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Teaching for Global Relevance – the Next Frontier

Matt McVeigh, WMEA State Chair, Technology

In the history of mu- sic education there have been two tech- nological advance- ments that have stood above all oth- ers in terms of their profound impact on music education: sound recording and

computer aided musical production. The impact of these developments was so profound that it changed not only the way music was taught, but also the social need for music education.

A third technological development has now taken form and has already begun to impact our classrooms – digital dissemina- tion. The impact of the digital information age is as profound as those advancements that have come before. Just as business leaders must think in terms of the global marketplace, educators too, must think in terms of the global learningplace: a technological web of online media, mixed with wireless communication, accessed across the globe in a variety of languages, in which a millisecond is too long. The global learningplace is on demand, at students’ fingertips, self-paced, individu- ally challenging and always present. Are traditional music classrooms relevant in this new techno-global environment? Similar to the technological developments that challenged previous generations of music teachers, the answer lies in teach- ers’ ability to create relevance through the musical experience.

Sound Recording

Take a moment to consider the music classroom without musical recordings or playback systems. Take a further step back and consider the personal lives of millions without access to recorded music. The ability to record and playback sound is a given in our current culture and society,

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but its impact on the music-making expe- rience cannot be overstated, or forgotten. Before recorded technology and playback systems, people were largely dependent on local talent to convey musical perfor- mance; simply put, musical recordings now made music performing, “an activity of choice rather than one of necessity.” (Reimer, 2009) The impact was felt in a variety of ways; humans were no longer limited to only live music created by themselves or with others, there became a clearer divide between “professionals” and “amateurs,” and the level of musical excellence increased to a point that a pro- fessional musician seemed unreachable for the pedestrian musician.

Was music education relevant in this new culture, which now had recorded music and international performers instead of colloquial talent? Would music be forever divided by those who could and those who couldn’t? It is true that music became an activity of choice rather than one of necessity, but it is also true that a music education simply included more than performance skills. Sound recording may have challenged the scope of music educa- tion, but never its relevance or importance in our society.

Computer Aided Composition and Production

The second technological development that impacted music education was the use of musical synthesizers and computers to aid in musical composition and production. While sound recording created a division between the professional and the ama- teur, computer aided production allowed the amateur to sidestep the performer all together. Technology now allowed for anyone to compose, and often with limited procedural knowledge regarding music. Additionally, computers, drum machines and synthesizers could instantly perform compositions back and completely bypass

“The global learningplace is on demand,

at students’ fingertips, self-paced, individually challenging and always present.”

human performers, with increasing quality and authenticity.

With computer-aided production, are human musicians even necessary? It is heartening, while technology has created an environment in which it is possible to bypass the pedestrian human performer, that mankind still chooses to express itself musically. It is the refusal to let all music be dictated by technology that continues to sustain the importance of the musical art. It is also what has brought about the third dramatic effect of technology – the global dissemination of musical experience and knowledge.

Global Dissemination

The latest technological advancement that has had a sweeping effect on the music classroom is the digital dissemination age. Information is passed quickly through a variety of online media that knows no geographic, and few cultural boundaries. Today’s students may be impacted by a music lesson posted by a college student in New Jersey, or even an orchestra director in China just as easily as their band direc- tor in Horicon. But when students are con- nected to a global society, and not limited to their rehearsal rooms, music lessons must be relevant to the technology that powers the rest of their lives, and unique enough to not be replaced by it.

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