When I began this MAT program a few months ago, I did not realize how closely connected music and technology could be in a music classroom. I also did not know that I already had a good basis of technology savvy that equipped me to venture into new territories as a teacher. And venture, I did.
At the beginning of this semester, my mentor teacher excitedly announced to me and my music MAT peers that she had received a grant to make use of a new music technology application known as SmartMusic with our JAMM students (Juneau, Alaska Music Matters, our after-school music education program at Glacier Valley Elementary School). She had a vision of students working together to assess one another’s playing using this technological tool. It gave us such hope- students could take ownership of their music education while enhancing their analytical listening skills and becoming familiar with using iPads. I could see how this application could get students excited about growing as musicians while helping us teachers have a better, more formal way of assessing their playing abilities. There was just one tiny problem: none of us knew how to use it.
And then my curiosity kicked in. Without fully realizing what I was getting myself into, I volunteered to become acquainted with SmartMusic so that I could eventually teach my colleagues and JAMM students how to use it.
Let me give a more general overview of SmartMusic before I dive into my SmartMusic project. SmartMusic is an interactive music learning software that allows students to record and assess themselves playing their instruments (or singing), making use of its thousands of repertoire selections. Students enroll in their classes and take the assigned quizzes their teachers gave them; they practice the assigned quizzes, during which they can change the tempo, use the tuner, or practice just chunks of the exercise/piece. Once students are ready, they can record themselves in “Performance” mode, the mode they can send to their teacher. Once the student is finished playing, he or she can listen to themselves and see the red (for incorrect) and green (for correct) notes from their take. This allows students to know exactly which notes they missed, whether because they were out of tune, playing the incorrect note, or were not playing the correct tempo. The student then submits their quiz to the teacher, and the teacher has access to the same thing the student does: the red and green notes and the recording. Being able to assess themselves in this way is exciting and motivating for them- I know because I have seen it! Check out this video to get a visual presentation of what SmartMusic is all about. The SmartMusic site’s logo simply says this of the software. SmartMusic: Focused Practice. Instant Feedback. Documented Progress.
Students’ intrinsic motivation is heightened through this tool. Their ability to work together and assess one another is also increased. Another teacher and I taught our JAMM cellists and bassists how to use SmartMusic, and after a couple weeks of using it together, we sent the kids out into the hall in groups of two or three, and they became in charge of helping one another practice and record their assigned quizzes (which were the same set of quizzes for all students). Not only did the students become comfortable with using a new technological tool, we teachers also used this experience to teach students about giving helpful feedback. I taught students the concept known as “the compliment sandwich”: after your peer performs, you start off with a compliment about what they did, then offer a “helpful hint” or constructive criticism to help them improve next time, and then end with another compliment. Students assess their performing peer and help them achieve a better score in a healthy, team-building manner.
Our SmartMusic colleagues were also gracious enough to offer a discount for our students so that if they wanted to use SmartMusic at home on their computers, tablets, or iPads, they could purchase a subscription for just $25. If students are not interested in using SmartMusic at home to practice and take quizzes, they still have their free accounts that they use on our four school-provided iPads during JAMM class time. The students who have accounts at home are not only able to practice their quizzes, but they also have access to the thousands of other pieces and exercises in SmartMusic. From sight-reading exercises to advanced orchestral repertoire, SmartMusic has a broad range of available music. It really is incredible the amount of music students now have access to because of this program.
So once I learned about all the reasons why we should have SmartMusic, I had to figure out some important logistical aspects of making SmartMusic available to our 150 JAMM students.
First of all, how did I download SmartMusic onto my computer and the school iPads? That was one of the simpler steps. The SmartMusic site has great step-by-step instructions for how to do that. For iPads, it simply takes downloading the application from the Apple App Store.
The next step got a little more complicated. I realized I had to make accounts for all 150 of our students. I collaborated with my mentor teacher and MAT peers, and we decided upon a shared password between all the accounts that is very simple for all students (and teachers!) to remember. For the username, my mentor teacher suggested we use students’ lunch numbers because those are uniquely specific and students use them frequently. So I sat down at my computer one night, ready to begin the process of looking up each student’s lunch number and going through the multiple steps of creating their accounts. And then, I hit a roadblock. Because these students are in elementary school, they do not meet the requirement of being at least 13 years of age in order to make their own accounts. They needed parent permission by providing a parent’s email address. Yikes- I didn’t have that information! From that, I also realized that I needed to inform and educate parents about this new technology their students will be using, while asking permission for me to create accounts for their children. And so began the creation of the permission slip my mentor teacher and I wrote together, which is found below.
SmartMusic Enrollment Permission Form Dear Parents and Students, This year all JAMM students will work with a computer program called SmartMusic during JAMM club. SmartMusic records the students playing and shows notes and rhythms that were played incorrectly or out of tune. This will give students immediate feedback on their accuracy and help them better focus on their practice while making it more fun.
It is not required to purchase a subscription, but JAMM has received a grant to provide discounted student home subscriptions to students! Instead of $40 a year, it’s only $25. This way your child can use this great practice tool at home or anywhere there is wifi.
