With just 3 weeks to go until Musical Futures teachers from across the world arrive in Melbourne for The Big Gig 2018, the final schedule and details of the fantastic international team of presenters has been announced.

Presenters will be flying in from the UK, Asia, USA and from across Australia and the sessions will explore (in typical Musical Futures style) everything from body percussion and Samba to Electronic Dance Music and Hip Hop. There will also be an opportunity to debate and explore what it means to be a creative music teacher and what it means to 'go beyond the notes' with Mandy Stefanakis, Nick Beach and Tim Patson as guests for our panel session. 

To read the full line up, browse through the conference schedule and grab your ticket, visit The Big Gig web page ​or drop us an email at info@musicalfuturesinternational.org

Australian Teachers Get Inspirational Boost from Musical Futures and Soundtrap, a Collaborative, Cloud-based Music Education Solution
 
Partnership Combines Individualised Learning Approaches and Game-Changing Music Technology to Deliver Student-Centered Classroom Experiences

​EduTech, Sydney, Australia – June 5, 2018 – Announced today in Sydney, Musical Futures Australia, a music education movement reshaping the way students learn and create music, and Soundtrap, the innovative online collaborative music and podcast recording studio, are partnering to deliver collaborative, hands-on musical workshops that will be accessible to teachers in Sydney, Australia and to music educators around the world.  It’s a revolutionary approach that provides teachers with new and innovative ways to engage their students in hands-on electronic music as part of their overall curriculum. The partnership officially launches at the EduTech conference scheduled for June 6-8 in Australia.
 
“We’ve been looking for a number of years for a music technology integration that works best for our workshops. Soundtrap has huge appeal to us because it’s cloud-based and enables the kind of collaborative work we’re already doing,” said Anna Gower, head of Training and Development, Musical Futures International. “We know that kids really engage with music tech, but some teachers do not. Until Soundtrap, we were unable to find a platform that didn’t cost a lot of money, didn’t require a large amount of expertise, and did not result in barriers between the teachers and students.”
 
The diverse community of students at Doveton P-9 College in Melbourne is finding a common language through Music Futures Australia (MFA). Recognized for its innovative curriculum, Doveton is one of MFA’s 12 Champion Schools. These Champion Schools are developing new ways of teaching children and teachers about music through technology.  With the help of Soundtrap and a Roland HS-5 Session Mixer, Doveton’s music students recently created, recorded, and later performed, a song they titled “Memory Lane.”  https://www.musicalfuturesaustralia.org/mf-videos.html. The process exposed the students to music composing techniques and processes they would not have experienced otherwise.
 
“Technology gives us new ways to reach kids where they are. By combining Musical Futures and Soundtrap, the students had this unique opportunity to create something special—a composition that they could take ownership of,” said Jason Holmes, music teacher at Doveton.
 
Musical Futures equips teachers with the training, support and resources to give students informal, engaging ways to learn music. An international program with global reach, Musical Futures’ Australia affiliate is partnering with Soundtrap to provide workshops to 1,500 educators in Australia and New Zealand. From this base, the solution will be rolled out internationally.  The goal is to give kids, mainly in the primary and secondary schools (ages 6-18), individualised ways to experience and create music.
 
Soundtrap, the first cloud-based audio recording platform to work across iOS, Android, Chromebooks, Linux, Mac and Windows platforms, enables more than 1M users to co-create music, podcasts and other audio projects with others anywhere in the world. The platform is being used in thousands of schools around the world for music, technology, math, science and a host of other core subjects.
 
Soundtrap is especially suited for today’s mobile-intense generation of students because all projects are saved in a safe, protected environment, and can be accessed at any time, from any device. (See video: https://youtu.be/2ViLQD_2RK4)
 
Per Emanuelsson, CEO of Soundtrap, commented, “Music technology excites and engages school-age kids, and Soundtrap gives music teachers the ability to truly harness that excitement and make those connections, regardless of their geography or the type of personal device they own. This partnership with Musical Futures shines an even brighter spotlight on Soundtrap’s mission to provide a worldwide learning experience to every student with access to a computer or mobile device.”
 
About Soundtrap
Soundtrap is the first cloud-based audio recording platform to work across all operating systems, enabling users to co-create music anywhere in the world. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, the company also has an office in Silicon Valley, California, US. Soundtrap provides an easy-to-use music and audio creation platform for all levels of musical interest and abilities, and is being used by the K-12 through higher-education markets. For more information, visit: http://www.soundtrap.com.
 
About Musical Futures
Musical Futures provides teachers with training, support, networks and resources to deliver practical, engaging, developmental music programs in the classroom. Rather than limiting students to specific musical styles or genres, Musical Futures believes music learning works best when young people are making music based on their musical culture, and when their existing passion for music is reflected and built upon in the classroom.
 
Musical Futures was recently recognised as one of the leading innovations in global education by HundrED (https://hundred.org/en) and its efforts are supported by a growing bank of research. For more information visit: https://www.musicalfuturesaustralia.org/ or  www.musicalfuturesinternational.org
 
 
Resource Videos:
What is Soundtrap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xheoUkbyhE4
Soundtrap in Education: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcMbVeTaD0xQZfUimscIhrw
How Soundtrap works -Collaboration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAPrEB07aFA
Photos: https://www.soundtrap.com/presskit
www.musicalfuturesinternational.org

.We are excited to announce that we will be offering 2 new workshops in Asia in January 2019, a 2 day introductory workshop in Shanghai and a we will be returning with new approaches and resources to Shrewsbury International School Bangkok 

Our Shanghai workshops will explore the introductory approaches of Musical Futures across 2 days and you can read more about the content we have planned for those days by clicking here