Many people say that it is beauty alone that draws them to music. But great music brings us even more. By providing the brain with an artificial environment, and forcing it through that environment in controlled ways, music imparts the means of experiencing relations far deeper than we encounter in our everyday lives….In this perfect world, our brains are able to piece together larger understandings than they can in the external world, perceiving all-encompassing relations that go much deeper than those we find in ordinary experience…It’s for this reason that music can be transcendent. For a few moments, it makes us larger than we really are, and the world more orderly than it really is….As our brains are thrown into overdrive, we feel our very existence expand and realize that we can be more than we normally are, and that the world is more than it seems. That is cause enough for ecstasy. (p. 331)
This excerpt is taken from Robert Jourdain’s book, Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination. In my opinion, it draws a significant parallel to the world of technology in that it invites us to go beyond the physical constraints of our environment to a place that embraces the limitless potential of our imagination. The juxtaposition of music and technology create a realm of possibilities for musicians and music-lovers alike to embrace this extension of the imagination, which a also powerful educational tool.
The Journal of Music, Technology and Education creates the perfect outlet for this kind of exploration. Only in publication since 2008, it provides refreshing perspectives on the combined uses of music, technology, and education as three highly active and constantly changing mediums that are linking imagination with reality. It achieves this aim through (1) the exploration of social communities to heighten musical experiences/exchanges; (2) the reframing of creative thinking to enhance music making; and, (3) the direct use of technology to enhance musical performances.
Articles such as “Social media as an opportunity for pedagogical change in music education,” and “Music two-point-zero: music, technology and digital independence” refer to Internet technologies that have enabled the participatory culture we have discussed in class and the ways in which this can be directed toward social interaction and learning communities amongst music students. These particular articles are extremely relevant because they bring back the social aspects of music, which can be overlooked as music students lock themselves in practice rooms and neglect the collaborative aspects of music making. “Crossing borders: issues in music technology education” is one article that addresses the creative thinking component amongst music students in regard to the nuances of other disciplines, such as science and art, to enhance the music-making experience. Finally, “DubDubDub: Improvisation using the sounds of the World Wide Web” is one interesting article that explores how the sonic environment of the Internet can be used to assist students in developing their improvisation skills.
Collectively, these articles, among others, create a triangulation of reinforcement that encourages reliance upon each of the three mediums of music, technology, and education with equal importance. As a result, musicians, teachers, and listeners can engage in music in new ways, ways that transcend the single-sensory experience of music-making to one that is a multi-sensory experience, and ultimately one that engages all facets of the imagination…“that is cause enough for ecstasy.”
For specific topics offered in the journal visit: http://www.don.ac.uk/mini_sites/arts/journals/journal.aspx
Jourdain, Robert. Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1997.
No Comments so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.