Final Exam Post

​This past Wednesday I attended a night of fun displays of research and innovations in music technology.  Some of the most phenomenal displays of research that inspired me included information on dyslexia in music and the differences and difficulties in music in rural areas.  These topics interested me because they are areas that are not explored or talked about enough in our profession.  Some of the interesting ideas that were expressed to help students with dyslexia were changing the color of paper music is printed on, recording yourself, emphasizing listening before playing to help analyze what the music is supposed to sound like.  I personally have used all of the methods to help me memorize and read music better.

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On the rural poster some things that were talked about were issues not prevalent in more urban areas.  Some of these topics included a lack of enrollment, lack of funding, and adaptation to isolation (lack of diversity).  In rural areas funding is an extreme issues.  Some people can't afford instruments and the schools systems don't get a lot of funding to buy instruments.   This decreases enrollment and interest in music.  The adaptation to isolation includes including middle school programs in marching bands, joint concerts, and additional community outreach.

I then attended multiple music education technology innovation presentations.  I had a lot of fun playing with the different devices primarily made of makeymakey and other conductive materials such as tinfoil, liquids, and metal objects.  

Lastly I attended a music education debate about the inclusion of music education in public school systems.  I was very intrigued by both sides of the debate but ultimately sided with the inclusion of music education as a core subject required every year in pre-k to 12.  The other side (no inclusion of music education in public schools, music education should be a community learning experience) made good strong points in their argument but were ultimately trumped by the other side.  I created a FB poll online to see how many people who participated in music would or wouldn't have participated in music if it weren't in public schools.  The poll can be found here.
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