Using Technology to Develop Creativity

There are many great students in music programs around the world. Developing musicians that participate in choir, band, orchestra, or other ensembles that are available at schools. These students will have an opportunity to develop a skill, appreciation, and love for music through these programs, but if we view these as the only musically inclined students we would be doing a disservice to what Williams noted as the "other 80%." (as cited in Bauer 2014 p.46). These "other" students are those who are musically inclined with a love for music and creative potential but are not in a school band, orchestra, or choir. By utilizing technology, music educators everywhere can help these students develop their musical skill, appreciation, and love of music just as those enrolled in a school music group.

Developing creative individuals is an amazing opportunity we have as music educators. Music educators have already found their love, passion, artistic ability, and have had many opportunities to develop their creativity. We must strive to provide that to all the students we have the privilege of teaching. By using technology we are able to increase that sphere of influence beyond students in a traditional music class. According to Bloom's Taxonomy creating is the highest of the cognitive processes. For a student to create something original it is not just a simple wave of a magic wand. The process of creating is how skills and techniques are developed that will positively influence other facets of students lives. Music educators are here to assist in that development and teach students that process. 

There are many guides for creative thinking and developing that creative process. Musically there are things as simple as rhythm echos and loops to teach about rhythm and beat as a foundation for future music creation. Some things as difficult as improvisation and composing original ideas in traditional notation. Each end of the difficulty spectrum both have a process in learning those skills. With the support of technology we are able to use programs such as Musescore, GarageBand, and many others to students so they can write, create, and record their own music. Technology provides students with instant auditory responses, being able to hear a creation step by step. With music creating software students have the ability to create both single musical lines as well as multiple instrument pieces and hear how they sound. The technology examples below are taken from Musescore.

    

(Images taken from an assignment as examples from Musescore original composer George Hess)

There would be a lot of set up and scaffolding the teacher would have to do in order for the student to have the sufficient skills to tackle these types of projects. Below are screenshots from a simpler music creating program app called GarageBand.

(Source: https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband)

Music educators can use digital instruments for making the creative processes more accessible. These tools could be utilized also by music educators to create their own loops for accompaniment in teaching harmony and improvisation. A simple affordable tool that can have many uses both for teacher and student. Both uses of this application would contribute to the development of the students creativity and the process that accompanies that creative product. This type of application reminds me of all the current top artists in the Pop music world. Many of them are musicians who are able to apply this type of synthesized instrument technology alongside traditional instruments to make some great songs. Some examples I can think of are the Chainsmokers, Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Zedd, and many more.

There are many things to consider and remember while helping students learn this process no matter what the support tool is. First is to provide students opportunities to be creative. Next be sure to have or find the best resources available, utilizing technology when available. Remember to also have appropriate stimulation. Keeping in mind proper pedagogy and educational factors such as Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development as we think of the stimulation for creativity. For example correct and clear prompts, activities and expectations, and other best practices as we help students become better creators both in product and process. Finally, and what may be one of the greatest challenges, provide sufficient time. That would depend on each individual student, differentiation is key.
(Information derived from Bauer 2014 p.50.)