MUE 6696- Module 2 (MIDI, NoteFlight, MuseScore, Creativity and Improvisation)

This week I had the pleasure of working with different types of music notation software. As a music student during my undergraduate degree the only music writing software that I ever used was Finale. I was very excited to learn about different music writing capabilities that were available online and for free download. These programs will make it much more applicable for my students to be able to write music, and for us to not have to spend a fortune to make this available to them. The lessons that were available on the MuseScore website were very helpful in learning how to work the program and get started. I also did some searching on YouTube and found a series of videos available that really takes everything step-by-step in introducing all of the different functions of MuseScore.

Another music notation software that I got the opportunity to use this week was NoteFlight. I have used this website for small composition projects with my beginning band students before and do not find it as user friendly as MuseScore. While you can learn how to use NoteFlight and there are lessons available I did not find it as easy to learn as MuseScore. The good thing about NoteFlight is the fact that you do not have to download anything to a device to be able to use it. Since NoteFlight is one hundred percent online it is much easier to access at school, since it is hard to download programs to computers at the school.

The other thing that I took from this week’s discussions and readings was the idea of creativity and improvisation in music classrooms. Something that I had not ever thought about, that I learned from the readings, was the fact that just because a student is not in a music class does not mean that they do not want anything to do with music. Bauer (2014) said, “In other words, these are students who aren’t enrolled in school bands, orchestras, and choruses yet who have strong musical interests and untapped creative potential” (p. 46). There are so many students that have great musical talent and creativity that just do not have anything to do with the organized programs at the school but that might perform or sing at a church or other individual events.

Another huge consensus from the readings and discussions was the talk about teaching improvisation and composition. Bauer (2014) says, “Some teachers, however, have found these creativity standards challenging to implement since their personal background in improvisation or composition was not strong” (p. 46). This was a large talking point that I had not thought a lot about until now. While I try and come up with some creative discussions and composition assignments in my band classes I was definitely not big on that in school. There has been a lot that I have learned in the past couple of semesters in relation to creativity in class that I know will benefit my students greatly and I look forward to their progress as well as my own in that manner.

Bauer, W.I. (2014). Music learning today; Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York: Oxford University Press.

Wardrobe, K. (Producer). (2010, January 11). MuseScore in 10 easy steps: part 1 score setup.  Podcast retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEbs0cii4VY