What Is Music Technology?

What is Music Technology when we are talking about a class with the same name?

There are many ways to answer the question but for the purpose of refining the focus of this blog and for the benefit of those who are left wondering, here's a concise definition.

Music Technology by itself can mean digital musical instruments such as digital keyboards and sequencers. In Education though, music technology refers to technological applications (computers, software, digital sound machines, keyboards, etc..) being used to learn about and to create music. The term Music Education Technology might be more accurate but Music Technology works just as well.

Most elementary classroom music programs in the U.S. are still called General Music. This is where basic fundamentals of music are taught and learned. Increasingly, music technology labs are being adopted in secondary music classrooms (Grades6-12). These classrooms usually contain MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) labs where computers are connected to digital keyboards. Software is usually loaded onto the computers that allow for the learning of music via the direct manipulation of keys on the digital keyboards or via the computer mouse.

Some Music Notation programs will actually display notes on the computer screen that a music student plays on the digital keyboard. In this context the keyboard is called a MIDI instrument since it is connected to a computer. Other programs are focused on music literacy and offer game-like lessons that allow students to learn about musical elements such as music notation, scales, key signatures, clefs, time signatures and timbre.

With the increased use of technology in Education and in student's lives, it is well worth a school district's time and expense to gradually adopt music technology programs. The ubiquitous nature of the i-pod is reason enough to go this route. Performing programs such as Band and Chorus should always be a part of every school in the country but music technology programs should also exist to serve the musical interests of non-performing students. In terms of enrollment, these students usually outnumber the performers 3:1.

To learn more, try giving a Music Education Technology Magazine a read. There are many articles and examples to sample.

Free Rock Midi Files

Looking for Rock Midi Files? Here's a list from the Rock Midi Database.
38 Special

AC/DC
Aaron Neville

Aerosmith
Aha
Air Supply
Al Green
Alan Parsons
Alanis Morrisette
Alice Cooper
Alice In Chains
Alive
All 4 One
Allman Brothers
Ambrosia
America
Andrew Gold
Andy Kim
The Animals
Animotion
Anita Baker
Anita Ward
Annie Lennox
Archies
Arlo Guthrie
Asia
Atlanta Rhythm Section
Atlantic Starr

B52s
BW Stevenson
The Babys
Bachman Turner Overdrive
Bad Company
Bad English
Badfinger
Bananarama
The Band
Barry Mann
Bay City Rollers
Beach Boys
The Beatles
Beau Brummels
Beck
Berlin
Big Country
Bill Haley and The Comets
Billy Idol
Billy Paul
Billy Preston
Billy Swan
Black Sabbath
Blondie
Blue Oyster Cult
Blues Image
Bob Dylan
Bob Marley
Bob Seger
Bob Welch
Bobby Boris Pickett
Bobby Brown
Bobby Darin
Bobby Fuller Four
Bon Jovi
Booker T and the MGs
Boomtown Rats
Boston
The Boxtops
Bread
Brewer and Shipley
Brian Hyland
Brownsville Station
Bruce Springsteen
Bryan Adams
The Buckinghams
Buddy Holly
Buffalo Springfield
Bush
The Byrds

Carl Douglas
The Cars
Cat Stevens
Cheap Trick
Cheryl Ladd
Cheryl Lynn
Chris Rea
Chubby Checker
Chuck Berry
Cliff Richard
Coal Chamber
The Coasters
Commander Cody
Corey Hart
Counting Crows
Cream
Creed
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Crosby Stills Nash & Young
The Cult
Curtis Lee
The Cyrkle

Dan Hill
Danny and The Juniors
The Dave Clark Five
Dave Edmunds
Dave Mason
Dave Mathews
David Bowie
David Gates
David Lee Roth
Deep Purple
Def Leppard
Deftones
Devo
Dire Straits
Divinyls
Dobie Gray
Don Henley
Donovan
Doobie Brothers
The Doors
Dr. Hook
Dr. John
The Drifters
Duran Duran

ELO
The Eagles
The Easybeats
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Floyd
Eddie Money
Edgar Winter
Edison Lighthouse
Elvin Bishop
Elvis Presley
Emerson Lake and Palmer
Equals
Eric Carmen
Eric Clapton
Europe
The Eurythmics
Exile
Extreme

