Susie Honor in the Music department used the iPads for a series of lessons to set up a class iPad orchestra. I was unable to get in and see the class at work (definitely missed an opportunity there) but had a chat with her about how it went.
The pros were
The pupils loved it!
A whole class with an ‘instrument’ would have been very difficult to manage with the real things but the iPads allowed pupils to quickly engage without any real set up time – and space was not an issue.
Pupils gained valuable experience in timing – they needed to be on the beat with the iPads to fully orchestrate a piece of music.
Pupils were able to improvise music easily in a group. They also learnt a lot about working together as they had to play in time and listen carefully to others in the group.
Lots of different chord sequences were tried out (e.g. Blues).
Pupils enjoyed played Christmas carols together.
The cons / future developments
When the class tried playing as a whole group the volume from the ipad was a little too quiet. Really they needed a lead for everyone into an amp. We will try this next time.
We need more software now so we can use more instruments.
Susie’s parting comment was ‘Altogether brill!’.
keldarichards 