Abstract
Coming up with a capstone was fairly easily. It was practically handed right to me. My friend Nebil told me that Zack was planning to do a house band" for his capstone. I saw this as the perfect oppurtunity - I would work with his band to get a few songs recorded and published onto CD for my capstone! Zack assented, so we began!
Over the course of the year, me and Zack's band, which, in the end, included Nebil Ibrahim (senior, bass), Kia DaSilva (junior, piano + vocals), and Adnan (senior, guitar; used to go to SLA), worked together to practice three songs to being able to record them. It really helped to have a stepfather, Ted, who runs his own recording studio, that could be my mentor and give me a space to use.
Once we had the songs down, we spent two evenings at Ted's recording studio recording the songs. He guided us through the recording process, leaving me with studio quality tracks for me to mix. Then, through May, I mixed the three songs, using tips from Ted and the band and guides I found online to help me get a good end result. I then used Kunaki to publish the album to CD. But the process is ongoing! We are planning to tag along to the end of the Music Club concert and sell CDs! All of the profits from the CDs are going to SLA to help them get new equipment for the music room.
Annotated Bibliography
Audio Animals Ltd. "How To Pan Live Drums Tutorial." Audio Animals. Audio Animals Ltd., 5 Apr. 2014. Web.
While this source isn’t the most polished and professional looking visually, the content is what counts. The graphics in the tutorial were immensely helpful, as they gave me a starting point for panning the drums in the songs, which helped them sound much more realistic and less cramped. I referenced it constantly when mixing the drums in the tracks.
This source is quite credible, as it was written by a group that runs not only the website it was posted on, but also a mixing and mastering house, recording studio, and record label. That shows how much experience with the subject the writers had when writing the tutorial.
"Mixing Top and Bottom Snare." /r/AudioEngineering. Reddit, 10 Apr. 2015. Web.
This source is a conglomeration of answers to a user’s question about mixing snare drums that have been recorded in two tracks: a top snare and a bottom snare. This is how the snare was recorded for our songs as well, and I was unsure what to do with them, so this helped a lot. There were a lot of ideas expressed in the responses, which gave me some ideas of my own. I ended up muting the bottom snare on all of the tracks, as it sounded better without it, but without the response by “aderra”, I would never have thought of just doing that.
This source is probably the least credible of all of my sources, as it is an open forum, but it is still credible, as there are many responses by professionals in the industry with experience with this subject.
Bandcamp. "Bandcamp for Artists." Bandcamp. Bandcamp, n.d. Web.
This source explained how I could use Bandcamp to host the album digitally and allow people to listen to it and download it whenever they pleased. I decided to use the site after reading this, and it has been very easy to use because of it. It also provided general information on how payment works on the site.
It is written by the site about the site. It’s as credible as can be.
Benediktsson, Björgvin. "A Powerful ‘n’ Punchy Guide to Mixing Your Drums." Audio Issues. Audio Issues, n.d. Web.
This source helped me immensely with mixing my drums, as I wasn’t sure how to make them sound at all decent when I first began to mix the songs. The kick drum sounded dull, things were kinda all over the place, and it sounded like crap. This guide really helped me fix these issues; I now know how to make the kick and toms sound punchy, and how to use compressors when mixing drums. It also helped me mix everything else, as I wasn’t sure how to use compressors beforehand, but it described them well enough that I knew how to use them for the rest of the song.
This source is credible as the author writes these articles professionally for amateur producers in home studios; I am part of that demographic. The website has also been mentioned in a number of professional music publications, which lends it more credibility.
Benediktsson, Björgvin. "7 Advanced Guitar Mixing Techniques for an Amazing Guitar Production." Audio Issues. Audio Issues, n.d. Web.
This source helped me a lot with mixing the guitars, played by Adnan throughout the EP. I had a hard time with them sounding very harsh and clashing a lot with the piano and vocals. While panning helped this somewhat, there were still problems. This article gave me a few ideas for improving the guitar mixing; the EQing at 800hz was immensely helpful, as was EQing the reverb.
