Firstly, I would like to thank the CMEA readers for their great response to and support of my first article. It seems that we all have the same concerns and needs for our students when dealing with technology in the classroom.

The biggest concern so far is the loss of human interaction in a lab setting. If we were playing/practicing with an orchestra, we would be playing next to, and with, another person. We would be creating a sound together. In the music tech lab environment, however, we are doing our own exercise,
sitting next to a person without interacting with them in a personal way. There is only one headphone jack on the computer, and once our students put on the headphones we lose their attention.

How do we get around these issues? In Fall 2007 I experimented with trying to break the barrier of the single user at the computer. I proposed a group and an individual project for the lab midterm and lab final in Music Tech 1. The group project consisted of 2-10 students per group, playing roles used in the recording industry that are involved in making a record (playing an instrument, producing, recording,
engineering, promoting etc). The computer was used by all the members of the group and had studio speakers attached to it so many people could listen to one unit. The group listening/recording unit was placed in a room outside the lab environment. Each group was given a three-hour block of time per week to use the studio space to record and work on ideas together like a band would. The end result was wonderful and surprising.

The group projects were more diverse and musically interesting than the individual projects, which lacked focus and direction at times. The exercise also gave students the opportunity to network with each other. As a final consequence to the project, many students are still working together in groups outside of class with people they met in the Music Tech 1 class.

I encourage your e-mails and would like to post some of your comments, questions, and concerns. Together we might be able to help each other in a field that is changing daily.