DOLCE CON FUOCO

MUSIC*

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Introduction (0:20)

 

B: Hello and welcome to Dolce con fuoco, a podcast focused on voicing student opinions on current music education issues. Today we will be discussing issues related to virtual music-learning technologies. My name’s Brandon,

 

J: And I’m Jaden. We are both freshmen studying music at the University of Washington, commonly referred to as the UW. Without any further ado, let’s get started!

 

B: So Jaden, how has your experience been working with music platforms?

 

J: Well, considering we’re both music students, I’m sure that both of us have quite a few things to say. I haven’t really spent that much time thinking about how music education needs to change to go online, but with the pandemic taking place right now, I think it’s brought to light a lot of the issues in this area. I feel like a lot of us are missing the time we’d usually spend with our friends in rehearsals and whatnot, but I also feel like I’m not learning as much as I normally would. Like sure, I’m still playing, but I feel like I’m losing my ability to play collaboratively with others, and some technique too. Using video call platforms like Zoom or similar simply doesn’t satisfy the part of me that wants to play ensemble music. There isn’t that same type of in-person connection, and part of that makes it difficult to stay motivated in the artform. On top of these kinds of things, it’s frustrating because it feels like a lot of other classes don’t have this type of problem while music does. I don’t feel like the music platforms we use make any sense, even when we’re all together. Being familiar with one platform doesn’t seem to help with using other ones either. I guess the pandemic just helped to reveal these concerns. 

 

B: I can definitely relate, currently I am in the UW Husky Marching Band where we have had to make numerous adjustments due to COVID-19. One of which is using the platform “Marching Band Pro,” or MBP, for music submissions. It essentially grades a recording of you playing based on pitch, length of notes, basic rhythms, and tempo. In addition to the lack of perfection of these benchmarks, it is unable to accurately detect style or accents that at the moment can only truly be assessed by a human observer. I’ve been marked down for incorrect playing fairly consistently where either my section leaders or band director will tell us that it’s just the program that is messing up. Despite the reassurance, it’s still definitely been a stressor to have grades that appear low before being corrected by the instructor. As you’d probably guess, my personal experience with this and similar platforms has been mostly negative due to the lack of user friendliness and relatively minimal innovation in music software given the current state of progressing technology. In other words, music education, especially during the pandemic, is not progressing with today’s standards.

 

J: Yeah, I agree. It seems like music education technology is difficult to access and utilize; it lacks personalizable elements, and doesn’t create a good collaborative environment remotely. To really explore this, I think we have to talk about why music matters, what’s wrong with the online platforms right now, and what would have to change to make it better. 

 

Importance of Music Education (2:58)

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J: Brandon, maybe you can talk a bit about why music education is an important part of students’ education? Many people would say that music is a secondary concern to STEM and humanities classes as it lacks the same kinds of benefits that studying other subjects would provide. Why should we care about it?

 

B: I’m glad you brought this up Jaden. I believe that there are two fundamental indirect benefits that many people are unaware of. The first reason is that music serves as a way for students to unwind in school so that they can focus in other more conceptually difficult classes. This effect also seems to improve the mental health in many students in an article written by Valerie Strauss for the Washington Post [1]. However, some people could argue that this reason alone is subjective, which to a certain extent, it is. As such, I’d like to introduce the second benefit for students, which is improved academic performance in completely unrelated areas to music. In a study done with a large group of students from Quebec, Canada, enrolled in the prestigious International Baccalaureate (back-a-loriate) program, or IB for short, researchers found a positive correlation to the number of musical courses taken and increasing GPAs in math, history, and even english classes [2]. Many studies have pointed to the same thing, suggesting that music could have a positive effect on cognitive functioning. Maybe people were onto something with the ever popular description of the “Mozart Effect,” which is the temporary increase in spatial reasoning skills after listening to just 10 minutes of Mozart’s sonatas.

