bass pattern. Shaun explained that he could have different patterns for different sections of the song to make his song interesting. (Zulfi’s question was probably due to his lack of confidence in his bass pattern and thus he asked whether he had to redo the pattern.)
55:11 - 58:32
(About 11 minutes after last visit)
63:45 - 65:17
(About 5 minutes after last visit)
Shaun listened to Zulfi’s work which showed a sudden contrast in staccato and legato articulation in different sections. He guided Zulfi to achieve coherence. (Zulfi’s explorations of long and short notes was an expression of his creativity.)
Shaun asked Zulfi to audit and select the bass sound from the Synthesizer. He also showed Zulfi how to “solo” his tracks to listen to the selected part.
74:16 - 75:52
(About 9 minutes after last visit)
83:49 - 86:04
(About 8 minutes after last visit)
Shaun listened to Zulfi’s work and pointed out a passage which had a consistently wrong note. He reminded Zulfi of a shortcut, which was to transpose his notes.
Shaun played Zulfi’s work to the others. Shaun gave feedback on the alignment of Zufli’s lines. He complimented Zulfi’s simple arrangement.
CASE 4: Yangzheng
Yangzheng is a consistent worker. Most of his questions and challenges relate to musical understandings.
Shaun supported Yangzheng by explaining concepts and demonstrating the process.
18:32 - 18:39
(About 1.5 minutes after teacher’s instruction)
20:42 - 20:54
(About 2 minutes after last visit)
26:15 - 26:31
(About 5 minutes after last visit)
Shaun addressed clarification questions –which were bass parts and how to start.
Shaun asked Yangzheng to consider the register of the bass.
Shaun asked Yangzheng where the start of the song was and hence it was where he should start.
34:59 - 37:00
(About 8 minutes after last visit)
45:04 - 47:39
(About 8 minutes after last visit)
Shaun guided Yangzheng to understand where the bass notes should change by counting the number of beats.
Shaun showed Yangzheng where the bass note is with respect to the chord. He also taught Yangzheng to repeat his pattern using the loop function. He also asked Yangzheng to watch the video to learn to create a new pattern.
52:19 - 53:58
(About 5 minutes after last visit)
58:40 - 61:32
(About 5 minutes after last visit)
Shaun guided Yangzheng to identify and plan where the chords should be in the song to record the bassline.
Shaun checked Yangzheng’s second bass pattern and helped him realise that it was actually the same as his first pattern. Shaun asked Yangzheng to watch the video again and clarified that the change of bass pattern would not require a change of bass notes. He also demonstrated examples of patterns on the keyboard. (Much of the guidance leading to this point addresses Yangzheng’s understanding of what bass pattern is.)
67:35 - 67:52
(About 6 minutes after last visit)
Shaun asked Yangzheng which track he should be recording his pattern. He went on to show Yangzheng how he could “drag” the recorded pattern from one track into another. Yangzheng completed the bass part at the end of the lesson.
Click or scan QR code to listen to the audio of Jehan’s work played at the end of the first lesson
Jehan was fast in his work. He was conscientious, focused, did his work quietly and showed musical understandings.
Shaun checked Jehan’s understandings and there was little guidance that Shaun needed to offer.
20:27 - 20:39
(In less than 3 minutes after teacher’s instruction)
23:04 - 24:52
(About 3 minutes after last visit)
Jehan completed most of his task.
Shaun asked Jehan to read him the chords line by line. Jehan read back fluently, showing clear understanding of chords.
Shaun taught Jehan the function of the loop.
26:35 - 27:34
(About 2 minutes after last visit)
29:20 - 29:57
(About 2 minutes after last visit)
Shaun asked Jehan to watch the instructional video where different patterns were created.
Watching his screen, Shaun cautioned Jehan to select the right track to input his bass pattern.
Shaun tasked Jehan to choose a part of the song where he could start his second bass pattern.
43:46 - 44:05
(About 14 minutes after last visit)
51:36 - 52:02
(About 7 minutes after last visit)
Jehan explained to Shaun what he did for the different patterns. (There was an understanding and intention shown in the different bass patterns for different sections of the song.)
Shaun asked Jehan to audit the sounds in the Synthesizer and select the bass he wants for his song.
In the last 30 minutes of the 90-minute lesson, Jehan went on to explore recording the drum parts (which was to be covered in the next lesson) as he was ahead of the others. Shaun continued to guide him in between helping the other students.
86:37 - 87:37 Shaun played Jehan’s work for the rest of the class. Students were excited. He made brief comments about the cause of the buzzing sound which was linked to the choice of instruments.
CASE 5: Jehan
CASE 6: Daniel
Click or scan QR code to listen to the audio of Daniel’s work played at the end of the first lesson
Daniel was fast in his work. He came from a musical family and his father taught him a few instruments and involved him in jamming sessions. He tended to be restless after his work was done and would take breaks in between Shaun’s visits, walking over to Zulfi and sometimes becoming a distraction.
In guiding Daniel, Shaun offered challenges by asking Daniel to consider alternative musical decisions.
18:44 - 19:44
(About 2 minutes after after teacher’s instruction)
22:01 - 22:47
(About 2-3 minutes after last visit)
Shaun helped Daniel resolve the sound issue at his DAW by turning the machine off and on.
Shaun clarified with Daniel that he should be entering the bass notes and not chords.
30:16 - 32:47
(About 8 minutes after last visit)
38:05 - 38:38
(About 5 minutes after last visit)
48:59 - 49:32
(About 10 minutes after last visit)
Shaun told Daniel that his pattern was the same from the start to end. He asked Daniel to decide when he wanted to have his second bass pattern. (Daniel tended to be content with his work and Shaun tried to push him to provide better work.)
Shaun also asked Daniel to consider where the register for the bass should be. He showed him a quick way to transpose.
Shaun tasked Daniel to audit the sounds in Synthesizer and select the bass sound he liked to fit the other parts.
Shaun checked if Daniel had selected his bass sound. Shaun asked Daniel to watch the other instructional videos demonstrating the drum parts. (The drum part was to be covered in the next lesson.)
76:22 - 78:44
(About 27 minutes after last visit)
80:33 - 83:34
(About 2 minutes after last visit)
Shaun listened to Daniel’s work and asked why he changed his drum pattern in the chorus so many times within a short space of time. Daniel insisted on his own choice. Shaun said they could ask the rest of the class to decide later.
Shaun played Daniel’s work. Shaun asked questions about the choice of bass and asked Daniel to consider a lower register for the bass. He also reminded Daniel that the melody had to be the loudest.
Getting into a Flow: Supporting Songwriting with Technology
Chua Siew Ling
Master Teacher (Music)
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
INTRODUCTION
This case study examines how a songwriting module with the use of digital technology has been managed to contribute to flow experiences of students’ learning in music.
The aim of this article is to extend our understanding of flow strategies to:
• Show how various aspects contribute to efficient management in the digital technology-based learning environment
• Show how, in addition to fluency of technological use, the teacher’s intimate knowledge of his students developed over time through his songwriting module, and his ability to diagnose students’ problems, all helped him pace his students in their work which contributes to a flow in their music learning experience
• Highlight the common student issues and responses of the students through citing dialogues and descriptions of teacher-student interactions
Pseudonyms were used for the students to protect their identity.
What is Flow?
Flow is about developing a pace for learning. In an earlier report (MOE, 2016), we have suggested the following strategies in engaging students in a “flow” of music experience (p. 95):
• Pre-empt problems that students might face which might lead to disengagement and prepare strategies to deal with them
• Design lesson activities to build upon or evolve from earlier activities in a lesson
• Pace the lesson so that the momentum of the learning is built
• Plan transitions from one activity to another (for example, musical routines)
• Use fillers to prevent disruption of momentum
• Prepare to modify lesson to cater for on-the-spot needs of students during the lesson
• Use an appropriate level of music challenges to motivate and engage students throughout the lesson
• Provide authentic learning experiences (e.g. tasks that have opportunities for real-life application; opportunities to collaborate; tasks that allow diversity of outcomes and perspectives; tasks that integrate listening, performing and creating) that are relevant to the times
THIS ARTICLE IS ORGANISED AS FOLLOWS
FLOW OF SONGWRITING MODULE AND MANAGEMENT OF LEARNING
FLOW THROUGH POSITIVE CLASSROOM CULTURE
FLOW THROUGH COACHING OF STUDENTS’ WORK
A.Flow of Songwriting Module and Management of Learning
FLOW THROUGH SHARING OF STUDENTS’ WORK TO THE CLASS
FLOW THROUGH AUTHENTIC LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Click or scan QR code to watch lesson on playing chords using GarageBand Smart Instruments
The songwriting module was taught by Samuel Soong Rui from Evergreen Secondary School. The structure of the module is as follows. The concurrent management of learning is briefly described in the parts highlighted in blue
LESSON 1
Lesson was focused on song structure e.g. verse, pre-chorus and the purpose of the sections.
LESSON 2
Click or scan QR code to watch lesson on layering different instrumental parts
LESSON 3
Lesson was focused on getting students to play chords on GarageBand Smart Instruments on their iPads, and to create and edit the chords in GarageBand.
• Teacher also showed students how to use their online workspace (rough work, sketch pad, social wall) and checked students’ lyrics and their structure.
Lesson was focused on layering of the different instrumental parts in GarageBand in iPad. Students decide on their choice of chord progressions for the song, from the list of chord progressions given to them.
• Teacher explained and managed several technical aspects (recording of tracks, extending the number of bars, explaining “auto-play”) and getting students on task.
• He reiterated the need for students to be productive, and to make use of “iPad time” to make informed decisions on choice of chords as students could still work on lyrics and song structure outside the lesson time.
• Teacher supervised the various groups and kept them on task and addressed several technical issues.
Click or scan QR code to watch lesson where students put their music (or backing track) together
LESSON 4
Click or scan QR code to watch lesson on lyric writing
LESSON 5
Click or scan QR code to watch lesson on reciting lyrics to the music
LESSON 6
LESSON 7
Lesson was focused on students recording instrumental part(s) and creating a backing track of their song.
• Teacher also distributed a worksheet where students needed to document elements and decisions of their song (e.g. lyrics, the intent of each section, chords, instruments).
• Although students have an iPad each, teacher told them to present their song as a group to him in one iPad.
• Teacher continued to emphasise the need for students to complete the worksheet and to “test out” the ideas written on their iPads.
• The teacher also gave feedback to students on their general progress.
