Hybrid spaces and hyphenated musicians: secondary students' musical engagement in a

songwriting and technology course

- A fight for music educators to expand music classes beyond ensembles and
performance

- There was a decline in ensemble enrollment, and still no increase for secondary music
classes

- Goal of making secondary music more inclusive

- The development of more comprehensive music programs and music electives can
reach a larger number of people than those of ensembles

- Secondary music classes and electives involve more contemporary music, which can
appeal to a wider variety of students

- Informal learning practices offer new directions for secondary curricula, and the STC,
(Songwriting Technology Class), did not provide instruction unlike other classes
- Implementing technology music courses offer an approach beyond performance based
classes and ensembles; it also gave students a different way of understanding music

- Each student had a different method for creating their song, either before, after, or
during the STC, they each had an important musical experience they wouldn’t have had
in an ensemble, performance based class

- For this project, and this class, it gave them a chance to explore music on their own

- They had to perform their song to be able to record it, but it wasn’t required for them to
sing or play it in front of others- this also gave them performance/ creating opportunities
they wouldn’t have had otherwise in an ensemble
- In the groups, each student was assigned to their own role, so doing this project alone
was difficult for some of the students

- Understood that making a track was a collaborative effort

- This project suggests that music programs can expand beyond traditional curricula
What specific topics would you use for formal learning and what topics for informal learning?