In “Music Technology and the National Standards, Part 1” (in the Spring issue of MET), we discussed three of the six instructional areas of music technology identified by the Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME): electronic instruments, notation software, and sequencing software. In part 2, we will examine the remaining TI:ME areas of music technology: instructional software, the Internet, and multimedia. Again, emphasis will be on how these tools can be used to achieve the nine MENC national standards (see the sidebar “The MENC National Standards”).

Because today's computers can deliver exciting, high-quality graphics and sound, computer-assisted instruction can be extremely captivating. When teachers and students can interact with the materials, the quality of instruction can be significantly more effective than with traditional materials, such as worksheets. Many computerized lessons, for instance, make comparing one theme of a composition with another as simple as clicking on a button. Computerized lessons can be used as homework assignments and in class, with the group providing answers to be entered into the computer. You also can use the computer as a vehicle for presenting information.

With computer-assisted lessons, students receive feedback and correction immediately upon demonstrating a misunderstanding. Eliminating the delay between the time the student completes homework and the time the work is returned is clearly beneficial.

The Internet provides the ability to communicate through e-mail. It enables individuals to search for and locate information on the World Wide Web (the graphical portion of the Internet), including pictures, sounds, and text. The Net also gives people the chance to share lessons and ideas with others all over the world.

Teachers have begun to incorporate this technology into their instruction in a variety of ways. Some teachers encourage electronic discussions among their students using e-mail (including topical e-mail lists), Web-based bulletin boards, and chat rooms. Another option is to display pictures, sounds, and movies from the Web in class. It's even easier to download and print materials and bring them to class.

An increasingly common approach is to direct students to find information or to prepare reports using the Internet. You can require your students to complete Web-based lessons, which increasingly include interactivity as well as pictures and sounds. In addition, some teachers and music departments create Web sites for their students to use.

Multimedia, for our purposes, is the combination of pictures (including video), sounds, and text in electronic format. You can create the content using software for editing graphics, text, video, and audio. You can then assemble those parts into a multimedia presentation using software such as Apple's Keynote or Microsoft's PowerPoint. The completed multimedia project can be presented directly on a computer, kiosk-style, or delivered on interactive CD or DVD. You also can display the projects using a digital projector that works with your computer or by dubbing to videotape, albeit that sacrifices interactivity, which is a significant loss.

Web pages and instructional software are other examples of multimedia presentations. In the former, instead of presentation software, you might assemble your project using Web-authoring software such as Macromedia's DreamWeaver. There are many such tools, including commercial software as well as shareware and freeware.

Teachers can use multimedia in the classroom in many ways. You can record the performances of your students, take pictures using digital cameras, create movies using video cameras, and download content from the Web, including MIDI and MP3 (audio) files. These items are frequently incorporated into multimedia presentations that are used in the classroom, displayed during parent nights, and shown at school-board meetings.

One strength of multimedia is that it can be used to develop customized lessons and presentations based on the needs of the individual teacher. Because those solutions are customized and can be developed to address any topic, our discussion will center on using multimedia instructional software and Internet lessons to achieve the MENC standards.

The first two national standards state that students will sing and perform instruments alone and with others. Several software packages support and encourage those standards.

The most notable of these packages is MakeMusic's SmartMusic Studio (see Fig. 1), which plays an accompaniment while students sing or play an instrument into a microphone. One feature that makes SmartMusic superior to the usual music-minus-one-style accompaniment is that the software tracks and adjusts to the tempo and phrasing of the student, so that as the student speeds up or slows down, so does the accompaniment. SmartMusic Studio can download songs from MakeMusic's vast library, which includes most popular technique books and solos for all band and orchestral instruments. With the latest version, you can create your own arrangements in MakeMusic's Finale notation software and use them in SmartMusic.

A number of programs teach students how to play specific instruments. EMedia, for example, has a series of instructional programs for piano, guitar, and electric bass. The company's Piano & Keyboard Method (see Fig. 2) offers more than 300 hands-on lessons for beginning- and intermediate-level piano students. Most lessons feature notation, and double-clicking on the score opens an animated keyboard that displays the correct fingering. Where appropriate, lessons also offer spoken comments and video clips demonstrating proper technique. A series of guitar programs is also available from Alfred Publishing, including Basic Guitar Library and Girl's Guitar Method, which is aimed specifically at instructing 9- to 12-year-old girls.

