Gigajam has been invited to run two workshops at the Bucks ICT Conference on the 28th June 2012 at Green Park, Aston Clinton.
Gigajam Online Music School is available freely to all schools in Buckinghamshire via the Bucks Grid for Learning. All teachers and students can login at www.bucksgfl.org.uk or go straight to http://gigajamprem.bucksgfl.org.uk from school and at home and learn to play guitar, bass, keyboard and drums.
The first part of the workshop will cover how the Online Music School works and how schools and students can access and interact with the lessons, software and resources. Videos of Gigajam in action will be presented to demonstrate the wide and varied use being made in schools across the UK.
The second part will be a hands on demonstration of the latest version of Gigajam VLE, which includes an e-Portfolio that automatically scores and stores students’ performances, as well as provide house points and the automatic production of lesson completion certificates. Teachers are also able to view and comment on students’ progress.
A new programe is available for Hubs and Schools to support the use of music technology in the delivery of instrumental teaching in the classroom. The programme’s learning outcomes are listed below.
Gigajam CPD Training for Music Teachers – Teaching with technology
Learning Outcomes
Develop an understanding and familiarity of Gigajam’s approach to instrumental tuition through elearning:
Creating more instrumental lessons.
How Gigajam is currently being used:
Whole class – School
Small group – School
Individuals – School
Individuals – Home
Build an understanding of how Gigajam’s lessons and software is designed and works:
How students use Gigajam.
How teachers use Gigajam.
Consider and reflect upon a variety of teaching with technology pedagogies.
Be able to use GigajamVLE as a teacher to support students use and track their progress.
Specifically:
Register and login teachers and students to GigajamVLE.
Select and follow instrumental lessons, using narrated text, ‘how to’ videos, and TV Shows.
Use the Gigajam Online Audio Player to practice and play along with exercises.
Use Gigajam Xtractor software to practice, play along and record exercises.
Use Gigajam Analyser to receive feedback on record performances.
Upload and store performances in e-Portfolio, place and receive comments, and link to video/audio performances.
Receive house points and certificates of completion
Use the teachers’ staff room to monitor and moderate students’ work.
Be able to provide Gigajam with list of students so that classes can be created automatically.
Be able to connect MIDI instruments to computers by installing Gigajam software suite and MIDI instrument drivers.
Cheshire West and Chester Music Service have made Gigajam available to all primary and secondary schools to provide more opportunities for students to learn to play an instrument in school and from home.
There will be a training day for teachers who wish to learn about, or to extend their knowledge of Gigajam on Thursday 17th May 2012 from 10am to 4pm (coffee from 9.30am) at the Tattenhall Education Centre, High Street, Tattenhall, Chester, CH3 9PX.
To book a place at this event, which is offered free of charge to Cheshire West and Chester school staff including music tutors, please contact Brian Greene at Gigajam. Lunch will be provided.
Schools can gain access to Gigajam immediately via the Online Music School for schools http://gigajamvle.com and should contact Brian Greene for access. Please email brian.greene@gigajam.com to get started.
Please also feel free to call for advice and support on 01494 534880/07976 208859. Live online support can be provided through SKYPE. Connect with Brian on briangigajam
Gigajam Director, Brian Greene, teaches the drums from his studio office in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Brian demonstrating Gigajam’s Introductory Drum lesson on SKY TV
About Brian
Former University Lecturer in Popular Music Performance, Brian teaches students of all ages and abilities, from beginners through to professionals.
Brian wrote the Gigajam Drum Course and won the British Education Teaching with Technology Award in 2005. He is a professional drummer as well as Director of Gigajam Learning; an elearning company providing Gigajam Online Music Schools to education and home users, as well as Enterprise Learning and Development through Enliven Enterprise Academy.
About the Lessons
Students can learn all styles of music, develop a great technique, learn to read, improvise and develop the skills required to become a performing musician.
Learning the drums should be fun and rewarding, so please feel free to call for advice so you can get the most from the lessons. Brian will advise on the suitability of lessons, frequency, equipment and availability. A quick chat is useful to ensure that lessons are personalised towards your needs. If you are a parent, then lesson lengths are important and the general advice for young people and children is:
Ages: 8-11 30 minutes (max)
Ages: 12-14 45 minutes (max)
These are general guides and this is simply part of ensuring that tuition is tailored sensibly for the individual.
Interactive teaching and learning
Brian uses a mix of materials with the core provided by the Gigajam Drum Course. The full curriculum currently covers debut grade to grade five and can be viewed here http://gigajamvle.com/content/drums.aspx.
Feel free to try the first lesson.
Gigajam’s course is supported by rich video, narrated text and interactive play along software.
