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Technology Project
Technology Project
For my technology project I explored Finale and the various ways you can
use Finale in class. Finale is one of several notation software available for students
and educators to use to compose and arrange music. You can use this to write out
individual parts and full band arrangements. This program also allows you to listen
to playback of your This tool is one I have become familiar with over the last few
years and I wanted to use it in my classes to help with instruction. There are so
many ways you can use this application. For example, you can write out rhythms
from music to incorporate in warm ups so you can teach them to everyone at once.
In addition you can pick melodies out in the music and write them out so you can
work on matching style and articulation with the whole group. If you are missing
instruments or aren’t getting enough of some aspect of the piece you are playing,
you can write it out on Finale and give it to other students. This way you can cover
parts that you don’t already have covered. Not only can you use this program for
instruction, you can use it as a platform for students to create music. This software
allows you to compose/arrange for a wide variety of ensembles. By using this
software, students are able to arrange popular songs and even compose their own
Materials
Attached: An example of a Marimba part I wrote out for Bohemian Rhapsody using
Finale.
Reflection
After working with Finale at my placement I have become more comfortable
with the software, and the various ways we can use this software in the class.
Throughout my placement, I used Finale in several ways. I helped write out warm-‐
ups and rhythms for my cooperating teacher to use in his warm ups. I also used it to
write out rhythms for my own warm-‐ups out of the piece I was working on with one
of the groups. In addition I used it to write out percussion parts from the piano part
in one of the pieces for our spring concert so that more percussion were able to play.
This particular assignment allowed we to arrange for an instrument I wasn’t as
comfortable with. I had to decide which notes in the piano to put in which octave in
the marimba. In addition if I wasn’t able to put all the notes into the marimba, I had
to decide which notes were most important to hear. Overall, this particular
assignment helped me learn more about the expression and notation tools available
on finale. There were some challenging rhythms I had to put, so I learned about
importing rhythms that weren’t as simple. There are various ways you can use
Finale in class and this project was a way for me to explore some of these
possibilities.