This source is the same as the one directly above: “This source is credible as the author writes these articles professionally for amateur producers in home studios; I am part of that demographic. The website has also been mentioned in a number of professional music publications, which lends it more credibility.”
Fredv. "EQ Tips Cheat Sheet." Cheatography. Added Bytes Magento Development, 15 Nov. 2011. Web.
This source was incredibly helpful and useful. I wasn’t sure where to start or how to EQ tracks before I read this source, but reading it really helped. I used it as a reference for much of my mixing, allowing me to have a better sounding mix than I would have otherwise. It also helped me solve problems I was having with some of the tracks.
This was a very credible source as the writer was an audio professional and music enthusiast. It was also commented on by many amateurs and professionals alike for how helpful and accurate it was. It’s been given a 5 star average rating based on 19 people’s ratings, which is also a sign of how credible a source it is.
Gugulethu. "Advice On Mixing Piano Sounds." TalkinMusic. TalkinMusic.com, n.d. Web.
This source helped me mix the pianos on the album. Much of the EP focused on the piano, so it was important to make it sound as good as possible. I was having problems making the piano sound realistic and not cheap, and this source allowed me to fix that problem. It goes in depth, which is helpful as well.
This source is quite credible as the author is an audio professional; he writes articles like this all the time as well. His site is used very often by home producers for tips as well. These facts lend to its credibility.
Kunaki. "Kunaki Distribution Capabilities." Kunaki. Kunaki, n.d. Web.
Kunaki is a music publishing service that allows you to sell CDs cheaply. I have read about this service before and this page on the site described how it works and convinced me to use it. CDs can be bought in bulk from the site, as well, which is the plan for selling physical CDs; we will buy a number of CDs and sell them at a higher price to generate profit for SLA to use.
This source is credible as it is written by the company about the company. How much more credible than that can you get?
PSW Staff. "Tech Tip Of The Day: Using EQ To Conquer Hum - Pro Sound Web." ProSoundWeb. ProSoundWeb.com, 29 Sept. 2010. Web.
I was having problems with some hum in the bass tracks, which was noticeable after compression and effects were added to the drums. It was a bit annoying, and I needed a way to at least quiet the hum down. This source helped with that, as it outlined the best ways to remove the hum from the track.
This source is credible as it was published on a website catered specifically to audio professionals and was written by audio professionals. It was also “provided by” (read: the website received money from) Sweetwater, a professional audio company that is very well respected.
White, Paul. "Improving Your Stereo Mixing." Sound On Sound. SOS Publications Group, Oct. 2000. Web.
This source is about panning and using stereo to your advantage when mixing tracks. This helped me mix the album and pan more than just the drums well. I used panning very often on the album because of this, allowing me to separate sounds that would clash otherwise. It also makes the track sound wider and more realistic.
This source is very, very credible. It was originally published in Sound On Sound magazine in October 2000. Sound On Sound is a professional audio magazine that has been around for many years and is followed by many professionals. It is highly touted within the music production industry for its in depth articles.
Le fabuleux destin de Lucentio
Comparing Amélie and Taming of the Shrew
There has always been a debate whether love at first sight is real or not. Some see it as logically impossible and completely ridiculous, while others say they’ve even felt it themselves. However, there’s no objective way to know if it’s real or not. Because of that, fiction has always been a base for talking about love at first sight, and both Amélie and Taming of the Shrew show that.
Amélie Poulain, a woman living in France, has lived alone her whole life, and is looking for love. She falls in love with a man named Nino who spends his free time collecting discarded photo booth photos. Amélie later finds his briefcase, which he has left behind, and goes on a journey to find him and return the briefcase. It’s very different, but there are parallels with Taming of the Shrew. Amélie is a lot like Lucentio. She falls in love at first sight, much like Lucentio falls in love with Bianca, and they both spend the majority of their respective works trying to find who they love and win their heart. In addition, in the end, they both end up together with who they love. However, in Taming of the Shrew, this is shown as a bad thing- Lucentio is unable to summon Bianca during a bet, while Petruchio, who manipulates Kate, is able to. Therefore, while Amélie enthusiastically supports love at first sight, Taming of the Shrew refutes it as worthless and meaningless.
