217 | The Technology Debate in the Elementary Music Classroom

In this episode of That Music Podcast, Bryson tackles a heated debate he witnessed in an elementary music Facebook group: does technology belong in the music classroom? Instead of picking sides, he unpacks the real concerns and challenges teachers to think beyond the noise. Because at the end of the day, it’s not about what someone on the internet says. It’s about what works for you and the students in front of you.

Bryson shares practical examples of how technology can expand creativity, increase accessibility, amplify authentic voices, and even unlock musical potential in students who may not thrive in traditional performance settings. This episode isn’t about going all-in on tech or throwing it out completely; it’s about using it purposefully, strategically, and always as a tool, not the teacher.

Episode Chapters:

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:59 Concerns About Using Technology in the Music Classroom
• 4:51 Tech Challenges: Wi-Fi, Support & Backup Plans
• 6:39 Screen Time vs. Active Learning: Is Tech Too Passive?
• 8:33 The Benefits of Technology for Creativity & Accessibility
• 10:46 Using Technology Purposefully (Not as a Replacement)
• 13:58 Takeaways
  
  

Links and Resources: 

• The Elementary Music Summit®
• Elementary Newbie Guide
• Disabilities Guide
• Steady Beat Survival Guide
• Join Elementary Music EDGE™

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Grab your free ticket to the Elementary Music Summit®: January Refresh -> www.thatmusicteacher.com/summit

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Transcript

Speaker: 0:50

I witnessed a little bit of a fight in one of these elementary music Facebook groups, and I wanna talk about it.

Speaker 2: 0:59

You are listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tart, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher in the elementary music summit. Each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher and how music can truly be transformative in the live. Of the students you serve, show notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found@thatmusicteacher.com.