 

J: So it seems like even though there’s a bunch of different reasons that music education is good for us, there’s so many different things wrong with the current system that it’s going to need some work - maybe different approaches or considerations - to make its education effective. 

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Grievances of Virtual Music Education (4:32)

 

B: Now that we have established the importance of music in education, let's get a bit more into why it’s suboptimal at the moment, especially with COVID bringing many of its grievances to light.

 

J: Equitable accessibility is a huge concern in music, and probably for performing arts as a whole too. I feel that accessibility has been talked about a lot in the last six months or so due to the pandemic, but it’s been a problem for much longer than that. According to research by Dr. Mara E. Culp and Dr. Matthew Clauhs, the socioeconomic status of a student’s family makes a big difference in their involvement in secondary school music [3]. There’s an assortment of different fees and payments that families have to make to support a musician’s pursuits, ranging from purchasing instruments and accessories to buying expensive performance clothing to accessing reliable transportation. Inequity is experienced differently for all students and families, and today’s common format of education feels like it lacks these talks. Dr. Bryan Nichols has specifically studied the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to learning. Although some of the aforementioned fees may be gone, like transportation fees, there is a huge issue of having internet access that’s both reliable and fast enough for effective communication [4]. Areas that cannot provide internet access to everyone are quickly axing music programs, while those with fewer issues are having a smoother transition. Both ends of this are contributing to how music is generally limited to those who have higher income. In addition, districts are struggling to make music classes work for students with disability accommodations, making teachers feel restricted. Current technology platforms simply don’t provide enough to meet classrooms’ accessibility needs. 

 

B: Another problem with existing technology is its lack of personalizability. Dr. Shawn Goodman proposed a concept relying on teachers giving feedback asynchronous from when the students are playing the music [5]. This is a teaching style that doesn’t necessarily work well for many students. On top of this, Dr. Goodman’s plan mentions a few different platforms that are considered simple to use - Pro Tools [6], Youtube, Zoom, etc. The problem is that since they are intended to be simplistic, they cannot necessarily meet the needs of different students. I can also think of how online resources (such as musictheory.net) explain music theory concepts in only one or two ways, which can be hard for some students to understand. 

 

J: Today’s music education is reliant on teaching large ensembles, which is very different from how some individuals take classes or private lessons to develop theory or technical skills. From experience, it seems that most platforms can only cater to one or the other, like how popular music notation programs such as Musescore or Noteflight can help independent musicians write out music but isn’t necessarily used in a large ensemble setting. Moving forward without one version of musical expression or another would be a huge loss for musicians’ abilities to put themselves out there creatively. 

 

B: There are definitely a lot of existing issues in music. Fortunately, neither of us believe that music education is a lost cause.

 

Improving Music Education Online (7:20)

 

J: Mhm, we have numerous ways to go about improving online music education.

 

B: We could start by emphasizing individualization in online environments. It’s inherently more difficult, especially in the context of COVID-19 and Zoom University. However, the personalizable aspect of music is absolutely essential, as Jaden was saying earlier. Studies done by Dr. Daniel Walzer from the Purdue School of Engineering & Technology has shown important differences in musical learning between different age groups [7]. Furthermore, studies at the University of Madrid demonstrate vital gender based differences in musical learning [8]. These are only a few out of countless examples that show how music cannot be taught as if one size fits all. But realistically, how can we implement a more individualized experience for students? Making it easier to talk in one on one sessions virtually could help. More innovative ways to incorporate software to communicate better quality sound and reduced latency in calls might be essential to facilitating group ensembles for peer commentary. Even just putting more effort into the grading methods of simple recording softwares such as Marching Band Pro could help.

 

J: Another common issue with the performing arts is that it takes a substantial amount of funding to have a strong educational program. Are schools currently meeting this need? 