The drum course is highly interactive and unique to Gigajam. To practise and play along using Gigajam’s software download your free version here:
All students are provided with a free login to Gigajam Virtual Learning Environment and can study all their lesson materials at home inbetween lessons to maximise their experience. Each lesson contains supportive video and play along files.
If you are new to the drums, you can start to explore the drum kit here:
If you are unable to attend lessons regularly you can study guitar, bass, keyboard and drums online, anytime, anywhere, for just £2.99 per month at www.gigajamonline.com.
Video Clips of Brian demonstrating some playing ideas
Brian demonstrating Gigajam’s lesson one on SKY TV
Brian demonstrating Linear Phrasing as improvisational device
Brian demonstrating Grooves and Fills using single strokes, doubles, paradiddles and some linear phrasing. There is a small amount of double bass drum in the groove.
Gigajam can help you meet 4 of Ofsted’s 7 priorities for musical education in schools – NOW!
Gigajam’s response to Ofsted’s Report on Music: ‘Music in schools: wider still, and wider’
The first thing to say, in response to the latest report from Ofsted, is to restate our vision, which is: ‘to provide the opportunity for every child to learn a musical instrument, free at the point of access, through the provision of a progressive, sustainable, scalable and affordable solution which harnesses technology, provides continual and formative assessment and is accessible anytime, anywhere.
Gigajam continues to develop its products, services and partnerships in line with the aims of the Henely Review, the strategy under-pinning Harnessing Technology and the opportunities presented in Ofsted’s report, Making More of Music 2005-2008.’
As an eLearning provider we believe that we can genuinely help schools and hubs meet 4 of the 7 Ofsted priorities articluated in their report.
A quick summary of how we can help is provided below.
Ofsted Priority 01.
Challenge inequalities among pupils and schools
Gigajam uses digital technology to give every child, irrespective of their needs or background, the chance to learn a musical instrument in class and online.
This means that you can provide more instrumental learning free at the point of access.
Plan for pupils’ progression through and across the curriculum and provide sufficient time for music
Gigajam can be used to provide a bridge from Wider Opportunities into an offer for all pupils that is sustainable, taking learners to a standard equivalent to Grade 5.
This means that you can provide additional support for all pupils practical music making from the top of KS2, through KS3 and to public examination at the end of KS4.
Use technology to promote creativity, widen inclusion and make assessment more musical
Gigajam is the only BETT award winning e-learning company providing instrumental tuition in the UK.
Gigajam’s Online Music School delivers high quality instrumental tuition anytime, anywhere; our unique software provides continual, formative and summative assessment to help pupils and their teachers.
This means that all pupils’ exercises are stored and marked automatically, with the provision for pupils and teachers to comment and feedback.
Sustain music-making opportunities for pupils in schools beyond national advocacy, structures and strategies.
Gigajam is a comprehensive system of instrumental learning for popular music instruments. Designed to support music making in schools by providing pupils with real and transferable skills.
This means that classroom teachers, especially in secondary schools, will be able to provide more practical and active music making for their pupils, so they can engage more deeply in curriculum and extra curriculum music making.
Where operated via a Hub it links schools and their children to their local Hub. This means that Hubs have a new way of reaching schools. especially at Secondary level and providing direct support for classroom teachers, many of whom are currently isolated.
Gigajam doesn’t attempt to deliver the whole National Curriculum, it supports classroom teachers to provide instrumental tuition opportunities on a scale not possible by traditional methods; so that all pupils can gain real skills and engage more deeply in the national curriculum for music.
Gigajam remains at the forefront of interactive instrumental tuition and is the only e-learning provider with an automated assessment for learning system designed for the UK.
Gigajam can provide licences for Local Authorities, Music Education Hubs and Schools.
Contact Brian Greene for free advice and more information about Gigajam and how it can help you create more musicians.
The Top 10 is proving rather succesful with schools keen to show how much hard work their young people are doing. Portora Royal are currently the top of the pops having smashed the 10,000 upload mark this week. Incredible!
Gigajam VLE - Online Drum School
Tiverton High School are making a charge after transfering to the Gigajam VLE service this year and Melior Community College, in Scunthorpe, are flying as well, just breaking the 2,000 uploaded music exercises this afternoon - all since January – amazing hard work by all those young people.
One of our client schools very kindly wrote to me this week in response to a ‘keeping in touch email and said,
“Yes we are very pleased with the product. The students are engaged with the learning process and have become very adept in understanding how to navigate across the Gigajamvle site.
It was my intention to only use Gigajam across the whole key stage 3 for a half term Jan – Feb. With the updates made to the site in Feb, particularly the inclusion of ‘stars’ for completion and attainment this has galvanised students to become more competitive than before! This is a most welcome addition and we now use these stars in our own whole school House merit system.
The Uploads list of schools has also been excellent in showing the Senior Leadership Team how well we are doing in comparison with other institutions across the whole of the UK.”
