As we near exam time again, here are a couple of resources I put together for AoS E EDUQAS A Level Music on YouTube – video analyses of the Poulenc and Debussy works. These are completely free on YouTube but if they’re useful – feel free to support via purchasing a PDF copy via TES Resources here.

It was great working with some more Keynote Education delegates to talk about teaching Pearson Edexcel A Level Music Technology for the first time a few weeks ago. Head over to the Keynote website to find out more about future courses or click here to read their Summer course booklet.

It’s been a busy couple of Mondays presenting for Keynote Educational and running courses focused on teaching and learning in A Level Music Technology.

Thanks to all of the delegates for their engagement and contributions; I’ll be working with Keynote again in the new year so keep an eye on their website for details of the next courses I’ll be running.

I enjoyed leading this course last week for Keynote Educational online. Get in touch if you’re interested in A Level Music Technology training, advice or resources!

I recently enjoyed presenting for The British School’s 2021 conference, entitled ‘reflecting, redefining, reimagining’.

My two sessions were focused on music technology in secondary and post-16 music, with a focus on both music technology as a tool to facilitate musical learning and specific music technology skills.

I’ve decided to share some of the resources and videos I used in my sessions here. To put them into context, one of the sessions was focused on tasks involving sampling, the other more associated with general ways of integrating music technology into teaching and resources to support teachers in doing so.

Brian Eno – Music for Airports – sampling and tape loops

Sergeant Pepper 4-track Multitracks – how the technology has an impact on the music

Billie Eilish making ‘Bad Guy’ – found sounds and sampling everyday objects

Some great links to music technology teaching resources

Chrome music lab – https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com

Ableton ‘learning music’ – https://learningmusic.ableton.com/index.html

Ableton ‘learning synths’ – https://learningsynths.ableton.com/

Track breakdowns to engage students

Calvin Harris – ‘Slide’: track breakdown

Tones & I – ‘Dance Monkey: track breakdown

I’m looking forward to presenting two sessions on Music Technology at #TBSedcon21 for The British School, Rio de Janeiro. The sessions will be as follows

Practical ideas and strategies for integrating music technology in secondary education
This session will consider the role of music technology in music education today and how it can be used to inspire and engage learners in secondary school and beyond. It will consider how music technology can both support and augment learning in more ‘traditional’ musical settings and the importance of it as a subject and discipline in its own right. There will be opportunities to discuss and share good practice as to how centres embed music technology in a variety of different contexts, the various merits associated with this, and the varied meanings of the term ‘music technology’ itself.

Music education and e-learning; supporting students’ musical learning inside and outside of the classroom using technology.
The pandemic has changed our lives immeasurably over the past year. In particular, it has had a huge effect on the way we work; this session will begin by reflecting on the things are perhaps worth keeping that can support face-to-face learning and instruction in music in the future. It will incorporate an overview of ideas, strategies and resources to support students’ musical education both remotely and in supplementing face-to-face teaching and learning. What are the opportunities to do things in different ways? There will be opportunities to discuss this in terms of delegates’ varying experiences of this and a number of strategies and resources will be modelled and showcased by James.

Booking information and further details are available here https://issuu.com/mbeeko/docs/_tbs-edcon21-choose-your-sessions-vip

We would be grateful for any contributions to our Christmas collection. Greenhead College present their annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from Holy Trinity Church in Huddersfield – but in a slightly different format this year. It premieres on YouTube at 5pm on Sunday 20th December.

The service features performances from the college brass ensemble accompanied by organ, soloists from the A Level Music groups and readings from staff, students and governors, with an address from Mike Wilkins, Vicar of Holy Trinity Church.

Brass arrangements and all recording, editing and video production by James.

The service has a retiring collection in aid of Simon on the Streets – head over here if you would like to contribute. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/greenheadcollegemusic