For example, computers, electronic keyboards, synthesizers, samplers, CD-ROMs, and other MIDI devices enable every student to be actively involved in creating, performing, listening to, and analyzing music. It is especially important that the media and technology used for teaching music in school include the media and technology used to produce and experience music outside school.
Journals are valuable tools, enabling students to develop and enhance their evaluative skills.
Additionally, they provide teachers with a detailed account of their students' work and give them a means of assessing the progress of an entire class, aiding them in evaluating their own teaching practices. Students can apply their writing and thinking skills to their music education, making the new and often unfamiliar vocabulary of music part of their everyday language. Creating journals on a computer can be an exciting way for students to combine the valuable learning tool of the journal with a lesson in technology. Have each student in your class create a computer file for entries during the course of the year. Encourage them to record their thoughts, feelings, goals, and assessments relating to their progress in music as they would with pen and paper but use this opportunity to strengthen keyboarding and basic desktop publishing skills.