Many CITME related courses and projects use the music program, Ableton in some way. Explore how we are investigating the potential for Ableton in music learning and teaching contexts. Contact Dr. Tobias if you would like to collaborate or partner on any of these or related initiatives:
Hybrid Music Learning Settings
A number of ASU Music Education courses integrate Ableton for creating and performing music. We are developing related pedagogical and curricular strategies and approaches that make sense in varied contexts. Hybrid music settings allow for multifaceted forms of musical engagement and are great for individual and small group projects that incorporate Ableton.
We work on helping pre-service music educators learn how to design and facilitate hybrid music settings and support such settings in schools.
Take a look at a short clip from a recent collaboration with our partner, Basha High School Music Program with students from their Creative Musicianship class, facilitated by Nathan Johnston. This was part of a long-term “Place Project” that ran in parallel with ASU music education students and Basha Creative Musicianship students.
Basha Creative Musicianship students are continuing to incorporate the Push in their recent project responding to the Presidential election through music.
Updating Ensembles
CITME is working with music educators to explore the possibilities of using Ableton in ensembles. Yes, this includes the types of large ensembles that are typical in K-12 settings. This year we are exploring how to integrate the Ableton and the Ableton Push in concert band and wind ensemble settings. Here are some pictures from an early stage of this initiative at one of our local partner schools. Stay tuned for updates!
Participatory Music Pop Ups
Through our ongoing research on participatory culture and digital culture in relation to musical engagement and learning, we’ve found that the Ableton Push is a fantastic tool for engaging people. For some people, the visuals of glowing lights and pads seem to attract their attention and act as an invitation to explore. For others, it seems the low barrier of being able to push a pad and have an immediate sonic result
For the past few Participatory Music Pop Ups, we’ve had an Ableton set or soundpack prepared so that people can jump in and start creating and performing.
Take a look at how we incorporated the Push in our recent Participatory Music Pop Ups related to the #StCeciliasDay Project.
Curating and Developing Resources
CITME is working with music teachers and community musicians to curate and develop resources for using Ableton in music learning and teaching settings. By working directly with K-12 music programs and community music organizations we are able to provide resources that work specifically for educators and young people. Where we identify gaps in resources that are useful for this population, we are working with our network to develop resources that speak directly to the needs of music educators and learners.
Take a look at CITME-curated resources on Basics of Using Ableton Live and Push.
Creating Tutorials By and For Music Educators and Learners
Arizona State University Music Education students and CITME members are creating tutorials that draw upon their Technological, Pedagogical, and Content, Knowledge (TPACK) in relation to music learning and teaching. As part of this initiative we recently posed the following generative questions to frame this work:
- How might technology mediate musical engagement?
- What is hybrid musical engagement? What does it mean for music teaching and learning?
- How might technology be leveraged to engage others in learning about musical technology?
These generative questions help our tutorials expand from a pure focus on skill or technique to address larger issues of learning and teaching in varied contexts where young people do and learn music. This is also an example of how we situate learning in real-life contexts, in this case developing useful tutorials for music educators as a medium for developing understanding and skills as part of the process.
Check out some of our most recent tutorials for using Ableton Live and the Ableton Push in music education settings:
