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Online challenges music teachers

MILLER

COLUMBIANA — Remote learning has been a very new concept to all educators, as the ability to relay the curriculum through technology has had its own obstacles. However, it creates perhaps an even bigger challenge for music teachers, who have to find creative ways to evaluate student performance.

Charles Miller is the instrumental music director for grades 5-12, teaches jazz band at the high school and co-teaches high school choir at Columbiana. While he is working with other band directors from all over the county and doing his own research on how to effectively teach, Miller said the remote learning process has evolved daily.

Evaluating performance-based classwork remotely has been difficult, but Miller has found possible solutions that could improve the situation. Active listening and music theory work has been made where students can answer questions through Google Classroom.

Miller has also planned to implement a program called Smart Music, where students can access the method book, concert music and other exercises through their electronic device.

“Online, the program provides them with an accompaniment track to play along with,” Miller said. “It will also give them feedback and tell them if they are playing the right or wrong notes and rhythms. It also gives me the opportunity to do my own assessment by listening to recordings they submit.”

Miller has also put together Zoom meetings with his students to talk about what the next couple of weeks are going to look like.

A virtual band is another goal of Miller’s, where students will each play their individual part of a piece written by Composer Randall Standridge called Agent 54: From the Case Files of Freddy Dixon. The kids will receive their parts through Google Classroom, learn them independently and then submit a recording of the whole song. The recordings will then be compiled and created into a virtual concert band. “There are a lot of question marks as to whether we are going to be able to get this off the ground,” Miller said. “But the kids are definitely excited about giving it a shot. We even have kids volunteering to help out with audio and video editing as well. So, the kids are really excited about it.”

Another activity to keep the students interested is the 2020 Music Madness Bracket Challenge, where kids have the opportunity to vote on music pieces from different decades in order to advance them further in the bracket. Miller said it is a March Madness Bracket for music, and it is a county-wide activity, so students from different schools have participated.

Out of the 16 songs, kids go online and listen to a playlist to determine who they vote for. Miller said the bracket idea came from Leetonia band director Randy Rodik, who has been doing it with students in his district for years.

“One of the cool things with the county is that all of the directors are collaborating,” Miller said. “Band directors from all over the county are talking to each other and are figuring out what everyone is doing. We bounce ideas off each other and try to keep things engaging for the students.”

Music teachers everywhere have continued to find new ways to teach, given the COVID-19 pandemic, and Miller and the rest of the band directors in the county have gotten off to a good start.

slendak@mojonews.com

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