Several of the notation and sequencing programs described in part 1 of this article also permit vocal and instrumental practice and performance with accompaniments. Auto-accompaniment programs such as PG Music's Band-in-a-Box are especially useful in helping students to practice performance skills while singing and playing.

The Web also contributes to the development of vocal and instrumental performance skills. Many commercial sites make music available for purchase over the Internet. At JW Pepper's Web site (see the sidebar “Contact Information”), teachers and students can examine and listen to scores before purchasing them. Both Sibelius and MakeMusic have collections of free scores on their Web sites. Among the Web sites mentioned in part 1 was the Classical MIDI Archives. This site contains accompaniments and performances of some of the best classical music. There are many more such sites and services.

The third and fourth standards cover improvising, arranging, and composing. Instructional software, Internet activities, and multimedia allow students to compose on many levels. Even beginners can now produce results that only accomplished composers could achieve in the past.

Among the most useful programs for developing improvisation skills are PG Music Band-in-a-Box (see Fig. 3) and MiBac Jazz. Both come with a number of accompaniments that can be used to practice improvising melodies. Both permit accompaniments to be transposed to new keys and to be played at any tempo. Students and teachers can also enter chord symbols into measures and have the computer generate an accompaniment in a number of different musical genres (such as swing, blues, rock, country, and reggae). Band-in-a-Box even permits the students to generate a solo in the style of jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, convert their compositions to digital audio, and burn them to CD-R.

Several programs enable students to compose music. Some focus on composition using notes, while others use graphics to represent musical ideas. Still others use building blocks that represent sounds and can be arranged melodically and harmonically. Teachers may wish to arrange experiences with these lessons so that students progress through the various approaches until they are comfortable composing at the highest levels. Most of the programs in this category do not include structured lessons but require that the teacher assign a project to be completed.

Famed electronic-music composer Morton Subotnick has produced two programs, Making Music and Making More Music, both of which are distributed by eMedia. These programs contain activities in which students must manipulate musical ideas. For example, students can drag building blocks representing melodic fragments onto a timeline to reconstruct familiar tunes, use a paintbrush tool to draw melodies using various scales, and experiment with contemporary compositional techniques such as inversion and retrograde. Subotnick maintains a Web site that implements many of the Making Music activities at www.creatingmusic.com. Of course the software contains more features than the Web site does, but children can nonetheless enjoy many useful activities online, including composing and performing music and playing an assortment of musical games and puzzles.

Silver Burdette Ginn's Rock Rap 'n Roll, part of the company's Making Music series, is another program that provides an excellent compositional activity. In this program, the students arrange musical building blocks into professional-quality compositions in any of ten musical styles: African, Latin, big band, rap, reggae, soul, rock, street jazz, blues, and techno pop. Students can learn about and experiment with different formal arrangements, layer melodies on top of accompaniments, improvise their own melodies, and record and save their compositions.

Teachers interested in composition may also wish to explore a new program from Sibelius, entitled Compass. In addition to several lessons targeted toward composition, the software includes the Tracker sequencing program, which has a number of features that encourage compositional experimentation. For instance, the student can select a number of preexisting chords to be used in a composition and then apply a rhythm of their choosing to be used when playing the chord.

An excellent example of an online program that encourages compositional thinking with sound is the Blues Jam page of Steven Estrella (www.stevenestrella.com/IWP/bluesjam/bluesjam.html).

The fifth standard requires that students read and notate music. There are probably more programs in this category than any other, ranging from simple “flash-card” drill and practice lessons to sophisticated tutorials that teach theoretical skills at the highest level.

On the most basic level are drill and practice programs such as ECS's Clef Notes, Note Speller, and Musical Flash Cards (see Fig. 4). These programs are useful to students who are starting to learn the basics of musical symbols and who need practice to strengthen their skills.

A number of programs incorporate knowledge of notation and reading music into a more sophisticated game format. A good example is Knowledge Adventure's JumpStart Music. In this game, the students must travel through a virtual space and save the day by solving musical puzzles.

