Lesson Design in Technology-Based Music Instruction

The content of individual lessons and units in TBMI classrooms falls somewhere on a spectrum of content, as seen in Figure 6.1. At the left end of the spectrum fall activities that are purely musical. Even in TBMI classes, we can occasionally design activities that we believe address long-term goals and short-term objectives that are purely musical. For example, when we ask our students to rehearse or perform a piece of music (although it may eventually be recorded, edited, mixed, etc.), we are addressing musical goals through musical activities without integrating technology. At the right end of this spectrum fall activities that are purely technological. These activities may include procedures for digital file management, techniques within software, or hardware connectivity and maintenance. Even though the broader content of TBMI classes should be musical, the focus on technology in lessons that fall to the right side of the spectrum is one of the ideas that separate TBMI classes from traditional music classes. We include lessons that focus on technology because those are the tools in use to make music. It is important that students learn how to use them properly, and teachers should consider it their responsibility to include lessons that meet this description. Purity of content is rare. In truth, longer-term sequences of TBMI might be categorized in one of two ways: Lessons fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. This indicates that the lesson has some content that is musical and some that is technological. The teacher artfully blends them together so that students recognize the application of technology to music, and of music to technology. Lessons shift from one end of the spectrum to the other, perhaps exhibiting more than one shift within a class period. Sometimes it is necessary to explore a musical concept in non-technological ways, then shift to a technological technique that will further address that concept. So, when the activities associated with the two phases of the lesson are combined, we achieve “neutrality” along the spectrum. Also, it should be acknowledged that this spectrum of lesson content depicts lessons under ideal circumstances.