Lesson was focused on students’ putting their music (or backing track) for their song together by recording a section at a time.
• The teacher also showed examples of students’ work to the whole class in the middle of the lesson.
• He then worked with different groups at their desk and gave more attention to students who had problems working together or on their arrangement.
• He also directed some students to work outside the room so that the noise level of the room was managed.
Lesson was focused on lyric writing. The teacher worked with some groups at their desk and mostly checked for the number of beats and lyric lengths.
Lesson was focused on reciting lyrics to the music.
• The teacher called each group to come to him at his desk. He would check their lyrics and their music, and then record their progress in his Excel sheet.
• He summarised the key issues to the class at the end of the lesson.
LESSON 8
LESSON 9
Lesson was focused on developing a melody with the lyrics. After the teacher demonstrated how he developed a melody using a set of lyrics from a group while using the music as a minus-one in the iPad, the students were tasked to develop their own melodies.
• The teacher provided guidance to the groups.
Lesson was focused on recording students’ work live. The teacher brought his students to the library where the makeshift “recording studio” was. He showed a group how to record their own song as they sang into the microphone while they listened to their own backing track through headphones.
• The teacher had slots available which students were required to book to continue their recording outside of music lessons.
B. Flow through Positive Classroom Culture
B1. Routines
The following routines were observed which helped create a positive discipline to facilitate a flow of learning experiences:
a. At the start of the module, Samuel called upon students, row by row, to collect their iPads. When this process became a routine, Samuel only had to call students to collect their iPads at the start of each lesson and they would do so automatically.
b. Students had the choice to partner their friends or to work in friendship groups. After they decided on their members in the group, Samuel gave them their group number and their passwords which allowed them to log into their group wall to document their musical ideas.
c. Samuel does not give his students too much time on their own group work especially at the beginning of the module.
They were given at most 15 minutes for each task and he would start counting down nearer the time, and his students were constantly reminded of the time they were left with, as well as the remaining time they had for the module over the weeks.
d. After group work, Samuel would tell the students to put their iPads down and to put their laptop screens at a 45-degree angle. He would insist upon it before he carried on with his instructions.
e. Samuel allowed some groups of students to work outside the lab so that the noise level could be managed. He would get student representatives to call the other students back to class when it was time.
B2. Managing students’ insecurities
The songwriting process saw many students feeling insecure about their work and constantly needing reassurance. Their insecurities showed up in various ways.
Example 1
Students needing assurances at every step they took resulted in streams of students waiting in turn to ask questions, to seek the teacher’s opinion or just to get approval on basic tasks such as whether they could wear earpieces.
1a. Samuel used humour to get his students to feel comfortable with their own work. For example:
One boy came up to Samuel with his iPad,
STUDENT
Cher, we need to check on our intro.
SAMUEL Is it nice?
STUDENT Yah.
SAMUEL (TEASING)
Nice, why then you show me?
STUDENT
We don’t know.
SAMUEL (TEASING)
You know it’s nice, just want me to say nice, right?
STUDENT / GROUP Yah, we want you to say nice.
SAMUEL (PROMPTLY)
Yah, it’s nice.
STUDENT No, Cher.
Samuel played their work from their iPad for a few bars. They laughed.
SAMUEL
Do you think it’s nice?
STUDENT Yah.
SAMUEL
You know it’s nice, you just want me to say nice.
The students laughed and left.
(Lesson 5)
1b. At times, Samuel would defer musical decisions back to the student, for example:
One student named Tina came up to Samuel and asked,
TINA
The whole song must play everything all same?
SAMUEL Erm...
TINA Because when I record...
SAMUEL
Does it sound boring when the whole section is the same chord?
TINA Yah.
SAMUEL
Then follow the chord progressions.
Getting the answer that she probably wanted, Tina left.
(Lesson 5)
Example 2
Students might also find comfort in deleting their initial work rather than to develop their initial ideas.
When one of the groups was called upon to present their “work-in-progress” piece to the class, they announced that they had deleted their work. Samuel addressed the class with the following advice,
If every single time you face a problem or you encounter a difficulty, you throw everything away and start all over again, it is wasting your time. Sometimes the solution is very simple. Right, if your music is too short, just repeat. If your music is too long, just cut. No need to delete everything... You cannot just work hard, you need to work smart also.
(Lesson 7)
Example 3
Students were self-conscious about their own voice.
As students only recorded their own voice at the end of the songwriting lessons, by that time, they were more comfortable to express their own inadequacies and support one another. One student commented that her singing “sucks” but was met with encouragement from her own classmates.
(Lesson 8)
Example 4
Students’ own pride impacted their work.
Although students were feeling insecure about their work, they also demonstrated pride which made them vulnerable to others’ comments and responses. Their lyrics tended to express what was close to their hearts and their
musical choices reflected what they enjoyed. The songs they produced were very much associated with their own identities. Hence, what the teacher does would not just impact the quality of their work, but also their confidence and their growth, and whether they develop a growth mindset or a fixed mindset.
For example, Samuel was listening to the work of a pair of girls at his desk,
SAMUEL
Do you want your song to be so fast?
STUDENT
Good, what. [Demonstrating pride in her work]
SAMUEL
I know. Do you want your song to be so fast? I am just asking, I am not saying it is bad. If you want to, fine, but if you don't want it to be so fast, it can be (made) a bit slower.
With this response, Samuel opened up an option for students to re-evaluate their musical decisions without putting them down.
STUDENT
How to put it slower? Re-record?
SAMUEL
No, no, no, you press the speed, see, 127, right? Decrease or increase, up to you.
He showed them how and then started moving to the music. The students laughed. He handed the iPad back to them.
STUDENT
Like that, can? [Showing a need for the teacher's affirmation]
SAMUEL Huh? Your song, not my song. Disney sound, right? OK lah.
The students laughed and left.
(Lesson 5)
B3. Managing student issues simultaneously
Having multiple groups working at the same time meant that there were occasions when the teacher needed to tend to multiple issues simultaneously. The vignette below showed how the teacher used his knowledge of his students to help him manage several student issues simultaneously.
Two boys were at Samuel's desk. He played their music. He stopped and asked the student why he had “Bb” in it. He asked to see the chords that they had written but the students said they didn’t bring the worksheet. He stopped at the part again and pointed out to the students that it was not any of the chords he had provided.
SAMUEL
This chord is capital B small b, right? (He meant the B chord).
The students responded that they did not know.
SAMUEL
Huh? What do you mean by you don’t know? This is your song, right?
STUDENT (MUTTERING) Which chord?
He played again. This time he continued on to the portion when the boys were reciting their text, “Reduce, reuse, recycle...” above the music that was played. He stopped and the boys moved further away from him, clearly embarrassed by their own recitation.
Samuel motioned to them to come nearer.
SAMUEL
So, right, thank you for putting in the effort. So...
He was gathering his thoughts and he paused.
At this point, one of the boys from another group came over to complain about his group member Ian who was using his phone to “watch other stuff”.
Samuel called the boys over and addressed them. He asked them to focus on the task at hand, which was to recite their song text with the music, and then try to come up with a tune for the text. One of the boys said they couldn’t. Another boy said that they tried but the tune wasn’t nice. It was evident how students went off-task when they found that they could not meet the challenge.
Samuel persisted and asked them to try. He said that after he had seen the group he was working with, he would hear them.
Turning back to the original group of boys, he started,
SAMUEL So, right…
Then, another boy interrupted and complained of another student Johan who was disturbing them. Samuel called the student over. In the meantime, he turned back to the original group.
SAMUEL
So what you must be able to do, right, what you have to learn is, right now, you have... where is your paper?
STUDENT
Never bring.
SAMUEL
You have arranged each line across 4 beats or 8 beats, you have chosen that, I can tell. So you organised your lines according to four 8 beats, but how you placed your words, right, has to be in timing. See, 1, 2...
Johan came over. Samuel asked him to sit down near his desk and continued with the group,
SAMUEL
1, 2, 3, 4…
Johan pulled a chair to the table. Samuel corrected,
SAMUEL
Sit on the floor, sit here…
It was a deliberate consequence he had meted for Johan who had been disruptive to another group. Samuel did not have to explain. He did not have to ask for an explanation for Johan’s behaviour. Johan knew it too. He accepted his consequence as Samuel already established a rapport with Johan earlier. Johan sat on the floor next to Samuel’s desk.
Samuel turned his attention to the group and continued to guide them through demonstrations.
C. Flow through Coaching of Students’ Work
For the songwriting module, in creating a flow in students’ music-learning experience, Samuel had to constantly balance the challenges students faced in their work. Most times, he set higher benchmarks where students needed to work towards and he provided some guidance and advice to spur them on. Here are the different issues that confronted the students.
C1. Lyric writing
The lyric-writing task was made challenging as Samuel also paid considerable attention to having students consider more deeply about the lyrics they were writing, hence pushing students to do better than they could. Here are some examples of what he said to the groups.
Example 1
A pair of girls asked Samuel about their lyrics. Samuel commented that the whole song “is just being emo… so there is no clear development even though your lyrics are nice. It sounds nice but then there is not much depth. So you will need to write your song structure.”
SAMUEL
It is only when you write your song structure then you realise that verse 1, verse 2 you are talking about the same thing. Bridge also talking about the same thing. Talk about looking for your lost lover, that’s all.
The girls started to laugh.
SAMUEL
See, correct, right? You understand what I mean? Then you can see for yourself whether there is depth.
(Lesson 2)
Example 2
Guiding another student, Samuel asked,
SAMUEL
Tell me, each section, what are you discussing?
STUDENT (HESITATING)
Ah, about...
SAMUEL
OK, so you write down.
STUDENT
About the development of the shadows?
SAMUEL
OK, but the shadows actually mean something deeper, right? It’s about stress and anxiety, correct?
She nodded.
SAMUEL
Ah, so explain that to me. Don’t just tell me about the things that you are saying. Explain to me what your message is. What’s your message for verse 1, chorus 1 and so on so forth.
(Lesson 2)
Example 3
With a group of boys, Samuel read their line and asked the group how they could end the line with a word that rhymes with “A”,
SAMUEL
So what rhymes with “A”? “Day”? Reading from their text, “Sometimes we hate it” and continued, “sometimes it makes our day?”
Is that the same meaning as what you are having? What else rhymes with “A”? “Say”? “Away”?
He paused and then continued,
SAMUEL
Sometimes, they made us sad, sometimes they made us chase our blues away? What else rhymes with “A”? “Gay”? What’s your message for verse 1, chorus 1 and so on so forth?