Some of the most exemplary titles in this category for younger students are Harmonic Vision's MusicAce I and II and town4kids MiDisaurus. Music Ace I and II include approximately two dozen lessons teaching staff reading, keyboard, and rhythm skills, key signatures, and much more. Students can listen to music using the software's jukebox and can create and arrange music using the doodle pad. The graphics and sounds make the lessons both entertaining and educational. MiDisaurus (see Fig. 5) is an extensive 12-volume set of lessons for young children. The software contains excellent animations and graphics illustrating musical concepts and offers interactive student tasks that check for understanding.

Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory (see Fig. 6) contains a comprehensive collection of theory exercises for younger students. The lessons include tutorials, as well as practice activities. Ars Nova's Practica Musica and MiBac's Music Lessons I and II (see Fig. 7), contain theory exercises that are appropriate for high school or college theory students. Although each of these programs cover some common ground, they are distinctive enough that you should review them independently to determine which ones would be most appropriate for a specific classroom.

A number of Web-based lessons address skills in this category. I have created several and made them available online at www.vfcc.edu/faculty/frichmond/usetech/musicalflashcards/aaaindex.html. More sophisticated lessons in the same category are available online at www.musictheory.net.

Standards 6 and 7 require students to listen to, analyze, describe, and evaluate music. Several programs can help students listen to music. The aforementioned Rock Rap 'n Roll can be used to introduce students to ten different styles of music ranging from African to techno-pop. Band-in-a-Box and MiBac Jazz can be used to introduce various styles from country to jazz.

Some programs address listening more specifically. For instance, some lessons play a high-quality recording of a piece while displaying a commentary on the performance. In many cases, the student may switch back and forth between different commentaries. Two good examples are ClearVue EAV's History of Music and History of Jazz. History of Music is a music appreciation course in two parts. It covers music from the middle ages to contemporary music. History of Jazz includes several musical excerpts illustrating the various practices of jazz performance that were found in many of the cities with influential jazz scenes, such as New Orleans, Chicago, and New York.

A Web lesson containing listening experiences may be found at www.vfcc.edu/faculty/frichmond/callcharts/index.html. In the listening-activity example found there, as the music plays, the computer highlights the appropriate section of the call chart.

Some software in this category also helps students practice listening and analysis. You can use these tools much as you would use the material in an “aurals” or ear-training course. A title deserving consideration in this category is Rising Software's Auralia, distributed by Sibelius. Although most of Auralia's exercises are designed for drill and practice, the scope of exercises and listening skills is fairly substantial.

MacGamut 2003, written by Ohio State University theory professor Dr. Ann Bloombach, is another notable ear-training program. Each student purchases a disk and uses it as a textbook and then works through the exercises on their own computer. The software offers extensive drills for melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic dictation as well as intervals, scales, and chords. You also can design your own drills to focus on problem areas.

Michael Ossman's Big Ears Web site (www.ossmann.com/bigears; see Fig. 8) provides drills for the aural identification of intervals. Its virtual piano keyboard, when clicked, plays notes and announces the intervals played.

Standard 8 asks the teacher to demonstrate the relationships between music and other arts and disciplines. Some of the music-history and music-appreciation lessons I've mentioned connect the arts and political events to music and would help fulfill this MENC standard. Other music lessons incorporate music, math, science, reading, and a variety of other skills.

Several programs for the elementary level help address these standards. Broderbund's Active Mind The Treehouse is no longer in production, but copies are still available from McCormick's. The program integrates music with math and science skills. Edmark's Thinkin' Things, Collection 2, a program for children ages seven to ten, also integrates music with a number of other skills. (Edmark and Broderbund products are published by Riverdeep, Inc.)

Standard 9 asks the teacher to demonstrate the relationship between music and history and culture. Since each culture of the world has unique musical approaches, these types of connections are easy to make. Of course, Western European cultures are easily understood through most of the lessons described thus far, but the music of other cultures is also increasingly available on CD-ROM. For example, Global Voices in Song's Four Swazi Songs, distributed by ECS, is an interactive CD that provides records of four songs from South Africa's Swazi people along with background information on the culture in which these songs arose. The company plans to release at least three more such CDs covering folk songs of Hungary, Japanese traditional music, and the music of South Africa's Sotho people.

