Visualization

Why Compose Music?

I initially struggled with finding a way to visualize music composition as a process. I felt like a more effective way to teach and practice composition would be through hands on activities in class. To circumvent this, I made my visualization process center on the why of composers throughout history. My goal was to highlight a variety of composers with different reasons for composing, different time periods, different styles of art music, and different geographic locations. I chose the resource "thinglink" to create this project because it would be a helpful tool to make my vision for the project. Using a map on thinglink allowed me to show the location of the various composers, provide a date for the work, and most importantly, link a recording. Having a recording to match the information was key, "sonifying" the content as well as visualizing it.

Through the process of putting this project together, it provided me insight as to why the composers I listed wrote their pieces. Having this background information made me understand the work more than I would have if I did not know the composer's reasoning. Inversely, this exercise proved to me that listeners can enjoy music even if they do not know the program or the thought behind the composition as well. In a classroom setting, giving the students a reason or a program to write a piece to could be a good starting point for their inspiration. 

Using visualization will definitely focus and engage students more in the course content rather than just a lecture on music history. Having an interactive platform that the students are able to listen to examples from will bolster understanding of course material. Visualization in the form of listening is a tool I will definitely use in future teaching. In a typical music ensemble classroom, visualization starts and stops with symbolic music notation. Having another way to visualize concepts is a useful tool for variety and comprehension. Thinglink is a very diverse resource to use with a variety of classroom activities to be created to visualize course content.

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1126198075056979969