Creating On-line Music Theory Assignments with Musica Analytica Elvin S. Rodriguez, Ed.D. La Sierra University

Issues Related to the Teaching Music Theory Increased demand for teacher time from a more commonly unprepared student population The need for one-on-one student help with homework and other projects The need to bring in diverse multimedia examples to showcase other musical systems Better management of student’s progress and learning needed Grading help

How Can Technology Help Provide a more efficient use of teacher’s time Assist students in the learning of music theory Assist the students WHILE they work on assignments Provide data to help teachers design more focused lesson plans

Musica Analytica Software Musica Analytica is a ‘smart’ music theory environment Musica Analytica covers a wide range of concepts and supports them with context-sensitive interactive musical help Support from Fundamentals to common practice part writing and voice leading analysis treatment Chord progression analysis Complete management of student progress and work habits

Outcomes Expected for Students Results for Students Students can check and evaluate as they work Student anxiety level is reduced Students acquire confidence as they CAN turn in work that they know is correct Using the built-in editor, students tend to experiment more and then check their work for correct treatment Test scores show a marked improvement for students using Musica Analytica

The Comparison: School Setting Musica Analytica Teacher creates assignment Teacher assigns homework Students collect and work on homework Students don’t always know how they are doing (Anxiety begins) Students turn in homework (Anxiety builds) Teacher corrects homework (Anxiety builds even more) Teacher returns homework ( Anxiety climax ) Students find out how they did (Anxiety goes away or INTENSIFIES!) Teacher creates assignment on-line Teacher assigns homework Students check out and work on homework Students check their homework as they work Students check-in homework knowing how they did Teacher collects homework and finalizes grade

Musica Analytica The Basics

The Cycle Create and Save Students Checkout and Work Students Check in/MA Grades Teachers Review & Give Final Grade

Creating Basics Frames Note Entry Conversion Tool Management

Frames The Basics Palette contains all the frame types you might need for your preparation. MA provides MUSIC, TEXT, GRAPHICS, SOUND, MOVIE, AND Q&A frames

Note Entry There are three basic note entry palettes: The Notes palette Rests palette Staff palette

Conversion Tool Once you have created a music frame, you can convert it to an assignment/test by using the built-in conversion tools of the Convert To menu

Management Tools Once students turn in their assignments, teachers can check students’ progress using the reports in the Management menu

Let’s Try We will be building two assignments; one with fundamentals, and one with more advanced analysis…