Delve into the exciting world of film scoring using your chosen software application (such as GarageBand, Acid, Sonar or Sibelius) and explore composing, arranging, recording and editing music, whilst synching sound to visuals.  The session will start by investigating the film scoring process by examining the roles of the music team: composer, editor, orchestrator and copyist.  Using short films, we’ll create our own movie soundtracks by adding sound effects, creating mood music and character themes.  We’ll also learn about hit points/time markers, cues and cue sheets, time code, scrubbing and synching and discuss a step-by-step approach to teaching film composition with your students.  Attendees will leave with a set of resources including lesson plan ideas.

Would you like to incorporate technology into your music teaching but don’t have a large budget?  In this session, we’ll take a look at what you can achieve with a range of software programs that are available at little or no cost.  Save time preparing classroom resources, make recordings of student performances, edit songs, explore podcasting, notate your arrangements, print custom-made blank sheet music, add graphics to handouts or make your own posters.  The session will cover PC, Mac and web-based applications including Audacity, Acid Xpress, GarageBand, MuseScore, Noteflight and a wide range of useful websites.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •PC or Mac

Ever wanted to create rehearsal CDs for your school instrumental ensembles and choirs? Or edit audio tracks for your dance class?  Using your chosen software application (such as Audacity, Acid, Band in a Box, GarageBand), this session demonstrate how to edit MIDI and audio files, shorten and lengthen songs, alter the song structure, create fade-ins/outs, create “Music Minus One” style backing tracks and remove vocals from recordings.  We’ll also create backing tracks from scratch and take a look at some useful free online resources.

Podcasting in the music classroom

Music Technology Resources on a Shoestring

Create Your Own Backing Tracks

Getting Started With Film Scoring

GarageBand in the Music Classroom

The Music Teachers’ Guide to Band in a Box

Arranging and Composing with Acid

Arranging and Composing with Sonar (coming soon)

Groovy Music in the Primary Classroom

Music Technology in the Secondary Classroom

Music Technology in the Primary Classroom

Getting the Most Out of Auralia and Musition

What is podcasting, how do you create podcasts, and how can they be used in a classroom?

This session introduces the concepts behind podcasting, covering the 5 Easy Steps to Create a Podcast from planning to publishing.  We’ll discuss podcasts with different intentions, including student-created podcasts for assessment, teacher-created podcasts as a revision tool for students and podcasts as a source of free professional learning.  We’ll also examine podcasting resources, and talk about practical classroom applications and lesson plan ideas.  The session will include examples of student podcasts and professionally-produced content.  Attendees of hands-on sessions will create their very own podcast to take home.

So You Wanna Be A Film Composer?

The Remix Project

Digitise Your Score With Sibelius

Enhanced Story Telling

Acid Music Studio is a powerful music program with lots of scope for integration into your music program.  This session will look at effective ways of creating your own tracks with existing loops whilst focusing on effective arranging techniques such as layering, texture and form to create interest.  We’ll look at manipulating pitch and tempo, importing and editing audio, and recording your voice.  Use the Chopper to create new loops or record your own original material with a MIDI keyboard.  We’ll also look at ways you can expand your audio library by discovering online copyright-free and cost-free sources loops, sound effects and audio tracks.  Lesson plan ideas include creating backing tracks, recording student performances, teaching arranging techniques, editing audio files, making podcasts or film scoring.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •PC only

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •PC or Mac

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: full day session preferable (half day possible)
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of years 5-12
   

3. •PC or Mac
   

4. •Software programs: GarageBand (Mac), Acid (PC), Sibelius (PC or Mac), Sonar HS (PC)

GarageBand is a fantastic resource for any music teacher and has hundreds of possibilities for curriculum integration.  From arranging and composing with loops and recording your own original material, to making backing tracks or scoring films, GarageBand does (almost!) everything.  Learn how to utilise the loop browser, record MIDI, import audio and MIDI files, transpose, add effects and edit and mix your song.  We’ll also look at ways you can extend your loop library – by creating new loops from scratch and finding free loops online.  Lesson plan ideas will be shared, including performing and improvising the blues, remixing folk songs, creating podcasts and film scoring.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •Mac only

