mtec2011 – One Week To Go!

mtec2011 – One Week To Go!

Posted on April 4th, 2011 in Music Tech Tips. Well, this time next week I’ll be in Sydney, experiencing a range of top-class music technology presentations aimed solely at educators. Convened by the Soundhouse® Music Alliance, mtec2011 – the Music Technology in Education conference – will bring together 250+ delegates, presenters, retailers and wholesalers for 3 days of intense (but enjoyable!) workshops, papers and lecture-style presentations. We’re lucky enough to be using the state-of-the-art Junior School at MLC School in Burwood as the conference venue and will spread conference sessions over all three levels of the building. I’ve been working in the capacity of project manager for the conference, alongside Ken Owen (CEO, Soundhouse Music Alliance), James Humberstone (Composer in Residence at MLC School) and Glenys Gijsbers and the team at Stockdale ACS (conference administrators). The conference will feature more than 130 presentations, including keynote addresses by David Price (UK), James Frankel (USA) and Australia’s own music education ambassador and former Australian Idol musical director, John Foreman. The majority of conference sessions are hands-on, with more than 100 computers available across 6 labs. Four additional open spaces will allow delegates to join in live recording sessions, play along in “silent” rock band rehearsals and experience interactive whiteboards in action. Notable sessions include Musical Futures: In The Deep End, Youtube in Music Education, A Week in the Life of the Australian Idol Musical Director, Making Music With Mobile Devices (iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches) and Compositional Chairs. I’ll be running four sessions myself and will share some resources at the conclusion of the conference:

• Amazing Audacity
• MuseScore: Score Creation and Collaboration for Free
• Creating Great Software Tutorials
• Sibelius Advanced: Drum and Percussion Notation

Now that we’re just a week away from the conference, the back channel is starting to buzz with conversations taking place on Twitter and the conference Facebook page. If you have a Twitter account, you can follow @mtec2011 and use the hashtag #mtec2011, or click on the Like button on the conference Facebook page. There are still places available at mtec2011 and you can find registration information on the website. Will you be at mtec2011? What are you looking forward to?