Thursday, July 21, 2016

Week 3 Reflection

        In our reading for this week, Bauer suggests that working with digital audio is made easier by having a basic understanding of acoustics. This connects to what I am teaching now. Even though I haven't taught with any digital media (yet), my students gain a basic understanding of acoustics in the the 5th grade. I teach a sound unit along with the science teacher in which are students explore frequency and amplitude. They learn about how matter in the air vibrates to create sound and then they determine what category instruments belong to based on what causes the first vibration. (For example, drums are membranophones because the membrane is the first thing to vibrate and cause the air to vibrate). The students also look compare models of sound waves and determine what will have a higher frequency and amplitude.

        The reading on analog versus digital and audio file types clarified and refreshed some familiar concepts that I have read about before, although I have always found this subject a bit dense. I had a vague notion that analog represented "real sound" and digital was code on a computer. I still get confused when thinking about reproductions of sounds verses "actual sounds". If I can hear it, isn't it a sound? It's helpful to think about how with digital information, not all of the sound is captured, and it is converted to binary data, whereas with audio recording, there is a "physical depiction of the sound" (p. 30).   I was also reminded that audio can be converted to digital through an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and these can be greater and smaller qualities.  One disadvantage of analog is that every time it is copied, the quality lowers. With digital audio, it is possible to make copies without losing quality.

        Although I was familiar with the names of various audio files and that these files can be very different in size, the ideas of using codecs and the different compression types was new to me. I learned that codecs are processes to shrink the size of files, and that with lossless compression all of the original sound can be recreated and with lossy  compression, some sounds are permanently removed. WAV files are examples of lossless and MP3s are examples of lossy.

        It was interesting to read about approaches to teaching composition and relate it to my own teaching. Like many other music educators, I find it more comfortable to teach with a notation-based approach, since I have so little experience with DAWs. I think creativity and composition are so important and I incorporate a great deal of them in my teaching, beginning with exploration and improvisation. This is challenging for students and it makes sense that "the other 80%" tends to be more attracted to non-notational composition through technology. I am excited about our project for this week and I'm hoping to increase my comfort level with this technology so that I can incorporate it in my teaching.

        It was helpful to read about how to critique our students during the compositional process. I think my own tendency is to give too much feedback to students all at once and overwhelm them. I like Bauer's idea of the the "compliment sandwich", or of giving a positive comment, then a suggestion, then another positive comment. Also, I learned that students are more receptive to feedback earlier in the process. This makes sense since they would be less invested in it. I often find it overwhelming to work with students on composition projects because of the number of kids, and the beginning stages are often the most overwhelming. I tend to spend too much time with individuals and run out of time to give all students the help they need in the beginning stages. Remembering the "compliment sandwich" will help me not to get held up with one student while others are waiting.
      




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