Technology for Unleashing Creativity: Practical Tips and Tools for Music Educators

Traditional music education centered around the ensemble classroom has often privileged reading music and instrumental technique over creative skills such as composition, improvisation, and learning by ear. As the technological landscape of students' everyday lives rapidly shifts, what schools teach rarely aligns with students' more creative day-to-day lives outside of the classroom.

While administrators and state education standards often encourage incorporating creative technologies into the music curriculum, many music teachers lack the training to successfully utilize these tools and platforms. In Technology for Unleashing Creativity, author Steve Giddings provides a practical and easily accessible resource for in-service and pre-service K-12 teachers looking to make better use of technology in their teaching and help heighten students' creativity. One of few authors to tackle both issues simultaneously, Giddings offers a guide for inspiring creativity in students through tools like YouTube learning, notation technology, DAWs, electronic instruments, online pedagogical platforms, and more.

A technology-driven approach to music education has never been timelier. COVID-19 has significantly disrupted the business-as-usual of educational institutions, and music educators especially have adapted to teaching remotely. Via practical tips, visual diagrams, and lesson plan ideas, Technology for Unleashing Creativity walks music teachers through the core aspects of using technology in their classrooms--in-person and remote--offering a definitive guide to creativity and technology in K-12 music education.

Steve Giddings has been a long-time advocate for creative musical practices, popular music education and a conduit for pushing the envelope in music education in Canada and across the world. He is owner and operator of StevesMusicRoom.com and is active as a performer, workshop facilitator, and writer. He is a regular columnist in the Canadian Music Educator Journal, and has two previously published books for music teachers: Rock Coach and Creative Musicking.