He will shortly be appearing on the Mix Music Education Team page, but in the meantime if you need to contact James you can email him on james@mixmusiceducation.co.uk. He is available for advice on all our projects, site visits, teacher training for established partner schools and exemplar lesson delivery. We are also looking forward to developing some specific projects utilising James’ expertise and teaching pedigree.

Here’s James’ biog and contact details:

James Hannay is the Area Associate for London and the surrounding boroughs. He manages all elements of Mix Music Education projects across his geographical area, undertaking site visits, offering CPD and delivering exemplar lessons as appropriate. He has had over 12 years teaching experience in schools, homes and music services in London. Since 2005 he has run Key To Music, London’s premiere teaching agency for modern music tuition, which places teachers into schools, homes and Music Services. He is an active musician, composing scores for tv/film and regularly playing gigs with his funk and soul band The Low Riders.

Contact James by email on james@mixmusiceducation.co.uk

The program launched in 2011 and is all about enabling students to experience music in a totally unique way. By controlling the sound within headphones the empowerment delivered to all abilities is tremendous. Its best summed up by a music teacher who uses it every day:

“JamPod has totally revolutionised both my teaching and student’s learning in my classroom. Students are no longer tied to desks and are now able to perform in an informal environment, rehearsing songs of their choice without disturbing others. Students are really enjoying the challenge of rehearsing and perform as a band and I’m able to offer feedback to individual groups without disturbing others. I’ve completely changed the way I deliver the traditional blues lessons. Students don’t simply perform a blues piece on keyboards. They are now able to work together, writing lyrics, working on chords and putting together a performance that is full of enthusiasm and creativity. I’ve also had an influx of students after school that want to use the pods to rehearse with their new bands. Many of these students had never even considered learning to play an instrument. The classroom is a hive of activity at the end of the school day. It’s fantastic.” Stuart Shepherd, Music Dept, Turton High School – 2012

It was feedback like this that drove us on to keep growing, but most importantly innovating to keep improving the interactivity and learning capable within the suite. In many of the JamPod™ suites appearing across the country, out of school access was beginning the thrive. The facility naturally empowers larger groups to be able to access instrumental lessons. Crucially, because the leading tutor was able to communicate with students individually, the experience for all proved to be superb.

“The students are all so engaged with it, the equipment makes such a difference to delivering the tuition. After the first session they all came away feeling that they’d achieved something, everyone seemed to want to just stay and keep playing. I was really impressed with how the students conducted themselves, their enthusiasm and how much they achieved. It’s really proved what a fantastic resource and teaching aid it is. Even at such a basic level they really felt like they’d engaged in real music making. It’s brilliant.” John Metcalf, Keyboard Tutor, Gwent Music Support Service – 2011

As the program grew, our team started to as well. It was proving impossible for me to support everyone now engaging with us in the way I wanted. That, for me, is the most important part. Any relationship we enter into we want to be long term, so we support with lesson plans, site visits and launch events. Omar Khohker gave us this great feedback in the year JamPod™ won ‘Best Technology Resource in Music Education':

“I would recommend JamPod™ without hesitation! It is more than a product. You are investing in an ethos, which is delivered with a passionate drive, a proven confidence in the product, and quality support.” Omar Khohker, Head of Music, Severn Vale School – 2013

Throughout the year we are constantly assessing and improving the instruments and technology we embrace in all our programs, not just JamPod™. We have developed a strong reputation now for recommending the right products for the classroom and that comes from the careful assessment we undertake with everything we use.

