Welcome to Lesson Plan. Each issue, we will discuss a specific area of music technology and address ways to incorporate it into your curriculum. We're going to start out with some ideas for using music-notation (scoring) software. The ideas presented can be used with any such program, including Sibelius Software's Sibelius; MakeMusic's Finale, PrintMusic, and NotePad; and a variety of others.

Many of the music-education national standards can be addressed using music-notation software. The most common standards that relate to notation software are composing and arranging music within specified guidelines and reading and notating music. (For more on the national standards, visit the MENC Web site at www.metmagazine.com.)

Notation software can be used with a MIDI keyboard or with standalone Macintosh or Windows computers. It is also possible to install the software on computers in your school and use a mouse and the computer's typewriter keyboard to compose.

GETTING STARTED

I have found that the best way to proceed is for the teacher to create files before the start of class and copy them to the hard drive of each computer. This can usually be done over the school network. The students then open the file that you have created and modify and add to it. This procedure decreases the skill level that students need in order to complete each exercise.
This is especially important when dealing with a large class in a computer or MIDI lab.

Here is an example of a notation lesson:

Lesson description
Students enter a three-part round, such as “Are You Sleeping?”, and add a percussion part. The objective is to learn how to enter notation using scoring software, create an arrangement of instruments, and compose a percussion part.
Teacher preparation

Use your notation software to create a four-staff score with three different instruments and one percussion staff. Enter the entire melody for “Frere Jacques” in the top staff. Include text to give the students the directions for the lesson.

Student action steps

I usually write these instructions at the top of the page of the file that I create.
1. Enter the second and third parts of the round either by clicking in the notation using the mouse or by copying and pasting.
2. After the three-part round is completed, experiment with different instrument timbres for the various parts. Change the instrument timbres and volumes of each part.
3. Compose a percussion part on the fourth staff using quarter- and eighth-note patterns.
4. Play the results back often and make changes to your arrangement.
5. Save and then print the composition.

For additional exercises, make variations on the format we've just discussed. You can create a file and have your students complete the assignment. The key to developing notation lessons is to have a specific goal for students to accomplish and to provide them with a partially completed file.

ONLINE AND PRINT RESOURCES

Several books and Web sites can help you develop more lessons using notation software. The first two publications on our list include specific lessons using notation software and all areas of music technology:

Teaching Strategies: Technology (MENC, 2002). This book includes more than 90 lesson plans for integrating technology with the national standards. There are many lesson plans using music-notation software.

Technology Strategies for Music Education (TI:ME, 2002). TI:ME's book includes more than 200 strategies for integrating technology into the curriculum.

Sibelius Notes. This is a complete curriculum of educational lessons and resources for teaching students to learn theory and composition. The teacher workbook is outstanding and there are exercises on disc.

Vermont MIDI Project. Here you will find a wealth of student work using notation software. For example, look at sample student compositions; the descriptions of how the students were asked to compose their music can provide many ideas for your students' projects.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND STRATEGIES

Books and Web sites are by no means your only sources of tools and information. You can
• Purchase a site license for a notation program such as PrintMusic or Sibelius.

• If budget is a big concern, consider using MakeMusic's free notation program, NotePad, which can be downloaded from the company's Web site (see the sidebar “Product Contacts”).

• Become a member of TI:ME. Members can access a members-only lesson-plan section of the TI:ME Web site, and you will find many examples of lessons written by music teachers.