Students laughed.
SAMUEL
“May”? See, there are so many options, right? You just need to put in effort to see what rhymes with “A” and then you... you see what rhymes with “hay”, and all the words will come out because “A” may be pronounced differently in other countries.
Further silence.
One of the students searched for rhyming words on the Internet.
Samuel read out some words from the screen,
SAMUEL
Today, survey, okay. How about “okay”?
He asked the student to scroll down the list.
STUDENT
Tray, stray, dismay…
STUDENT
What is “dismay”?
SAMUEL
Feel very sad.
Sometimes they made us say hurray, sometimes they made us feel dismay...
as if he was suggesting a line for their song. He saw another word, “display”, and continued with another suggestion, as if he was reciting another line for their song. Samuel concluded,
SAMUEL
Sometimes they made us lost, sometimes they show us the way...
SAMUEL
OK. There are many, many ways. You take your time, OK?
(Lesson 6)
We could see from the above examples different responses that pushed students to do better than what they had done. Samuel spent time brainstorming with them, showed students how to search for and use rhyming words, gave suggestions, and modelled the creative process of evaluating and improving upon their own work.
C2. Fitting lyrics into music
Fitting lyrics into music was challenging for some students who might have had less practice or less understanding of beats and rhythms. The following is an example of Samuel’s guidance given to students.
Example 1
A group of boys told Samuel that their music did not go well with the lyrics and they had to rewrite. Samuel read their text and a dialogue ensued.
SAMUEL
I was 7 when I first... [he stopped].
So each line is across how many beats?
STUDENT 4.
ANOTHER STUDENT
No! It’s not 4. It’s very fast.
Samuel started to clap and count.
SAMUEL
5, 6, 7, 8, “I was 7 when I first met you”.
Another student started to clap along too. Samuel stopped the boys and he asked,
SAMUEL
So, it’s 4 beats or 8 beats?
He snapped his fingers and read again,
SAMUEL I was 7...
STUDENT
Can it be less than 4 beats?
SAMUEL Cannot be. Only 4 or 8.
He continued to read the text.
SAMUEL
So this line across 4 beats okay, right? This line across 4 beats also okay, right? But what happens to this line and this line when it is across 4 beats? Does it feel a bit rushed?
Samuel nodded his head.
STUDENT
Yah.
SAMUEL
Why?
STUDENT
Too long.
SAMUEL
So what should you do?
STUDENT
Delete!
SAMUEL
Don’t everything delete! The rhymes are very nice. So can you take out some words? Try reciting.
(Lesson 6)
C3. Managing technical problems and lack of time
Initial technical issues students faced were remembering passwords, low battery life left on iPads, navigating GarageBand on iPad, understanding tools such as auto-play, adding sections to the iPad and how to record a new line without overwriting an existing line.
Example 1
Students not knowing the tools on iPad hindered their ability to complete their work efficiently. For example, not knowing that they could adjust the tempo on their iPads interfered with their ability to record themselves playing properly.
Samuel dealt with some of these by showing students, then checked for understanding by getting students to show him and ensuring that they could do so on their own without him.
Example 2
Another problem was saving their work. Some of them could not find their work when they returned the following week.
Samuel’s advice for his students was that when they completed their work, they should go to “my songs” and “quit”, to avoid others accidentally going into GarageBand and deleting it accidentally. As they had to name their files with their names, Samuel also showed them how they could search for their names on the iPads to retrieve their work.
Example 3
Students were unable to complete their work during the lesson.
Samuel was unable to allow the students to take the iPads home, but he made arrangements for students to see him after school to borrow the iPads should they need them.
C4. Managing student motivation
In a task such as songwriting which might prove too challenging for some students, student motivation might be affected. Samuel needed to constantly assess if the challenge was pegged at the appropriate level as he worked with each group. Such an assessment helped him provide appropriate feedback to students to encourage them. For example, for a group of boys who were constantly having problems working with one another, he felt the need to steer them and give them more guidance to achieve something.
Samuel went over to the three boys and asked them what their problem was. This group of boys who sat right at the back and far left corner of the class were attention seeking, had difficulty working with one another and were often restless. In this instance, he was quite gentle with them compared to the rest of the class, showing empathy perhaps.
SAMUEL
What’s the issue? What’s going on?
STUDENT
Nothing. STUDENT
SAMUEL
Where’s, what’s your lyrics?
Erm...
ANOTHER STUDENT
He’s thinking of lyrics.
SAMUEL
He’s not, what. What’s the issue, Ben? [Samuel squatted down so that he could be at eye level with the student] Where’s your lyrics?
ANOTHER STUDENT
No, he haven’t do the song yet.
SAMUEL
You haven’t do the song yet. [Mirroring what the student said] How come?
STUDENT
We doing the intro, then we doing the chorus. The intro and chorus doesn’t match.
SAMUEL
How about the verse?
STUDENT
Er.
SAMUEL
Do you mean the verse, is it?
STUDENT
Yah.
SAMUEL
So he is doing the intro music, you are doing the verse music.
SAMUEL
Let me look at what you have done so far.
STUDENT
Because he must finish the intro so that I can at least know how to work.
SAMUEL
Huh? Don’t worry, don’t worry. As long as you follow the chords that I’ve given, the intro and the verse will match together.
Don’t worry so much. You choose any set of chords from here (referring to the worksheet).
I’ve put all these chords here, so that they can match, they confirm can match. So just choose a verse chord from here, then just go with it, whatever you have chosen is fine. OK?
The strategy of giving very directed guidance helped get this group of boys started. He was giving them a chance to take responsibility for their work instead of taking over and reprimanding them for not working.
(Lesson 6)
C5. Musical problems
a. Understanding chord functions and chord progression was a main issue
When given a choice of various chord progressions, there were students who had difficulties choosing a chord progression. A few of them did not choose any of the given chord progressions since they had little idea of how the chord progressions would work in their song which they have not developed. Some of their choices seemed random.
Example 1
There was a student who showed a lack of understanding of the relationship of chords to keys. When she seemed to put random chords and keys in her music, Samuel approached this by getting her to experiment within the key and set of chords he had provided. He advised,
SAMUEL
So in order to keep things easy to sing, you realise that when you change from here to here, it sounds very weird because the key is totally different.
So what I have done, I have created a set of chords for you. All these chords are all in the same key. If you start with this, C here, then F here, G here, then F here, it will all sound fine; when you sing, it is very comfortable to sing and to create something because they are all in the same key, OK?
This whole paper, every single chord, all in the same key.
Now you don’t have to follow this sequence that I have done for you, you can do your own sequence but try to only use chords that are on this page, OK? So all you do is just replace some of the chords with some of these. OK, you try. Once you finish, fill it up…
(Lesson 4)
Example 2
Understanding chords can be complex and it is difficult to assess students’ understanding by what they say. Samuel approached the issue by getting students to show him their work.
STUDENT
When we choose C F C F as the chords, must the background music be C F C F?
SAMUEL
Everything must be C F C F [gesturing a vertical structure] when it’s C F C F.
All instruments must be playing the same chord at the same time [gesturing a vertical structure again].
Let’s say you have 100 instruments...
STUDENT
Then background how?
SAMUEL
What do you mean by background?
STUDENT
Maybe C F C F is louder, then there is background.
SAMUEL
You try and show me what you mean, I don’t understand what you mean.
(Lesson 5)
Example 3
There was also a misunderstanding of chord symbols which use inversions. For example, G/B was misinterpreted as a choice of G or B chords instead of G chord over B in the bass.
SAMUEL
It is not a choice between 2 chords, rather it refers to the placement of the bass note in the specific chord.
(Lesson 5)
Example 4
As Samuel gave students room to explore their own choice chords, he had to balance between empowering students’ musical decisions and having them adhere to theoretical fundamentals, as seen in the following:
Samuel told the students that he “honestly” felt that their chords were “off”. Teasingly, he asked them if they felt the passage was “a bit like horror show”. To which, the female student replied that she liked horror shows, as if guarding her pride. He responded, “Alright,” smiled and turned away.
Although there might have been some unintended sarcasm when Samuel mentioned “horror show”, the students did not seem offended and defended their taste. He did not insist on the students changing their chords.
Samuel walked away a bit, but quickly turned back to the girls and asked them to check that all their chords are played by all the instruments together.
SAMUEL
For instance, all the chords are playing “A” together, all the chords are playing “Dm” together!
He then turned and walked away.
Samuel’s guidance was very specific. He did not interfere with their musical tastes in their choice of chords, but he wanted to ensure that students have their fundamentals right.
After a while, the pair of girls went over to Samuel at his desk to seek his help.
It is an example of how students still needed their teacher’s affirmation especially now that their teacher has planted a seed of doubt in their work.
Samuel responded kindly,
SAMUEL
I am a bit worried that your chords may be a bit... Maybe try using earphones and hear whether you like the sound or not. OK, but I leave it up to you, OK?
Instead of asserting his evaluation, Samuel provided a useful advice and strategy – using earphones to listen to the music.
(Lesson 6)
b. Performing their own work on iPad
Example 1a
Fitting the text to the length of the music that had been created
A pair of girls came up to Samuel and asked him to listen to their work, with the recitation of their text already added. As he played their work from the iPad, one of the students, Lynn, looked embarrassed. He then stopped the music.
SAMUEL So...
he stopped and gathered his thoughts.
SAMUEL
There are some things you haven’t really followed. OK, so right, erm…
He paused again.
SAMUEL
The issue is, you find that it’s a bit hard to recite, right? It’s like sometimes the next section comes a bit too fast, sometimes the next section comes a bit too slow. So what’s happening is because…
He paused again, as if gathering his thoughts.
SAMUEL
Each section, right, either 8 bars, or 16 or 4.
He started drawing something on the paper.
SAMUEL
For instance, your intro, I assume this is your intro, right? It’s only 7 bars.
He stopped and asked to look at Lynn’s worksheet. Lynn went to get it and returned. Samuel continued, and he drew on the worksheet.
SAMUEL
So let’s say, this is 2 bars, 2 bars, 2 bars...
SAMUEL
So there should be 8 bars.
Samuel was trying to show the metric structure visually.
He stopped and addressed the noise level of the class, then returned to the two girls.
SAMUEL
So if this… another chord, another chord, another chord. So there must be a certain clear organisation of your chords.
Samuel was trying to fit the chords into the metric structure.
