At a Glance:
- Client: Matt, an Assistant Principal at a small independent higher education provider.
- Challenge: Equipping songwriting students with music notation skills, as they often have little formal theory experience, and finding an affordable, user-friendly tool that works with the school's 1:1 iPad program.
- Solution: Adopting Flat for Education for its powerful assignment features, seamless collaboration, and intuitive interface that simplifies music notation.
- Key Results:
- Successfully integrated a tool that students found easy to use, even those without prior notation experience.
- Streamlined the assessment process by enabling live, collaborative feedback on compositions.
- Empowered students to communicate complex instrumental arrangements and harmonies through professionally generated scores.
- Provided students with the freedom to compose and practice whenever and wherever they want, thanks to the platform's mobile-friendly design.
The Client: Matt, Assistant Principal
Matt is a leader at a small independent higher education provider, where he oversees three undergraduate programs and one postgraduate program. He recognized that while his songwriting students possessed a strong musical ear, many lacked experience with formal music notation. His goal was to provide them with the tools to conceptually write for different instruments and effectively communicate their musical ideas, a skill he believes is still highly relevant in popular music.
The Challenge: A Digital Divide in Music Education
Matt faced a unique challenge. His students, while musically talented, often learned popular music through resources like YouTube, which rarely focused on the theoretical underpinnings of music. This led to a significant gap between their practical skills and their understanding of notation. The main challenges were:
- Bridging Theory and Practice: Students struggled to understand how a melody or rhythm is represented on a page, limiting their ability to write for other instrumentalists.
- Finding an Accessible Tool: Existing professional software, like Sibelius, was often too complex for beginner students. He needed a solution that was simple, yet powerful, and affordable for the school.
- Supporting Mobile Learning: With a 1:1 iPad program, the school needed a platform that could give students the freedom to practice and compose on their devices, both in and out of the classroom.
The Solution: An Intuitive and Collaborative Platform
Matt chose Flat for Education as the solution, citing two main reasons: its powerful Education features and its remarkable affordability.
Intuitive for Beginners
Matt was looking for a platform that was "easy for my students to use," and Flat for Education delivered. Its user-friendly interface made it simple for students, even those with no prior notation experience, to create scores. This allowed them to focus on the creative process rather than wrestling with complicated software.
Advanced Features for Songwriting
Flat for Education’s feature set was perfect for the first-year songwriting curriculum. Students were able to complete assignments that involved creating compositions with accompanying scores. The platform's ability to easily export scores in various formats was particularly useful, allowing students to share their work with other instrumentalists.
Live Collaboration and Time Savings
Matt's favorite feature is the ability to set assignments where he can collaboratively work with his students in real-time. This removes the barrier of students having to manually export and send files for feedback. Matt can see and hear the score as his students work, which makes him "feel close to them when far away" and saves him time on assessment.
The Results: Confident, Communicative Songwriters
By implementing Flat for Education, Matt's students have not only acquired essential notation skills but have also become more confident and effective communicators of their musical ideas.
- Improved Communication: Students are able to generate their own scores, allowing them to communicate their instrumental arrangements and harmonies to other musicians.
- Seamless Workflow: The easy integration and collaborative features have streamlined Matt's workflow, allowing him to give targeted feedback and support without a logistical battle.
- Empowered Learning: The 1:1 iPad program combined with Flat for Education gives students the freedom and technology to compose whenever and wherever inspiration strikes, turning the platform into a vital tool for their creative process. As Matt notes, "The ability to use music notation is still relevant and valid to popular music and musicians. This is why Flat for Education has been a tremendous support for us.”
Conclusion: A Foundation for Modern Music
Matt's experience demonstrates that Flat for Education is a vital tool for modern music education, especially at the higher education level. It effectively addresses the challenges of teaching a generation of students who learn by ear by providing them with an intuitive, affordable, and collaborative platform to bridge the gap between their musical instincts and formal notation.
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Musically Yours,
Flat for Education