TI:ME Areas of Competency
in Music Technology

Outline (see below for content area summaries)

from Technology Strategies for Music Education, 2nd Edition

1. Electronic Musical Instruments
   1. Keyboards
   2. Controllers (Other)
   3. Synthesizers & Samplers
   4. Ensemble Performance
2. Music Production
   1. Data Types
      1. MIDI
      2. Digital Audio
   2. Processes
      1. Looping
      2. Sequencing
      3. Signal Processing
      4. Sound Design
3. Music Notation Software
4. Technology-Assisted Learning
   1. Instructional Software
   2. Accompaniment/Practice Tools
   3. Internet-based Learning
5. Multimedia
   1. Multimedia Authoring
      1. Web Pages
      2. Presentations (PowerPoint, Keynote)
      3. Movie/DVD
   2. Digital Image Capturing (Scanning, Still/Video Camera)
   3. Internet
   4. Electronic Portfolios (i.e. Note Taker)
6. Productivity Tools, Classroom and Lab Management
   1. Productivity Tools (Text Editor, Spreadsheet, Database, etc.)
   2. Computer Systems (CPU, I/O Devices, Storage Devices/Media, etc.)
   3. Lab Management Systems (Korg, Roland, Lentines, etc.)
   4. Networks (Network Manager Software, Server, etc.)

Content Area Summaries

Electronic Musical Instruments

• Operate electronic instruments
• Understand their unique characteristics.
• Use them in the classroom.
• Connect instruments to computers and other instruments using MIDI
• Create layered and split keyboard sounds for performances.
• Choose and edit sounds from stored libraries
• Create sounds using an electronic instrument.
• Create simple to complex musical pieces.
• Teach dexterity and technique.
• Teach musical processes with electronic keyboards.
• Integrate electronic instruments into existing ensembles
• Create entirely new electronic ensembles.
• Operate sound reinforcement equipment
• Set up and connect a variety of electronic instruments for use in concerts in the school environment.

Music Production

• Record and edit music using music production software and hardware
• Understand the various processes and procedures used for recording and editing music including sequencing, looping, signal processing, and sound design
• Understand the types of data involved in music production.
• Store and convert digital audio data
• Store and convert MIDI data
• Understanding the different applications and capabilities of audio and MIDI data
• Use software synthesizers to create digital audio under MIDI control
• Actively apply technology tools in the music production process.
• Enter notes in a MIDI sequence either one at time (step-time) or by performing (real-time).
• Enter musical expressions by changing controller values to produce a more musical performance.
• Produce transcriptions in standard music notation
• Use advanced editing and production techniques
• Perform complex mixing processes
• Integrate digital audio with MIDI data in the sequencer environment.
• Demonstrate orchestration and arranging techniques allowing students to immediately hear the example.
• Change tempos, transposition, timbre, and dynamics
• Teach musical concepts using music production software and hardware
• Teach performance on traditional acoustic instruments using the MIDI sequencer as accompaniment
• Today’s music teacher needs to understand how these software tools operate,
• How to access music data in loop form
• How these loops are imported into the production process
• How to guide students in the crafting of musical phrases using loops
• How to put all of this into the larger context of music production processes.
• Expose students to music of different cultures
• Understand the building blocks of musical style and form through the use of looping tools.
• Understand sound, and how various signal processing techniques can be used to enhance audio in the production process.
• Add effects such as reverb, chorus, and echo.
• Improve clarity of a mix using equalization.
• Supervise students in their production projects
• Use music productions in live performance
• Use music production techniques to and for improving the sound quality in recordings of student performances.

Music Notation Software           

• Create a score for any musical ensemble or instrument
• Enter notes using various approaches including typing, point and click, step entry, and real-time entry.
• Edited scores
• Transpose songs
• Cut, copy, and paste music
• Add expression markings
• Layout a complete musical score
• Extract parts
• Integrate notation files into word processing software for text handouts and exams
• Integrate notation software into classroom activities
• Demonstrate relationships between symbol and sound.
• Guide students in the use of notation software as a creative tool for composition.
• Guide students in learning the basics of notation
• Teach students to hear what they write.