After some more discussion on the rhythm of the chord change, Samuel commented on the group’s musical arrangement. He announced,
SAMUEL
The good news is – you are creative. I like how you start with this, then from your verse is different, then for the pre-chorus, you just have strings, so it’s well thought out.
The creative process is well thought out. Creative idea. Then when you go to the chorus, you see you have strings, you have guitar, piano and you open up the music.
I wish there was drums in the chorus, I think it fits, but I leave it up to you. So you clearly have good ideas, but I’m sorry, your execution is very bad. It’s very messy.
Once again, Samuel made space for the student voice by affirming the students’ musical arrangements but also provided specific feedback.
(Lesson 8)
Example 1b
Fitting the text to the length of the music that had been created
Samuel listened to the work of three boys who had many problems working with one another and encouraged them, He continued with his feedback,
SAMUEL
OK. This is pretty stable music.
SAMUEL
OK. So the good thing is the music is tight, very well done. The question is...
Each line needs to be recited across 4 or 8 beats. And once you have chosen for that section, you don’t change.
So if it is 8 beats, every line must be across 8 beats. Now, if you recite and you finish reciting in time, but you still have some beats left, what do you do? Do you carry on to the next line?
STUDENT Rest.
One of the students was able to point this out.
SAMUEL
Yes! But when I hear you recite, the moment you finish your first line, you go to your second line. The moment you finish your second line, go to your third line. You see? So there must be a clear organising of your lyrics.
Samuel advised.
Students instinctively knew they had to pace their text according to the beats and phrase of the backing track they had created. Samuel did not have to tell them; he only had to make them think again.
(Lesson 8)
Example 2
Not being aware of the chord change when students use “auto-play”
In addressing the issue, Samuel tells his students directly,
SAMUEL
This is when you should change [making a gesture as the music is being played], this is when you actually change [making another gesture]. Always late, so change here.
He showed them how they should initiate the change on iPad before the first beat.
SAMUEL
You shouldn’t be changing on the 2 (2nd beat), you should be changing on the 1.
While the use of “auto-play” was supposed to help students execute the accompaniment, students still needed to negotiate the chord change by hitting the chord before the actual beat where it should change.
(Lesson 8)
Example 3
Reciting the text to the music that is being created
Samuel told a group of students,
SAMUEL
When you recite, you have to use the beats.
He began reciting their text in different rhythms as examples. he started to tap.
SAMUEL
Whatever I am reciting, it has a relationship with the beat, such that...
SAMUEL It’s not like this.
He recited to them the same text less rhythmically. He demonstrated.
SAMUEL
You see, now what I’m doing is I’m reciting as though there is no beat.
SAMUEL
There’s no relationship?
There must be a clear relationship with the beat.
He continued with more demonstrations for quite a while, giving his instructions even in beat!
(Lesson 8)
Example 4:
Keeping to the beat
After listening to a group’s recording, Samuel advised students to turn up the volume of their music on their iPad so that they could hear their music as they recite or sing their text.
SAMUEL
Because it is not loud enough, you can’t hear you are already moving faster than the 8 beats. But your rhythms are there. I suspect the way you recite, it’s almost like a rap. Is the verse a rap? It’s so fast. There are too many words being articulated. It's hard to give a tune.
The students repeated their recitation again as he tapped the pulse of the music being played. They got faster. Samuel stopped them,
SAMUEL
Wait, speed up already.
The student replied,
STUDENT
It is supposed to speed up.
SAMUEL
No. You can speed up but you must still be in timing. You can have more words in a beat but your beat cannot be faster.
(Lesson 8)
c. Setting a tune to text
Turning text into melody seemed to be a difficulty for some groups. Samuel told the class that there could be three reasons in which they could not do so. First, the music was too fast. Second, the music was not loud enough. And third, the chord progression was awkward. He encouraged students to depend on their intuitive sense, drawing consciously or unconsciously from music they have heard in their lives, to create their own melodies.
d. Understanding musical structure
The songwriting task provided an opportunity for students to understand musical structure, as they had to make musical decisions revolving around their understanding of structure. Samuel was able to anticipate the issues to give quick responses to seemingly vague questions from students which helped with the efficiency of his coaching.
For example, one female student came up to Samuel,
STUDENT
Verse cannot repeat, right?
SAMUEL
The music is the same, just that the lyrics are different.
Samuel anticipated that students were referring to the music and the lyrics when composing different verses.
STUDENT
Then everything the same?
SAMUEL
Everything the same. Yah.
A quick response to agree with the students that they could keep the parameters in the music the same in different verses.
(Lesson 8)
D. Flow through Sharing of Students’ Work to the Class
Besides coaching the groups, Samuel spent some time addressing the class each session, presenting and demonstrating a concept, often using examples from students’ work. Here is an example of a demonstration.
Samuel was using a student’s work to show an example of how the backing track was created. He amplified the sound from the iPad and asked the class to listen to the music and identify what needed work. He complimented the group on the choice of instruments and the deliberate change of the instrumentation between the introduction and the verse of the song. He mentioned that there was “less on the verse” so that there could be emphasis on the voice, “which is very good”.
The pointing out of specific musical decisions by the students and making the thinking visible to the rest of the class was a strategy which Samuel used here so that the other students could learn from their peers.
He played the verse again, added the metronome and started counting as the music was being played.
SAMUEL
What do you hear?
STUDENT
The chord change.
SAMUEL
The chord change. What about the chord change?
There was no response.
SAMUEL
Listen. Try again. Listen.
Samuel persisted.
Click or scan QR code to watch Samuel demonstrating a concept using examples from students’ work
He played and counted with the music, this time giving emphasis on “2” as he counted,
SAMUEL
1, 2, 3, 4.
He counted in such a way as to give a stronger hint on the issue.
SAMUEL
What’s the issue?
he asked again.
He turned to the pair of girls and repeated,
SAMUEL What’s the issue?
The girls remained silent.
SAMUEL No issue?
SAMUEL
OK. I want you to pay attention to the chord changes and I want you to tell me on which beat the chord changes.
He now gave even more specific directions as to what to listen out for.
SAMUEL Listen.
Before he could play the music again, one boy commented,
STUDENT
Second beat.
SAMUEL
Yes, second beat! It is supposed to be on the first beat. If you want to organise it properly, it should be on the first beat. Unless it was intentional. Listen again.
He played. He counted in “1, 2, 3, 4”, then as the music played, he counted, “1 change.... 1 change...” emphasising where the chord changes took place.
He concluded,
SAMUEL
So the chord changes are 1 beat late, which is very normal, sometimes, for some of the auto-play.
He wanted to make sure that he does not make the group feel bad.
He continued to give a “bus-stop analogy” where one would need to ring the bell just before the bus reaches the bus stop, and hence, they should initiate the chord change on the iPad in auto-play just before the first beat.
He continued with specific instructions,
SAMUEL
So maybe, 1, 2 , 3, 4 change, 1, 2, 3, 4 change.
As he counted, he added “change” in between the 4th beat and the 1st beat.
SAMUEL Are we clear?
He rounded up his instructions. Finally, he complimented the pair,
SAMUEL
Other than that, that is a very solid piece of work.
The short session felt like a sense of celebration for the group whose work had been chosen to be shared. At the same time, it provided a benchmark and guidance for all students including the group.
(Lesson 7)
E. Flow through Authentic Learning Experiences
The songwriting process had been an authentic learning experience for students as it had provided opportunities for real-life application, opportunities to collaborate; diversity of outcomes and perspectives; and is a process that integrated listening, performing and creating.
Samuel completed the module with groups of students taking turns to record themselves in a makeshift “recording studio” which is a small room in the library where a recording mic was set up to a mixer and the iPad plugged into the same mixer. Students had earlier booked slots to record themselves. Here is a close look at a group’s recording process and how the flow experience was for them.
A group of two girls were trying to record their own singing with the backing track. They were very soft, and slightly off-pitch but there was a nice sense of phrasing. Samuel guided them on the timing of their singing. He also told them what they were singing a bit out of tune. He started to tap the beat and asked how they would recite the first line. He kept at the beat, demonstrated and rehearsed a few times with the first singer to ensure they kept the beat. It seemed difficult for the student to recite rhythmically with the beat he was giving when the backing track was not played.
He then showed them how to record themselves and asked the students to show him back how they would record themselves before he left to attend to other students. The two girls took turns to sing as they recorded themselves. The second singer was a little off-pitch. They sung with a meek voice. They then played it back to listen to themselves.
The first singer suggested to record one more time and her partner agreed. She also suggested that they sing louder.
The recording gave them an opportunity to self-evaluate.
They recorded again deliberately not looking at the lyrics.
This was evidence of students taking pride in their song and knowing that they could perform better without their eyes glued to the lyrics.
The second singer is again slightly off-pitch. But this time, they were louder.
At the second verse, the second singer pulled out the lyrics and rested it at the chair in front of them so that they could still refer to it.
When they finished, the first singer clapped silently as the music flowed to the end. When they stopped the recorder, they shouted, “Yay!” They started to share how they felt about their own singing, mostly feeling insecure. The other partner was reassuring, “No, you sounded great!”
They listened to the recording again. The first singer reiterated, “I sound bad!” The second singer encouraged, “No you don’t!”
They listened on. The first singer asked the second singer if she was comfortable with her voice. The second singer then commented, “I feel my voice is off-key.”
Again, it was evident that students were able to evaluate themselves. In this case, her self-evaluation was accurate.
They decided to record one last time. (Lesson 9)
Summary
The various aspects contribute to efficient management in the digital technology-based learning environment and therefore the flow of the learning experience is summarised in the next page.