“Happily I have arrivèd at the last, unto the wishèd haven of my bliss.”
(Act V, Scene vii, 108-109)
“Sir, my mistress sends you word, that she is busy, and she cannot come.”
(Act V, Scene ii, 86-87)
At the end of Taming of the Shrew, the characters Petruchio, Hortensio, and Lucentio place a bet on whose wife is more obedient. They each call their wives and wait to see who will come. Lucentio, whose love was “at first sight”, cannot make his wife, Bianca, come, as she is busy. Petruchio, who “trained” his wife with cruelty, gets his wife, Kate, to come. It makes a point- Petruchio’s marriage, which is based on training Kate to be a good wife, is worthwhile, while Lucentio’s, which is more organic, is not.
This is the opposite of what Amélie shows.
In Amélie, the main character, Amélie, falls in love at first sight with Nino. She’s shy, and he’s shy, so they don’t really talk much. However, she finds his lost photo album, and she eventually works up the courage to look for him and find him. This is similar to Lucentio, who also falls for someone and goes on a journey to find them.
“If you let this opportunity slip away, then, as time goes by, it's your heart that will become as dry and fragile as my bones.”
Amélie is shy, but her friend, the old painter M. Dufayel, tells her to find Nino. Dufayel is portrayed as the “wise old man”, which is meant to make the viewer believe and trust him. This, combined with the end of the film, where Amélie finds Nino, returns his briefcase, finds out he also loves her, and they live “happily ever after”, contribute to the air of “love at first sight is worthwhile” around the film. This is in contrast to Taming of the Shrew.
In the end of Taming of the Shrew, Lucentio and Bianca are married and in love, but the play makes a point by having Bianca disobey Lucentio when he summons her during the bet. This is, to our best knowledge, meant to show that love at first sight can lead to a bad marriage. While they are not shown to be unhappy together, it shows that love at first sight does not magically tame wives, and is therefore worthless. Which is right? That’s your decision to make.
Works Cited
Amélie. Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Perf. Audrey Tautou. UGC-Fox Distribution, 2001. Digital.
Shakespeare, William. Folger Shakespeare Library: The Taming of the Shrew. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square, 1992. Print.
Language & Stereotypes
Language is perceived the way it is due to a combination of many factors. While the words may be spelled one way on paper, they are often spoken differently, and to another speaker, they may sound completely different. The way a language is spoken contributes to English speakers’ stereotypes about speakers of that language.
One example of this is Arabic. The Arabic language has many "velar" and "uvular" sounds that English doesn't have. An example of a velar sound is the final sound in the word "loch". To make that sound, one has to make a "k" sound, but in the back of the throat. An Arabic example of this is the word "خضراء” (“xaḍrāʾ”), which means “green”.
Velar and uvular sounds can sound harsh to people who don’t speak Arabic. The non-Arabic speaking wife of an Arabic speaker notes that, “When I listen to my husband and his friends speak most of the time I assume there is something wrong or they are disagreeing with something [...] the words to me seem harsh and very pronounced.” As noted in the quote, these sounds contribute to stereotypes about Arabic - namely, the stereotype that Arabic people are “aggressive”, as velar sounds often sound harsh and abrasive to English speakers.
Another example is Chinese. The Chinese languages, especially Mandarin Chinese, are some of the most stereotyped languages in the world. Chinese has six variants of a single sound, “t͡ɕ”, which is similar to “t͡ʃ”, a sound that English speakers spell "ch". This, combined with their common use of the "ng" sound, help create the most common stereotype of Chinese: "ching chong". A rhyme that was common in the early twentieth century plays off of this:
Ching Chong, Chinaman,
Sitting on a wall.
