Using Technology To Unlock Musical Creativity

It has never been easier or more fun for students to compose, improvise, arrange, and produce music than with today's technology. Perfect for pre- or in-service music educators, Using Technology to Unlock Musical Creativity offers both a pedagogical framework and a description of the technology tools for engaging students in creative musical projects.

It has never been easier or more fun for students to compose, improvise, arrange, and produce music and music-related projects than with today's technology. Written in a practical, accessible manner, Using Technology to Unlock Musical Creativity offers both a framework for and practical tips on the technology tools best suited for encouraging students' authentic musical creativity. Author Scott Watson makes a compelling case for creativity-based music learning through eight teacher-tested principles that access, nurture, and develop students' potential for musical expression. Example after example illustrates each principle in a variety of music teaching and technology scenarios. Watson also includes practical ideas for technology-based creative music activities, locating lesson plans and other resources, and assessing creative work. The book provides detailed plans for dozens of attractive projects, each linked to MENC National Standards, and also offers suggestions for making adaptations according to grade level and technology proficiency. Additionally, it includes a valuable section of resources with tips for setting up a computer music workstation, a plain-language description of how digital audio works, and a music education technology glossary. Most of the activities described can be carried out by novice users with free or low-cost music applications. The book also features a comprehensive companion website with dozens of audio and video examples as well as many downloadable worksheets, rubrics, and activity files. Visit the companion website at www.oup.com/us/musicalcreativity.

Electronic Music School: A Contemporary Approach to Teaching Musical Creativity is a practical blueprint for teachers wanting to begin teaching music technology to secondary age students. Will Kuhn and Ethan Hein inspire classroom music teachers to expand beyond traditional ensemble-based music education offerings to create a culture of unique creativity and inclusivity at their schools. Part One offers an overview of the philosophical and institutional aspects of starting a music technology program, with a particular focus on the culture of electronic music surrounding digital music creation tools. Part Two dives deep into curricula for music lab classes, including several lesson examples and techniques. This section also includes abbreviated project plans for teachers who have fewer contact hours with their students. Part Three discusses how music technology courses can grow into a larger media creation program, how such a program can contribute to the broader school culture, and how project-based music learning effectively prepares students for careers in media. Electronic Music School also includes narratives from music technology students themselves, who often have an intuitive understanding of the future directions music technology programs can take.

A national bestseller, Let the Elephants Run is the essential guidebook for anyone looking to reignite their creativity. Creativity is in everyone’s DNA, not a select few. Award-winning musician and founder of CloudID Creativity Lab David Usher believes we just need the right tools to help us reconnect with our imaginations in our day-to-day lives, whether in the head office, the home office, or the artist’s studio. Using a mix of personal anecdotes and professional examples from the worlds of industry, technology, science, music, and art, he shows us that creativity is not magic; it is a learnable skill that any person or business can master. The dynamic full-colour design includes photographs, artwork, and illustrations, as well as action pages to help readers start cultivating the habit of documenting their ideas for future execution. Based on his wildly popular speaking engagements, Let the Elephants Run is the essential guidebook to reigniting and nurturing our creativity in accessible and productive ways.

Embodiment of Musical Creativity offers an innovative look at the interdisciplinary nature of creativity in musical composition. Using examples from empirical and theoretical research in creativity studies, music theory and cognition, psychology and philosophy, performance and education studies, and the author’s own creative practice, the book examines how the reciprocity of cognition and performativity contributes to our understanding of musical creativity in composition. From the composer’s perspective the book investigates the psychological attributes of creative cognition whose associations become the foundation for an understanding of embodied creativity in musical composition. The book defines the embodiment of musical creativity as a cognitive and performative causality: a relationship between the cause and effect of our experience when composing music. Considering the theoretical, practical, contextual, and pedagogical implications of embodied creative experience, the book redefines aspects of musical composition to reflect the changing ways that musical creativity is understood and evaluated. Embodiment of Musical Creativity provides a comparative study of musical composition, in turn articulating a new perspective on musical creativity.

Creativities, Media, and Technology in Music Learning and Teaching is one of five paperback books derived from the foundational two-volume Oxford Handbook of Music Education. Designed for music teachers, students, and scholars of music education, as well as educational administrators and policy makers, this fifth book in the set comprises three complementary sections: musical creativity as practice; music teaching and learning through technology; and the interplay of media, music, and education. The first section reviews notions of musical creativity, examining practice-based perspectives to support and develop understanding of the diverse types of creativity found within music education practice across the globe. In the second section, authors explore the essential role of technology in musical discourse and in various forms of musical learning, even as technology continually evolves and the needs and possibilities continue to rapidly change. The third section provokes readers to assess their own thinking about the transformative changes occurring within the discipline as a result of advances in media, and the increasing infiltration of media into all aspects of life, the classroom, and music making. Contributors Andrew R. Brown, Pamela Burnard, Bernadette Colley, Ian Cross, Rokus de Groot, Steven C. Dillon, Randi Margrethe Eidsaa, David G. Hebert, Evangelos Himonides, Neryl Jeanneret, Ailbhe Kenny, Andrew King, Eleni Lapidaki, Felicity Laurence, Samuel Leong, Bo Wah Leung, Alagi Mbye, Gary E. McPherson, Ross Purves, Tal-Chen Rabinowitch, S. Alex Ruthmann, Eva Sæther, Jonathan Savage, Reza Shayesteh, Petros Stagkos, Matthew D. Thibeault, Evan S. Tobias, Carole Waugh, Graham F. Welch

This book is a full multimedia curriculum that contains over 60 Lesson Plans in 29 Units of Study, Student Assignments Sheets, Worksheets, Handouts, Audio and MIDI files to teach a wide array of musical topics, including: general/basic music theory, music appreciation and analysis, keyboarding, composing/arranging, even ear-training (aural theory) using technology.

Mastering Primary Music introduces the primary music curriculum and helps trainees and teachers learn how to plan and teach inspiring lessons that make music learning irresistible. Topics covered include: · Current developments in music · Music as an irresistible activity · Music as a practical activity · Skills to develop in music · Promoting curiosity · Assessing children in music · Practical issues This guide includes examples of children's work, case studies, readings to reflect upon and reflective questions that all help to exemplify what is considered to be best and most innovative practice. The book draws on the experience of a leading professional in primary music, Ruth Atkinson, to provide the essential guide to teaching music for all trainee primary teachers.