Technology Trends in Music Education

This semester, I am teaching Technology Trends in Music Education at NYU Steinhardt for the first time. The class was originally developed by my doctoral advisor, Alex Ruthmann. I took it as a masters student, and the experience was critical to the eventual development of the Groove Pizza. So you can understand why I am excited to be teaching it. My syllabus is below. I expect it to evolve a bit as the course goes on, especially toward the end of the semester as I adapt it to the needs and interests of the students. The reading list draws extensively on the same body of research and practice that informed Will Kuhn’s and my book Electronic Music School: a Contemporary Approach to Teaching Musical Creativity.

This class is about the design of music learning and creation experiences using digital technology. Over the course of the semester, you will be designing and presenting such an experience. Along the way, we will do a series of readings and discussions about design methodology and the sociology, psychology and philosophy of education. We will examine the difference between technology as a teaching medium and as a subject matter, and about how computers make it possible to incorporate more creativity into music education. Finally, we will conduct case studies of some specific technological tools. I have chosen the first of these case studies, and we will also select one or two more as a group. As we go, we will be hearing from some guest speakers in the technology industry and in the music education field.

Design for Learning

Design Fundamentals

• Norman, D. A. (2013). The design of everyday things (Revised ex). Basic Books.
• Smith, P., & Ragan, T. (2013). Instructional design (3rd ed.). J. Wiley & Sons.

In a blog post, describe a time when you had to design a music or music learning experience. It could be a lesson plan you wrote, a performance you organized, even something that you taught to yourself. What process did you use to design the experience? Reflecting on it now, do you think it was successful? If so, why? If not, why not?

Researching Design

• Barab, S. (2014). Design-based research: A methodological toolkit for engineering change. In K. Sawyer (Ed.), Handbook of the Learning Sciences, Volume 2 (pp. 151–170). Cambridge University Press.
• Hassenzahl, M. (2010). Experience design: Technology for all the right reasons. Synthesis Lectures on Human-Centered Informatics (Vol. 3).

In a blog post, describe two situations from your own music-learning life, one that you remember positively and one that you remember negatively. Reflect on them as experience designs. What aspects of the experience made them feel the way they did?

Psychology and Sociology

Motivation and Flow

• Csíkszentmihályi, M. (2014). Flow and the foundations of positive psychology. Springer Netherlands.
• Renwick, J., & Reeve, J. M. (2012). Supporting motivation in music education. In G. E. McPherson & G. F. Welch (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music education (Vol. 1, pp. 144–162). Oxford University Press.

Drawing on the concepts and terminology in these chapters, describe your best/favorite music teacher. What techniques did they use to successfully motivate you? What aspects of their personality and style contributed to their effectiveness? Identify moments of flow and describe how the teacher was able to foster those moments.

Participatory Cultures

• Froehlich, H., & Smith, G. D. (2015). Sociology for music teachers. Taylor & Francis.
• Turino, T. (2008). Music as social life: The politics of participation. University of Chicago Press.

In a blog post, describe one musical experience you have had that you would describe as presentational, and one that you would describe as participatory. What were the social dynamics of each experience? Who was the leader or central organizing figure, if there was one? What rules governed the behavior of the musicians and the audience? 

Teaching music with technology

Technology in Ensembles

• Hughes, E., Eldridge, A., & Kiefer, C. (2020). Syncphonia: Understanding the value of participatory design in developing music technology to support musical ensembles that use notation. Journal of Music, Technology and Education, 13(1), 57–77. (You can see a demo of Syncphonia here.)
• Powell, B. (2019). The integration of music technology into popular music ensembles: Perspectives of modern band teachers. Journal of Music, Technology and Education, 12(3), 297–310.

In a blog post, describe how ensembles or classes that you have participated in have used digital technologies. That might include tools for creating or displaying scores, for recording and playback, for showing slides or videos, or for any other purpose. How did the teacher(s) use these tools? Did they use them in a way that significantly improved or enhanced your experience? (That teacher can be you.)