One of the great things about the World Wide Web is that it is indeed a global phenomenon. As a result, first-hand information about music and culture from around the world is readily available. Part 1 of this article referenced sites about Asian music. Information about African culture is available at Raymond Slaughter's site, “The African Tradition” (http://aaas.myztek.com). A Web search will reveal many additional means of achieving this standard.

Using music-instructional software, the Internet, and multimedia offers a number of benefits to students and teachers, including increased motivation, greater efficiency, faster feedback, and customized and individualized lessons for students. These tools address all areas of music learning and all areas of the MENC National Standards.

Floyd Richmond (frichmond@vfcc.edu) is a member of the music faculty at Valley Forge Christian College in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. He is a frequent presenter and writer in the field of music technology.

The National Association for Music Educators (MENC) has defined nine national standards, all of which can be accomplished with the aid of music technology. They are:

1. Singing a varied repertoire of music — alone and with others.
2. Performing a varied repertoire on instruments, alone and with others.
3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
5. Reading and notating music.
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
7. Evaluating music and musical performances.
8. Understanding relationships between music, other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.

For additional information about achieving the MENC national standards using music technology, see Technology Strategies for Music Educators by Rudolph, Richmond, Mash, and Williams. This textbook is published by Hal Leonard and has more than 200 additional ideas. For more information, see the TI:ME Web site.

Alfred Publishing tel. (818) 891-5999; Web www.alfred.com

Ars Nova Software tel. (800) 445-4866 or (425) 889-0927; e-mail info@ars-nova.com; Web www.ars-nova.com

Classical MIDI Archives Web www.classicalarchives.com

Clearvue/eav tel. (800) 253-2788 or (773) 775-9433; e-mail CustServ@clearvue.com; Web www.clearvue.com

Edmark/Riverdeep tel. (888) 242-6747 or (415) 763-4700; e-mail info@riverdeep.ne; Web www.riverdeep.net/products/thinkin_things

Electronic Courseware Systems (ECS) tel. (800) 832-4965; e-mail sales@ecsmedia.com; Web www.ecsmedia.com

eMedia tel. (206) 329-5657; e-mail custserv@emediamusic.com; Web www.emediamusic.com

Global Voices in Song Web www.globalvoicesinsong.com

Hal Leonard Corporation tel. (800) 637-2852 or (414) 774-3630; Web www.halleonard.com

Harmonic Vision, Inc. tel. (800) 474-0903 or (312) 332-9200; e-mail sales@harmonicvision.com; Web www.harmonicvision.com

JW Pepper & Son tel. (800) 345-6296 or (610) 648-0500; e-mail satisfaction@jwpepper.com; Web www.jwpepper.com

Knowledge Adventure/JumpStart Web www.jumpstart.com

MacGamut Music Software International tel. (800) 305-8731; e-mail office@macgamut.com; Web www.macgamut.com

MakeMusic, Inc. (SmartMusic) tel. (888) 874-2144; e-mail customerservice@smartmusic.com; Web www.makemusic.com

McCormick's Enterprises tel. (800) 323-5201 or (847) 398-8680; e-mail sales@mccormicksnet.com; Web www.mccormicksnet.com/msafram5.htm (History programs) and www.mccormicksnet.com/treehous.htm (The Treehouse)

MiBac Music Software/Thinkware (distributor) tel. (800) 369-6191 or (360) 594-4275; e-mail info@mibac.com; Web www.mibac.com

Michael Ossman Web www.ossmann.com/bigears

Silver Burdette Ginn/Pearson at School Web http://pearsonatschool.com/catalog/product.asp?product_id={1D6988A9-4AC1-40A6-82E5-F8C70BD978DE}

PG Music tel. (250) 475-2874; e-mail info@pgmusic.com; Web www.pgmusic.com

Sibelius Software, Ltd. tel. (925) 280-0600; e-mail infoUSA@sibelius.com; Web www.sibelius.com

TI:ME (Technology Institute for Music Educators) tel. (610) 519-7215; e-mail TimeMusEd@ti-me.org; Web www.ti-me.org

Town4kids e-mail usa@town4kids.com; Web www.town4kids.com