Thomas J. West Music

One of the things that Smart Music is extremely effective for is holding students accountable for accurate performance of whatever music you assign to them. I use Smart Music to test students on the more technically demanding parts of their concert repertoire when we grow close to concert time. But even in the first marking period, I use Smart Music to create a graduated regimen of major scale and basic rhythm literacy assignments.

Going For The Gold (Or Better)

My middle school string and wind classes have a very diverse student body consisting of 5th through 8th graders. Some have just started their instrument for the first time this fall, and these beginners are in the same class with students who have been playing their instruments for 5, 6, or more years. Obviously, it is a challenge to find material for them to play. I have several small ensemble pieces that they do with students of similar experience level. I also have all of my students, from day 1 of class, begin learning a basic major pentatonic and one-octave major scales. They also begin learning basic rhythmic subdivision down to 8th triplets and 16th notes.

We drill scales in class, combining rhythms depending on their level (i.e. beginners play the scale in half notes, one octave while veterans play it in quarter notes in two octaves). Once they have drilled these scales for a while, they each take turns recording Tonal Literacy Assignments on Smart Music. These assignments are set up as units (a nice new feature in Smart Music 2011 - assign a group of assignments as a unit with one click) that are labeled in fairly innocuous Olympic medal terms. The students are required to make a recording of at least one level of scales each marking period, and they do not have to begin at the lowest level if they are more experienced. Each level contains four scales they must complete except for the most advanced level. My graduated levels for my strings class are:

Bronze Level Concert C, G, D, and A major scales played in one octave as whole notes ascending and descending at mm=80 (found in Smart Music's exercises section of the library). Students record each scale separately.

Silver Level Concert C, G, D, and A major scales played in one octave as quarter notes ascending and descending at mm=80 (found in Smart Music's exercises section of the library). Students record each scale separately.

Gold Level Concert C, G, D, and A major scales played in one octave with a quarter note on the tonic pitches and eighth notes in between, both ascending and descending at mm=90 (found in Smart Music's State Scales section of the library as Texas one octave). Students record each scale separately.

Platinum Level Concert C, G, D, and A major scales played in two octaves with a quarter note on the tonic pitches and eighth notes in between, both ascending and descending at mm=90 (found in Smart Music's State Scales section of the library as Texas two octave). Students record each scale separately.

Diamond Level Concert Ab, Eb, Bb, F, C, G, D, A, E major scales and tonic triad arpeggios played in two octaves with a quarter note on the tonic pitches and eighth notes in between, both ascending and descending at mm=100. This was the final result of last year's scale study for my returning veteran students at the end of the 4th marking period. I created this assignment as a custom job using Finale 2010 so that the students record starting with Ab and play through each scale circle of 5ths order as one assignment recording.

Graduated Levels, Self-Paced Learning, and a True Hybrid Learning Environment

Since the students can start at whatever level they choose and are only required to complete one level per marking period, everyone can proceed at their own pace. I am able to still drill these four basic scales in class, allowing more advanced students to play the scales in two octaves in diminution while the beginners play them with longer note values. Students can also practice and submit their assignments from home if they choose. My beginners are all starting on Bronze level, while most of my veterans are starting on Gold level. It took me an extra week to get the Diamond level scale assignment entered, and I had a few of my 7th and 8th graders hounding me to get it in there so they could show their stuff!

For marking period 2, I will be using the Smart Music exercise library to create a similar graduated level regimen for rhythm reading. I haven't flushed out all the details, but it should be something like this:

Bronze Level Whole, half, and quarter notes and rests in 4/4, 2/4, and 3/4 time at mm=80

Silver Level Half, quarter, and eighth notes and rests, including syncopation and dotted rhythms, in 4/4 2/4, and 3/4 time at mm=90

Gold Level Half, quarter, eighth, 8th triplet, and sixteenth notes and rests, including eighth and sixteenth combinations and dotted rhythms, in 4/4, 2/4, 3/4, and 5/4 time at mm=100

Platinum Level Rhythm patterns in 2/2, 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8 time at mm=100

Diamond Level Customized assignment from Finale 2010 incorporating all elements.

As any music teacher knows, the great challenge of getting students to actually read rhythms is to get them to understand the sounds of the various rhythms and how they relate to one another and to the pulse without simply playing it for them and learning it by rote or copying a neighbor. This is where Smart Music is incredibly effective. Students can see the notation on screen, can hear the metronome click, and can even follow the cursor with each beat, but it is primarily up to them to figure out the rhythm themselves without hearing it played for them. The best teacher is experience!

I look forward to grading my students' results on the scale units as we approach the end of the first marking period.

This article (c) 2010 Thomas J. West. All content on ThomasJWestMusic dot com is licensed under a Creative Contributions Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Please contact the author before publishing on or off-line.