Speaker: 1:33

Hello and welcome to that music podcast. Today we're gonna be talking about that Facebook group. And let's be honest, there are many that might be popping up in your mind, but you know the ones I'm talking about, the ones where no matter what is asked, everybody shares their opinion in the most like brazen heels dug in way. Possible. And this particular post, I wish I would've screenshotted it because it was all about technology in the music classroom and whether or not it should be there, how far we should go down that line. Do kids get enough screen time? Are there, you know, inherent reasons why technology is good or bad or ugly? All these other things. The common thread was ridiculous like it was. Full on discourse at a level that nobody was being nice, nobody was listening to anyone else. Everyone was just kind of in their feelings. So today in, in the episode, I wanna kind of remove a little bit about that emotion and just talk about the legitimate unemotional, just not facts, but. The reasons for and against technology because I think that if you can't see that, it is going to be one different, depending on who you are, but also different on who, where you're teaching and the students that are in front of you and all the different things going on in the world. That is something that you need to take a moment, take a step back, and realize that you need to zoom out because, um, Leski, if you don't know her, she's amazing. She talks about, you know, how teaching is situational, time-bound and ever-changing and hello, technology is like the complete, where all that comes together. Uh, let's think about it. If we think back to, you know, March, April of 2020, if you told a teacher they couldn't use technology, they'd probably fight you. Because we know we were doing all the Zoom things, we were trying to figure it out and you know, we didn't have another option. Now that we're back in the classroom, there's a lot of opportunity for us to not use technology, and I think there's some merit in a lot of those arguments too. So today I'm gonna be bringing some of the points for and against technology to help you figure out what feels best for you and the students that are in front of you, because spoiler alert for this whole episode. It's all about you and the students. It's not about what Joe Schmo on Facebook says, or whatever it's not. Don't worry about that. Worry about what feels good for you, the community that you serve, and the students that are actually in front of you. Alrighty. I want to start with the reasons that we shouldn't use technology. These are ones we hear often and honestly, ones that are valid. A lot of them, and I think there are things that we at least. Even if you feel like you are a very tech forward teacher, I think we need to at least have these in the back of our head. And the first one is that concern that we are going to lose the human element of music. Making the concern that if we rely so heavily on teaching music through technology, that technology can replace us as teachers, which is going to not only. Make our jobs a lot less secure, but also harm the education that our students are getting. And I think there's some merit here if we're not using technology appropriately and strategically. Yeah, it can be really easy for us to just put a YouTube on and play and sit in a corner for the entire day. Is that the best teaching? No. Is that a way that we could use technology? Yes. So let's be purposeful in the way that we do that, so we're not leading into that. And I think there's also a lot of, you know, concern, especially in the land of AI, about removing that human EL element. And I think. If you, if that's something that you're feeling, feel that, notice it. Bring it to the forefront because what I want you to do is I want you to realize that that is a real concern that you're having. So do something about it. Maybe that's just not using a lot of technology, or maybe it's the technology that you're using. You're using it in a way. That is increasing the humanity of it rather than reducing it. So for instance, if maybe you're using technology in a way that you're using a digital audio workstation, that yeah, you wouldn't really be able to record all these different human inputs into one thing without a digital audio workstation. You can do it in lots of different ways without losing the human element. It's really important for us to keep in the back of the mind that if we're not careful, that could be a valid concern. Another elephant in the room whenever I bring up technology is the, the fact of stability, right? We know that even if you have a, an incredible tech support team at, at, at your school district, you likely don't have the best wifi. You likely, you know, can put in a ticket for support and it just sits there, or they close it without even fixing it, and you're like, hello? That's not really what I asked. Um, you know, I, I even once, you know, asked for a new keyboard, like. A keyboard that you write with. Um, and the tech person was like, well, you're gonna need to talk to your, your principal because we don't have any budget for instruments. I'm like, what are you talking about? I want, I want a keyboard. Uh, so, so sometimes you never know what you're gonna get in. Um, but, and like, there are some real things that we wanna keep in mind here, right? If we're planning things that require a constant wifi connection or, you know, if for whatever reason the power would go out that day, or the wifi were to go out that day or whatever. You need to have a backup plan that's on you as the teacher to understand that, yeah, in an ideal world, we would be working in U Studio and building our own beats or whatever, but if that doesn't work, what's your next step? Have that in the back of mind so that you're not trying to figure it out as you go. Um, because sometimes, let's be honest, we know as teachers we need to pivot and we need to pivot fast. And things like wifi and technical issues can be an issue. And beyond that, if you're using some sort of third party software, um, depending on the software you use, it could be that it goes down, maybe your wifi is working, maybe all the Chromebooks are working. Maybe you don't, you don't have a power outage. But for whatever reason, Amazon web service goes down, so the half the internet goes down again. I don't think this is something that we should use as a reason not to use technology, period point blank, but I think it is a really good reason for us to be purposeful and think through all of the different steps whenever we're using technology in our classroom. I think another thing that people get wrong a lot is that technology in a music classroom only leads to passive consumption. You know, I think some often teachers can see people, you know. Scrolling through TikTok, and we're really not, we're not. It's just, it's passive, right? We're just, we're just taking the information in and even in a, a setting where they wouldn't necessarily be creating, right? So obviously like if you're using a digital audio workstation, you're probably creating something. If you're doing, uh, Chrome Music Lab, you might be creating a song and then bringing it on to boom markers, all these different things. But even just getting content back, even if, for instance, let's use a YouTube video, that's a very common thing. There are good, bad and ugly ways to use a YouTube video, right? You can put on Stomp and put it on the corner of TV and just sit in the corner and that's the only lesson you teach all day and just have the kids watch the movie. Or you could have them do something with it. You could stop. Have them discuss, say, what instruments did we see? Let's talk about the tamber. Let's bring in all these different vocabularies. Do we see how even though the, the technology implementation is the same, the what we're doing with it and how we're we as a teacher are being the expert and taking that thing and going everywhere with it, that's where the magic happens. So again, you, technology doesn't have to be passive when it's in a consumption way. It can be incredibly active. You can use it in a way to supplement things that you wouldn't be able to do. For instance, I have used the stomp video in my class a lot because you know who I don't have in my back pocket, the Broadway cast a stomp. So sometimes I'd bring that video in and I would use parts of it or here and there, or say like, well, let's notice this. Let's