Along came a white man,
And chopped his tail off.
While incredibly racist, this rhyme shows how the sound of the language can contribute to stereotypes- not just the “ching chong” stereotype, but the idea that Chinese people are “outsiders” who don’t belong. This mindset is much less of a problem in languages that share many sounds with English, such as Dutch and German.
A third example of this is French. The French stereotype is very popular in America, especially the stereotype that “ze Fhhrench speak like zees” and laugh nasally like “hon hon hon”. These stereotypes stem from French phonology, where r’s are trilled (/ʁ/), some vowels are nasal (/ɑ̃/), there’s no “th” sound, and there’s no /ɪ/ (like in English “bin”). This is often made fun of, as the nasal vowels in French can seem almost “uppity” to some English listeners. According to the site TV Tropes, these stereotypes are common in television, with a few famous examples being “Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther, Lumière in Beauty and the Beast, all the French characters in 'Allo 'Allo!, and Pepe Le Pew.” In addition, these stereotypes can also make French people seem goofy, as shown by the fact that many characters in entertainment have stereotypical French accents for no apparent reason. One example is in the movie Shrek, where Robin Hood speaks English with a French accent for no reason other than to generate laughs.
In conclusion, one can deduce that the way a language sounds can affect stereotypes of speakers of that language. Some sounds can seem agressive, like Arabic /x/. Some sounds can seem otherly, like Chinese /t͡ɕ/. Other sounds can even sound goofy, like French /ɑ̃/. The cooperation of these sounds with other sounds from their languages can give the languages a personality that is projected onto speakers of that language.
Works Cited
"How Does Arabic Sound to Foreigners?" How Does Arabic Sound to Foreigners? EgyptSearch, 23 July 2004. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.
Newman, D. The Phonetics of Arabic (n.d.): n. pag. Durham University Community. Durham University. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.
Duanmu, San. "Chinese (Mandarin), Phonology of." Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics,. 2nd ed. N.p.: Elsevier House, n.d. Print.
Lee, Mary Paik, and Sucheng Chan. Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America. Seattle: U of Washington, 1990. Print.
"National Stereo Types: Western Europe." TV Tropes. TV Tropes Foundation, LLC, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
Elkhoury, John. "French Phonetics." French Crazy. N.p., 18 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
Antonio Ibrahim, Francisco Biggs, Cristobal Fey
Spanish 2 D
Antonio: Hola Señor Biggs. ¿Qué tal?
Fransisco: Bien, gracias.
Cristóbal: Se sentar por favor
(Francisco sits down)
Cristóbal: La primera pregunta yo quiero pedir. ¿Qué experiencia tiene usted?
Francisco: Sí, yo trabajo con photoshop y hacer videojuegos en mi computadora
Cristobal: Perfecto, usted va a necesitar este.
Antonio: ¿Qué programa utiliza hacer videojuegos?
Francisco: Yo utilizo Java.
Antonio: Bueno. ¿Podemos ver tus juegos?
Francisco: Sí, estos mis programas.
Cristóbal: ¿Comó tiempo hacer estos programas?
Francisco: Todos de ellos tomó cinco días.
Cristobal: Hmm, Impresionante
Antonio: ¿Porque trabaja sus compania?
Francisco: Me gusta hacer juegos.
Antonio: ¿Qué todo?
Francisco: Tengo experiencia, y me gusta hacer juegos.
Cristobal: ¿Dónde trabajó antes?
Francisco: Yo interné a EA para ocho meses.
Antonio: ¿Qué hizo usted a EA?
Francisco: Yo trabajé su otra programadores en ellos proyectos nuevos.
Antonio: ¿Comó que?
Francisco: Yo trabajé Mirror’s Edge 2.
Cristobal: ¡Yo no puedo esperar para esta!
Antonio: Yo no puedo esperar también.
