Use of Music Technology Software in Junior and Senior Cycle

The use of software music packages at post-primary level has been greatly welcomed by both music teachers and students alike as it has greatly facilitated the teaching of rudiments of music, the development of musical concepts and the provision of music technology as an option at Leaving Cert. Judging by the feedback from teachers at the PPMTA  (www.ppmta.ie) conferences and Education Centres the use of software has introduced a new and engaging medium of teaching music in the classroom with increased numbers of students taking the music technology option at Leaving Cert.

There are many benefits in using software in the teaching of music in the classroom especially when addressing the three main activities of Performing, Composing and Listening and the developing of musical concepts. Some of the software plays backing tracks for students to perform to; others provide a virtual stave where notes can be inputted as standard musical notation for composing purposes, while most add a graphical dimension which helps in explaining musical concepts such as pitch, dynamics and structure. Together with a data projector, music software can be a very effective medium in the teaching of music, as information can be displayed to the class in a two dimensional way (sight and sound) which helps provide clarity in a lesson.
 

At the moment, when choosing the music technology option for the Leaving Cert music exam, the majority of students prefer to input music using virtual staves (treble and bass etc…) edit the parts in different ways (tempo, pitch, dynamics etc…) and finally save and print the finished piece. Programs such as Sibelius offer all those functions and as a dedicated notational package will meet the most demanding of requirements together with producing the most professional looking scores available. The inputting of notes on the stave is very easy as it basically requires selecting a minim, quaver etc…and then clicking on the appropriate line or space on the stave. As a result it is a valuable resource for teachers to have in the classroom when teaching rudiments of music to both junior and senior cycle students where melody writing, cadences, building chords and sight reading in general can be addressed with ease.