Earlier, I wrote about some Australian teachers who were sharing their music technology classroom projects and observations online. In this second part, we take a look at just some of teachers in the United States who are sharing their middle school and high school music technology projects online.
Wayne Splettstoeszer
Wayne Splettstoeszer’s music technology program at Torrington High School in Connecticut has been nationally recognised as a model program.
The program consists of two music technology courses:
1. Music Technology I – a half-year course which includes sound systems, MIDI, Jamstudio and GarageBand
2. Music Technology II – a full-year course which includes jingles, podcasting, film scoring and web design
The complete curriculum for both subjects can be found in this PDF document. The assignments for both subjects are also described online for the Torrington HS students and there are links to videos, audio files and background material:
Dr Scott Watson
Dr Scott Watson teaches at Parkland High School which offers a semester-long Music Production course introducing students to the theory and fundamentals of using software and hardware tools.
Scott has recently published a book – Using Technology to Unlock Musical Creativity
” – that includes a large section on engaging lesson plans that encourage creativity.
A number of the projects outlined in the book are also described on the course website such as the New Clothes for an Old Tune project and the My Favourite Things Podcast project.
Pat Toben
Pat teaches middle school music technology at West Middle School in Sioux City, Iowa and writes about her experiences at her Education in Our World blog.
Recently, Pat has written about ways to engage students in middle/high school music and reports on what happens when you encourage student-driven learning.
And if that wasn’t enough, Pat has a fantastic list of music technology links and an extensive collection of music literacy games (complete with pictures) that are well worth looking at.
Richard McCready
Richard McCready is the Director of Music Technology at River Hill High School in Clarksville, Maryland and the co-author of Making Music With GarageBand and Mixcraft.
On his music technology website, he shares some of the projects that make up his curriculum, as well as examples of student work:
1. In the Green Onions project, students were provided with the bass line from “Green Onions” by Booker T and the MGs. Each student added their own solo or rhythm part, and then assembled each other’s recordings to create their own mix
2. Layering sound and learning about ternary from was the focus of the The Bells project, inspired by Mike Oldfield’s The Bell from Tubular Bells II
3. In the Video Game Project, students created music that they thought typified the sounds that one would hear in a video game. A detailed lesson plan for the Video Game Soundtrack project has also been shared on the Soundtree website.
Coming Next: Elementary Music Teachers
In part 3 of this series, I’ll share the work of some elementary teachers who incorporate technology into their teaching.
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