Does your music classroom have a flux capacitor? Mine does!

Well...not exactly...but that may be the route that we are taking.

We as music educators and musicians are fortunate to be in a time full of opportunities and an ever increasing advancement in technology. Back in the day (1919), Jazz de Luxe was the first musical performance to be recorded. Nowadays, we look at that and say, "man records are old fashioned." Back then, it was a whole different story. It was cutting edge!

Now it's time to jump in that Delorean, speed down the road until we hit 88 MPH and bam!

We have just arrived in 1964. You are outside a music store that is releasing a new song. It's called I Want to Hold Your Hand. But it's not on a record, it's on this new thing called an 8-track. Although people still collect and listen to records, the 8-track is all the rage. 

Too bad we don't have time to take the Delorean to one of those Beatles concerts right now. Oh well. Onward!

Bam! We pass by the cassette tapes in the 70's and 80's, cruise by the CD's in the 90's, and end up in 2014. Now we don't use CD's too much. Although they are still very common, it is much easier to pull up an MP3 or a file on the internet. 

But how does all of this change the way we look at music education?

Well for starters, we have the world of music literally at our fingers. Let's say you wanted to teach a unit on different music cultures because it's cultural awareness month at school. Before the internet, you would be limited to whatever you (or your colleagues) have for music. Now if I wanted to, I could show my students some African drumming music, a little Gospel, maybe a bit of traditional Japanese folk music. But it doesn't end there! I can even throw in some Latin/Cuban, a little steel drum from Trinidad and Tobago, the use of the frame drum in Arabic culture, or the current pop music. Whatever you feel "Happy" with. 

The craziest part about this is that it is only the tip of the iceberg. Along with the infamous Youtube, there are a variety of music notation softwares out there. There is Sibelius, Finale, Pro Tools in conjunction with the previous two, and a really cool new app. called Notate Me. Notate Me can be used on the iPhone, iPad, or android platforms. It is an interactive writing software that transcribes your handwritten notes into legible printed notes. I personally have used this quite a bit recently arranging things on my phone when I forgot my laptop. I think the best part of it is that I can write in what I was and then EXPORT IT to my laptop and further edit it in Sibelius. 

With the advancements in technology that are out there today (like the availability of iPads in the classroom), we have the ability to put apps like Notate Me to good use. We have the ability to provide our students with technology that they can write out their answers like they would on paper, but be able to play back and hear what they have written. After they are relatively satisfied, they can export it to Sibelius or Finale for teacher review and further editing. By sending it to Sibelius or Finale, there is no mistaking what note is what if a student has sloppy writing (like me!).

Although we aren't at the world of flux capacitors and time travel yet, the advancements in technology have put our students and ourselves at a serious advantage to becoming well rounded musicians with an understanding of a wide range of cultures.