make some observations. Let's connect it. Even have, make them create their own body. Percussion Ado. And I think that is the difference between. Throwing technology at the wall and saying, I use technology and using technology to create more engaging and. You know, for lack of better words, 21st century classrooms. If it isn't clear at this point, I do think that technology has a purpose in the elementary school classroom. I think that it can be great for accessibility. Things like Google Create ability can help students that might need, um, some additional assistance there. Um, it can help us create visual aids and help us bring things in like, like Stomp or, you know, different instrument ensembles that we wouldn't necessarily be able to bring in to create more cross. Curricular call connections to be able to kind of serve as a window into these different other, you know, things that we might not be able to, to see or to show authentically. Otherwise, I think it's really important, especially when we're using it in a way to represent voices and, and signal boost voices that aren't our own and that we wouldn't be able to do. For instance, one of my favorite things that I loved to do in my classroom. Ling and I am not Filipino. And that is one of those things where I would be able to use the technology to show videos on YouTube to connect with some of the resources that I learned from Melissa Stoffer and Melissa Fuller Flores, um, about Filipino culture and how that all fits into the Ling dance. And I think that is one of those ways that for me. The technology wasn't the point. The technology was the vehicle of active music making in an authentic way, and I think it's really important for us to, to think about that. Um, without getting too far on my high horse, I often hear about these, these districts that are just blanket policy blocking YouTube 100%. I think that is an incredibly misguided policy. I understand where it's coming from, do not get me wrong, but there are so many good resources that we, as the teacher can vet. To help supplement and make our lessons more engaging, more authentic, more purposeful, more representative of the world we live in. So if that's the district that you're in, I highly recommend you push back on that a little bit, even if it's just like, well, what about this video? Well, what about this video? Can you approve this video and see what you can do? Because. Technology in so many different forms does have a place or should have a place in the elementary music classroom as long as we're being smart about it. So what are some other ways that we can use technology in a purposeful way? Um, I think we can, uh, very quickly think of reasons of how we can use technology in inappropriate, in the music classroom, right? Just giving them Chromebooks and say go, um, you know, like I said, just putting on a YouTube video and just playing it. And that's all you do for the whole quarter, you know? Those are ways that we're not. Helping anything. We're not, we're not leveling anything up. We're just throwing things out there and just hoping that it sticks. So what are some things that we can do? First of all, I hate the term 21st century skills because like it's 2026, like we've been in the 21st century for like a hot minute at this point. Um, but I don't know what the better term is, so I'm gonna use that because I don't know what else there is. So if you have a better one, please let me know 'cause I wanna retire that one. Um, but let's be honest, it is 2026. If our students are interested in music, there is a highly likelihood that they're interested in some sort of technology way, or they're interested because of something like TikTok or, you know, they might have, you know, been able to see some different things or, you know, as, as these instruments, you know, these electronic instruments and keyboards and things get more, you know, financially accessible or, you know, even just doing it online. Students might try new things that they wouldn't have done otherwise. One of the the cool things that I really do think came out of COVID for me at least, was because we couldn't sing, we couldn't use instruments, we couldn't do any of these things, but we had Chromebooks. I was able to see some students in my fifth and sixth grade classes unlock in ways that I'd never seen. And again, these were students that I had taught for a while at that point. I, I knew them. They, they were, you know, I, I understood them or I thought I did. But as we were able to kind of move into, out of necessity, I think we used, you know, we, I don't, can't remember what, what specific digital audio workstation we used, but we had them creating different things. We had them connecting the music that they made to their life. One of my favorite projects that I ever did was the musical of my life. So basically I had them go through and create, you know, the series of a story. You know, the exposition, the Rising Action, the climax. Resolution, all those things, uh, about their story, their life. They could do it as, you know, something's already happened to them. They could do a goal that they wanted to do. Like some people said, I'm gonna be the hockey star of whoever. I'm like, great, love that. What are the different parts? And then they had to pick a song, either a song that they are that already existed, um, or they were able to create their own song in a digital audio workstation for each of those, those areas. And it was really cool because, so some of my students. Weren't really ones that liked to sing, dance, play, all those things. But they loved to create and I didn't realize that because I wasn't giving them enough opportunities and I wasn't allowing them to connect it to their own lives in a way like this. So that's one of those things that I want you to tr be open to trying new things, because that is where I think a lot of really fun stuff happens because. When you try new things with your students, they get to try new things that they don't necessarily get to understand. So that's another opportunity for us to try using technology again, purposefully thinking through all the different steps and thinking of it as a tool, not a teacher. Now, do I think technology should be everything we do? Absolutely not. Do I think that our students should be sitting at a projector? The majority of our class, absolutely not. My philosophy on music education is students. Students should be up moving, making music, dancing, creating movements, using instruments, doing all the things, mixing, moving around, play parties, folk dances, all these different things. But there is a place for technology, if we think about it. All the steps if we think about it in a purposeful way, if we do it in a way that's adding to different things. Um, if you haven't checked out the episode I did with Amy Burns episode two 15, uh, we'll link it in the, the, the description show notes below. Amy goes through a lot of these different ways that you can use technology specific tools. Um, she actually has a masterclass inside elementary Music Edge. So if you're an Edge member, go ahead and check that out because she gives, she says six, but it's more than six. Um, literal tech tools that you can use both in the classroom, but as also as a teacher to save time. And I think that's another opportunity for us to use technology is sometimes there are pieces of technology that can save us as the teacher considerable time. And that is something that we should look more into because let's be honest, you want more time and your district's not gonna give it to you. So how can we use the time we have a little bit more efficiently? Oftentimes, and sometimes that can be through purposeful technology. I hope you enjoyed this episode of that Music podcast. If you enjoyed it, please let us know by leaving a review. Wherever you are watching or listening, be sure to hit subscribe, and especially if you're on YouTube, hit that bell icon so you get notifications whenever we release a new episode. With that being said, we hope to see you inside Elementary Music Edge. If you wanna check out Amy's training and some other trainings, there's like. 30 some hours at this point. Uh, you can check out the link in the show notes as well to get a, um, unique discount specifically for being a podcast listener. With that being said, thank you so much for joining us, and as always, thank you so much for making a difference in the lives of the students we teach.