Band in a Box allows you to create professional-sounding backing tracks almost instantly.  By typing in chords and selecting a musical style you can produce full band arrangements in any key, style and tempo in minutes.  This session will show you how to get the most out Band in a Box for the music classroom: set up your song form (intro, verse, chorus, repeats), record your voice, record a MIDI part, harness the sounds of RealTracks instruments (audio recordings of live musicians), use the Medley maker, print parts and discover the Audio Chord Wizard which automatically works out chords from an imported audio file.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •PC or Mac

This session looks at the many options for including technology in the primary music curriculum.  Discover tools to help you create your own teaching resources like flashcards or printed classroom arrangements.  Make backing tracks, record your students, try podcasting or enhance your students’ recorded stories with sound effects.  Encourage student composition, arrangement and improvisation.  There are ideas for all budget-levels, from one-computer classrooms to computer labs and classrooms with interactive whiteboards.  Software applications will include the Groovy Music series, GarageBand, Sibelius, Acid and a range of free programs.

About this workshop

1. •Lecture-style only (minimum 75 mins)
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of K-6
   

3. •PC or Mac

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for primary teachers
   

3. •PC or Mac

Interested in incorporating technology into your primary music classes in a fun and engaging way that complements your current singing, moving and playing activities?  Groovy Music is a bright, colourful, easy-to-use suite of 3 programs for primary school students, each with its own theme.  It’s designed to work on an interactive whiteboard, in a computer lab or in a one-computer classroom.  In this session, we’ll look at the basics of using Groovy in your music classes, incorporating both the “Create” composition section and the step-by-step progressive musical exercises in the “Explore” section.  Groovy Music supports teachers with plenty of clear topic-related lesson plans and copyright-free resources and is designed for use by both specialist and non-specialist music teachers.  

This session offers an overview of the many innovative ways to incorporate technology into the secondary music classroom.   Examine audio editing programs, notation software, computer-aided instruction, administrative tools, communication devices and internet resources.  We’ll look creating backing tracks, teaching film composition, podcasting, notating compositions and arrangements, enhancing aural skills and performances.

About this workshop

1. •Lecture-style only (minimum 75 mins)
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of years 7-12
   

3. •PC or Mac

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •PC only

A cut-to-the-chase Sibelius session which shows takes you through the basics of setting up a score from scratch.  We’ll focus on techniques for working smarter, not harder and discuss tips and tricks for doing things quickly and effectively.  Learn about the four main note-entry methods (yes, four), multiple copy and paste methods, entering lyrics, filtering objects, overwriting note pitches and much more.  Suitable for beginners, and experienced users will probably learn a few new tricks too!

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •PC or Mac

Sibelius 110 is designed for those new to Sibelius as well as users who want to improve their skills and pick up a few tips and tricks along the way. Assuming no previous experience, participants will go through the process of setting up a new score, exploring different methods of inputting notes and articulations, and editing the score by adding dynamics and phrasing.  The course will also include note-entry via your MIDI keyboard, playback, copying and pasting methods and techniques to improve efficiency.  Extension activities cover saving your score as an audio file, creating Scorch webpages and an introduction to The Worksheet Creator.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •PC or Mac

Designed for established users, Sibelius 201 will briefly review the basics of score set-up, note entry methods and score playback whilst developing an understanding of more advanced features and techniques.  Improve your skills and use Sibelius more efficiently and effectively by learning about: score editing, page layout, engraving rules, writing in two voices and changing noteheads (percussion parts); different methods to enter chords; chord symbols; creating orchestral and band parts; using plug-ins and filters; the Ideas hub, exporting to Word, and sharing your scores and audio files.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •PC or Mac

Never correct another aural or theory test!  Get the most out of these comprehensive programs by setting up the administration features so that Ausralia and Musition do the hard work for you.  Learn how to implement the localised syllabus settings, make modifications and make use of the Professor.

