VYOMA SHAH
Technology in
Music Education
Education technology is entering an
exciting space and the music education
industry been quick to jump on the
bandwagon.
While there is still a lot left to explore
and imbibe, below are some trends that
can go a long way in revolutionizing
classroom experiences:
VR and AR
Augmented and virtual reality can truly
inject life into a potentially drab lesson.
Google Expeditions, a free application
on iOS and Google Play can be employed
as a powerful teaching tool. It has a
plethora of music related VR tours and
AR possibilities. Remember how dreary
history lessons can be? Well, through
VR, students can learn about the history
of jazz by walking around in New
Orleans, no matter where in the world
they might be. Through AR, students
can learn about various medieval
instruments, jazz instruments and
the working mechanisms of different
musical instruments. Another example
is Teach U: VR, which offers students
a creative platform to play piano and
drums in VR. Using Google Cardboard,
students can play virtual instruments
and interact with others in the same
virtual space .
AI and Machine Learning
Machine Learning is helping students
practise more productively. Often,
students practise away from their
teacher’s supervision and hence
might end up practising incorrectly.
SmartMusic is one platform which
provides students instant feedback
as they practise . It signals students
when they miss a beat or play a wrong
note. Through this website, teachers
can create customized classrooms,
where they can generate sight reading
exercises, import or create music using
an in-built music notation tool and send
personalized assignments to students.
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Score Magazine
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Magenta, a research project initially
started by the Google research team has
set out to prove that machine learning
can be used to activate the dormant
creative potential in everyone. For
example, one aspect of it is the Magenta
Studio, a plug in for Ableton Live, which
lets students apply five tools, namely
Continue, Groove, Generate, Drumify
and Interpolate, to their MIDI files.
Music production teachers could utilize
this technology to stir up creativity
amongst their students and help them
explore the many different directions
that their compositions could take.
Blended Learning
This combination of classroom learning
and online learning has subsequently
created the flipped classroom –
where students watch pre-recorded
instructional videos and go through
handouts beforehand. Since students
do a fair amount of independent study
in this model of learning, teachers
can really focus on developing their
students’ critical thinking abilities and
on practical application of theoretical
concepts in the physical classroom.
Kannu, a learning management system
released by Kadenze, is making blended
learning possible in music and arts
education.
Learning Analytics
Learning Analytics, though still a
relatively new paradigm in education, is
gradually garnering the importance that
it deserves. As a burgeoning number
of students begin to engage with online
learning applications, the expanse
of digital traces they leave behind is
prodigious. Collecting and analyzing
this data can really help understand
how students learn, how they engage
with the content of the courses being
delivered, the rate of their progress,
reasons for underperformance,
frequency of practise and many
other such essential criteria. This
information can help to develop and
tailor curriculums and programs that
ensure better results, thus building a
culture of adaptive learning. There are
numerous tools out there such as Yet
Analytics, Wooclap, Knewton etc., that
organizations can integrate in their long
term education strategies.
Technology has taken the education
industry by storm. As educators, we
can either sit and brood about how
computers might someday supplant
us humans or instead, put our minds
to how we can better reap the benefits
of this technological boom and deliver
cutting-edge educational experiences –
the choice is ours!