Facilitating a sense of celebration for the work being showcased
Drawing a benchmark and providing guidance through work being showcased
Sharing of students’ work to class
COACHING ON LYRIC WRITING
Getting students to consider more deeply about the lyrics they write
Giving suggestions
Brainstorming with students
Modelling how to search for and use rhyming words
Modelling the creative process of evaluating and improving upon one’s work
COACHING ON FITTING LYRICS INTO MUSIC
Reading the text with students and counting the beats with the music being played
FACILITATING WORKING THROUGH MUSICAL PROBLEMS
Performing work on iPad
Fitting text to the length of music that is created
Providing opportunities to self-evaluate
Authentic processes of audio-recording their work
Authentic learning experiences
Flow
Positive classroom culture
Module design
Making arrangements with students for consultation after school MANAGING TECHNICAL PROBLEMS AND LACK OF TIME
Not being aware of chord changes in “auto-play”
Reciting the text to the music that is being created
Showing the tools and getting students to show back
Keeping to the beat
Setting a tune to text
Understanding musical structure
Understanding of chord symbols, chord functions and chord progressions
Coaching of students’ work
MANAGING STUDENT MOTIVATION
Giving students a chance to take responsibility for their work instead of taking over and reprimanding them
ROUTINES
Collection of iPads
Group formation
Pacing of students’ work
Attention routine
Student representatives to call students back from working spaces
MANAGING STUDENT INSECURITIES
Students needing assurances at every step they took
Students deleting work
Students are self-conscious about their voice
Students’ pride impact their fixed/ growth mindset
Managing with humour
Deferring musical decisions back to students
Advising students how parts of the music could be worked on instead of deleting work
Getting peer encouragement
Opening up avenues for students’ re-evaluation of their work without putting them down
MANAGING STUDENT ISSUES SIMULTANEOUSLY
Using knowledge of students to manage the issues
Supporting online workspace
Explaining and providing self-management techniques for students
Supporting with physical resources (e.g. worksheets, iPads)
Setting up a system of checking and providing feedback
Planning to showcase students’ work to class
Planning for alternative spaces to manage noise level
CONCLUSION
Even as technology is harnessed to support learning, there are many aspects of lesson delivery which will contribute or impede the flow in the teaching-learning process. Much of it hinges on:
• A good understanding of students which could be built over time through an authentic task which gives opportunity for closer teacher-student interactions
• A good understanding of the ICT tools and lesson content that enhances the teaching-learning process
While using the iPad is generally seen to bridge technical skills such as students’ ability to play instruments, to allow students to access music making and in this case songwriting, there is still a need for the teacher to plan or prepare to address and scaffold the learning of theoretical concepts (rhythm, beats, chords, keys) which will affect the flow experience in music learning.
The flexibility of the teacher in providing feedback to students according to the knowledge of his students – at times with more directed guidance, other times through questions to help students make their own decisions – also impacted the flow experience in students’ music learning. The approach of giving feedback, driven by the situation and context, is what makes music teaching an artful occupation.
Songwriting is a task that presents various musical challenges, from demonstrating their understanding of chords, instrumental choice, lyric writing, structure, to performing and recording their music. Although there are many musical challenges to continually pique students’ interest, an authentic task on its own does not guarantee musical flow experiences in students. Instead, it requires a constant management of the learning process which includes continual negotiation of student pride and emotions, motivating them and illuminating concepts at points when students become ready to learn. Only then can a teacher enable students to take ownership so that students can be truly empowered to create a musical piece they can call their own.
DEVELOPMENT II
This section presents a broader discussion of pedagogical processes to provide suggestions to address the much-neglected listening processes that are fundamental to music learning, and to re-examine assumptions involving the use of technology which might otherwise have impeded the engagement of students and quality learning.
Discussion on Pedagogy
Listening as a Pedagogy
Tan Li Jen, Adeline
Senior Academy Officer (Music)
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
INTRODUCTION
The Primary and Lower Secondary Music Syllabus emphasises purposeful creative music making and the acquisition of key musical concepts through active musical experiences (i.e. listening, creating, performing). Of these three music processes, music learning by listening might have sometimes been neglected due to a narrow definition of what constitutes as music listening, and its perceived passive nature as compared to music making (Reimer, 2009). Yet, as music educators have shown (Campbell, 2016; Green, 2002), listening is a fundamental form of music learning. As an intentional activity, it can lead students to develop aural acuity, build musical understandings, enlarge musical expressions and interpretations, develop compositional ideas, and facilitates enculturation into musical practices.
PURPOSE
We look at how the listening phases in World Music Pedagogy, which emphasises the critical importance of learning by listening and of repeated listening in increasingly active and interactive ways, help students study and understand music as sound, behaviour, function and social meaning (Campbell, 2016, p. 90-95). We explore how these listening phases can also be used in the context of technology-based music lessons.
THREE ACTIVE LISTENING PHASES
1. Attentive Listening: directed and focused on musical elements and
structures, and guided by specific points of attention
2. Engaged Listening: the active participation by a listener in some extent of music making as the music is played
3. Enactive Listening: the performance of a work in which, through intensive listening to every musical nuance, the music is re-created as stylistically accurate as possible
The examples below are drawn from the lessons conducted by three music teachers –Ho Si Liang from Deyi Secondary School, Ho Tze Liang, Shaun from Yishun Secondary School and Lim Xian Quan, Ronald from Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School.
1.Attentive Listening
In this phase, teachers can facilitate an initial ear-opening experience to help students:
• Make connections to structures in the music
• Understand music concepts such as timbre (instruments and voices and their nuances), texture, and the melodic and rhythmic components of the music
Example 1: Using a graphic organiser Context: Sec 2 students in Lower Secondary Music
• Students listened to two versions of the same piece and were given a graphic organiser to complete. The graphic organiser required students to fill up brief descriptions in the categories of:
• Having seen students’ responses on the graphic organiser, Si Liang used questions to direct students’ attention to important features in the music, to enable them to build an understanding of texture.
The dialogue below illustrates how Si Liang used questions to direct students’ listening:
SI LIANG
Everybody, let’s zoom in on this. What layers do you observe? We are going to spend one minute listening to this segment here. What instrument is this?
STUDENT Vocals.
SI LIANG Vocals, good. What else?
Si Liang begins to draw out the instruments as they enter (refer to Fig 1).
STUDENT Guitar.
SI LIANG Guitar. What else?
Continues to play music.
SI LIANG
Can you hear something at the bass?
STUDENT Violin.
SI LIANG Yup, there’s a bit of violin. What came in?
Upon reaching the chorus segment,
STUDENT Drums.
SI LIANG Drums. What else?
STUDENT Thing thing thing.
Makes a snap movement with the fingers.
SI LIANG
The thing thing thing. Finger snapping. Yes. OK. So there were other things added on. Now at which point did the drums come in?
STUDENT Chorus.
SI LIANG
At the chorus, did he come in at the “somebody” or at the “save” (referring to lyrics of the song).
STUDENT Save.
SI LIANG
Save, right? So where was the stress, which is something I observed from two submissions here.
Reads one of the responses from the students,
SI LIANG
At the “save me” part, there was a lot of emotions put in. The background music came in more strongly on the word “save me”. So we are talking about stresses here. We are also talking about how it was intended to show the stress points. So why are we doing all of this?
STUDENT To learn.
SI LIANG
To learn about what? What instruments are there in a jam band? Out of all these, which instrument forms the basis of the tempo? In this particular song?
STUDENT The drums.
SI LIANG
Good, what else? At the start, which instrument helps to build in the rhythm?
STUDENT Guitar.
SI LIANG
Good. But for some cases, when you listen to the cover, what instrument was providing the (tempo) basis? The keyboards. So is it possible for you to create (a music cover) on these instruments without any vocal lines? It’s possible, right? So we are going to learn one instrument first. One layer first.
Fig 1: Example of diagram showing entries of the instruments
VERSE CHORUS
Vocals
Drums Finger Snaps
In summary, Si Liang had scaffolded a listening experience for the students in the following ways:
1. She started with a general listening exercise accompanied with a graphic organiser to help open their ears to various components present in the music and to make connections with musical terms.
2. She then focused their listening with the use of questions at pertinent points as the music played and wrote down the students’ responses in a diagram to help them visualise the structure of the music.
3. She also made them compare two versions of the same piece of music and note the roles the instruments played in the different settings.
This was a carefully constructed experience that enabled students to not only understand texture but also to understand style, the difference in function of each instrument and be challenged to explore possibilities of instrument combinations as they go on to create their own music covers.
Example 2: Using a guided score
A guided score can be in the form of graphic notation, animated score and skeleton scores to provide sufficient information that can scaffold students’ learning.
Context: Sec 3 Students in ‘O’ Level Music Programme
1. After watching a video featuring a period performance of Baroque Concerto No. 3
by J.S. Bach and arousing interest in the music, Ronald played an animated score where the dots take the shape of the melodic contours and where the different colours represented different instrumental timbres.
2. As the music and the animated score were being played, Ronald pointed out areas of interest to students.
3. After listening and watching the animated score, Ronald asked students about patterns that struck them. They discovered arpeggios, modulations and contrary motion, and learnt the concept of sequence.
4. Ronald asked students to write down the meaning of sequence in their own words.
Click or scan QR code to view example of using a guided score
The use of the animated score as students listened to the piece, enabled students to see patterns in the music, and understand the musical concepts and structure in this attentive listening phase.
2.Engaged Listening
This phase involves active participation or music making by the listener. It could take the form of:
• Singing a melody
• Patting a rhythm
• Moving to the pulse
• Playing an instrumental part while the live or recorded music is playing.
Students may naturally be drawn to interactive forms of engagement and music learning can be most effective by “doing” as they are listening.
In the following examples, Si Liang reminded students of the distinction between pulse and rhythm. She involved the students in simple body percussion as she played a backing track.
Example 1: Playing to the beat
Context: Sec 2 students in Lower Secondary Music
The transcription below illustrates how Si Liang facilitated engaged listening with her students.
Example 2: Playing on instruments
Context: Sec 2 students in Lower Secondary Music
1. Students are grouped according to their instruments: guitar, ukulele, keyboard and cajón.
2. Students on the cajón would play the
1st beat of each bar while students on the melodic instruments (guitar, ukulele and keyboard) would strum or play A minor.
3. The pattern to be played by the melodic instrument would be determined by the pattern called by the teacher.
Click or scan QR code to view example of playing on instruments
In these two examples, the engagement of the body in movement or in instrumental playing helps the students make connections with sonic features in the music (e.g. musical phrasing) as they internalise their understanding of beat.
ENGAGED LISTENING BY PLAYING TO THE BEAT
Last lesson, we covered layers. We covered a bit on rhythm and stuff. Now this lesson… You do jam band and some people are asking, “Ms Ho, what kind of strumming patterns to play, what kind of beats are we doing?” etc.
Before we go there, when you listen to music, the first thing you must identify is the…? [Students could be heard mentioning “tempo”] The tempo. Good. OK. Some of you here may have issues identifying the tempo. Some of you here may end up identifying the rhythm, which is fine.
[Si Liang plays the music track]
OK, nod your heads to the beat. Identify the rhythm.
[Si Liang demonstrates the difference between rhythm and beat by nodding her head to the rhythm and then to the beat]
[Pointing to one student]
This one very good, this guy. He can nod his head and then his hand can do the cajón (rhythm).
