Elaine Snowden

MUSIC 670
Technology Integration Objective

Objective: Given a bass line or some harmonic structure, students will use their knowledge of
music in both the aural world and technological world in order to compose a melody using
computer software in order to be performed in the real world.
Materials:

 Compositional software such as Sibelius or Finale

 A bass line/harmonic structure/backtrack
 The students’ instruments (possibly including accompanying text if vocal)
Lesson Plan:
1. The lesson will begin with a melody played from a computer that is accompanied with
the same harmonic structure students will be using
2. This will be followed with the teacher’s performance of their own arranged melody.
3. The (short) melody then needs to be analyzed
a. The analysis should be student lead if possible. What did they hear?
b. What were the differences between the computer recording and the live
performance?
4. Depending on the background knowledge of the students, there may need to be some
explanation to the chords of the harmonic structure provided
a. This might include explaining that V chords lead to I chords, etc . . .
5. Students are given time to create their own melodies. This could even be done in groups
Assessment:
Students can perform their own melodies on the computer or their instruments and discuss the
strengths of listening through technology first and the strengths of playing the song out loud.
Students should demonstrate that they thought through the differences and similarities of
playing the same song on both the computer and their instrument or voice.
Reflection:
The reason I chose to do this lesson plan is for the relevancy of actually dedicating time to learn
a physical instrument whether it be piano, guitar, or a wind instrument. In this lesson plan, I
want to demonstrate what students can do with computer software and its accompanying MIDI
recordings. However, I also want them to see how they don’t have to stop there, they can go
beyond the technology, give it emotion, and bring the electronic to life. So while our technology
is advanced and we can chose from a variety of timbres of so many instruments and even play
back our compositions as we create them, the computer will never have the same heart or level
of expressiveness that we as human music-makers have. So in this lesson, I wanted to connect
both some technological advances with what we already have and what will probably never
change.