A yearlong project into the electronic compositions and compositional approaches of children led the author to investigate theoretical frameworks to support an analysis process that accommodated the capacity to re-live and reinterpret data through the same technologies that were used to create it. An exploration of the hermeneutical approach to…

I am a composer, producer, pianist and part-time music lecturer at a Further Education college where I teach composing on Music Technology courses at levels 3 (equivalent to A-level) and 4 (Undergraduate/Foundation Degree). A "Music Technology" course, distinct from a "Music" course, often attracts applicants from diverse musical backgrounds; it…

Music uniquely provides for human beings what cannot be provided in any other way. Affording opportunity for undergraduate general education students to express musical identity and experience musical otherness through musical decision making in an e-learning environment propelled the creation of the two courses that became the context for this…

This column presents an outline for the secondary general classroom. The project, called a "soundwalk," requires students to use music, sounds, and technology to create immersive, cinematic audio tours of their school and community. The author argues that the soundwalk is a perfect opportunity for students within secondary general music courses to…

This case study investigates how secondary students (three individuals and three groups) engaged with music and acted as musicians in a Songwriting and Technology Class (STC), a course involving the creation, performance, recording and production of original music with instruments and music technology. The following research question guided the…

One computer, one class, and one educator can be an effective combination to engage students as a group in music composition, performance, and analysis. Having one desktop computer and a television monitor in the music classroom is not an uncommon or new scenario, especially in a time when many school budgets are being cut. This article…

This article reports on the practice and evaluation of a music education model, In Harmony, which utilizes new technologies and current theories of learning to mediate the music learning experience. In response to the needs of twenty-first century learners, the educational software programs Teach, Learn, Evaluate! and Impromptu served as central…

This paper explores secondary school music teachers' current practice with regard to the organisation and assessment of composing at Key Stage 4. It draws on research undertaken on a nation-wide basis in England, via the use of two online surveys and face-to-face interviews. In terms of the organisation of classroom composition, the study found…

Having previously been employed to investigate science and English classrooms and listening in the music classroom, theories of multimodality would appear to have much to contribute to an examination of group composing using Information and Communications Technology (ICT), owing to the multimodal nature of music software and group discourse. This…

This article describes an approach to general music where assignments in music improvisation and composition are embedded into the curriculum, that is, creative assignments are given as an outgrowth of curriculum content and directly related to instruction and activities in conceptual learning and skill development in the classroom. Such an…

The body of research examining deliberate practice and self-regulation in musical instruction has grown extensively over the past decade. Compelling evidence indicates that students with higher levels of self-regulation develop superior performance skills and experience more fulfillment as musicians. But in order to develop the self-regulatory…

This exploratory work describes and analyses the collaborative interactions that emerge during computer-based music composition in the primary school. The study draws on socio-cultural theories of learning, originated within Vygotsky's theoretical context, and proposes a new model, namely Computer-mediated Praxis and Logos under Synergy (ComPLuS).…

Many gifted children are exposed to music as listeners or performers or both. Children who are sophisticated listeners recognize the importance of and differences between the various works they hear and are knowledgeable about a sometimes large and significant repertoire. Children who are gifted performers are able to make a musical composition…

As music making and technology grow more entwined, it is important for teachers to become familiar with available hardware, software, Web apps, yMIDI, sequencing, sampling and other emerging products. If music students in today's digital world wish to make a career out of doing what they love--whether as performers or conductors, composers or…

This paper draws on results of a research project InterActive Education: Teaching and Learning in the Information Age (see www.interactiveeducation.ac.uk). The overall aim of the project was to examine ways in which new technologies can be used in educational settings to enhance learning. Research was carried out across a range of school subjects:…