Creative Music Making At Your Fingertips

Students are drawn to mobile technologies such as iPads and smartphones because of the sheer endless possibilities of the digital worlds they hold. But how can their potential for stimulating the imagination be effectively used in the music classroom to support students' development of musical thinking? Countering voices that see digital technologies as a threat to traditional forms of music making and music education, this collection explores the many ways in which hand-held devices can be used to promote student learning and provides teachers with guidance on making them a vital presence in their own classrooms. Creative Music Making at Your Fingertips features 11 chapters by music education scholars and practitioners that provide tried-and-true strategies for using mobile devices in a variety of contexts, from general music education to ensembles and from K-12 to college classrooms. Drawing on their own experiences with bringing mobile devices and different music apps into the classroom, contributors show how these technologies can be turned into tools for teaching performance, improvisation, and composition. Their practical advice on how pedagogy and mobile technologies can be aligned to increase students' creative engagement with music and help them realize their musical potential makes this book an invaluable resource for music educators who want to be at the forefront of pedagogical transformations made possible by 21st-century technologies.

The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music Composition in Schools: International Perspectives offers a comprehensive overview of teaching composing from a wide range of countries around the world. Addressing the current state of composition pedagogy from primary to secondary school levels and beyond, the volume explores issues, including different curricular and extracurricular settings, cultural aspects of composing, aesthetics, musical creativity, the role of technology, and assessment. With contributors from over 30 countries, this volume encompasses theoretical, historical, empirical, and practical approaches and enables comparisons across different countries and regions. Chapters by experienced educators, composers, and researchers describe in depth the practices taking place in different international locations. Interspersed with these chapters, interludes by the volume editors contextualize and problematize the teaching and learning of composing music. The volume covers a range of contexts, including formal and informal, those where a national curriculum is mandated or where composing is a matter of choice, and a range of types, styles, and genres of musical learning and music-making. Providing a wide-ranging and detailed review of international approaches to incorporating music composition in teaching and learning, this volume will be a useful resource for teachers, music education researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and all those working with children and young people in composing music.

The Oxford Handbook of Music Composition Pedagogy presents an illuminating collection of philosophy, research, applied practice, and international perspectives to highlight the practices of teaching and learning in the field of music composition. The Handbook offers various strategies and approaches in composition for teachers, music teacher educators, and students of music education.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world causing physical, emotional, economic, and social upheaval in every part of the globe. It also catalyzed a renewed interrogation, by music education faculty in higher education, of philosophies and practices that had long gone unexamined. Music Education on the Verge: Stories of Pandemic Teaching and Transformative Change is a collection of narratives by music teacher-educators describing how they responded to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic with, and for, their students. Through these stories, the authors step back and reflect on the events, challenges, triumphs, and innovations discovered as they prepared the next generation of music educators in this time of crisis. They tell stories of reexamining old frameworks, discovering new affordances of technologies, humanizing pedagogy, deepening culturally responsive and sustaining experiences, and creating space for democratic practices. Each chapter offers examples of innovative music pedagogy that can be adapted and applied by music educators and music teacher educators with their students. Collectively, they paint a picture of possibilities, challenging music teacher-educators— and educators in all fields— to seek out openings and pursue pedagogies of change as we move forward into a post-pandemic world.

Children's Creative Music-Making with Reflexive Interactive Technology discusses pioneering experiments conducted with young children using a new generation of music software for improvising and composing. Using artificial intelligence techniques, this software captures the children’s musical style and interactively reflects it in its responses. The book describes the potential of these applications to enhance children’s agency and musical identity by reflecting players’ musical inputs, storing and creating variations on them. Set in the broader context of current music education research, it addresses the benefits and challenges of incorporating music technologies in primary and pre-school education. It is comprised of six main chapters, which cover the creation of children's own music and their musical selves, critical thinking skills and learner agency, musical language development, and emotional intent during creative music-making. The authors provide a range of straight-forward techniques and strategies, which challenge conceptions of ‘difficult-to-use music technologies’ in formal music education. These are supported by an informative collection of practitioner vignettes written by teachers who have used the software in their classrooms. Not only are the teachers’ voices heard here, but also those of children as they discover some of the creative possibilities of music making. The book also provides free access to a companion website with teacher forums and a large bank of activities to explore. A toolkit serves as a database of the teaching activities in which MIROR applications have been used and provides a set of useful ideas regarding its future use in a variety of settings. This book demonstrates that music applications based on artificial intelligence techniques can make an important contribution to music education within primary and pre-school education. It will be of key interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of music education, music technology, early years and primary education, teaching and learning, and teacher educators. It will also serve as an important point of reference for Early Years and Primary practitioners.

Leadership in Music Technology Education examines the pedagogical, sociocultural, and philosophical issues that affect curriculum, research, and decision-making in music technology in higher education. This book considers a range of cutting-edge topics, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, professional development concepts, partnerships between higher education and the creative and cultural industries, and the effects technology has on sustainability. Drawing on Leadership theories, including Transformational, Situational, Servant, and Social Change Model Theory, the book puts forward a new model, Creative Industry Leadership, which considers the sociocultural aspects of Music Technology Education, and interrogates biased ideologies that limit opportunities for a broad range of learners and practitioners in education and beyond. Additionally, Leadership in Music Technology Education examines educators’ informal leadership capacities during the COVID-19 pandemic and how inclusive pedagogy expands the creative boundaries of teaching, learning, and music-making for all. Leadership in Music Technology Education is crucial reading for instructors teaching audio engineering and music technology, as well as researchers in education, music pedagogy and related fields. This is also a valuable read for anyone with an interest in music technology and its many potentialities.

Bring out your child’s creativity and imagination with more than 60 artful activities in this completely revised and updated edition Art making is a wonderful way for young children to tap into their imagination, deepen their creativity, and explore new materials, all while strengthening their fine motor skills and developing self-confidence. The Artful Parent has all the tools and information you need to encourage creative activities for ages one to eight. From setting up a studio space in your home to finding the best art materials for children, this book gives you all the information you need to get started. You’ll learn how to: * Pick the best materials for your child’s age and learn to make your very own * Prepare art activities to ease children through transitions, engage the most energetic of kids, entertain small groups, and more * Encourage artful living through everyday activities * Foster a love of creativity in your family