Have you ever wanted to create your own custom-made classroom resources? This session will show you how to do all the things you couldn’t find in the reference manual!  We’ll look at: stick notation, blank staves for students to write in, melodic and rhythmic flashcards, creating zaa, writing note names inside noteheads, automatically adding sol-fa, copying musical snippets to Word and using the 1700+ ready-made resources in The Worksheet Creator.   Suitable for beginner or advanced Sibelius users.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •PC or Mac

This course is broken into 3 parts:

1. •A general introduction on teaching film music within the music curriculum
   

2. •Specific Sibelius skills to do with composing for film such as hit points, plug-ins, attaching video and exporting audio
   

3. •Example lesson plans for film composition projects in your classroom
   

There will be resources provided to take back to your classroom and a focus on creating your own resources for future film courses.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of years 7-12
   

3. •PC or Mac

This course is exceptionally useful for those teachers who need to help students prepare final scores and parts for exam submission, or for individuals who want to clean up their own composition and arrangements. It is also designed to cover all of the essential information you need to know to work freelance as a professional copyist.  As well as general formatting tips and tricks, the course looks at copying hand written scores, writing out shorthand, and standards employed by Australian and international publishers. Prior completion of Sibelius 201 or another advanced Sibelius course is advisable.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •PC or Mac

Do you have a shelf full of old scores that you'd love to arrange for your classes to play, or perhaps even to play for fun with your musical friends? With Photoscore, you can scan scores directly into Sibelius, where you can rearrange them. For instance, take Bach chorales and instantly arrange them for brass ensemble, or take woodwind quintets and rewrite them for strings. You may even want to do something as simple as taking viola parts and rewriting them quickly in treble clef for a third violin part, or when your alto sax player doesn't turn up to band quickly transpose the part into B flat to be played by a clarinetist. There are no pre-requirements for this course although a basic knowledge of Sibelius will help you get the most out of it.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable for teachers of all age groups
   

3. •PC or Mac

In this session, students will step into the movie world and take on the role of soundtrack creator.  Using a short film, students will investigate the film making process by attending their own “spotting” session with their group members to determine which sound effects they’ll use, and what sort of music they’ll use to evoke an appropriate mood, place or time.  They’ll learn about hit points/time markers, scrubbing and synching vision and sound.  They’ll also learn about audio mixing and basic editing techniques.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable students in years  7-12, working in groups of 2 or 3
   

3. •PC or Mac (using either GarageBand or ACID)

Student Workshops

In this workshop, students will learn how to remix, arrange or transform existing music using a combination of loops and some of the fantastic copyright-free material that is available from websites such as ccMixter.  Students will create a piece in their chosen style (like hip-hop, jazz, rock, pop) and learn about selecting appropriate instruments, adding effects, layering, editing and mixing skills and recording original music.  We’ll discuss some copyright dos and don’ts and talk about ways they can contribute back to the music community by uploading their remixes and original material to music-sharing websites.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable students in years  7-12, working in groups of 2 or 3
   

3. •PC or Mac (using either GarageBand or ACID)

During this workshop, students will learn all about notating their compositions or arrangements in Sibelius.  We’ll cover score set-up, different note input methods and how to work efficiently by utilising a variety of copy and paste methods.  Discover the Ideas Hub (Sibelius 5 & 6 only) – a place to store your compositional ideas or find inspiration for your next piece – and harness the power of Versions and Notes (Sibelius 6) to keep track of the compositional process.  We’ll also discuss basic formatting techniques and learn how to enhance playback sound.  Students are strongly encouraged to bring along scores-in-progress.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable students in years  9-12
   

3. •PC or Mac

Using a pre-written creative short story or fairy-tale, students will record their narration and then add vocal effects, sound effects and background music to enhance the story.  Along the way they’ll learn about good microphone technique, mixing skills to achieve appropriate sound levels, editing audio, fade-in and fade-outs and panning. Students can take their work home on a disc or MP3 player.

About this workshop

1. •Hands-on: half-day or full day session
   

2. •Suitable students in years  5-8
   

3. •PC or Mac