“There seems to be a missing link between loving music and being disengaged in music class,” said Store Van Music Founder Neil Johnston. “There didn’t seem to be relevance between the music industry and the classroom.”
After making a single video of students performing a pop song, Store Van Music went on a tour of the United States to facilitate workshops at schools of all different socioeconomic backgrounds. He noticed that being able to play music on the iPad let students with different learning abilities experience the collaborative feeling of “jamming” without having to know how to completely play the physical instruments.
“If you don’t put kids into a box, it’s pretty incredible what they can do,” said Johnston.
Below: Gaywood Primary School in Norfolk recorded “We Are the Young” with Johnston during one of his music education tours. The single reached number one in children’s iTunes downloads.
iBand Unleashed Live gives teachers the tools to do the same with their students during a regular school term. The program is live-streamed to the educator, allowing for live feedback and assistance. The end goal is a performance that can be submitted to an international contest to be judged by industry professionals in their respective country.
“It is important to support teachers no matter what their experience is with iPads,” Johnston said. “They are choosing to come on this journey with us and we want to help them as much as possible.”
Teachers can choose to be part of the 10-week program by registering on the Store Van Music website at http://www.storevanmusic.com/contact-us.html.
Want more music education resources? Here are a few websites that can help:
- iPad and Technology in Music Education Blog
- ARTSLEDGE, the National Arts and Education Network, seeks to integrate technology with the arts in the classroom
- Music Tech Teacher is a site dedicated to bringing interactive elements to music and contains many resources for lesson planning
Lisa Driscoll is an editorial intern at eSchool News.
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