Why we need to embrace technology in the band room?
Why we need to embrace technology in the band room?
In the US, 90% of high school students now have a personalized device. The issue is no longer access to devices, but rather embracing them in band rooms.
A band class has anywhere from 15 to 200 students on different instruments at vastly different skill levels. Unless parents are paying for weekly lessons, a whopping $3,000 – $4,000 a year, students won’t receive instrument specific training.
It’s not possible for a single teacher to teach trombone embouchure, while showing the bass player French bowing, while showing the pianist upper extensions, while showing a trumpeter plunger technique. But for a band to sound good, it requires exactly that type of individual mastery.
80% of teachers believe technology will become increasingly integral to the classroom, that’s modest. Using technology in the band room, all these different lessons can and will take place at the same time. Students don’t need private lessons to excel in music class. It levels the playing field.
My Juilliard ensemble sounded great because we all had a ton of individual mentorship so when we rehearsed together, our ensemble director could work on collaborative elements of the music. We could work on sound and feeling and all the rest of elements that make us feel the power of art.
Technology is progress.
