Educator’s Foreword
Welcome to the Roland family! We want to thank you for making the Roland MTLC-16 Lab Communication Console a vital part of your classroom environment.
As educators in the 21st-century, we are faced with ever-growing competition for our students’ time and focus. Listening to CDs and MP3s, watching movies and videos, and interacting with computers and the Internet, are all examples of activities that are replacing the time students used to spend learning musical instruments. Because today’s children are exposed to technology on a daily basis, they accept it as part of the natural landscape. They pursue infor- mation in an interactive manner, and they tend to reject old-style broadcast learning. As a result, we as music educators must utilize technology so that teaching is more effective and learning is more fun.
Listening to CDs and MP3s is aurally stimulating. Watching movies and videos is visually stimulating. Interacting with computers and the internet is mentally stimulating. This is why so many music teachers find it difficult to get students excited about learning a musical instrument—especially in a traditional manner. If you could simultaneously listen to the music of Mozart, follow the score, and share the experience with friends, why would you want to practice solo scales and chords? The “interactive-generation” finds multimedia experiences more fulfilling.
Thanks to the MTLC-16, learning a musical instrument does not have to be boring—it can actually be fun! The MTLC- 16 is a lab communication console that combines aural and visual reinforcement of musical concepts with the Music Tutor Philosophy. This includes performance-quality stereo sounds, as well as the ability to interact with musical nota- tion (both intuitively and creatively), seamless integration of musical examples from SMFs or any audio source, and the ability to visualize transposed scores and create altered arrangements. While this technology is state-of-the-art, it is very easy to use—absolutely intuitive! Learning and playing take precedence over memorizing features and, as a result, the MTLC-16 is virtually transparent to the teacher and student.
This is why the Roland MTLC-16 Lab Communication Console is a perfect group piano teaching tool. With it, the focus is on learning and playing, incorporating technology in a way that is effective and enjoyable. Product features may be important to a roomful of engineers, but we as music educators need practical tools. The Roland MTLC-16 Lab Communication Console makes music learning aurally, visually, and mentally stimulating—like listening to CDs and MP3s, watching movies and videos, or interacting with computers and the Internet. This is why both teachers and stu- dents embrace it as a perfect group piano teaching tool.