Technology-Assisted Learning

• Have a broad familiarity with available instructional software.
• Understand how to install, use, and integrate these programs into their music curriculum taking full advantage of the record-keeping, evaluation, and instructional support CAI software provides.
• Prescribe instructional software to provide students with a patient practice partner, allowing self-paced progress through subject matter.
• Monitor class work and record progress using CAI software.
• Integrate practice tools into their curriculum
• Guide students in better use of them in their personal practice sessions.
• Integrate these practice tools with music notation and sequencing programs
• Create additional materials for student practice, more closely aligned with the school’s curriculum.
• Connect computers to the Internet
• Share files between computers of varying platforms
• Effectively search and retrieve information.
• Encourage students to use the Internet to find answers and to become life-long learners beyond the classroom experience.
• Encourage students can use this vast information resource to research any topic. Many libraries, both public and private, allow students to search their catalogs online and will give them the references requested.

Multimedia

• Understand basic multimedia authoring strategies including slide show presentations, electronic portfolios, and/or internet web sites.
• Create materials for use in their classes.
• Guide their students in learning multimedia authoring
• Guide students inc collecting multimedia materials from Internet
• Guide students in compiling media rich reports.
• Record and edit sound
• Capture video,
• Acquire images from digital cameras
• Scan pictures and drawings.
• There are many technical issues in creating and manipulating these media elements.
• To transfer information from the real world (analog domain) into the virtual world (digital domain), information must be captured and digitized.
• This is usually accomplished through some form of analog to digital conversion technique.
• Graphics may be digitized using either digital cameras or scanners that convert images into a collection of numbers called pixels (picture elements).
• Each pixel is a dot on the computer screen and represents one of up to a million possible colors.
• Each color is identified by its own discreet number. When digitizing video, a complete screen of pixels must be captured every thirtieth of a second in order to produce the thirty frames per second quality common to analog video.
• In the digitization process of any media type there are always tradeoffs because image, sound, and motion quality is based on the amount of memory, storage, and processing power of the computer.
• To successfully work with digitized media, teachers must understand how computers process data, how data is stored and retrieved from disk, and how to balance sample or frame rate, bit resolution, data transfer rates, data compression schemes, and the various file formats in which digital media can be stored.
• Teachers need to know how to use the various editing tools available for digital media and how to edit and process media file types.
• Teachers must also learn to use various tools that allow files in one format to be converted to another so that files can be combined into multimedia authoring environments.
• At the advanced levels, teachers should be able to use authoring tools which allow them to integrate digital audio, video, graphics, and text into a single document which can enrich various musical activities.
• Strategies for digitization, editing, storage, and distribution of electronic media have become necessary skills for the twenty-first century teacher.
• Teachers also need to know how to combine these media into meaningful learning experiences for students.
• Perhaps even more important is helping students learn to express themselves in this new media, as a literacy requirement for their future.

Productivity Tools, Classroom and Lab Management

• Create, edit, and store information or data in digital form.
• Operate and configure operating systems as needed.
• Take data from one program to another converting file formats as needed.
• Manage the work of being a teacher.
• Manage a technology facility, be it a single computer and MIDI workstation in a classroom or a full music technology multi-station lab.
• Understand the basic functionality of the personal computer, the various input and output peripherals, and the variety of media used to store, transport, and retrieve information.
• Know the basic software tools used to manage a music program.
• Use word processing software to enter, edit, format and print text-based documents.
• Use word processing software to create concert programs, class handouts, tests, and various other office-related documents.
• Use database software can be used to store and retrieve records for instrument and music inventories, class lists, attendance, and grades. Spreadsheet programs assist with the management of data including budget management, bookkeeping, or grades.
• Use graphics programs to integrate illustrations into classroom presentations or word processing documents.
• Presentation software can be used to create overhead transparencies and slides for class lectures, or for presentations made to administrators, funding agencies, and parent groups. Personal Information Management (PIM) programs allow teachers to schedule rehearsals, meetings, and concerts, and to print customized calendars for students and parents.
• Install and run various applications programs
• Enter data, format pages, and print out reports.
• Manage class activities and lab systems.
• Provide for storage of student files.
• Protect against computer viruses
• Develop strategies for maintaining their facilities in a manner that ensures effective use of the workstations while accomplishing their program needs and the goals of their curriculum.
• Understand the way that multiple systems work together in a networked lab environment
• Understand how audio, MIDI, and computer data is managed and distributed between systems.
• Operate networked server computers on which teachers may store classroom materials, and where students may post assignments for review. Today’s teachers must understand how these systems work to most effectively use them in support of better teaching and learning.
• Specify equipment needs for their classroom or lab facilities,
• Understand the interaction and configurations for electronic instruments, computers, MIDI interfaces, sound reinforcement, projection systems, and sound and data networking.
• Manage music technology installations.

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