“One thing that makes this stand out as a purchase is not just the extremely low prices, but the service and after-care. Dan Jones, the Mix Music founder, is there from project conception to way beyond purchase and implementation, freely giving advice based on the experience of other schools, his own ideas (previously Music Teacher of the Year, no less!) and asking the sorts of questions that sharpen your focus and help you deliver what you both want and need in your situation. He’s not there to make money or sell-sell-sell, Dan and his team are there to help you make music in the best way to suit you in your situation, to help you turn ideas into reality for your musical ambitions. You’re not just buying a load of flashy gear, you are buying a new way to teach music, a new way to engage students, a new way to meet Ofsted criteria, a new way to encourage young people. Mix Music Education are on your side, even by your side if you need help. Dan knows what will last and what will just break. Everything is specially selected to be durable and tough without compromising the musical standard desired.” Matt Allen, Head of Music, Chessington Community College – 2014

I am so excited that after initial testing in 2014, we can launch the tutor interface I had always aspired to deliver as part of the program back in 2010. It has taken us five years of hard work but I can now confirm that all installations from April 1st 2015 will feature our new JamPod™ Tutor Control. We have designed it from the ground up to:

• Be easy to use – you can access the ability to talk back to groups or students, send a range of audio resources to students, group your students as you see fit and much more. All this can be done at the push of one button on either your desk top PC/Mac or via your iPad or iPhone
• Completely mobile – previously your interactivity with your class was delivered from your desk area, you were effectively tied to that spot if you wanted to send audio or talk/listen to students. This can now all be empowered as you move around your classroom via an iPad
• Enable easy recording – you can now record whoever you want to with the push of one big red button!
• Fit the use it is intended for – up until today we have had to reverse engineer mixing desks and all sorts of other technology to allow the features JamPod™ is now renowned for. This new JamPod™ Tutor Control has a workflow and options designed specifically by our team for delivery of classroom music lessons. We have also built in a clear workflow for delivery of instrumental lessons
• Grow with you – as your confidence grows with JamPod™ our experience with other schools tells us you will want to do more. As you develop your lesson plans if you need additional functionality or features, we can create specific functions bespoke to your school, and upload them to the interface

The above only scratches the surface of the capabilities of our new JamPod™ Tutor Control. We will work with new schools from April 1st 2015 to tailor the relevant features specifically. I am as excited about this new innovation as I was on installation of the very first JamPod™, this is the final piece in the jigsaw of the initial conception.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRrSMWIEO7w

The problem, and its a positive one, is that the jigsaw keeps changing! As the needs of the classroom change, we must change with them. For me that is the most exciting part of what I now do. I get to work with all of you, assessing the needs of the classroom and then marrying that to the new instruments, software and approaches that appear every year. Back in 2010 we set out to be the link between the music industry and the music classroom, helping educators create vibrant and exciting spaces. We were absolutely delighted to see Matthew Arnold School Music Department reach the final of Most Innovative Classroom in 2014. The challenge is a great one, empowering every who wants to, to engage with music. Then support them in the best way possible throughout there musical journey. Surely though it is one we must succeed in. Anyone who has seen their student sing their first song, pass their first exam or just play there first note knows the sense of self worth and empowerment stays with you a lifetime. I truly believe that when we do succeed, the world will be a better place.

Dan Jones

Managing Director

The Mix Music Education

In 2010 I left the classroom to form Mix Music Education. We launched the award winning JamPod™ program, designed to empower the delivery of practical, large group music lessons. Suites have been installed in secondary & further education classrooms across the UK. Many of those secondary schools have empowered primary transition projects. The needs of those primary schools have driven the development of this new large group percussion program, JamPod™ Percussion.

As part of this program we have tried to create an approach which meets the financial needs of schools, whilst providing breadth and multi purpose usage. Here is a set of drums that can be used as a class, or as a drum kit. They can be used as practice pads making limited noise or empowered with the Korg ClipHit to create a whole range of percussive sounds. We also wanted to give schools the option of embracing basic melody as part of the program, where appropriate and requested, the involvement of the Korg Volca’s will do exactly that.

