Interactivity #2: Technological Influence in the Music Classroom

We are living in an age where technology advances at an exponential rate.  Each day new technologies are introduced into our everyday lives for the sole purpose of making life easier and more enjoyable.  Therefore, it is a logical conclusion to make that these new technologies will find their way into our classrooms.  Many technologies are already found in the classrooms of today and of years gone by.  Music education has relied on a various pool of educational technologies since its inception; the earliest technologies were in the form of musical instruments and have evolved into the ipod and micro-sized recording devices.

In regards to which technology has had the greatest impact on music education between 1820 and 1990, I believe that the radio has had the greatest impact. The radio brought the world's music to the ears of students in the classroom.  Famous artists, live broadcasts, and intellectual musical discussions were brought into a classroom that might otherwise not have heard such music at an elevated quality.  The different time periods of music seemed to get closer together in that the music from 200, or even 500 years prior was accessible in the classroom.  Some may argue that the phonograph changed the course of music education.  While I agree that the phonograph started the ball rolling, it was really the radio that allowed students to hear a larger variety of musics because they weren't held hostage by the musical collection of their teacher.  Another excellent aspect of the radio is that it influenced later technologies like music-based television, podcasts, and online radio.  These mediums further promote the exposure of different music from around the world.  There are hundreds of music-based television stations that cater to every genre and culture.  Podcasts and online radio stations allow for music from around the world to be portable.  These technologies are used from the youngest primary grades through undergraduate and graduate work at the college level.  Technologies like these are making the world's music more accessible for our students in the classroom.

The YouTube video entitled, "History of Educational Technology," further supports my feeling that the radio has had the greatest impact in music education throughout history.  The radio was not only used for music education, but also for a variety of subject matters.  At the time of its invention, the radio was the newest fad technology out there.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt communicated with the American public with his famous "fireside chats," and the new musical form of jazz was widely heard.  Without the use of radio in the classroom, and then further supplemented at home, certain musical genres would never have become as popular or influential as they did.  Jazz, Rock-n-Roll, and the 1960s Folk music may not have received the same success as with the radio.  Students who heard these types of genres in their formative years were exposed to a great shift in popular music that they would've otherwise missed without the radio.

Hey, turn up the radio!