We’ve all had a dream once upon a time to learn to play a musical instrument, but never really found the time to do so. Now with technology, teachers can help students to learn and create music at their fingertips! (pun not intended). A new genre of music that is in trend now is ‘Electronic’ music. You guessed right. It is solely created on an electrical device which produces a range of beats and sounds. New recording technology, new musical technology and new listening technology has meant that the world of music has been changed completely. Many artists rely on auto tuning technology nowadays, so that any imperfections in their pitch or tone can be instantly corrected.

Technology is affecting music in all spheres. It helps the singer and musician to produce the “perfect song”.  A music trainer can use technology in teaching music, which can help both the learner and the teacher. Today many musical instruments can be replicated with technology. All of these advancements in tech are there to aid students and teachers. Now anyone can learn, explore and understand musical concepts which would have been difficult otherwise. 

We at Tech For Educators have come up with 10 ways of incorporating Google tools and technology into your music class through the Google Certified Educator program. 

• Google Classroom 

This is an all in one tool! A teacher can create a Google Classroom and add all of his/her students’. The teacher can upload different types of learning materials, such as, YouTube videos, links, docs, PDFs etc. They can also create an online musical library with different musical notes and videos. This is a useful tool for submitting singing assignments and grading each student along with providing personal feedback. 

• Google Docs

This is an all in one tool! A teacher can create a Google Classroom and add all of his/her students’. The teacher can upload different types of learning materials, such as, YouTube videos, links, docs, PDFs etc. They can also create an online musical library with different musical notes and videos. This is a useful tool for submitting singing assignments and grading each student along with providing personal feedback. 

• Google Slides 

This tool has many different uses in a music classroom. Using Slides a teacher can display images of different instruments or animals and the students have to creatively mimic aloud the sounds it makes. This activity acts as a pitch exploration exercise and guides students towards an awareness of high and low sounds, and different expressive vocal skills. It also warms up the vocal cords before singing class. With the built-in drawing tools in Google Slides, it is easy to create notes and use them as flashcards. Another feature is the ability to create and display iconic notation for a song or rhyme.

• Google Sheets

This is the perfect tool to make instrument inventory spreadsheets. For example, list out all the names of your students in the class, against their name, insert what instrument they play and at what level. This becomes an easy and organized map of all your students. Similarly, you can import their grade from Google Forms, Slides, Classroom and see their overall progress throughout the year. 

• Google Drive

A great tool to stay organized for both teachers and students. Although in this case, we will focus more on the benefit of teachers. As a teacher, you have a lot of materials that need to stay in order for the semester. No matter if it’s quizzes, PDFs of scores, class attendance sheets, or any other materials that are relevant for class can be stored and organized in Google Drive. To take it one step further, each class can have its own folder with the relevant materials, and that way nothing will get misplaced or lost. You can save all the mp3 or mp4 files in Google Drive. This Drive will work as a backup and moreover you can access all the files wherever you are from any device.

• Website

Build your own website and showcase your talents! You can create your website, where you can show all the details related to your music class like your profile, best videos by your students’, success stories, schedule, admissions, greatest achievements etc. The teacher can customize and personalize their website to suit their needs. 

• Google Forms 

This Google tool is excellent for collecting information about your students, reading responses, assessments across subject areas and to check for understanding. Learn how to make a Google Form into a quiz and grade your students’ on it! This tool is a great way of assessing your students’ comprehension of what was taught. 

• YouTube 

A music teacher can create their own tutorial channel and upload videos of themselves playing and giving music lessons. The links of these videos  can be shared on all social media platforms and depending on the number of views, you can even make money from it! Now you can have students from all over the globe. The teacher can also curate a playlist of videos that they want to share with their students’ of other musicians. There are a variety of music videos on YouTube, learn how to utilize them to the fullest to enrich your class. 

• Google Meet

Although teaching your music students online is very new to most teachers, hosting a Google Meet helps to bridge this instructional gap. Google Meet enables live interaction between the teachers and students. You can now have a live singing along session with your students from anywhere in the world. Use headphones or earbuds with a built-in microphone. This will improve the audio quality for your students by eliminating an echo that can happen when speakers are on and you’re using the microphone on your computer.

• Chrome Music Lab

Google has built experiments that let anyone explore how music works. It’s called Chrome Music Lab, and you can check it out at g.co/musiclab. This makes learning about music a bit more accessible to everyone using technology on the web. As teachers, you can implement this in your classroom and make learning music easy and fun. 

All of these tools can save valuable time and effort, and learning to use them is simple with the Google Certified Educator program.