Application of technology in teaching vocal music

A vocal music class of the Military University of Culture and Arts.

To adapt to the development trend, while ensuring quality and effectiveness in training, vocal music teaching is facing the need for innovation and modernization through the application of technology, harmoniously integrating with the specific pedagogical foundation of the subject to support the teaching and learning process.

General development trend

In the process of organizing vocal music teaching, training institutions can apply technology in digitizing documents, compiling lectures and teaching content. Initially, they can digitize many documents and put them into electronic libraries for reference and teaching.

At a higher level, many institutions have exploited digital opportunities in searching for digital music on the internet, exploiting video , audio and image sources to help learners refer to during class. Timely adapting to new technologies, thereby incorporating creativity into the lesson preparation process, especially the style of singing light music or musical theater.

Nowadays, lecturers can easily search, exploit, and buy music texts online quickly. At the same time, they can find that work with many audio and video versions of many different artists in the world .

Lecturers can also use music transcription and composition software as well as image editing software to create video lectures and upload them to cloud technology platforms.

That will enrich the lecture, the teaching content is always renewed. On the other hand, it helps learners to listen and review at any time, any space, the learning is not interrupted by time and place factors, contributing to improving the efficiency and quality of Vocal training.

Nowadays, there are many tools that support teachers to create their own accompaniment in practice such as Band-in-a-box, iReal Pro, or Jamzone software that allows learners to buy music and actively cut the vocals, reduce the volume of the instruments in the accompaniment. They are completely proactive in creating products with their own personal identity.

Additionally, tools like Flock, JamKazam, or JackStrip allow entire classes to sing online while simultaneously performing choirs or groups remotely.

With new technology, singing together online is no longer limited by latency, just like singing live. Using a lab to analyze sound samples, then evaluate and compare the sound samples of different singers helps learners improve their listening skills and correct their own sound samples.

Recently, some lecturers of the Vocal Music Department of the Military University of Culture and Arts have used modern technology to support the teaching process such as teaching theory and vocal techniques on presentation software, guiding students to practice singing with computers and practice singing with electronic accompaniment, especially with light music genres.

In addition, with the lecturer assigning homework, requiring students to use recording and video software to complete the old lesson test, students will become familiar with the professional working environment, practice recording, listening, singing and microphone handling skills.

At the same time, lecturers and examination boards can evaluate teaching results by recording exams, storing them as digital learning materials and using the products for promotion, even for later review.

Opportunities and challenges

In fact, training institutions that grasp and apply technology effectively will achieve important results in enrollment, training, access and help learners develop professional capacity, and have a suitable direction in the general development of society.

One of the biggest advantages for vocal learners today is that they can simply access the internet and enter specialized keywords to find a lot of useful information to support their learning process.

Notably, such information comes from different music backgrounds, which can help learners approach, absorb, study, research and apply new knowledge to develop their abilities. Students can even connect, exchange and cooperate with organizations and people working in the field of vocal music around the world if they have good foreign language skills.

Along with the above opportunities, we also see many challenges and difficulties for singers today. That is, the capacity, skills, and qualifications of each person, especially in the field of information technology, still have certain limitations.

Therefore, the process of participating in digital transformation has encountered many difficulties. Notably, a number of young singers, when accessing the internet, lack selection and follow trivial tastes, leading to the creation of music products that are superficial, general, and lacking depth, not to mention products that are not suitable for culture and life.

More worryingly, these websites and toxic information have had negative effects on tastes, orientations, and lifestyles, causing learners to easily deviate in their views, thoughts, actions, and studies.

In addition, the emergence of many smart software in the music field has led to a dependence on technology, making learners lazy, following trends, not making an effort to develop their own abilities, wanting to succeed quickly, ignoring the essence.

This is one of the important reasons why many students are passionate about new, commercial music genres, and more sadly, classical singers, a genre that requires meticulous and persistent training, are actually losing their place in today's musical life.

In addition, some policies of ministries and functional agencies have not really focused on finding human resources in the field of arts in general and vocal music in particular. This leads to many difficulties and shortcomings in training.

Meanwhile, the level of lecturers in using technology is still limited, the quality of teaching has not been improved, the quality is not high. A part of the staff has not met the requirements of innovation, leading to the phenomenon of lagging behind in general development.

Implementing digital transformation in vocal teaching requires drastic changes in the way of operating, managing, and organizing training work.

Along with the transformation of the collective, each individual must make constant efforts in researching and acquiring information technology, improving foreign language proficiency to keep up with the development of society, and at the same time complete professional tasks well.

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