Everybody, nod to the beat first. Next step, I want you to identify the 1st beat of the set. It’s in a group of 4 beats. Common time. Find the 1st beat. How do you demonstrate that? You still nod your head then you demonstrate with a clap.
[Si Liang gets students to clap the 1st beat] 1 (clap), 2, 3, 4, 1 (clap), 2, 3, 4…
OK, I want you to snap on the 4th beat. Identify the 4th beat. Those who cannot snap, slap your lap.
[Si Liang gets students to clap on beat 1 and snap on beat 4]
Example 3: Performing the musical concept
Context: Sec 3 Students in ‘O’ Level Music Programme
1. Ronald asked students to focus on the bass as he plays the music and the animated score. He asked students to describe the bass pattern.
2. He asked students to observe what happened to the rest of the instrumental parts in contrast to the bass.
3. He introduced the concept of pedal.
4. He had students play the pedal (therefore imitating the bass pattern), as he played the other instrumental parts.
5. The class tried it out a few times and students were encouraged to listen to his part while they played.
Click or scan QR code to view example of performing the musical concept
As students were given an opportunity in engaged listening to play the pedal, they are more likely to be able to remember and understand the musical concept better and how it is used.
In these instances, the students may acquire some familiarity with the music they are hearing as they are consciously listening to carefully curated aspects of the music, in this case, listening to the beat or to the bass. The active engagement with the music serves as a springboard to be aware of and develop musical expressions.
3. Enactive Listening
This phase requires concentrated listening and imitation of what is heard of the recording or of the live model. In our adaptation of the pedagogy, we look at how students are given experiences to deconstruct (Desantis, 2015) and recreate as close a copy of what they have heard, paying attention to elements such as texture, instrumentation and tempo.
This is certainly challenging and more time is required for students to enact their listening. In the process, they acquire a much deeper understanding of the music and related musical styles. At times, the teacher may provide some aids such as a lead sheet to aid the students’ recreation of the music.
Example 1: Performing in a jam band In Si Liang’s lower secondary music lessons, students are required to put up a jam band performance of a song that they have selected as a group. Further details of her lessons have been reported in the article, Taking Creative Risks:Facilitating Critical Thinking in Jam Band Contexts
Example 2: Deconstructing on Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs)
In Shaun’s NT music lessons, students are tasked to recreate the individual parts of a 4-part song in their musical arrangements on Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs). Students were involved in enactive listening experiences when they initially worked out the individual parts with the help of video
guides. Further details of his lessons have been reported in the article, Investigating Students’ Decision-making Processes in Musical Arrangements on Digital Audio Workstations
CONCLUSION
From giving students a sense of the music piece to directing students’ attention to specific details before they make observations to build their schema, listening as a pedagogy is a strategy that teachers can apply to develop critical capacities as the students receive and process aural information. The approach requires the teachers to guide students in the process of listening rather than simply hearing – to discern what they hear, to examine interrelations between the sounds, the context of the music, and essentially, cultivating listening habits that nurture critical thinking skills. Indeed, there is much potential to active listening and how it can facilitate students’ musical learning and understandings.
REFERENCES
Campbell, P. S. (2016). World Music Pedagogy: Where music meets culture in classroom practice. In Abril A. R., & Gault, B. M. (Eds.), Teaching General Music: Approaches, Issues, and Viewpoints (pp. 97-111). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Desantis, D. (2015). Making music: 74 creative strategies for electronic music producers. Retrieved December 20, 2018 from https://makingmusic.ableton.com/about
Green, L. (2002). How Popular Musicians Learn: A Way Ahead for Music Education. Aldershot: Ashgate. Reimer, B. (2004). Merely listening. In L. R. Bartel (Ed.), Questioning the Music Education Paradigm (pp. 88-97). Waterloo, Ontario: Canadian Music Educators’ Association.
Re-examining Assumptions Involving the Use of Technology in the Music Classroom
Tan Li Jen, Adeline Senior Academy Officer (Music)
INTRODUCTION
Technological advances in the 21st century have significantly influenced the way we go about our daily lives, from the way we communicate to the way we work and entertain ourselves. Technology has also been embraced in the classrooms as it enables a culture of innovation and experimentation. Given that our students today are digital natives, some assumptions are often made, for example, that the use of technology will lead to increased student engagement and that technology-based lessons involve digital processes in music making
PURPOSE
We re-examine some of these assumptions made to relook at how we use technology, its impact and how it can be used almost ubiquitously rather than as a stand-alone technology-based music module.
The examples stated are drawn from the lessons of four music teachers –Ho Si Liang from Deyi Secondary School, Ho Tze Liang, Shaun from Yishun Secondary School, Lim Xian Quan, Ronald from Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School and Samuel Soong Rui from Evergreen Secondary School.
ASSUMPTIONS
1. Digital natives are not necessarily ready for technology-based lessons
The arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology has changed the way students think and process information and therefore, there is the assumption that as digital natives (Prensky, 2001), our students would prefer and be ready for learning environments that harness technology. While it may be reasonable to expect recent generations to have a level of comfort with the use of technology, their readiness to use technology may be limited to consumption for the purposes of recreation rather than goal-directed learning or content creation (Robertson, 2007). Similarly, the ECDL Foundation (2014) put forth that digital natives do not intuitively know how to use digital technologies and that they would need to be supported to develop essential digital skills as required in the workplace.
Further, our students have different preferences and approaches to learning depending on their perception of what the task requires and how successful
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
they had been with that approach (Bennett et al, 2008). To assume that all students of this generation prefer to learn through interactions with technology would be inaccurate. Instead, factors such as the teacher’s understanding of a particular technology’s usefulness and how it could be harnessed to support learning might be crucial in addressing learner readiness for technology-based learning.
Example 1: Readiness in Responding with Google Form
In a previous music class, Si Liang had played extracts of different music and analysed her students’ responses in relation to musical elements. She then asked her students to fill up a Google form outside of classroom time, to answer how rhythm, speed, melody and harmony affect their perception of the music’s emotion and function. The students had to label the emotion/function they would associate with that piece of music.
There were 16 responses for the students to choose from:
In the following lesson, only 10 students had completed the form before the class started. Si Liang gave the class 5 minutes to complete the form.
Si Liang then replayed extract 1, entitled O Come, O Come Emmanuel. She had played this in the previous lesson. This was to recap the song and to relate to the students’ Google responses.
Here is an excerpt of her comments to the class:
OK. I’m going to show your responses. We have 17 responses for “longing”, 26 for “sadness”, 1 “joy”… quite interesting. 2 for “self-confidence”, 3 for “love”, 11 for “tension”. 6 for “nostalgia”, 6 for “relaxation”, 8 for “war”, 1 for “learning”, 1 for “nationalistic”, 20 for “mourning”, 18 for “religious” and 22 for “solemn”. OK. It’s quite interesting, we have people who put “joy”. We have people putting “learning” and people here who put “nationalistic”.
[Pause]
Someone put “learning” here. Why? Who else put “nationalistic” here? I’m very curious. There’s no right or wrong answer in this but I just wanted to know like why you find that this song is “joyful”.
[Pause]
I’m not trying to force you to feel “sad”.
Basically, this song is a Christmas hymn. There is nothing wrong with placing it as joyful song because Christmas is a joyous occasion.
Analysis
As only 10 out of 36 students completed the Google form outside class time before the lesson, it suggests that not all students have shown that they were ready for the learning. There could be various reasons. For example, they might not have had access to the technology to provide their response or perhaps they might not be ready to try the particular homework whether or not technology was used. Nevertheless, seeing that there were only 10 responses, Si Liang gave the rest of the class time to fill in their responses during the lesson, which was completed quickly.
Even though the students needed additional time to complete the form, the Google form could consolidate the students’ responses almost immediately and allowed Si Liang to have an overview of her students’ thoughts on the music extracts. She was able to show these
responses to the class so they could reflect and make connections to the responses of their peers. Through the teacher’s questioning, the students’ perspectives could be stretched to consider alternative views. In this example, the teacher was able to use the Google form ubiquitously, harness it to support students’ learning and enable students to be ready for the next segment of her lesson.
Example 2: Readiness in Responding with App
Si Liang had asked her students to respond on Menti.com the following question, “How did the musical elements (e.g. rhythm, melody, speed) affect your perception for the music’s emotion and function?”
Here is an excerpt of her comments to the class:
So now I’m going to take a look at your Menti responses. Some of you, you didn’t answer. You know who you are. I don’t have enough responses here.
[Si Liang pulls up the Mentimeter responses on the screen and reads them aloud]
OK, I have people who say, “The slower the music, the more relaxing” and “The melody helps us to understand...” I am going to give you some time to respond. I only have 18 responses here. The person who said, “Changed my mood,” I hope you can be more descriptive in justifying.
Si Liang was able to immediately address the class on how their responses could be more descriptive and specific.
“The rhythm of the music causes tension which makes me feel uncomfortable.” OK, I think they are referring to song clip 2. So in future, when we have this listening activity, I hope you can refer to it and write down clip 2 or clip 1 so at least I know what clip you are referring to. That will be better.
[Reading another response]
“If the speed is slow, it shows that the song is more of a sad and solemn kind of song. But if the speed is fast, it shows that the song is of a more lively song.”
[Reading a few more responses]
OK, I get the point that there are a few multiple entries about how songs, the faster the speed, the more joyful the music. Is that true?
OK, I want you guys to discuss in your groups ‘cos I will see you again tomorrow. So your homework is as such… Have you heard of any fast music that is sad? I want you to contribute in your groups. Have you heard of any slow-moving music that has tension? You’re allowed to use your mobile phones for research but my time is up. So I’ll see you next lesson.
Si Liang was able to draw on the students’ responses to set their next task.
Analysis
In this task, only 18 out of 36 students answered her questions on menti.com prior to the lesson and she gave them some time to respond during her lesson. Similar to the earlier task of using the Google form, it can be seen that all not students are ready with their responses before the lesson.
However, when students were given time to provide all their Menti responses, Si Liang was able to gather that students generally perceived fast music to be happy and slow music to be sad. This was an opportunity for her to use the information gathered from the students themselves to start the discussion for the next lesson and to help debunk this stereotype. In this way, she was also setting up an environment that values students’ voice and making the learning relevant and meaningful to the students.