Francisco: Gracias.
Antonio: Una pregunta más. ¿Que horas y días puede usted trabajar?
Francisco: Voy a poder trabajar para lunes a jueves y para ocho y cuatro.
Antonio: Esta es bien.
Cristobal: Si, usted espesa más horas de trabajo. Usted puede manejar lo, confiar me.
Cristobal: Gracias por su tiempo Señor Biggs.
Antonio: Si, Nosotros somos contentos a tener usted trabaja para nosotros.
Francisco: Gracias, Hasta la semana que viene
Cristobal y Antonio: ¡Adios!
Revisor | Fecha | Comment |
Daniela Nearn | 12/12/13 | Me gusta tu guión. |
Natalia Monroe | 12/12/13 | It is very good, I don’t think you guys need to make any corrections. |
Aaron Block | 12/12/13 | |
Bella Mezzaroba | 12/12/13 | |
Cameron Hinton | 12/12/13 |
Wilson Biggs
*walks into view*
*cups ear as if listening* *looks at watch* Is it really time to go to school? Whatever. I’m not gonna go today. Not because I don't like school, but because I don't really care about school. I have no reason to. The only thing that’s accomplished at all is getting a day closer to college. To spending forty thousand dollars to get a part time job at Taco Bell. Stressing out to the point of breaking down, which happens at least once a week, isn’t worth that. I’d only go to college get a job anyway, which I’d only do to try and survive while I actually do something I enjoy. It’s not worth it. I want to be creative, not serve Doritos Tacos to people in a train station. That’s definitely not something I aspire to do. *sigh*
There’s really no point in thinking about this, anyway. I'd rather just lay face-down in bed and do nothing. You know what? I think I will. And after I do that for a long time, maybe I'll stare at the wall. I don't care enough to be bored by it. Or maybe I’ll sit at my computer and do nothing productive for a while. That sounds okay. I’ll do that for a bit, actually.
*on computer* Heh. A picture of Tom Hiddleston saying something vaguely philosophical. Reblog. A gifset of a TV show I haven’t seen since 2004. Like. What does that say? “wow. such doge.” Reblog. Oh look, someone’s pizza man started singing to another pizza man or something. I don’t know. Like. *humming pompeii*
Well, great. My mom's yelling at me to come downstairs and go to school. *yelling down* No. Because there’s no point. I’m really tired. I don’t want to go. Everyone there hates me. Leave me alone. I don’t care about school. I don’t care about anything anymore. *stops*
Eh, whatever. I'll just go shut and lock the door. Put headphones on. Listen to some loud music. Go back to sleep. That sounds pretty good. I don’t really care if I get in trouble. It’s not like that would be the worst problem in my life anyway. *sigh* I’ll set my alarm for 3pm. I need the sleep anyway. I was up until two in the morning studying for a test about some stupid equations that I’ll never use anyway. Whatever. Sleep. Yeah.
*walks out of view*
In my previous blog post, I talked about how music education is important in schools and how music technology can facilitate it. It was based on research I did online and my own opinions. However, since then, I have done my own individual research, in the form of a survey. In that survey, I found that, out of the 53 responses, most of the respondents were male. That made sense, as my dad sent this out to some musicians and an illustrator group, most of whom were male. In addition, most respondents were either 13-18 years old or 41-50 years old. This was expected, too, as I sent this out to fellow students, and most of my dad's friends were around his age and in their forties. As expected, most respondents were from the United States, but surprisingly, people responded from Germany to England and even Singapore! Also, an unexpected number of people with graduate degrees responded.
However, that part was relatively unimportant. The important parts were the questions about music education. Most respondents or their children were involved in a local school district, which was relatively unexpected but probably would be easily explainable when you look at the fact that children are included in the question. A surprising number of respondents played a musical instrument, which may have been skewed. When respondents were asked how important music was to them, 79% put an 8, 9, or 10, showing that most thought it was important. However, even more thought education was important, as 96% put an 8, 9, or 10 when asked how important education was to them. However, when asked about music education as a whole, the results were a bit more spread out. There were a good number of 5, 6, and 7s (28%). That shows that music and education were both important to people, but music education as a whole less so. Then, when asked about donations, people responded with everything from "No." to "$200".
