Module 3: Creating Music with Technology, Composition

This week we focused on creating music, and the ways in which MIDI and digital audio fit into this process. The readings out of “Music Learning Today,” gave us basic information about analog and digital audio recordings as well as a deeper understanding into how to best facilitate the learning of composition and improvisation. We explored these ideas by learning how to use the DAW, or Digital Audio Workstation, Soundtrap, and composing an original song which combined loops, MIDI and digital audio.

The fact that 80% of students do not participate in secondary music education is a crisis for music educators. Music education has not remained as relevant as it should. Since 1994, the National Music Standards have included composition and improvisation as a part of what students should be understanding about music (Bauer, 2014). Within the traditional choral, band or orchestra classroom, these skills have not typically been included because of the push for performance-based curriculum. Teachers have struggled to include this aspect of the standards into their teaching, indicating lack of experience and comfort as the biggest deterrents (Bauer, 2014). Music technology can be helpful in addressing these standards, but again teachers struggle with inexperience and discomfort. After reading school profiles on the website Music Creativity it seems clear that it is possible to reach more of the 80% through music technology classes. Establishing a music technology course may come with equipment, staffing or budget constraints for some schools, but if these constraints can be overcome the benefits for the students will be great.

Composition and improvisation are complex processes that require time, preparation and persistence (Bauer, 2014). Bauer (2014) states that in order to facilitate the environment necessary for creativity educators can provide: 1) Creative opportunities, 2) Necessary resources, 3) Appropriate stimulation and 4) Sufficient time.

More specifically creativity in music can be supported by listening to music and developing aural skills, imitating musicians and their unique styles, analyzing music, and engaging with musicians who have more experience (Bauer, 2014). One of the most important skills within this list is that of audiation. The ability to think in sound is an essential skill for composing. It is also important to start at the level the students are at, not where you think they should be.

In order to connect curricular outcomes to pedagogies, and technology we must think back to Module 1 where we learned how to develop our Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge or TPACK. By knowing what we want our students to understanding along with the pedagogy for teaching that age group, we can utilize appropriate technology that will meet the national standards, develop creativity and further our students' knowledge of technology. Adapting our lessons and units to include all stages of the creative process will help our students understand that creativity itself is a learned process. The stages we must find time for are: 1) Preparation, 2) Incubation, 3) Illumination and 4) Verification.

I learned so much about MIDI and digital audio this week. The course on the website Lynda, called "Digital Audio Foundations", was a clear and well-designed video series packed full of interesting and informative content. While I have been aware of MIDI, I never really understood how it worked. MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface, creates a series of numbers that represent the soundwaves from the analog domain. This process, also known as sampling, is how computers interpret the MIDI instructions to create sound in the digital domain. The MIDI device itself does not produce any sound, unless it is combined with another instrument such as a synthesizer. Utilizing a DAW the creator can alter the MIDI sampling in almost any way imaginable, including pitch, rhythm, instrument sound, and tempo among many others. This week we experimented with this process using the DAW, Soundtrap. I have included my composition, Driftless, below. In this composition I combined loops with MIDI tracks recorded on my MIDI keyboard.

Driftless 
by Claire Thompson, using Soundtrap

What is the difference between MIDI and digital audio?

Reference:

Bauer, William I. (2014). Music Learning Today. New York. Oxford University Press.