Preface
I wrote this text in 1997. Obviously, much has changed since then but much of this text is still relevant.
Introduction
The Internet, or "ARPANET" as it was called at the time, was initially conceived by the United States military in the late 1950's. It began as a communications network which would allow confidential information to be sent and received via computer systems. By 1972 there were forty computer systems hooked up to ARPANET, by this time they had developed the technology to quickly send information by electronic mail (email). By 1984 there were more than 1000 computers connected to the network and educational institutions began to develop large databases called "Archie" or "Gopher" servers, as well as communications software programs like FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to access these databases. By 1990 the ARPANET became obsolete and gave way for what is now called the Internet. Today there are many millions of people worldwide using personal computer systems to connect to various servers on the Internet. What was once used to send private messages between United States military officials is now used by millions of people to communicate with others, manage finances on the World Trade Market, order pizza, or exchange photos from family photo-albums.
I got connected to the Internet in 1993. In many ways I think the Internet is still in it's infancy. It is changing rapidly and growing so quickly that we can only speculate what it might look like in the years to come. One of the most interesting aspects of the Internet is the fact that users of the Internet are equally, if not more responsible, for changing and developing the Internet than are large software corporations like Microsoft and Google. The Internet has become accessible by personal computers only within the last thirty years; therefore, the Internet is still only in the fetal stages of it's development.
Many computer scientists and researchers believe that the Internet will continue to grow until virtually every home and office computer will be connected to, and part of, the Internet. So with this rapid growth in communications technology, and our society's enthusiastic plunge into this international network, how will the Internet effect our classrooms? And, specifically, how can the Internet be incorporated with Music Education?
The Internet as a Source of Information
On the Internet, music educators have access to literally millions of articles, software programs, and instructional resources like lesson plans. For instance, if a general music teacher needs to find examples of MIDI sound files to play in a class, a simple search on the World Wide Web would produce an index of MIDI files, instructions on how to create MIDI files, and a complete explanation of MIDI systems. Or if a choral teacher needs to find out how to pronounce the Latvian text for a piece his/her choir is doing, in just a few minutes on the Internet, the teacher may find a Latvian speaking person who could pronounce and perhaps translate the text. The possibilities are endless.
Information on the Internet is organized and accessed in many different ways; too many ways to explain and discuss within the scope of this paper. Therefore, I will focus on one of the more common ways to access and distribute information, the "World Wide Web". The World Wide Web (or WWW, or Web) is currently the fastest developing and most popular means of navigating the Internet. The Web provides an easy-to-use, aesthetically pleasing method of traveling through the immeasurable amount of information.
There are billions of pages on the World Wide Web regarding Music Education. It would be impossible to view all of these pages and include them here, so I have compiled an annotated list of just a few of these sites to provide an example of the information available on the World Wide Web.
Music Education Sites on the World Wide Web
- Canadian Music Centre
- www.musiccentre.ca
- The Canadian Music Centre (CMC) is a non-profit organization which provides an invaluable resource for composers, conductors, performers, and students. The CMC has a large library of vocal, and instrumental scores and recordings by Canadian composers and/or performers.
- ThinkQuest: MusicNet
- www.thinkquest.org
- MusicNet is an Internet site where you will find an interactive Music Education Encyclopedia, tips from teachers inside the music profession, as well contests and games for students.
- Music Educators National Conference
- www.menc.org
- The MENC site provides information for music educators. Also on-line is the MENC Job Center which helps music educators find teaching positions in American school systems.
- World Rhythm Training
- www.ancient-future.com
- Contains valuable information and audio clips regarding World Music with a focus on World Rhythms. (i.e. West African polyrhythms, Balinese Gamelan, Indian Tabla).
- Music Education Resource Base
- www.fmpweb.hsd.uvic.ca/merb/
- This site is sponsored by McPherson Library at the University of Victoria, British Columbia
- M.E.R.B. (Music Education Resource Base) is a database of more than 31,000 articles regarding music and Music Education. The articles are easily found using an index and search engine.
- Incredible Links for Teachers
- www.tcoe.trinity.k12.ca.us/media/lessons.html
- Provides links to online educational resources such as:
- Encyclopedia Britannica Online
- Ebsco Magazines
- SCORE California Mathematics Homepage
- SCORE California History/ Social Studies Homepage
- SCORE California Language Arts Homepage
- Kid safety...FOR KIDS!
- Literacy Links...Reading and Language Arts
- teachers.net
- National Geographic Online
- Percussive Arts Society
- www.pas.org
- This site is a good example of the types of "instrument specific" sites that are on the World Wide Web. The site contains information regarding solo and ensemble percussion literature.
Problems Finding Information on the Internet
One of the greatest problems that Internet developers face, is in trying to organize all the information. There is simply too much on the Net. There is no way of controlling the amount of data, and no way of stopping people from adding to the databases. Between 1983 and 1993, the "traffic" on the Net has increased more than 300,000% per annum. This means that while the computer systems which control the Net have remained almost unchanged, the Net itself has grew to mammoth proportions and it's still growing at break-neck pace. The Net has almost become too large for most computer systems to handle. By this, I mean the speed and overall performance of most computers is not capable of transferring information fast enough. Of course, computer systems are not going to explode or begin burning the telephone lines, but a computer which was state of the art two years ago now seems unreasonably slow in locating and downloading data.
Internet developers, in an effort to solve this problem, have designed "search engines" -- Google.com is of course the single most successful search engine to date. These search engines are computer programs which catalogue and monitor information on the Internet. Using one of the various search engines, it becomes relatively simple to find whatever it is one is looking for.
1993 -- WWW proliferates at a 341,634% annual growth rate of service traffic. (Robert H'obbes' Zakon, http://info.isoc.org/guest/zakon/Internet/History/HIT.html)
The Internet as a Communications Network
There are millions people out there. Can I talk to any of them? There are a number of ways to communicate with people on the Internet. One of the oldest and most common ways uses email. Some of the later developments allow people to "chat" (type and send messages to other people, like a conversation without speaking), or "conference" with other people (includes audio and video conferencing).
This kind of interaction has the potential to change Music Education. It is possible to connect music students with email penpals (composers, teachers, or other music students) with whom they can create electronic music. It is also possible to connect entire music classes with other classes which would allow them to mutually create sound compositions, share knowledge, and share music.
Conclusion
The full capability of the Internet is not yet known. With every new development comes new problems. Each time the Internet changes, the need for faster computer systems, faster modems, and faster data transfer becomes more apparent. And considering the rate of growth of the Internet in recent years, it is impossible to determine how the Net will change our society, our view of technology, and our educational systems. The Internet may become a powerful educational tool or it may transform into a just a world-wide entertainment system.
The Internet is now implemented in our educational institutions. How the Internet will effect Music Education, and how it will be used in music is largely dependent on music educators' willingness to accept, learn about, and incorporate it in their classrooms.