Remote Learning

• Hash, P. M. (2021). Remote learning in school bands during the COVID-19 shutdown. Journal of Research in Music Education, 68(4), 381–397.
• Cayari, C. (2021). Creating virtual ensembles: Common approaches from research and practice. Music Educators Journal, 107(3), 38–46.
• Cremata, R., & Powell, B. (2016). Digitally mediated keyboard learning: Speed of mastery, level of retention and student perspectives. Journal of Music, Technology and Education, 9(2), 145–159.

Reflect on your own remote learning experiences, as a student and/or as a teacher. Describe the pros and cons of learning this way. How was your learning/teaching disrupted by being remote? How was it enhanced or improved (if at all)? Also, consider Christopher Cayari’s description of a virtual ensemble performance. Do you consider this to be a meaningful performance experience for the musicians? If so, why? If not, why not?

Teaching music technology

Teaching through Creativity

• Odena, O. (2012). Creativity in the secondary music classroom. In G. McPherson & G. Welch (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music education (volume 1) (1st ed., pp. 512–528). Oxford University Press.
• Wiggins, J. (2001). Teaching for musical understanding. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.

In a blog post, describe a situation where you participated in music creation, as a teacher, a student, on your own, or with friends. This might include composition, songwriting, arranging, improvisation, or producing a recording. Would you describe this experience as a form of “traditional” or “new” creativity as defined by Oscar Odena? Was it “systematic” or “romantic”? Do you believe that creativity can be taught?

Designing Music Creation Experiences

• Johnson-Green, E. (2018). Musical architects: Immersive learning through design thinking in a kindergarten music composition curriculum. Visions of Research in Music Education, 31(December), 1–38.
• Kuhn, W., & Hein, E. (2021). Electronic music school: A contemporary approach to teaching musical creativity. Oxford University Press.

At the end of the semester, you will be presenting a technology-based music learning or creation experience of your own design. In a blog post, brainstorm what that experience might look like. Compare Elissa Johnson-Greene’s approach to teaching composition to the early elementary grades to the electronic music production projects described by Will Kuhn and myself. Would you want to design something similar to these, or slightly different, or radically different? You do not have to commit to anything yet; this is an opportunity to just get ideas out on the page. 

Assessing Creative Projects

• Dillon, S. (2007). Music, meaning and transformation: Meaningful music making for life. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Bell, A. P. (2019). Enter the feedback loop. In D. J. Elliott, M. Silverman, & G. E. McPherson (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of philosophical and qualitative assessment in music education (pp. 297–317). Oxford University Press.

Steve Dillon’s chapter is about assessing learning experiences. Adam Bell’s chapter is about assessing students’ creative work. What are the similarities between these two assessment challenges? How are they different? Consider the possible learning experiences you proposed in last week’s blog post. How might you assess them according to Dillon’s Meaningful Engagement Matrix? If you were to teach/lead them, how would you grade or otherwise assess your students’ work?

Case Studies

The Groove Pizza

Experiment with the online Groove Pizza app (or, if you have used it before, refresh your memory of it). Create a few beats, making sure to try out all of the functions of the app. Then read the following book chapter:

• Hein, E., & Srinivasan, S. (2019). The Groove Pizza: A study in music and HCI. In S. Holland, T. Mudd, K. Wilkie-McKenna, A. McPherson, & M. M. Wanderley (Eds.), New directions in music and human-computer interaction (pp. 71–94). Springer.

In a blog post, imagine how you might use the Groove Pizza in the classroom, with an ensemble, or in a private lesson. What changes to the app’s functionality or design would make it more useful in this situation?

Additional case studies TBA

Final Project

You will design and present a music learning and/or creation experience using digital technology (software, hardware or both) and present it to the class. The presentation should include documentation of your design process; the intended learning outcomes; and your criteria for assessment. Details TBA.