Tablets in Music Education

Technology is advancing at an ever growing pace. Implementing certain devices, such as tablets, into a music classroom could be highly beneficial. I believe in the hands of an educator implementing tablets into your lesson structure is almost essential. However, In the hands of students, it could result in the students not fully engaging in the lesson and focusing more on the tablet itself. A teacher using a tablet, or similar piece of technology, has a variety of applications, pun intended, in the classroom. For example, Jim Phillips, a writer for NAFME, suggests using the camera on your device to instantly receive feedback after a run-through of a section.
“It seems a bit obvious, but have you used the video camera to record your group and play it back to them? Immediate response. Don’t record a whole piece, just a passage.” Beyond this you can use the tablet: as a tuner, a reference for fingerings, share files with students, and as a simple metronome. In all cases, there’s an app for that.