This term St Joseph’s Music Department has been fantastically augmented by the arrival of six brand new shiny Apple iMac computers!

As new Head of Department Mr Fitzgerald has been keen to move forward in the use and application of technology within music lessons throughout all key stages. The department was already furnished with nine iMacs but these were predominantly used for GCSE and A Level students to create and record their composition coursework. St Joseph’s recognises that in this digital age it is vitally important that we utilise technology to engage and enthuse young people in their learning. With the addition of these six new iMacs the Music department now has already started to deliver exciting and engaging new units of work to whole classes of Key Stage 3 students. Using ‘Garageband’ Year 7 have enjoyed arranging their own pieces of music, Year 8 have been remixing Black Eyed Peas ‘I Gotta Feeling’ and Year 9 have been composing original film music soundtracks to a clip from Tim Burton’s ‘Corpse Bride’.

With the implementation of the school’s iPad revolution, opportunities for students to become music composers, arrangers and reflective practitioners is very exciting and to grow as a learner, is vital to have the opportunity to revisit, re-listen and improve work. The evolution of the Music department is an exciting journey and recent developments are only just the start of the digital journey...watch this (cyber) space! Please see our website for more information on this story.

Technology enables this so very effectively. Young people are ‘Digital Natives’, they have been born into a world full of technology. A computer to them is as normal as a tree! We (the slightly older generation, sorry!) are ‘Digital Tourists’  we visit and have travelled to the use technology within our lifetime.  We must enable all students here at St Joseph’s to access a wide curriculum in the most effective ways that are possible.  The use of technology is one such way.

The music department is like any other here in St Joseph’s, we are not simply getting rid of traditional methods of teaching and learning, our developments in the use of technology are adding vital skills and opportunities to our learners and their learning.  Students will still play ‘normal’ instruments, students will still sing, orchestra will still perform. The use of technology opens up the styles of music creation and performance and makes more widely available the opportunity for a broad range of young people to engage with the study of music.

Music is all around us and is so very important in our lives.

It is our responsibility to enable each and every young person to engage in an exciting and relevant way.

The development of the Music department is an exciting journey and the recent developments are only just the start of the digital journey...watch this (cyber) space!

Mr B Fitzgerald
Head of Music