Before I get to the Spring Concert, I want to back up for a moment to the fall where I took a "P" in-service course offered by the NYC Dept of Ed in 'Music and Technology' given by a music teacher, Pavel Loubnine. He introduced us to how to connect speakers, microphones and amplifiers. He showed us how he created fabulous lighting effects for an auditorium (or for Halloween dance that he held in his school's cafeteria) using various lighting systems. And, how to create a visual backdrop for an auditorium concert using a laptop with high-definition screen savers or a slide show created connected to a digital video projector. He demonstrated how he took a picture of each student that would be singing in the concert, add a frame around the picture such as a "Santa" hat and load them all into a slide show. As the parents entered the auditorium, they would be able to see these pictures being projected before the concert started. During the concert, for each song, he would project another picture as backdrop.

I had never known about these visual backdrops using a laptop. So, now to jump ahead again to the Spring Concert. I wanted to create a projected picture for each of the musical numbers in the concert. I cajoled the Tech teacher into agreeing to let me borrow one of the school's two laptops. I ordered and received a CD of terrific screen savers with holiday themes and flowers. But, we both could not hook up the laptop to the projector that was in the auditorium. There was some configuration problem between the laptop and projector. It was connected to a VCR and would show movies but not connect anything else. I was so disappointed!! But, this was the first time I had ever even thought of using technology to enhance performance. I was a new teacher in student performance so this was new territory.

At my next school, the next year, I tried again. But, they did not have a digital projector already in the auditorium. The tech teacher did have one that he used in his class, but was quite hesitant (resistant?) to letting me borrow it. He was worried about its safety and how it would project onto the stage's backdrop if not attached high enough. He encouraged me to purchase one from my budget (which was already gone). He had a much larger budget, and was trying to see if we could order one from his...but everything gets difficult with ordering at a public school. One can only use a particular NYCDOE site an order only what they have OR, get it approved after 3 outside bids, additional forms, and using two boxes of 'covering gray' hair color...so it didn't happen. The tech teacher was supportive of my ideas of using software programs to teach student's music theory and would have worked with me on that, but again, money and tech lab scheduling were issues.

One day, I would like to be able to use these ideas for concert enhancement with scenic backdrops and/or colorful lighting effects. Additionally, I think the interactive music theory programs for students using their own computers would be fantastic. Very few of the city's public schools have the money to equip the music classroom with computers or for the students to have their own laptops. I have read about some suburban schools that now furnish the students with these resources. Technology is wonderful and needed, but must be financed and supported.