The immediacy of the consolidation allowed the teacher to clarify the students’ responses in real time, thereby allowing each one to learn from the responses of the rest. Once again, the teacher was able to use the Internet tool ubiquitously, harness it to support students’ learning and enable students to be ready for the next segment of her lesson.
Example 3: Readiness in Using Video Guides for Self-help
In Shaun’s class, the students had been given video guides that serve as resources for self-directed learning in acquiring skills to navigate the DAW as they create their musical arrangements. However, Shaun realised, as he was guiding students, that some students copied the examples in the video without realising that there was a difference in the context, i.e. the video guides were for a different song altogether.
Analysis
The example showed that we might assume that students are able to view video guides to help themselves and to be able to
intuitively navigate technological tools such as the DAW. However, despite the video guides, as the teacher had found, students were not able to make sense of the video guide on their own and to make the leap of transferring the knowledge into their own tasks. They required the teacher’s scaffolding and personalised facilitation so that they could be successful in creating their arrangements.
[Read article on Investigating Students’ Decision-making Processes in Musical Arrangements on Digital Audio Workstations]
Example 4: Readiness in Accessing Online Resources
In catering to digital natives, Ronald created a blended learning programme that facilitated students’ learning. In one of the approaches, he leveraged a course in Coursera –Fundamentals of Music Theory to support his students’ acquisition of theoretical knowledge. The students could access the online course at their convenience outside of curriculum time. However, most of them stopped at the third topic out of five topics, and one student did not even complete the first topic. The discontinuation of participation in Coursera led Ronald to wonder how participation could be encouraged from students, and hence created other learning approaches to engage students in the blended-learning process which saw more success. He also found that although Coursera was known to be “pitched to everyone”, it was not so as his students found the topics to be “too dry”. Among other issues were log-in and password problems which his students encountered.
[Read article on Facilitating Musical Theoretical Understandings through Blended Learning]
In Samuel’s study, he found that while students saw the benefits of online collaborative tools, most of his students did not use them on their own. Hence, while we assume students to be more “IT savvy” than
their teachers, students might not be aware of how such tools could be used to help themselves. Therefore, teachers could have students learn to use such tools to facilitate their work.
[Read article on Critically Evaluating the Benefits of Deliberate Online Social Spaces on Students’ Learning]
Analysis
In the above example, we could see that readily available online resources are not always accessible to students in the sense that they are not customised to particular profiles of participants and hence might not be suited to our students. Even if students know of these online resources, they may not know how to use them in their work. It is a fallacy to assume all online learners are the same. Therefore, online learners, including our students, have varying levels of readiness in their access to these tools, and in their prior
knowledge and experiences to fully benefit from these resources.
In summary, it is not about whether our students are digital natives and therefore ready to use digital tools with excitement and ease. Rather it is more important that teachers have sufficient knowledge about their students, and the usefulness of the technological tools they intend to use and the ways to facilitate their students’ learning.
2. Technology used as a “substitution” for other more traditional forms is not necessarily less innovative
The SAMR model created by Dr Ruben Puentedura, was designed to help educators design, develop and infuse digital learning experiences that utilise technology. SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition (see Fig 1). SUBSTITUTION
Using technology as a direct replacement for more traditional forms
Examples:
• Using Powerpoint instead of transparencies to present information
• Using web-based information instead of a hard-copy document
Using technology as a direct substitution with significant functional improvement
Examples:
• Students take a quiz using Google Forms instead of pencil and paper that allows for immediate feedback
• Embedding media into a presentation to better engage students
Using technology to redesign tasks
Examples:
• Using Audacity to change the pitch or tempo of the music so students can play along
• Using Google Docs for a collaborative songwriting task so students can continue to share ideas for a songwriting task online, beyond the confines of the classroom
Using technology to perform tasks that are impossible without technology
Examples:
• Creating a music arrangement using a DAW or even collaboratively using an online DAW, hence redefining the music arrangement process
Fig 1: Examples of the SAMR model
It is common to assume that more effective technology use happens in the two stages of Modification and Redefinition, however, a simple Substitution or Augmentation might suffice to engage learning depending on the task. Not all technology-based lessons need to reach the stages of Modification and Redefinition for effective teaching and learning to take place.
Example 1: Substitution and Augmentation of Chord Charts on a Website
Si Liang, together with another music teacher in the school, had created a website for the jam band module in her curriculum. In this website, one would find chord charts for keyboard and guitar, and instructions about the song cover task. She informed the class:
Analysis
The song list could have been easily printed on hard copy. Similarly, the chords and lyrics of the songs could also have been printed and given to students. Instead, Substitution and Augmentation had taken place, where a web-based version is provided. More than an informative website, it is easily accessible anywhere and at any time via their mobile phones, thereby encouraging self-directed learning.
1. The website avoids the case of students losing or forgetting to bring their hard-copy chord charts for lessons.
2. During lesson time, the teacher can focus on ensemble-based issues rather than having to teach students how to read chord charts and how to play their instrument.
OK, look here. After you key in the tinyurl, what you need to go to is click on “assessment”, it will bring you to this nice song list over here. Now I have carefully selected these groups of songs here. If you click the song list, the chords will come up as well. And I carefully selected the songs to have Em, C G and D chords which is something we have been working with. So I strategically chose these songs for you guys… I simplified for you guys already. The rest is up to you. So… 2 minutes to decide your song.
3. Students can easily refer to the website when they practise with their friends in and outside of class.
Example 2: Substitution of Hard Copy Reflection with Padlet
Si Liang, over the weeks, asked students to put in their responses on a Padlet6. She would go through these responses weekly to address any issues the students faced. More importantly, the students would be able to view the responses over the weeks to see their progress and also to recap what they had covered in the past weeks.
In one of the lessons, Si Liang made reference to the students’ Padlet reflections and recapped the areas that were covered over the past 4 weeks which include texture and how layers can affect the mood of a song. She addressed the class on the next page:
6 Padlet is an application to create an online bulletin board to display information about any topic. More information can be found on https://padlet.com
And now if you look at your part of your assessment, you have to ensure that there is a variety of instruments used in your jam band covers. So we are not looking at you just replicating the entire song. But we are looking at you creatively using these instruments.
Alright, today’s objectives. Very simple, OK. You are going to create a checklist and we are all going to be involved in that. OK, what does a checklist do? To keep track of your... personal progress, right?
Analysis
The Padlet served as a substitution for a hard-copy reflection form. Hard-copy reflections are typically limited to the group itself. Placed on such an online platform, however, and reviewed by the teacher at each lesson, it allowed the students to also have an idea of what other groups had completed each week. Augmentation had occurred as the students could hear what their peers had learnt or the difficulties they faced and made connections to their own journey of creating a song cover.
The task was augmented when the students referred to their reflections and what they had covered each week to create their checklist.
Logistically, the Padlet reduced the paperwork required of the teacher as it automatically files each reflection according to the weeks. It aids the teacher in tracking her students’ progress and also enables her to address any issues raised by the students.
In all, not all tasks that involve the use of technology need to reach the stages of Modification and Redefinition. Online platforms that serve as substitutions for the hard copy can be augmented to encourage students to be more self-directed and help the teacher track her students’ progress more easily.
Example 3: Substitution and Augmentation with animated score
In the context of teaching ‘O’ Level music, Ronald substituted and augmented the use of traditional staff notation with an animated score to facilitate students to identify patterns in the music. In the session, Ronald played selected passages with the animated score, and pointed to the shape and colours of the lines to discuss concepts such as sequence, contrary motion and pedal point.
Click or scan QR code to view a short excerpt on summarising music analysis using an animated score
Analysis
In this example, the use of an animated score was a substitution and augmentation of the traditional staff notation. It served to
facilitate the visual and aural identification of patterns which in turn facilitated the analysis of the work. As traditional scores tended to be depend upon for the analysis of music such as Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto, it can therefore be argued that the use of the animated score is innovative. It gave greater access to the music with the visual and aural cues, and was thus used to engage students and facilitate their musical understandings.
There are many approaches to using technology in a music classroom and it need not be limited to using a DAW or a specially curated online course. As technological tools can come in many different forms with each serving different purposes, a substitution could be all that is needed in certain contexts to engage and enable our students to learn.
Example 4: Substitution and Augmentation with Google Docs
In the context of facilitating songwriting among lower secondary students, Samuel provided an online learning space such as Google Docs where students could record their lyrics and ideas. Google Docs was used to substitute the conventional worksheet where other classes without the online spaces would work on.
[Read article on Critically Evaluating the Benefits of Deliberate Online Social Spaces on Students’ Learning]
Analysis
Samuel found that students, given the access to Google Docs, were more
supported in the process of songwriting, and as a consequence, enjoyed their music lessons more and were able to produce songs of higher quality. Students, on their own, had not considered the use of Google Docs to facilitate their work. Samuel’s introduction of Google Docs, although only as a substitution to worksheets, has thus given students greater access to their work in and outside of music lessons, and was able to engage and enable students’ learning.
3. Technology does not necessarily limit repertoire to modern pop music
Music production methods have evolved tremendously and it would be difficult to find a piece of recorded music produced today that did not involve any element of technological tools. In fact, computer software and digital audio workstations (DAWs) have become so prevalent that virtually all modern pop repertoire would have been produced with DAWs. Because of the electronic and digital nature of music making today, it is easy to conflate the use of technology with modern pop music but technology could be used independently of musical styles (as already seen in a previous example), and that music learning is not focused on the production methods and technical aspects.
Example 1: Use with Classical Number
In one of the lessons that was focusing on moods in music, Si Liang introduced the song I Feel Pretty from West Side Story as well as a cover version by Glee. The focus of the lesson was on the lyrics and the visuals rather than the production methods.
SI LIANG
We’re going to look at I Feel Pretty. OK, I’m going to look at your responses. You want to listen to the song again? OK. [Teacher plays the song I Feel Pretty from West Side Story]
[Students laughing]
OK, think about why you are laughing. Is it something in the lyrics… What kind of situations can you think of this song being used?
BRAD Olden times… When you watch Mary Poppins.
SI LIANG
When you watch Mary Poppins. OK, good. What else?
This song is actually from a Broadway musical West Side Story, composed by this guy called Leonard Bernstein.
This song is in an act whereby this girl is about to meet a guy. First date. And she’s with her group of girls. And this group of girls are very excited… so she (female lead) started singing about how excited she felt.
We are going to watch a video. I want you to see what is the difference from this to the earlier version of I Feel Pretty. [Si Liang plays Glee’s version of I Feel Pretty]
So while you’re watching this, look at how the music fits into the mood. [Students are fully engaged in watching the video]
[Referring to the video] What is she about to undergo?
