Secondary school teachers learning Ableton Live with a Push for their teaching.

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This study was the culmination for 10 years of teaching school students and training secondary school teachers in digital technology. It was a chance to respond in a different way from what I had done previously, in light of how making music has dramatically changed with increased access to resources along with new genres of music seemingly emerging each week. This study my reflection on what I could do as I saw how teachers were trying to navigate this challenging landscape as they chose what to include in their curriculum and what pedagogical approaches were best for their students, especially in electronic-based music. This study isn't THE answer, but provides an insight into how 20 hours of a well-designed professional learning development designed specifically for secondary teachers (by a former secondary school teacher) can greatly increase teacher confidence in using a recording/editing software (the DAW Ableton Live and the Push controller). It indicates that it could also be transformational for their beliefs about what music is and what that means for music education. At the very least, it helped the participating teachers, and this researcher, to better understand what music education is, and could be. Contact me for further insight into my current research on the relationship of how music teachers conceptualise music education and apply digital technology in the classroom.

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