Steinberg Canada offers the educational community a chance to see what modern music production technology is all about. We regularly visit schools to provide complimentary music technology seminars for students, teachers, and school administrators. We encourage students to share their musical talents while they participate hands-on, in a real recording project using production hardware and software that we bring right into the classroom. We call this promotional activity our Education Outreach Program and we are pleased to receive invitations from all types of academic institutions throughout North America.
By spending time with students and teachers in schools we hope to demonstrate the usefulness of music technology in the classroom and provide a model of how to teach music with such tools. The gear we bring with us for a seminar is the same technology we are suggesting schools acquire to meet curriculum guidelines, inspire creativity, and attract students to music programs. We offer seminars on a variety of topics for all kinds of learning outcomes. For example, the objective of a song arranging and production seminar is to demonstrate the process of recording vocal or instrumental performances and impart knowledge on music production including compositional and editing techniques with hardware and software.
It takes about 10 minutes for one of our educational representatives to setup a small-format computer, a projector, a MIDI controller, a microphone, and a pair of speakers. With the average classroom period lasting about an hour, we have enough time to record 3 or 4 vocal or instrumental tracks, add a drum beat, do some accompaniment with synthesizers, utilize virtual instruments, add some effects such as reverb, mix down a multitrack file to stereo, and burn a CD. Every Outreach Seminar is unique however, and we welcome specific suggestions on a variety of topics from notation software, to music production, to DJ remixing, and so forth – if it has to do with music technology we are a leading source of information.
The professional working environment of the recording industry has shifted away from expensive studios. Advancements in desktop computers have changed the way musicians and recording engineers work, and the affordability of setting up a project studio anywhere you setup a computer means that the recording process is attainable for almost anyone. As modern digital musicians are using more and more technology, music departments at educational facilities are installing complete music production systems and integrating existing curriculum with the new.
Yet this is no simple task; the tradition of Western music education is long and rich but contains no model for teaching or learning current music technologies. The challenge of integrating modern music technology into the traditional music curriculum is overwhelming for educators who do not have a practical understanding of music technology gear. Without some knowledge of how various music technologies function, music teachers cannot define a purpose for music technology in their classrooms.
We offer consultation and continual dialog on the state of music technology to educators who are embarking on the modernization of their music programs and our Education Outreach Program is our way to introduce our company and our products to schools throughout North America. When we began this program back in 1999, we were delighted that so many schools were immediately enthusiastic about our in-school visits. We have encountered some very software savvy music teachers, but many educators remain in the dark when it comes to MIDI, audio recording, computer notation programs, etc. and our work to reveal the pedagogical merits and sheer fun of the music technology continues.
Computer systems are becoming easier to handle, CPU power, RAM, and hard drive space are all much more affordable, and Steinberg Canada is in a position to offer a fantastic music technology solutions to educational facilities at affordable prices. We are committed to our extended involvement in the education system and to the development of music students everywhere. We encourage educational organizations of all descriptions from K-12, through to universities, colleges, institutes, public, private, and home-school families to contact us and take advantage of our in-school promotional activities.
For more information contact:
Shawn Dalton, BFA Mus., Education Coordinator, Steinberg Canada
s.dalton@steinbergcanada.co