There were two respondents, however, that provided a counter to what I was saying. Both said that using technology should be second to learning a traditional instrument. To tell the truth, I disagree. There are a few reasons for this. The first is because of schools' budgets. A piano can cost anywhere from $4900 to over $10,000; however, twenty cheap MIDI keyboards and a group license to a piece of music software can cost anything from $780 (Garageband), $1800 (Ableton Live) and $2600 (Logic Pro). As you can see, it's usually cheaper. In addition, space can be an issue; small MIDI keyboards usually take up two square feet each, but a guitar takes up a much larger space. Finally, they can be easier to teach with, as each kid can have an affordable "mini-piano" which can make any sound you like, instead of one large piano which students would have to take turns using.
Over the next month or two, I am going to be contacting the school district, asking them about my plan, and contacting companies like Ableton to ask them about discounts. Hopefully I can somehow set something up to bring music education and technology into schools, however slowly this may take. I plan to start in schools that I know will benefit from this, like my former school, Cook-Wissahickon Elementary. They already have a music program starting up, and integrating this technology into the program would be beneficial to it. From there, I'd like to expand the program into other schools across the city. I won't be finished by the time the next blog post rolls around, but I sure will have gotten it started!
¡Bienvenidos! Mi llamo Wilson.
Yo soy inteligente. Tengo el pelo rubio, y los ojos muy azules. También tengo trece años. Me gustar jugar videojuegos, y usando mi computadora.
Su nombre es Toby. Él es inteligente y divertido. Él tiene pelo rubio, y los ojos azules. Él también tiene catorce años. Le gusta jugar videojuegos, usando la computadora, y escribir código.
Sus nombres son Forest y Ethan. Ellos tienen el pelo muy café, y yo no sé sus colores de ojos. Les gusta jugar videojuegos, por ejemplo Team Fortress 2 y Portal 2. Ellos tienen los gatos.
Sus nombres son Elliot y Emma. Ellas tienen el pelo café, y Elliot tiene los ojos verde. Ellas también tienen doce años. Les gusta escuchar música, por ejemplo One Direction y Justin Bieber, y jugar videojuegos.
Nuestros nombres son Wilson, August, y Josh. Nuestros tenemos el pelo rubio o café, y los ojos azules o otra cosa. Nosotros también tienen cerca catorce años. Nos gusta escuchar música y usando la computadora. También nos gusta tocar instrumentos musicales.
En conclusión, mis amigos y yo gusta muchas cosas.
When I saw the default font (Gill Sans) for the slide type I chose (White), it looked perfect for te type of design. I chose a puzzle-piece sort of design because it expresses ideas clearly, and looks smooth. Its coloration provides a bit of contrast between words, making it even clearer. It’s in a square about ⅔ the height and width of the overall slide. This technically doesn’t conform to the rule of thirds, more like the rule of sixths, as it leaves about a sixth on each side. It’s not quite exact, though. I didn’t use pure black, because it would be too strong.
In reflection, I think I did my slide well. It had an overall "Wow!" reaction among fellow classmates. In addition, it fits everything the assignment needed.
¡Hola! Me llamo Wilson. ¿Qué tal? Estoy de humor bastante bueno. ¿Cuantos años tienes tú? Tengo 13 años, pero estoy en grado 9 porque soy saltó un grado. Mi cumpleaños veintidós de marzo. ¿Cuando es tu cumpleaños?
¿De dónde eres tú? ¿Qué tiempo hace hoy donde quiera que estés? Soy de Filadelfia. Sin embargo, yo nací en San Francisco. Me mudé a Filadelfia, cuando yo era un bebé. Además, dependiendo de la semana, yo vivo en la casa de mi madre o la casa de mi padre, porque están divorciados.