Top 10 – School Uploads
Portora Royal School 10837
Manchester Creative and Media Academy for Girls 4133
St Peter’s Academy, Stoke On Trent 3727
Tiverton High School 3630
Hugh Christie Technology College 3286
Aire Valley Academy, Bingley 3112
Melior Community College 2013
Saint Cecilia’s, Wandsworth 1820
Pleckgate High School 1719
Gleed Boys School 1381
Not all Gigajam schools are on the Gigajam VLE service, so please get in touch and I will transfer you over, free of charge, as part of your licence.
Say Yes! to more instrumental tuition in the classroom
Gigajam is the most comprehensive, instrumental learning tuition solution available in the UK. It has been designed for UK classroom music teachers and for their pupils to use in school and from home. This means that you can use Gigajam to support musical future programmes, the performance elements of BTEC and GCSE music and skills development in KS2 and KS3.
In terms of Wider Opportunities – Gigajam provides you with a suitable follow on opportunity; scalable, affordable and sustainable.
Answer YES to the following questions and we will make it possible for you and all your pupils.
1. Would you like every child in your school to have the chance to learn a musical instrument at school and at home free at the point of access?
2. Would you like to provide more opportunities for pupils to be actively engaged in the music making you provide in class because they are more skilled?
3. Would you like your pupils to be able to form and record their judgements about how they are progressing?
4. Would you like your students to be able to save all their exercises simply by themselves and have them automatically marked and stored so you can focus on targeting your feedback?
5. Would you like your students to receive more house points for working hard, for getting better scores and for getting the highest scores?
6. Would you like to be able to see all your students work from a single webpage on your laptop at a time that suits you?
7. Would it be useful to see who is completing their work in your class…and who isn’t, so you can find out why?
8. Is it nice handing out certificates for pupils when they complete their work? Would it be even nicer if the certificates are produced automatically?
9. If you are a primary school – can you afford £150 a year so that every one of your children can learn an instrument for free at school and at home?
10. If you are a secondary school – can you afford £250 a year so that every one of your children can learn an instrument at school and at home?
11. If you are a Music Hub – can you afford 1.5% of your allocation so that every one of your schools and all their pupils can learn an instrument at school and at home?
Gigajam doesn’t attempt to deliver the whole National Curriculum, it supports classroom teachers provide instrumental tuition opportunities on a scale not possible by traditional methods; so that all pupils can gain real skills and engage more deeply in the national curriculum for music.
Alongside your Local Music Service provider, all pupils can learn more and make more progress.
Gigajam remains at the forefront of interactive instrumental tuition and is the only e-learning provider with an automated assessment for learning system designed for the UK.
Gigajam have launched a house point system using lesson completion, good scores and high scores to provide levels of achievement and attainment.
Students now receive a star when they complete a lesson, and sections of their grades, and a have the opportunity to receive two further stars for high average scores. A good score of 60% and above will attract a second star and scores of 80+ a third star.
(CLICK PICTURE TO ENLARGE)
Schools will be able to award house points for stars and reward students for their hard work. Gigajam’s VLE allows Teachers to view students’ stars from the Online Staff Room (My Classes) and students can view their stars in each of their portfolios in their Online Locker.
Launched today, Gigajam will be liaising with schools to see how they use the system to incentivise and reward students. Watch this space.
Any and all ideas welcome, just get in touch with Brian
In this first, of a five part series, we start to explore Gigajam by looking closely at the pedagogy and methodology employed in our content and resources, which help students learn to play guitar, bass, keyboard and drums.
Learning Model
>>Knowledge & Understanding >>
Gigajam’s Online Music School – Guitar, Bass, Keyboard, Drums, Theory, Studio
Narrated text
Glossary
How to videos
Play along file
TV Shows
Books
>> Application>>
Gigajam Xtractor
Practice Engine Software
Practice and play along
Record
>> Analysis>>
Gigajam Analyser
Assessment for learning engines
Learners portfolio
Teachers assessment and progress centre
>>Synthesis>>
Vamps
Graded Pieces
Play in a band
Rock Orchestra (Play in the rhythm section of an orchestra)
>>Evaluation>>
Arts Award
Lcm grades
———————————————————————————————————–
>>Knowledge & Understanding >>
Interactive lesson content and resources
Instrumentalists learn and develop guitar, bass, keyboard and drum skills with Gigajam, following online interactive lessons, in class and at home, using play along and analysing software.
Gigajam would like all children to have the chance to learn to play a musical instrument and we have a licensing model and special deals that will make Gigajam affordable.
Gigajam is just £1 per pupil per annum, but see what other special deals are available here
For more information, or if you have any questions visit our website or give us a call on 01494 534880. You can also email any questions direct to Brian Greene.
