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Howard County Teacher Nationally Recognized for Using Technology in Music Education

Richard McCready, music technology teacher at River Hill High School, has been selected as the 2013 winner of the TI:ME Teacher of the Year Award.

Technology for Music Education (TI:ME) announced that Richard McCready, music educator at River Hill High School in Clarksville, has been honored with the 2013 Mike Kovins TI:ME Teacher of the year award.  

The award recognizes McCready, 45, for the numerous ways in which he integrates music technology into music education.

McCready and his wife Julia, who live in Columbia with one of their two daughters, flew to San Antonio, TX where a formal presentation of the award took place during the TI:ME National Conference Friday, Feb. 15 at 12:30 p.m.

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McCready held teaching positions at a few schools in Maryland including Towson University before he began teaching music at River Hill in 2008. Since then, he has helped develop a 25-station music technology lab, which includes computer terminals set up for each student to listen to  and compose their own music with a music technology program. 

As the students at River Hill began to excel in this program, the Howard County Board of Education took notice and in the 2011-2012 school year, commissioned McCready to travel to all of the schools in the area and set up 20 similar music technology stations.    

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McCready, who has been teaching for 20 years, also helps to train music staff across 12 high schools and 18 middle schools.

Music and music technology also plays a big role in other areas of his life.  Outside of school, McCready performs professionally on organ, piano, guitar, harp, tuba and vocally.  He also co-authored the book “Making Music with Garage Band and Mixcraft” published in 2011.

Patch: How has music and technology education changed in your time as a teacher?  

McCready: “When I first started teaching, we were recording on cassette recorders. Even synthesizers and keyboards were very high-tech at that time.  Now at this point, each student’s computer in the classroom has the power and capacity of what a full studio used to have in the past. Also, the companies that make technology software have changed their marketing strategies. They now realize that students of today are the consumers of tomorrow and companies are willing to help get students technology that is up to date.”

Patch: Do you have a guess as to future changes to music technology and education?

McCready: We are just now embarking on a new stage in music education. In the past, music education has been dominated by chorus, orchestra and ensemble programs; however this only caters to 20% of the students. Music technology caters to the other 80% of students who love music, all the ones who love listening to it all day on their iPods, but simply are not performance based. 

Also, we are in the age of creation in music technology. One hundred years ago, art went in a similar movement - instead of simply learning about the great painters and copying them, people began to create their own art in their own styles. It is the same with music technology now; and though the power of the Internet, students winning national contests for something they created on a computer in their own basement and uploaded to YouTube. 

…And through all of this, TI:ME is a trailblazer in helping to use technology to change the paradigm of music.”

No matter where the next few years take him, McCready’s primary goal remains the same - to ensure that his students are happy and creative.  

“If my students are not happy and creative, I’m not satisfied that I’m doing my job," he said. "Nobody will ever convince me that tests or grades or rubrics are more important than the joy of creativity.  Music is a joy to teach, it is a joy to learn. I hope that we will all continue to keep it so.”

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