In order for your child to use SmartMusic at school and at home, we need a parent/guardian to complete the following:
I, ____________________ (parent name), give _________________________ (student name) permission to enroll in the SmartMusic program. I
give permission to use my e-mail address to enroll my child: _______________________________ (Please write your own e-mail address).
Please check:
___ Yes ____ No I will attend a SmartMusic information meeting at Glacier Valley this Wednesday to see the program in action!
____ Yes ____ No I would like to purchase a 1-year SmartMusic subscription for $25 so that my child can download and use SmartMusic at home on our computer or iPad.
Take notice of the SmartMusic information meeting option found on the slip. That was the next step! I wanted parents to understand how useful this tool would be for their kids and demonstrate what their children would be doing during their “Music Technology” class, the class where I and another teacher taught them how to use SmartMusic. I helped run the meeting (which was my first official parent meeting as a teacher!) and referenced another helpful link for parents on the SmartMusic site. Once I collected all the filled out permission slips from my students, I got to work with setting up personal SmartMusic accounts for every student so they could access their quizzes on the school iPads. After going through that account creation process on my own for hours at a time, I realized that showing other teachers and students how to do it might be a mutually beneficial process! So I created a step-by-step set of instructions, found below.
How to create a SmartMusic account and enroll in a class
Open the SmartMusic application on the iPad.
At the login page, click on “Enroll in a Class” in the bottom right-hand corner.
It will open up to a page in the Safari browser and will ask you to click “Next”.
It will pull up the “New Customers” and “Existing Customers” page. You are a New Customer, so click “Create a New Account”.
Fill out the following information: -Select the student’s birthday month and year -Put “gv + the student’s ID number” as their username -Fill out the password I gave you -Select the United States of America -Uncheck the box that says, “Yes, keep me informed of new MakeMusic products, updates, and special offers via email.”
-Fill out their name -Put “Glacier Valley” as the address -On the next page, select "Student” -On the next page, fill out their grade, school, etc. You can add multiple instruments. -Once you're finished, you can select "Enroll". Enroll the student in their designated class
Twenty-two students took advantage of the $25 deal and purchased SmartMusic subscriptions so they could use the program at home. That led me to create another document, using the resources I once again found on SmartMusic’s website, to guide parents through the steps of downloading SmartMusic on their computer, tablet, or iPad and inputting their subscription code. That document can be found below.
How to redeem your code and install SmartMusic Dear JAMM parents, Thank you for supporting your child’s musical gift by purchasing a subscription for SmartMusic. Below are instructions on how to redeem your code for your subscription and download SmartMusic on your computer or iPad. Your child already has an an account set up, so please do not create a new account. Your student’s login information is found below. Please use this information to sign in once you have redeemed your code and downloaded SmartMusic.
Your child’s username is:________________________________________
Your child’s password is: ________________________________________
Follow these directions to redeem your subscription and install the SmartMusic software:
How To: Redeem a SmartMusic code to receive your subscription 1. In your web browser, go to www.smartmusic.com/redeem/.
2. Log in to your child’s pre-made account withthe login information listed above.
3. After you’ve logged into their existing account, the Redeem Your SmartMusic Code web page appears. Enter the following SmartMusic redemption code:
Your child’s redemption code is: ________________________________________
4. Click Redeem Code. With a subscription now on your child’s account, you can use SmartMusic on any computer, iPad, or tablet on which you install the SmartMusic software.
How To: Download and install SmartMusic 5. Once you’ve redeemed your code, click the Download SmartMusic button. The SmartMusic Downloadsweb page appears.
6. Click Download and follow the instructions on the screen to install SmartMusic. To use SmartMusic on your iPad, download the SmartMusic app from the iPad App Store.
Now that students had their own accounts and were enrolled in their respective classes, I created a playlist on my teacher SmartMusic account that I could assign as a “quiz unit” to each student. That way, every student had to complete the same set of quizzes, which would then be sent to their JAMM teacher. I worked with my Music Technology co-teacher and taught our students how to use SmartMusic and assess one another so they could reach a high level of achievement using the application. Our class became very familiar with the program and were able to teach our younger students (who were in second and third grade) how to use it.
I worked with some wonderful students who even taught me some new things about SmartMusic! Two of these students were Moana and Talita, fifth graders who have been playing with JAMM since they were kindergarteners. Meet them through their introduction video, which is the first video posted below.They have been working with SmartMusic during the Music Technology class and helped me put together a demonstration of them using SmartMusic, which is also found below. Seeing them nervously and excitedly take pride in this piece of technology proved to me that SmartMusic is effective and really helps students take ownership of their learning. It was a wonderful way to conclude this project. Enjoy the videos!
And a fun backstory to the second video: I recruited a couple other fifth grade JAMM kids to help make sure the students passing by us in the hall were quiet for our recording. I had my back to the two students as I worked with Moana and Talita on recording it. I kept wondering why Talita was looking behind me and why the hall seemed to be remarkably quiet...and as soon as I finished recording the girls and turned around, I found that these other two fifth graders had stepped in the center of the hallway with arms outstretched, and were actually not allowing multiple classes to pass until our take was done! The fact that one of these classes was being substitute-taught by our principal made the whole thing a little more frightening, yet amusing. I love these kids and feel honored to go on this adventure of exploring SmartMusic with them!