Sunday, November 17, 2013
Ipad in the rehearsal room
As I was wakling through the apple store I was checking out the Ipad. I was never really into tablets but seeing how the younger generation (elementary and middle) seem to be very much attached to this device I felt that I should find out more about it. Much like the iphone or droid there are millions of apps that go from sports to nature and everything in between. After realizing how limitless the app world was I started thinking. How could this device that student love so much be apart of the classroom, particularly the music classroom. Well there are tons of music apps that are geared toward the advancement of music eduction. In fact I feel that the average teacher today is unaware of the number of apps the are music related. One basic app would be a tuning app called "DA Tuner". Intonation (playing in tune) is by far the hardest skill to teach students, in fact you can ask the MSU music students who don't play piano about intonation. They will tell you a plenty of stories about their struggles trying to play in tune. Well lets say for every two student in a band or orchestra there is one ipad on the stand. Using the tuner app while rehearsing a piece, they can check to see if they are playing in tune. This digital reference would be a tool that would aid the student and the teacher. Lets say a student knows that G sharp and E flat are notes that they never in tune. The tuner app would tell them wether they are sharp or flat on those notes. Now when the student comes to the teacher they know what note gives them problems and what the problem is. That cuts out the time it would take for a teacher to figure out what the notes are then hear whether they are sharp or flat. The teacher would only have to give a some feedback and a bit of help to fix the problem. Student get the exact diagnosis and teachers and prescribe the solution. This is a really small example of the ipad in the classroom but as I find more apps and what they do I'm sure more ideas will surface. I would encourage all music teachers to explore the musical side of the app world and see if there are some the one could use in classroom to keep student focused and interested.
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Using an iPad in the classroom is a wonderful idea. Students have really taken a liking to the iPad, along with teachers. At my high school in New Providence, last year they began using iPads in the classroom and every student had one as well. I do not believe my band director took a liking to this however. I do believe in many subjects, using an iPad is a good device, however in a subject such a music, learning relies heavily on physically playing the instrument. On aspects like tuning and intonation, I can understand using the iPad, however a much more affordable way to see if you are in tune is to purchase a tuner..haha
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate the idea of having an i pad for every students but there is value in just giving students that A 440 nd them tuning for themselves. I know It is a great skill to have for any string player because if per chance a string gets out of tune during a performance the performer, if possible without interrupting the piece too much, tune while performing. I know I have done this a few time and it just worries me that someone would have to either stop i the middle of a song or just ride that bad pitch out. Though you are definitely right the amounts of different musical apps is vast and incredibly useful for any music educator.
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