Blog for Music Curriculum 1 EXT Class 4/04/2025 and Unreliable AD

The Music Curriculum 1 Ext tutorials have been interesting and informative. The initial class that was given by James, focused on using the software music program Ableton Live. The task required students to come up with their own 8 bar phrase using the inbuilt pre-set samples and loops from the Ableton Live library, followed by a presentation of the 8-bar music phrase before our peers. The activity was fun and engaging therefore it didn’t require any background knowledge of music. It was based on a drag and drop system where we had to arrange the samples, repeat them, and come up with something interesting. I can see this as a great activity for year 7-8 music students. It is a simple straightforward activity that engages students with technology and allows them to have fun, while at the same time being creative and coming up with their own products. The activity gives everyone the opportunity to be involved using technology in an uncomplicated manner. In other words, people do not need to have a rich understanding of operating music software. They can simply get into the creating sphere right away. It moves away from the typical keyboard and guitar classes which focus on learning a song, and playing it as a classroom, which some students may find boring. 

This Ableton Live activity is also relevant to life experiences therefore it allows students to get a sample and taste of the software that professional producers and DJs use for their music, especially the music young people are listening to nowadays since most of it is designed on computer software.

Using Ableton Playground on Ableton  – Learning music  website was interesting and fun therefore it required very little effort to come up with a short fragment of music. 

Playing with the Beat, bassline, chord and melody tools does not require much knowledge in music to create something which sounds interesting and catchy. The flexibility to export the file into a Ableton Live session as MIDI data, gives e develop allows the user even more freedom to develop the work with the professional sounds, tools and effects that are available in Ableton.

The ‘Unreliable Advertisement’ tutorial was a fun and interesting task to do therefore it gave us the opportunity to come up with our own lyrics, and style of music. Working in groups allowed us to collaborate and think about the concept we wanted to explore. The theme that we decided to settle on in my group was a Balkan Romani theme that would underscore an AD for Geriatric Car Services for older people. The task was divided into three. I came up with the music, one of the group members developed the lyrics, and the third member recorded the vocals. An engaging task that was also immersive and allowed for collaboration with like minded creative individuals. Every group’s ad was presented before our peers which was a delightful session and gave everyone the opportunity to hear each other’s work. The joy and laughter produced from hearing each other’s ads was sensational. It is always great to see other people’s work and a positive reaction gives that extra boost in confidence.