Module 2: Creating Music with Technology

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“Creativity takes place over time, and most of the creativity occurs while doing the work” (Sawyer, 2012). Creativity is a process, not simply a stroke of genius. There are many different models outlining the creative process. Sawyer (2012) listed eight stages to the process: Finding the problem, Acquiring the knowledge, Gathering related material, Incubating, Generating ideas, Combing ideas, Selecting the best ideas, and Externalizing the ideas. Creativity is at the top of Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive complexity. So many pieces need to be in place within the domain of music before the creativity associated with improvisation and composition can be developed. That is not to say that teachers and students can not work on skills associated with improvisation and composition, but the ultimate goal of Kratus’s model may not be achieved during the school years. The final level on the model is Personal Improvisation and involves a musician developing their own unique form of improvisation over time. 

In the classroom teachers can help move students forward on the Kratus model by developing the aural skills, musical knowledge and skills, performance skills and risk-taking skills necessary to become a skilled improviser (Bauer, 2014). These skills make up a solid base of knowledge and will transfer to all aspects of the student’s musical life.

As we explored musical software programs this week, I was drawn to the idea that these programs may give students the creative freedom to express musical ideas they have not been able to demonstrate. The students at my school have had a very fractured musical education and my older students lack the musical skills to demonstrate their musical thoughts. The idea of offering a program where they can be creative without all the background knowledge is exciting. I also think it may work backwards. Through working on programs like GarageBand, SoundTrap, MuseScore and others, they can continue to acquire the musical knowledge they have missed over the years. In many ways this may work in their favor. The idea of discovery is often linked to better understanding and by working on their own or in small groups, they would be discovering all the musical elements and skills in order to complete their musical scores.

In the same way that composition is possible within these programs, so is improvisation. Singing or playing over a given set of chords or harmonies gives students a chance to practice, improvise, make mistakes and develop their own musicality within a safe environment. Once these initial skills are acquired, the students can move forward to creating their own tracks to improvise along with. Through this process they will gain new understanding for musical patterns that work well and those that do not sit well with the ear.

While technology is a wonderful tool to develop aural and improvisational skills, it is not the only way. Music is social and while technology is consistent, it does not allow for the true freedom that live performance can. This does not mean that the performance can not involve technology. There are a number of new ensembles utilizing smartphones, IPads and other devices to create the music in a live setting (Bauer, 2014). In this instance technology is combined with the social aspect of music-making.
Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble
Many musical software devices utilize MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface. Instead of using sound or audio moving through the device, MIDI devices send data that produces the sound. Through MIDI devices, sounds can be recorded and manipulated through commands. The sounds can be overlapped, edited, transposed, cut and pasted just as you can on word processing programs. MIDI files are also small since they are data and not sound. This makes it possible, and easy, to share, download and use without overwhelming or crowding hard drive space.

Musical software programs can be a wonderful addition to the music classroom. They have the potential to aid in the development of aural and musical skills as well as allow students freedom to develop their improvisation and composition skills in and out of the classroom. With technologies such as MIDI, music can easily be shared and utilized by students and teachers to make music learning and musical creativity more attainable.
Charles Limb: Your Brain on Improv TED Talk


 References:
Bauer, William I. (2014). Music Learning Today. New York. Oxford University Press.
Sawyer, R. K. (2012). Explaining creativity: The science of human innovation. Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press, Inc.

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