Technology Integration into the Musical Theatre Cirriculum

Technology Integration into the Musical Theatre Cirriculum

Grant:
Gilbert Whitaker Fund for the Improvement of Teaching
Academic Year:
2015 - 2016 (June 1, 2015 through May 31, 2016)
Funding Requested:
$6,000.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
cwadams
Overview of the Project:
General trends in education as well as the genre of musical theatre have continued to evolve toward the consistent use of technology. It is important for the Musical Theatre Department to remain current and well versed in the technical trends of the industry as used in both rehearsal and performance. The objective of this proposal is to help students achieve success as musical theatre performers and also to prepare them with the technical skills required to excel and sustain a career in this the industry. By integrating new technology into the Musical Theatre curriculum, we will be able to offer the students in our department the opportunity to strengthen their technical competency as well as their musicianship fluency. These combined skills will improve their flexibility and effectiveness as an artist in this highly competitive and rigorous field. This project is designed with two major components. Part One involves the creation of a Computer Workstation/Music Writing Lab for Musical Theatre Majors in the Walgreen Drama Center. This workstation will include software for: Sibelius, Logic, Pro X, Mainstage, and Kontakt. Part Two is designed as a “flipped classroom” This will provide students with On-line Musicianship Tutorials specifically designed for our curriculum. These tutorials, called F.L.I.P. [Facilitating Learning & Instructional Programming], will not be course specific and will be available to all majors in the Musical Theatre Department.
Final Report Fields
Project Objectives:

General trends in education as well as the genre of musical theatre have continued to evolve toward the consistent use of technology. It is important for the Musical Theatre Department to remain current and well versed in the technical trends of the industry as used in both rehearsal and performance. The objective of this proposal is to help students achieve success as musical theatre performers and also to prepare them with the technical skills required to excel and sustain a career in this the industry. By integrating new technology into the Musical Theatre curriculum, we will be able to offer the students in our department the opportunity to strengthen their technical competency as well as their musicianship fluency. These combined skills will improve their flexibility and effectiveness as an artist in this highly competitive and rigorous field. This project is designed with two major components. Part One involves the creation of a Computer Workstation/Music Writing Lab for Musical Theatre Majors in the Walgreen Drama Center. This workstation will include software for: Sibeilius, Logic, Pro X, Mainstage, and Kontakt. Part Two is designed as a “flipped classroom” This will provide students with On-line Musicianship Tutorials specifically designed for our curriculum. These tutorials, called F.L.I.P. [Facilitating Learning & Instructional Programming], will not be course specific and will be available to all majors in the Musical Theatre Department.

Project Achievements:

This was an extremely successful project. This equipment has been a extremely helpful in working with students privately on music literacy as well as using the laptop for to program keyboards for productions.

Continuation:
Absolutely, in fact, the laptop is currently being used to run the programs for all the keyboard sounds for DROWSY CHAPERONE at the Mendelssohn. Addiitionally, I have had many students come up to me to ask if I will be offering the musicianship tutorial class again next term. I continue to use the videos I made for the tutorials. Also, I had a graduate tell me that he kept getting excused from music rehearsals on a national tour because his reading was so strong and accurate. He was so proud because that is not how he felt last year. Music literacy continues to be discussed as we are formally reviewing and updating our music curriculum based on the needs of our current students.
Dissemination:
My colleagues have access to my office so they can use all of the equipment on their own time.
Advice to your Colleagues:
Right now we don't have a space to put the tech lab that is secure besides my office. Right now, we just sign out times that other folks want to use it and it works fine. Eventually it would be nice to have a secure location where both faculty and students could work on Sibelius but it is not greatly impacted the use right now.
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