On the 13th of March 2015 at the Music Education Expo in London, we were delighted to launch this new, exciting approach to the delivery of full class percussion lessons. The JamPod™ Percussion program can be taught by a none specialist or specialist music teacher. Utilising the new Korg ClipHit, Korg Volca’s, Vic Firth Practice Pads & Mapex Stands, you can now deliver Samba or Taiko sessions from the same equipment. Melody can be introduced and the skills learnt in your Samba and Taiko sessions can be applied to create current, exciting rhythms.

Using your new equipment 

As with all programs launched by Mix Music Education, you receive resources to get you started as you begin to use your new JamPod™ Percussion program. These resources include lesson plans for your two term’s delivery, which will be focused around the performance of a basic Taiko piece. In term two you have the option of introducing basic melody as part of your music lesson. Inevitably as you progress, you will generate an interest from your students to take things further outside of lesson time. So, your new equipment can be brought together to allow you to create four drum kits! Perfect for your budding new drummers. If you purchase the full ‘JamPod™ Percussion’ package, they could even form a band with your supplied JamPod™. They could play live and loud when the situations allow or practice silently with the supplied headphones.

Each ‘JamPod™ Percussion’ Program includes:

✅   Access for 30 students & 1 teacher

✅   Lesson plans to get you started immediately

✅   The instruments & resources to deliver world percussion large group tuition

✅   Exclusive ‘How To’ video content built into your lesson plans

✅   Seven ClipHit Units

✅   Or you can add three Korg Volca Keys in place of three ClipHits to add melody to your program 

Our recommended program also includes 6 headphones, 1 small speaker, 1 modified JamHub GreenRoom, 1 stand, 6 audio wires and bags to keep all your equipment safe and secure. When not in use all your equipment can be stored within the supplied 4 medium sized bags. To download your flier please visit our resources page and click on JamPod™ Percussion Flier.

Prices start at £1,800 ex VAT for a full class program (£60 ex VAT per student based on a 30 student class). To find out more information about this new program contact us at enquiries@mixmusiceducation.co.uk or call us on 01325 350740

“Mix Music Education provide me with first class support in a field I had no prior knowledge of” Julie Davies – Music Co-ordinator – Eveswell Primary School

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ1HvAORHfo&feature=youtu.be

Dan Jones

Managing Director

The Mix Music Education

Could the Korg Volca’s be the answer I have been searching for? In preparation for my upcoming talk at the Music Education Expo at the Barbican in London on the 13th of March, I had the privilege of spending the day with Luke Edwards to explore the educational possibilities of these tactile little instruments.

The first thing that strikes you with these four different models is the build quality. They are extremely well built with a solid chassis and robust dials. Over the last five years my company has become renowned for recommending appropriate products to education and at first look these look like they fit the bill.

Four models are available, each filling a different section of your possible finished piece of music:

• Volca Beats : Is a drum machine which I found easy to engage with quickly, there are not too many options so it keeps your workflow understandable
• Volca Sample : This looks and feels similar to the Beats and is the newest of the bunch. Instead of using percussive sounds though it uses samples e.g. small audio files that you can upload easily with an accompanying free app
• Volca Bass : This pretty much does what it says in the tin, it supplies the bass notes and bass lines for your compositions.
• Volca Keys : This is effective a little keyboard. You don’t get physical keys but a touchpad similar to an iPad screen, laid out how you would expect with black and white keys

All units allow you to play live or to create simple recordings (loops). These can then be layered up to create a complete sound e.g. keys, bass, beats and samples. If you are working with all four units, they can all be connected with a supplied sync cable, to create a little band! This means all units will be working at the same tempo. Working in this way provides a very relevant setting for music making when you consider how much music our students, and all of us, listen to that is created in this way. But where could these instruments fit within education?

Whilst the Sample & the Bass are superb units, its the Beats and the Keys which it seems to me could provide something really exciting for the classroom. Most of our students, and many of us I’m sure, have now created music using applications like Garageband on iOS or Jam with Chrome on Google. The way you engage with the Volca’s is very similar, but particularly with the Keys, it provides a very ‘safe’ environment for you to begin making music.