Cuando tengo tiempo libre, me gusta jugar videojuegos de la computadora, por ejemplo Portal y Team Fortress 2, con amigos. De vez en cuando, yo jugar videojuegos de la XBOX 360, por ejemplo Madden 2012. Me gusta comer hamburguesas, enchiladas y ensalada con aderezo italiano. Me muy odio comer la berenjena y los tomates, porque hacen que mi ardor en la boca. ¿Qué te gusta hacer?
Soy un poquito bajo, pero yo no el más bajo. Yo también soy inteligente, pero eso es un término relativo. A veces soy habladora, pero no siempre.
Tengo que dejar de escribir ahora- me he quedado sin tiempo. Espero que le responderemos pronto!
Sinceramente,
Music education.
I bet you hear about that a lot. Whether it’s that a school your child goes to is getting rid of it, or a news article about a school district that’s fighting to keep music education alive, the question always stays the same: will it survive this era of budget cuts and bankrupt school districts, or will it ultimately get cut and wither away?
My name is Wilson Biggs. I’m a freshman at Science Leadership Academy. The contents of this article are not guaranteed to be bias-free, as I am an aspiring electronic musician. However, take everything I say seriously: I have experience in music education and growing up making music.
I, for one, can tell you that music education should begin when you are in preschool. One study conducted in 1997 showed that preschoolers, when taught how to play “Ode to Joy” on the piano, improved their spatial-temporal reasoning skills, which is the ability to mentally manipulate 2- and 3-dimensional objects. In addition, Richard Gill, in a TEDxSydney talk, made points as to why children should learn about music in their younger years.
“Music is important for the following reasons. It is abstract. It doesn’t mean anything outside itself. [...] Music does not describe. Music does not tell stories. Music evokes. Music suggests. Music implies and opens up the mind of a child in an extraordinary way.”
That’s not the only point he makes during his talk, however. He believes that in order to get into the real deep and creative part of music, children must create their own, not just reproduce others’. He states that “the power of creative thought is transfreerd from music to all other areas of learning is hugely potent. [...] Music is worth teaching because it empowers children spectacularly.” From my own experience, when children get the opportunity to make music, they get particularly excited about it. Not because it’s music, but because it’s creating.
When kids are enthusiastic about learning something, they tend to excel in it. And that’s why, in order to cut music costs and to boost how well students do in music classes, technology should be implemented in music programs. In 2005, the International Journal of Education and the Arts published a paper outlining why technology is important in music education. The paper describes the current state of formal music education as “elitist”, and proposes an informal music education centered around computers.
“[A] cross-disciplinary or multimedia approach to musical composition may well engage and motivate pupils more successfully, as well as facilitate the development of their broader creative skills. I have certainly found this to be the case in the three case studies[.]”
This isn’t the only paper that suggests that technology in music education is beneficial; another paper, written by Takako Mato, describes that “there was a significant increase of basic knowledge of the note writing and reading skills necessary for composition in class A [with computers] over class B [without them].” It later describes the results of a test conducted by the Yamaha Corporation, which found that “Long and short term music achievement is significantly increased when compared to traditional approaches and methods.”
For new music programs, incorporating technology shouldn’t be a huge challenge, as either the teacher usually owns a computer or the school district provides computers to the school. A computer, a projector, a small keyboard, and some kind of MIDI sequencing software are all that are needed to implement technology into music programs. I intend to bring music education and technology to schools throughout the school district and possibly to surrounding districts.
Image-Line, the company that publishes FL Studio, might give discount prices for their software for schools that use PCs. All Macs come with the free software Garageband, which works well enough for schools.
To see my bibliography, click here. I hope you will support me as I fight to bring music education and technology to the school district.
¿Paraguas o Sombrilla? from Wilson Biggs on Vimeo.
When's the Game? from Wilson Biggs on Vimeo.
