Music Tech
Music
Mr McEvoy’s launch of Music Technology In September I will be taking on a new role as Head of Music Technology, introducing what I very much hope will be an inspiring new curriculum to Upton House School. I am extremely excited at the prospect of sharing with our children the infinite possibilities of music production using a range of different technologies including GarageBand, Logic Pro X and iMovie.
Online music learning has been an exciting adventure. Children have been learning piano skills through various music software and using an online piano. We studied music from film and learnt many songs, actions and dances.
The wonderful thing about Music Technology is that it is COMPLETELY ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL STUDENTS, regardless of whether they consider themselves to be ‘musical’, or indeed whether they can play a musical instrument or not. Making decisions about the soundscape they create is as simple as choosing which colours to use when drawing.
Children also had a chance to learn about the history of music and its grand masters, such as Beethoven. Most one-to-one music lessons also continued online and even an online in-house music exams were being held for some very keen musicians. All children had an opportunity to interact with their teachers and continued progressing and reaching their goals.
I very much hope to integrate the children’s compositions with other areas of the curriculum, for example creating backing tracks for English or history presentations, adding music to animation projects, musical representations of artwork, setting music to short movies or even producing music videos! Naturally, this will involve a high level of creativity and will also allow the children to explore the worlds of songwriting and scriptwriting. I cannot wait to get started after the October half term! Craig McEvoy
8
Olya Shafikova Head of Music
