Week 4 Readings - "Sibelius/Creative Thinking/Notation Software/Vermont MIDI Project"

Most accurately stated in chapter 8 of Creative Thinking and Music Technology, "it has never been a more exciting time to be a music educator". Why is this, do you ask? Newer views of music intelligence tied to critical thinking enhanced by technology has resulted in the support of a constructionist philosophy, or the use of creativity to motivate learning. Because the significance of music in curriculum is constantly a struggle to justify to administrations, such developments look extremely promising for the world of music education and future educators.

A perfect example of this type of hands-on creative exploratory learning that allows students to 'dive right in' is the Vermont MIDI Project, "an Internet-based mentoring program that guides, encourages, and supports students in grades 2 through 12 who are learning to compose and arrange music." The project currently allows thousands of students in Vermont to to share their work with professional composers, teachers, and other students, regardless of location, helping students express themselves through music while fulfilling multiple MENC standards - how cool is that? How many more students would discover a passion of composition and music creativity if this was available to all students?

The VMP has also established multiple summer workshops for educators, where they learned to compose and arrange music and use notation and sequencing software. Each participating teacher and mentor received a copy of Sibelius software, and in no time, students and teachers were producing performance-quality scores and having them performed by professional musicians! I can't even imagine how fulfilling it would be to have my own composition performed by a professional musician - especially as a middle school student! (most of us were still too preoccupied trying to find the perfect outfit for the 7th-grade dance that detracted from the braces and questionable complexions to think about composing!)

Interestingly enough, it is clear that the Vermont MIDI Project could not exist without the help of current technology. Before computers, composition was a painstaking, laborious, and complex process resulting in many broken pencils and crumpled-up pieces of staff paper. Today, music notation software makes it possible for students at any level to more easily record
their musical inspirations and hear their pieces played in a variety of settings and styles.
Students can experiment with sound without really knowing anything about music theory or composition and just explore their creative side. Also, the Internet makes it possible for students to share musical ideas and benefit from the wisdom and expertise of music professionals all over.

Speaking of music notation software, Sibelius, one of the most popular professional notation programs, promises to be a "huge supporter of music education and provid[es] a host of materials for teachers and students". With Sibelius, teachers can print out scores and parts, prepare practice and assessment exercises and worksheets, and post files on educational Web sites, while students benefit by having the ability to compose and print out original compositions and arrangements, completing teacher-prepared worksheets, and have assisted practice sessions with recorded accompaniment. Sibelius also has the capability to add note names and fingerings, highlights and colors notes on scores, simplify or re-orchestrate parts for students, transpose music, create various rhythm parts, ensemble music, reduced piano parts, worksheets, and readiness exercises, burn practice CD's for students, and can even assist with writing your own method book. Teachers can also use scorch to post student compositions and files on school web sites that does not require the purchase of any software.

Overall, the gist of these four articles is quite simple: in order to get students to think creatively and thus become better music students, we must teach creatively. (For every action...) One of the greatest methods of creative teaching is through the use of technology, and with the aid of advanced music notation software and all of it's uses and rich features at our fingertips, there is no telling what we can't do to facilitate learning and most importantly, make it more enjoyable and valuable for students.