Music appreciation students at Loachapoka High School have learned how to use keyboards - on computers, not pianos - to create music.
For the past four weeks, Auburn University students and music education Assistant Professor Dr. Jane Kuehne have worked with ninth through 12th-grade students at the high school to compose music with technology.
Although AU music students have worked with Loachapoka music classes for several years, this semester was the first time technology was used in the curriculum, Kuehne said. The high school students used GarageBand, a music-production program.
"The Loachapoka students really picked up very quickly how to use the computers and how to put a musical form together," she said. "My students were surprised at how quickly the students picked it up."
The music technology curriculum, designed by Auburn University music education graduate student Shane Colquhoun, began with a behind-the-scenes look at the music industry and a discussion about hip hop - a genre that is familiar to many of the students.
"Once I had their attention with hip hop, then I introduced the other genres," Colquhoun said.
The more than 20 high school students involved in the AU project were exposed to a number of music genres, including classical, jazz and rock. "Exposure is the best learning tool," Loachapoka School K-12 band director Joseph Rowser said.
After the students were introduced to the history of music since the 1900s, musical instruments and the basics of song form, they worked in teams to choose and combine melodies to create their own compositions.
"They’ve really had some really neat sounding things," Kuehne said Friday as the students used piano keyboards connected to computers to add to their musical creations.
Loachapoka junior Brantley Luck, 17, has also finished creating an individual musical piece - a rock compilation that features three guitars, including a synthesized bass guitar. Luck said, the introduction to music technology has changed the way he listens to his favorite country and alternative rock tunes.
"Now, I am actually trying to figure out how they created it," he said. "It makes me want to pay more attention to what I’m listening to."
Auburn University undergraduate and graduate students also benefit from the music technology course. Many of the students are music education majors with plans to teach in elementary or secondary school level.
"I hope it gets them not so afraid to use technology in the classroom," Kuehne said.
The AU College of Education has provided grants to support the Loachapoka music technology program, which Kuehne hopes to continue in the spring. She is also currently trying to add a distance-learning music program for Loachapoka band students.
bharvey@oanow.com | 737-2546
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