 

B: Music is often put on the backburner when it comes to departmental funding within schools. Dr. Mark Fermanich from the University of Wisconsin-Madison conducted a meta-analysis, determining that on average school districts only give about 1.6% of their total budget to music instruction, 90% of which goes directly to teacher salaries [9]. This means that a dismal 0.16% of the district’s budget is going towards student needs such as technological resources, instrument rentals, and so on. Most high school music students already know that teachers are always worried about budgets, and activities often require students to pay out of their own pockets. This is partially due to the misconception described earlier that music is a secondary interest to other classes, but I hope that we have at least opened the possibility to you that music is more important than what meets the eye.

 

J: Another place that would make funding easier is if people created platforms with less desire for profit. This sort of ties back to the accessibility, but I’m tired of having programs stuck behind paywalls where schools refuse to provide funds for student access. I feel like adding more of a fee on top of existing costs is not the right way to go. Aside from funding, it seems that a lot of teachers don’t feel ready to teach in an online format, especially for a performing art. In Dr. Carol Johnson’s research into online music pedagogy, he has found that educators are struggling to utilize technology well because professional development in this area focuses literally on how to use a piece of technology, not how to use technology for effective teaching [10]. I have also had the opportunity to interview Darrin Cook, a local high school orchestra teacher, about his experiences with online learning during this pandemic. He has been utilizing SmartMusic, which is a website that hosts some sheet music and practice tools, as well as Soundtrap, which is an online digital audio workstation aimed at allowing users to record and layer audio together. When I asked him for how these technologies have been working for him, he replied, “On the whole, well, but you have to use each tool for very specific purposes as we've discovered through the school year. For example, grading feedback through the AI assessment in SmartMusic works really well for participation and formative assessment purposes, but is very limited in a summative context. It takes more time for me to give students guidance about how to improve their performances, but once the feedback is given and put into practice, the resulting recordings have been impressive.” He also noted, “It is more time consuming to give students feedback about their playing in a remote setting. In an in-person learning environment, group feedback is given to students in real time.” I think this all really goes to show that even though there is technology out there that hopes to solve some of the issues we’ve brought up, it isn’t really meeting this goal. In my opinion, there just needs to be a more direct conversation between those developing these programs and those finding them ineffective so that future technology can be shaped for a wider audience of teachers and students. 

 

B: A big thank you to Mr. Cook for sharing his insights! For more teacher interviews, don’t forget to check out our second episode where we talk to the orchestra and band directors of Issaquah High School.

 

Conclusion (11:29)

 

B: I think we’ve definitely talked through a lot, so let’s quickly recap what we’ve talked about. First, music education is vital to mental well being and academic performance of those who choose to participate in it. This is proven both anecdotally and empirically through multiple studies.

 

J: Although these benefits exist, there’s so many problems with access to music education. The way in which music is taught is based heavily on in-person, collaborative methods - and of course collaboration is important, but this creates a tunnel-vision mindset on how traditional ensembles must be the “best” or “right” way of learning. 

 

B: All the while we can’t forget the importance of individualization in any revisions we make to virtual education. The poor quality of these critical aspects are partially due to the misconceptions on the importance of music as well as the lack of funds given to departments.

 

J: Companies also contribute to this issue through their paywalls required for advanced features. Teachers in this area also face unique challenges as so many of the skills taught through existing music education methods rely on in-person experiences. 

 

B: With these things in mind, we both remain optimistic about the future. With collective efforts, we can better support students truly passionate about music to enhance their learning education as a whole. 

 

J: It’d require the efforts of both current music educators and educators of the next few generations to make the right changes happen, but I think it’s a development and refinement process that lots of musicians could make great contributions to. 

 

B: Definitely. Well, that’s all we’ve got for today! Thank you everyone for tuning in to this episode of Dolce con fuoco. We really appreciate your support. 

 

J: We look forward to releasing our next episode in the near future. Be sure to follow us on all platforms to stay in the loop about our podcasts, and again, thank you so much for listening!

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MUSIC*