In June of 2014 the National Coalition for Core Art Standards released the new Core Music Standards. The overarching goal of these new standards is to foster Music Literacy defined as the ability to understand a medium and communicate in that medium. The new standards are centered around 4 Artistic Processes: Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting. SmartMusic helps students in your program achieve all four Core Music Standards.

Creating

The process of creating includes the Imagination, Planning and Making, Evaluating and Refining and Presenting phases of Improvisation. 

Students enjoy practicing with built-in jazz improvisation resources from dozens of publishers. They can:

• See improvisation patterns
• Learn to read chord changes
• Practice transcriptions of piano, bass, and drums
• Explore new music from Wynton Marsalis, Peter Erskine, and Jeff Coffin
• Practice exercises
• Learn to play by ear
• Preserve their original ideas through recording
• Share those recordings with an audience

Additionally, SmartMusic’s Compose tool means that students can create their own compositions and share them with others (including you) via email.

Performing

The artistic process of Performing involves the following phases: Selecting, Analyzing and Interpreting the music; Rehearsing, Evaluating and Refining it; and finally Presenting it. Our extensive library of titles aids the students in the selection process. They can not only see the music on screen, but also hear the accompaniments. SmartMusic helps vocal and instrumental students of all abilities perform solo repertoire accurately and independently. The aural and visual feedback provided by our assessment feature plus the ability to record each take, the use of practice tools and teacher feedback help students Rehearse, Evaluate, and Refine their performance. Lastly, students present the product of their work demonstrating attention and mastery of technical demands and expressive qualities of the music.

Responding

The combination of recording and visual assessment provides an invaluable evaluation opportunity for students to listen to and reflect on their own performance. Additionally, solo lines can be played independently or with accompaniment so as to allow listeners to analyze relationships between the two.

Teachers can also create custom rubrics, so that students add a written response to their submitted recordings. This approach integrates “Responding” standards with “Performing.”

Connecting

SmartMusic includes the largest online digital library of music in the world, which includes a wide variety of historical styles, genres, and applications. The ability to work directly with the music on screen, receive feedback and perform for oneself or an audience allows the students to draw connections between the music, its historical and cultural contexts, and their personal lives.

Ryan Sargent is the former Educational Guru + Content Marketing Wizard at MakeMusic, Inc., developing and distributing professional development content to educators across the country. He also serves as the vice president of the Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME) where he helps music teachers use technology in their classrooms and connects educators with the music industry. Ryan is a former middle school band teacher and private low brass instructor. A graduate of Baylor University, he studied jazz pedagogy and musicology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is an active trombonist in the Denver area and teaches music history at the Metropolitan State University of Denver.