Categories Existing for Computer Software Application in Music - Literature review Example

Notation Software Student’s Name: Student Number: Unit of study Code: Unit of study Name: Lecturer’s Name: Assignment Number/Name: The last 150 years, music technology has undergone a lot of transformations. Music technology has gone through changes that will forever impact on the manner in which music is acquired and its subsequent development, consumption and creation. Since the invention of the first sound recording telegraph machine by Thomas Edison in 1877, several other machines have been designed in an attempt to update the previous machines. The history of such machines and others like graphophone, phonograph and gramophone alongside their successors influenced music education, music business and music consumption. This paper will analyze the software technologies available for use in music industry. It gives a special emphasis on notation software e.g., the Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) and Finale. Ideally, the following are the major categories that exist for computer software application in music: Sequencing software/programs- it is a program used purposely for the creation and editing of multi-track sequences or performances (MIDI). In this type of computer application, the sequencer is the central control station for multi-track sequence production studio. The main purpose of the sequencer is to capture or record musical performances. Examples of sequencing software include: Garage Band, ProTools and Digital Performer. Music Notation Programs- these are programs that are meant for creation and printing of music stores. They are musical equivalent to a word processing program or a page layout and they create room for the musicians to engage in desktop publishing activities. Notation software varies from basic to advanced programs. Basic programs have limited number of features while advanced programs have the ability to handle enormous and complex music scores. Examples of notation programs used in music are; Finale and Sibelius. Finale Notation Program Music Education software- many Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) programs have been created to help in music education. Computer Assisted Instruction process involves combination of computers and music instructions so as to offer an effective teaching and learning environment for music. Computers are use to teach music composition and editing, music instruments and music appreciation. This has translated to positive outcome and views about Computer Assisted Instruction. Among the programs created for instruction on the fundamentals of music and music theory are the drill-and-learn programs. MIDI input and output is used by many education programs e.g. MiBac Music Lessons, Practica Musica and Music Ace. Screenshot of a CAI As the music industry expands, new developments are made and so are the music programs or software. The following chart shows a summary of the musical skills and their respective software available. Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) is an important tool an ideal music classroom. The tool comes with numerous forms, including tutorial, drill and practice, problem solving and simulators and games. Several research studies were done on CAI applications to ascertain their potential efficiency (Berz & Bowman, 1994). The results of the studies revealed that Computer Assisted Instruction CAI, was more effective compared to the tradition way of group approach in the development of third graders’ reading skills in music. For instance, sight reading skills and hear training in a choir setting can be improved through solfege drills (Berz & Bowman, 1994). Student –centered production and instruction come in a variety of ways. Using programs such as Sibelius and Finale, students can create incredible music. Such programs allow the students to manipulate computer software in order to come up with music that suits their diverse abilities. In a Sibelius’s Groovy Music series, for example, three instructional software levels are provided. The instructional software levels are: The Groovy Shapes suited for students between the ages of 5-7 years old, Groovy Jungle- ages 7-9 and Groovy City for those between 9-11 years old. The three levels instructional software focuses on the very basic elements in musicianship like the pitch, sound rhythm and composition (Burns, 2008). Reese & Rimington (2010) asserts that technology has affected every part of our society and the changed the way people live in many ways. School administrators and teachers have also been forced to allow technology to take its course in transforming music education. A study of the literature on the degree of success in of integration of technology in education reveal that there is an ever increase need for more change especially in integrating notational software in music. However, the problem of integrating technology in teaching and learning music is much more individual than technological. A deep survey of music teachers is necessary in order to help in designing practical, professional and effective technology training for music teachers. Music specific training in technology like Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) software is a significant skill in music technology. A closer examination of teachers by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) revealed that teachers, especially teachers of music, are expected to play a central role in facilitating the effective and smooth use of instructional technology yet majority of them are not prepared to use technology as they struggle to integrate it into the school curriculum. OTA also emphasized that schools should be open to investment in technology and re-examination of the level of technology that is integrated pre-service program in the curriculum of music teachers. Despite the fact that there us limited research and data on music education and technology there is a growing concern among the researchers of music education due to absence of quality training particularly in music technology. Several factors determine the effectiveness of the use of music technology by a teacher. Also, the incorporation of music technology into a classroom calls for re-evaluation of the essential beliefs about education by music teachers. In terms the adoption of music technology, there exist a big learning curve. Normally, music teachers undergo a five-stage process as they familiarize themselves with technology. In the first stage, music teachers get to know the technology concept and how to manage a classroom that is technology-oriented. Troubleshooting and reaction to the emerging problems are common at this stage. Teachers get used to integrating technology to aid traditional instructions in the adoption stage as students get used to computers too. The teacher also becomes more comfortable with technology and uses it to ease the management of a classroom. Technology can unlock endless opportunities for music teachers. A comparative study between music teachers in the United States and the United Kingdom by Stevens (1991) showed that polarized approaches were adopted by music teachers in both countries to using technology in music classrooms. While the US music teachers used technology in the form of Computer Assisted Instruction to help the development of specific and structured musical skills, music teachers in the UK utilized technology as an important tool for creativity in music. Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) is important in training specific areas of music like sight singing, music theory, and aural perception. CAI facilitates presentation of information in an individualized and creative manner that intrinsically motivates the students to master the drill-and-practice and theory-based areas of music. On the other side, music sequencing and processing programs offers an opportunity to students, including those without initial musical training, to showcase their musical creativity at the same time exploring the secluded musical fundamentals such as tempo and pitch. Each approach plays a different role and therefore combining the two will be of great benefit to not only music teachers but also students in their teaching as well as learning objectives respectively. It is important, then, to understand the types of technology music teachers already posses. Webster (1998) created the following groupings in order to illustrate the types of software programs that exist: drill-and-practice, exploratory, flexible practice, creative software and guided instruction. Drill-and-practice software aids in development of specific musical skills like listening and performance. Its musical context is limited given that it is a program that is predominantly computer- determined. An example of this software is the Finale software. On the other hand, flexible software portrays some similarities with drill-and-practice software only music teachers as well as students cannot offer options that can manipulate and customize their experience. Guided instruction program works like a tutorial- with –test kind of software. Presentation of the idea is done via a series of demonstrations, integrated with interactive tutorials, with some assessments that test the understanding of the students. The ability to integrate both drill-and-practice and creative skills into a single software helps students place musical development skills in a more holistic context. Exploratory software does not focus more on the mastery of specific musical skills. The software focuses rather on exploring a specific topic of interest in a free manner by literally using links. Last but not least, creative software provides the students with creative freedom and input by facilitating a personal interaction between the student and the software through listening, composing, performing and improvising. Finale is one of the unique music notation software used across the world. It is commonly used to translate music onto a paper. This means that Finale is used to create music on pages. Finale software is helps the choir to sing well, alongside helping students to learn and uniform march for a band. It can be used also by orchestra to create excitement in blockbuster movies. Finale is uniquely designed in terms of functions. Unlike other notational software, Finale has the ability to produce anything on a printed page. It offers complete flexibility and freedom in situations where other notation software provides paint-by- number solutions. This explains why nearly all musicians in the world use finale to create, audition, edit, print and publish the diverse forms of musical scores. Moreover, Finale gives a realistic music playback and music sharing in a variety of ways. While the how to integrate technology into teaching music was a common reasoning to every music teacher, the Technology Institute for Music Education (TI;ME) was established with an objective to help music teachers in employing technology to improve learning and teaching of music in schools (Burns, 2008). The institute came up with a comprehensive list of technological areas that needed to be assessed in a music classroom that had integrated technology. The areas to be assessed were; Music production, electronic Instruments, instructional music software and most importantly the Notation Software. It is worthy to acknowledge the fact that technical terms and challenges due to the development and adoption of new Notation software. Technology also surrounds the students both inside and outside school. This implies that they will continue to improve in music through creativity. There is need also to take advantage of the cheaply available musical software among them the Finale and Sibelius as well as those that are integrated to the Computer Assisted Instruction programs. In summary, Computer Assisted Instruction CAI is better compared to the traditional ways of producing the desired achievements in learning and teaching music. This is attributed to the fact that the program is user friendly hence attracting the interests of the students. Also, the structure and arrangement of content in Computer Assisted Instruction facilitates learning in-class and outside classroom due to its clear presentation of musical elements. On the other hand, Finale Notation Software is also useful to musicians wishing to print their music on paper. It is easy to use due to its flexibility and compatibility with most computer programs. In my opinion, there is need to minimize the amount of words and content on a single page in order to ease the presentation of key points. Too much writing material should not be integrated into the Notation Software as teachers and students learning music may get obsessed with the enormous words in the software. Therefore, software designers should design software with concise and clear description of the content. References Berz, W.L., & Bowman, J.    (2004). Applications of research in music technology. Virginia: Music Educator’s National Conference Burns, A.  (2008). integration in the elementary music classroom.  Milwaukee:  Hal Leonard Corporation. Education, 11(1), 61-76. Reese, S., & Rimington, J. (2000). Music technology in Illinois public schools. Update: Applications. Research in Music Education, 18(2), 27-32. DOI: Stevens, R. (1991). The best of both worlds: An eclectic approach to the use of computer Technology in music education. International Journal of Music Education, 17, 24-36. Webster, P. (1998). Young children and music technology. Research Studies in Music Read More