DAWN Surgery.
SI LIANG What sort of surgery?
DAWN Plastic surgery.
SI LIANG I’m going to pause here. You heard I Feel Pretty being used here. What is the mood in general for this music?
KAREN A bit sad.
SI LIANG Why is it sad? Why did she use I Feel Pretty for this song [Glee’s version]? Sanvi, why do you think they used I Feel Pretty in this music? What’s the theme about? What’s she about to undergo?
SANVI Plastic surgery.
SI LIANG And the basis of using plastic surgery is?
SANVI To get pretty.
SI LIANG Correct. But did she feel very pretty when she is doing plastic surgery?
SANVI No.
SI LIANG No… so in this way, there are some composers out there or some artists out there… what they do is they use old songs like what Glee does… OK, this word starts with an “I”.
LEONARD Irrelevant.
SI LIANG [Class laughter] No. Iro…
ROY Ironic.
SI LIANG Yah, uses irony. [Class claps]
Correct correct. Well done, Roy.
So they were using some form of irony behind the lyrics. And other than that, they also changed the instrumentation altogether... to show that contrast and the change in mood.
Analysis
There is a general concern about keeping the engagement of this current generation of students when introducing songs that are not of the popular genre. One way to go about introducing classics is through song covers or mash-ups. Initially, the students were giggling and laughing at the original version but they were engaged when they heard the version by Glee.
In this way, Si Liang not only managed to introduce students to a classic musical number, her students learnt how the music supported the visuals to portray the intended mood. Indirectly, through her questioning, they were being prepared to think about how the instrumentation, the style and the tempo of the music could affect the mood of the music.
Example 2: Use with Soundscapes
From the earlier example, Si Liang had prepared the students’ ears to understand that instrumentation and tempo can affect the mood of a piece of music. She had the students use classroom instruments and found items to create a soundscape to a silent short clip, entitled Run.
The video has a horror theme, about the protagonist jogging in a remote forest when he felt he was being followed. Si Liang guided the students through a process of reviewing their first attempted soundscape they had created in the previous lesson and understanding the many different layers in creating a soundscape.
In the following example, the students begin to realise how they can be creative to produce new sounds.
SI LIANG I want you to see (and hear) how the music director or how the people who created this soundscape, how they used some forms of soundtracks, music to create the mood of horror.
Si Liang plays the clip with the original soundtrack. [Girl who is seated nearest to the speaker gasps at the point when the protagonist was abducted]
OK, what sounds can you hear from this soundscape?
HUGO Sounds of leaves.
SI LIANG OK, how did the leaves make sound? The leaves will make sounds on their own?
HUGO Because they are stepping on the leaves.
SI LIANG Because they are stepping on the leaves, thank you. So the sound of leaves being stepped on. Now there is an art for this… there’s this whole bunch of artists out there, they are called Foley artists.
MARIE They make sound effect.
SI LIANG Good, so that’s where the soundscapes come from. But do they use like original instruments or original materials?
GROUP RESPONSE No.
SI LIANG No right, sometimes they find alternatives. You cannot kidnap a seagull to flap the seagulls’ wings, right?
So how do you make seagull wing sounds? [One student starts clapping]
SI LIANG OK, good. Fair enough. [Class starts laughing] So we think back about how we did our soundscapes. What sounds do we have other than the sound of leaves? Leaves being stepped on. What else?
1 Leaves being stepped on
2 Breathing / Panting
3 Keys in pocket / accessories
4 The chasing jogger
5 The other jogger passing by
Si Liang continued to probe the students to think of what other sounds could be added to their soundscape and constructed them a timeline as an example (see Fig. 2), assigning groups to explore and play each of the sounds according to the video. Students had to creatively explore with classroom instruments/found sounds.
Click or scan QR code to watch students’ 2nd attempt at creating a soundscape
Si Liang reviewed the 2nd attempt with the students and highlighted that there was one other factor that could be added for greater dramatic effect. The students listened to the original accompanying track to the film and identified that a low-pitched drum and wind sounds could be added to bring out the horror element.
Students to explore on their own
The design of the task was very engaging as could be seen in the students’ participation. With guidance from the teacher, there was visible improvement from the first to the third attempt, and the students were able to hone in on specific sounds they should be listening out for. Her examples and prompting also helped them to explore beyond their typical knowledge of instrument sounds and what they could create. GROUP SOUNDS
Click or scan QR code to watch students’ 3rd attempt at creating a soundscape
Analysis
In the example, Si Liang drew students’ attention to sounds around them and sounds from the environment instead of using popular music in the technology-mediated lesson.
Fig 2: Timeline of soundscape
The students were thoughtful in their composition and entirely engaged. They understood that there were many different layers and how the manipulation of each element could affect the mood.
In all, videos are also a form of technology that has become so ubiquitous. As seen in the two examples, one need not use DAWs and focus on pop music production. A good curation of videos (and music) can enable an understanding of the relationship between mood, instrumentation, style and tempo.
CONCLUSION
To enable active learning with technology requires us to relook at the assumptions we make about using technology in the classroom. Simply using technological tools alone would not engage digital natives. Rather, it is how the teacher designs authentic tasks such that technology is surreptitiously used, to encourage self-directed learning, attentive listening and reflection. Online platforms and common forms of technology could also be explored to provide experiential learning both within and beyond the classroom. After all, as seen in the examples, technology used meaningfully and innovatively certainly increased student engagement and provided other ways for students to articulate and reinforce their musical understandings.
REFERENCES
Bennett, S., Maton, K. A., & Kervin L. (2008). The ‘digital natives’ debate: a critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775-786.
ECDL Foundation (2014). The fallacy of the ‘Digital Native’: Why young people need to develop their digital skills. Retrieved February 19, 2019 from http://ecdl.org/media/Thefallacyofthe'digitalnative'positionpaper1.pdf
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. In On the Horizon, October 2001, 9(5). Lincoln: MCB University Press.
Robertson, I. (2007). Technology-based learning: Problematising VET students’ preferences and readiness. Refereed paper Presented at 2008 AVETRA Conference, 11-13 April 2007, Victoria University. Retrieved December 20, 2018 from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.557.4760&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Puentedura, R. (2014a). Building transformation: An introduction to the SAMR model {Blogpost}. Retrieved February 7, 2019 from http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/2014/08/22/BuildingTransformation_ AnIntroductionToSAMR.pdf
This section summarises the key learning and implications from the various articles about music learning, pedagogy, learning ecologies as well as the role of teachers in enabling their students’ musical engagement and development.
Conclusion
ABOUT LEARNING
• Students’ musical decision processes are personal. Varied technical and musical issues are at play even with highly scaffolded arrangement tasks. Hence, students experience every task differently.
• Although students are digital natives, their readiness to use technology may be limited to content consumption and they are not necessarily ready to use digital tools for learning. For example, they do not naturally use online collaborative tools on their own to help themselves in their work.
ABOUT PEDAGOGY
• Technology affords the use of authentic music-making tasks such as songwriting and music arrangement in the classrooms, which is where the greatest music learning takes place, and during their one-to-one interactions with the teacher. Students are more ready to learn when they encounter issues as they work.
• Teachers can give students time for exploration and play with the use of digital technology as these form the basis of music experiences for students to later make informed musical decisions in their work.
• Enriching students’ musical diet through active listening experiences can help students make more informed musical decisions. Active listening experiences can take the form of attentive listening (focusing on musical aspects), engaged listening (playing along or performing certain parts with the music) and enactive listening (reproducing the performance through listening).
• Students can be supported and be made more familiar with the processes of editing as part of music making with digital technology so that they are empowered to refine their work rather than simply deleting their work and starting again.
• Small-group instruction caters for differences in student learning needs better than whole-class instruction, and this is where positive and constructive teacher-student interactions become critical to student learning.
• In technology-based music lessons, teachers can integrate musical and technical concepts as one informs the other. For example, musical concepts can be explained through the technical aspects of the software and technological concepts can be explained through musical ones. Such an integration can contribute to providing richer and authentic experiences. Students can then be enabled to make musical decisions because their understandings of musical and technological concepts are developed.
ABOUT LEARNING ECOLOGIES
• While there are various resources and information made available with digital technology, the question is about user access in terms of the suitability of content, timeliness, potential to engage our profile of students, and their usability and availability. This has implications on facilitating learning in and outside of music lessons.
• Resources such as video guides should not be used as a crutch, but rather as a starting point for students’ creative work.
• In designing for online support, creative tasks seem to be what engages students more than content-based music lessons. Hence, online support can be designed as creative playgrounds for students.
Students can then be facilitated to develop musical understandings from the experiences they embark on.
• Time and space are still necessary components in the learning process so that students can “digest” their learning and achieve greater clarity as a result. More content and more information do not always reap better results in terms of learning. Hence, there may be a need to consider decluttering our music curriculum plan.
• Developing supportive learning ecologies (e.g. resources, processes, spaces, relationships) can be integral to students’ success as they embark on more challenging processes of music making.
ABOUT THE ROLE OF MUSIC TEACHERS
• While there are pressures to engage with technology in this age of digital technology, teachers need not be frazzled by technological complexities or feel they need to keep up with the latest technological trends in order to use technology effectively. What is key is that teachers remain open to learning and using digital tools so they can begin to see the potential of technology to impact our students’ learning and widen their musical experiences. Using technology in simple ways can be just as powerful and innovative. Teachers can work on their strengths that will bring out in students, the desired dispositions to learn.
• The key priorities of a teacher, even when delivering technology-based music lessons, are to continue to build on positive relationships with students and positive learning environments as the teacher engages with classroom
musicking. The teacher will continually have to work with students’ pride and emotions, motivate them and elucidate concepts at points when students are ready to learn. Hence, the teacher plays a critical role and needs to be flexible in catering for differences.
• And while technological tools have made music making accessible, there is still a need for teachers to plan to address musical concepts and make the unconscious aspects of learning conscious.
• As music teachers, we will continue to negotiate our teacher identities in the context of learning and teaching in an environment enabled by digital technologies, and grow the musical identities of our students. Hence, we can and shall continue to focus on what develops a musical child, without being too distracted by technological issues.
Finally, the articles in this publication are intended to empower music teachers. Various images of practices have been described. It is now up to the music teacher to decide on pathways, practices and resources that will best enable themselves and our students’ musical engagement and development.
