Final Post!!

How might technology mediate musical engagement?

There are MANY ways that technology could mediate musical engagement. For one, anything that is allowing you to engage in music, is mediating music! Something as simply as a door, (if the door is closed, making the music hard to hear, then it is restricting you from engaging in music, therefore it is still mediating your engagement), can even mediate musical engagement. As far as technology, a speaker (streaming music through it), a microphone (allowing the sound you make to be amplified), and even a beat-pad (the buttons you press make sounds), or computer (playing music videos, using garageband), all these things can mediate musical engagement.

What is hybridity?

Hybridity is putting/mixing two different things together to create something, or one thing. For example, in this class we put together digital and acoustic sounds all the time, to create something, such as a project. Although, the actual definition of hybridity is the quality or condition of being hybrid, Hybrid means the offspring of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species, or genera, especially as produced through human manipulation for specific genetic characteristics. Or, another definition I feel could be appropriate for this class is: anything derived from heterogeneous sources, or composed of elements of different or incongruous kinds: “a hybrid of the academic and business worlds”.

How might you define the roles of a teacher in a digital hybrid musical space?

If I am understanding the question correctly, a teacher’s role in this type of space, may be to assist their students with confusing things or obstacles they may face, involving technology or digital technology. Another role could be to simply teach students about how to use the technology they have available to them in class, such as garageband, ableton, midi pads, recorders, etc.

Describe such a space.

This space could be a school music classroom. This classroom could have digital as well as acoustic technology/objects. In other words, all sorts of objects that can make music, including digital things and not just instruments, such as a guitar or piano.

Describe what a teacher might do in such a space.

I feel like this is the same question as the roles of the teacher, but a teacher in this space might assign projects to create music involving both acoustic and digital instruments. Or possibly assign the students to think out of the box and use things such as websites, and other digital applications to complete assignments! (kind of like what i am doing right now, and start constructing their PLN!)

If you were teaching this class what would you do differently?

Honestly, I am not sure there is much I would do different. If I had to name one thing, I might not give my students as many homework assignments (mainly not as many posts), but that is from a student standpoint. I don’t know how it is for you as a teacher, so if I was in your shoes, looking at it from a teacher’s point of view then my opinion might totally change.

What did you like about this class?

I liked the idea of the class, and by that I mean the main purpose of the class. The ideas, and things about technology that it taught me, and how it opened my mind to new and different concepts and ideas that I hadn’t thought about before. For example, how to think about teaching through a technological view, and different techniques and approaches to take, or what tools to use and how to use them, etc.

What do think could have been better about this class?

Well, I would have loved for it to not be at 7:30 am! (Even though I know 7:30 am is the best time of day!) One thing that could have possibly been better, was knowledge and teaching beforehand on things such as technology that we had to use for projects, instead of learning how to use, while also having to create something with it. Although, this may have been the purpose of the whole class? To use our minds in a different way, and be introduce to things we didn’t know how to use? Basically figure it out on our own. This just made it very frustrating at times to complete projects, but in the end I learned something new, and got through it. 🙂

THANKS, for a wonderful semester, overall I enjoyed my time in this class!!!