A school uses the concept of a mini residential to provide selected students with an opportunity for an in-depth exploration of making music with a midi controller connected to Ableton Live.
Music and midi controllers – Live in the Classroom
Main description of project
Live in the Classroom was a partnership project with Lancashire Music Hub, Ableton Live and Our Lady's Catholic College in Lancaster. The school was keen to develop its music technology provision and, following a School Music Education Plan visit [SMEP], it was decided that the school would run a residential project which would allow a practitioner from Lancashire Music Hub to work with technology provided by Ableton. This work comprised their flagship music programme, Live, used in conjunction with their recently developed midi controller, Push.
Twelve students across all year groups were freed from timetabled commitments for three consecutive half-days and given the opportunity to develop compositions to a chosen brief. These were based on resources commissioned by Ableton from David Ashworth, covering a range of typical secondary school music curriculum activity.
What is the context of the work?
There is a total mixture of musical, personal, social, and educational outcomes that can be measured throughout the process. They include
- Developed listening and improvisation skills
- Increased knowledge of ensemble work
- Improved self esteem
- Increased confidence to take risks and to experiment
- Developed understanding of others and of difference
- Sustained relationships over time
- Improved ability to concentrate and learn
What you'll need
To replicate this project, you will need:
- Ableton Live Intro software
- A midi controller [desirable, but not essential]
- Lesson plan [see below]
Resources