Fabulous Thunderbirds
Faith No More
Fats Domino
Filter
Fine Young Cannibals
Firefall
First Class
The Fixx
The Flamingos
Fleetwood Mac
Focus
Fontella Bass
Foo Fighters
Foreigner
The Fortunes
Foundations
The Four Seasons
The Four Tops
Frank Zappa
Frankie Avalon
Freddie and The Dreamers
Freddie Mercury
Freddy Cannon
Free
Friend and Lover

GQ
Gallery
The Gap Band
Garbage
Gary Glitter
Gary Lewis and the Playboys
Gene Chandler
Gene Vincent
Genesis
George Harrison
Gerry and the Pacemakers
Gerry Rafferty
Gin Blossoms
Glen Medeiros
Glenn Frey
Go West
Godsmack
Golden Earring
Gordon Lightfoot
Grand Funk Railroad
The Grass Roots
The Grateful Dead
Great White
Greg Kihn
Guess Who
Guns n Roses

Haddaway
Hall and Oates
Happenings
Heart
Heatwave
Helmet
Hermans Hermits
Hole
The Hollies
Honey Cone
The Honeydrippers
Hooters
Hot Butter
Howard Jones
Huey Lewis
Human League

INXS
Ian Dury
Incubus
Information Society
Iron Butterfly
Iron Maiden
Isaac Hayes
Isley Brothers

J Geils
JD Souther
Jackie DeShannon
Jackie Wilson
Jackson Browne
Jaco Pastorius
JaggerZ
Jan and Dean
Janes Addiction
Jane Child
Janis Ian
Janis Joplin
Jay and the Americans
Jean Knight
Jefferson Airplane
Jennifer Rush
Jefferson Starship
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jethro Tull
Jigsaw
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Ruffin
Joan Jett
Joe Cocker
Joe Jackson
Joe Walsh
John Fogerty
John Fred
John Lennon
John Mellencamp
John Paul Young
John Waite
Johnny Horton
Johnny Rivers
Journey
Julian Lennon
Junior Walker

KD Lang
Kansas
Kate Bush
Katrina and the Waves
Kid Rock
King Harvest
The Kingsmen
The Kinks
Kiss
The Knack
Korn

TEACHING ABOUT MIDI, MP3 and the LAW

TEACHING ABOUT MIDI, MP3 and the LAW

­ Music students of all ages should have an understanding of the basic definitions of MIDI and Mp3. The legal implications surrounding Mp3 files should also be understood. Here’s a briefing that could be used in a music (technology) class.

MIDI

• MIDI, Musical Instrument Digital Interface allows a computer to record and playback musical data.
• It was developed in 1983 and it revolutionized the way music is produced.
• Usually MIDI keyboards are used to input music into a notation program like Print Music, Finale or Sibelius.

Mp3

• These are the music files found on iPods and other Mp3 players.
• Mp3 is short for Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) which is a working group under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that sets the standards for encoding audio and video in digital format.
• Mp3 refers to MPEG layer 3 which can achieve a compression ratio of 12:1. This means it can reduce the size of a standard music file (wave file) by 12 times. As an example, a wave file that is 40.8 Megabytes (MB) can be reduced to a file that is only 3.4 MB while retaining a decent sound quality.

DISCUSSION:

Since most Mp3’s come from CD’s of artists who have copyrighted their material, sharing or distributing this music is illegal in most cases. Peer to Peer (P2P) networks have allowed easy sharing of files between individuals which is a wonderful tool but when copyrighted material is shared, that’s where the trouble starts. That’s how Napster got in trouble. Now, Napster provides legal downloads because they charge money for copyrighted material and they send that money to the RIAA. The Recording Industry Association of America is the trade group that represents the U.S. recording industry.

Below is an example of legal music download sites and sites that MAY allow users to share copyrighted material. **Just because individuals may share copyrighted material, it doesn’t mean that the site owners condone that behavior. So these sites shouldn’t be thought of as “illegal”. Individuals should use their own discretion when choosing to use these sites.

Legitimate (can’t break the law here)	Possiblity of copyright problems (easy to find copyrighted material for free)
iTunes (Apple)	Kazaa (just settled a lawsuit)
Rhapsody (powered by REAL)	Limewire
Napster	Bearshare
Emusic	Morpheus
Yahoo Musicmatch