The keyboard on the Keys is familiar and looks like a conventional keyboard. This means we’re starting our students off as the curriculum will dictate that they continue. Crucially though we are beginning their journey as they may well have already begun, using a touchscreen interface in effect.

The Beats provides a great way to begin exploring rhythm. Each note on the keypad corresponds to a percussive sound and this is clearly marked to avoid any confusion. You create your completed drum part by layering up each rhythm. So you could start with your Hi-Hats, then add your snare drum followed by the bass drum. The bar progresses in a very familiar fashion running through the semi quavers of each bar. This is a very effective tool for teaching students visually how time within music works.

As your students progress you ‘could’ add to your collection of Volca’s and introduce the Bass and the Sample. My feeling is the Sample would be the one that adds something extra and exciting to your work. If you have iPads in school you could have tremendous fun trying our different sounds in your compositions. The free app is so simple to use and the engagement I have seen first hand in young musicians when they have actually created the sound they then make music with is tangible. This workflow also demonstrates clearly to young musicians the link between iPads and technology with real life instruments.

I think its tremendously important we embrace the way young people engage with music through iOS apps, games like Guitar Hero and many other amazing and often free resources that are out there. I believe though that our job as music teachers is to use this engagement to open the doors to more in depth music learning whether it be instrumental, theory or production. That way we will fill our classrooms with students who are passionate about making music and want to learn more. The Korg Volca’s provide a tremendously exciting way to do exactly that. They can begin our students melodic or/and rhythmic journey in a vibrant, relevant and affordable fashion!

Prices currently stand at around £83.33 ex VAT for a single unit, similar to what you would pay for a good classroom djembe. Prices can be cheaper than this for multiple units.

Lets take a closer look and listen to the Volca’s with Korg Product Specialist and long term Mix Music collaborator, Luke Edwards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8KYmQ4IKqU

We are so taken with the Volca’s, that we have created a new program which we believe will best suit and then support their application in the classroom. The JamPod™ Percussion program will launch on the 13th of March with a demonstration at the Music Education Expo at 12.50pm. It will feature a full class set up of equipment with accompanying lesson plans and video tutorials with prices starting at £1,650 ex VAT. We will follow up with a post here within 45 hours of that launch.

For more information about any of the above please do contact me at dan@mixmusiceducation.co.uk

About six years ago I got my hands on my first Handsonic. It was the lower model at the time with 10 pads spread out over a rudder drum head, similar in size to a djembe. Immediately I was struck with the intuitive nature of the instrument and the engagement it empowers. It quickly formed the cornerstone of many of our first music educational programs. This new model, the Handsonic 20, stirs some of that initial excitement back up!

First of all I think we need to try and clarify exactly what this is! There are supposedly ‘similar’ products out there, many of which have filled the percussion station within JamPod™ over the last five years. The Handsonic 20 ‘is’ unique though in my opinion. It is a solely hand played instrument, no sticks can be used here. The head that you hit is separated up into 20 distinct areas, it reminds of a little of how a steel drum looks. Each one of these areas can be hit or pushed with your hands and fingers to create music.

Now I say create music as the Handsonic 20 not only produces all the rhythmic sounds I could possibly imagine, but it also covers pretty much all the tuned percussion bases too. If you select Marimba and push the roll button on the top of the unit, when you push down on the different sections of the drum you get malleted rolls of the corresponding note. The sound created is tremendous, it does not sound like an electronic instrument. The feature is particularly great for getting students who perhaps would not normally get excited about tuned percussion engaging with the medium.

You see, the Handsonic 20 is naturally engaging, its one of those things that left out in a crowded room gets people looking and playing. The really tremendous thing about the instrument is once it hooks you in, the features within enable even the most experienced percussionist excited.

• Lets take primary school pupils, usually with some experience of djembe’s, bongo’s or conga’s. The drum offers one head of a similar size. Even to non musician adults the one head approach presents no obvious barriers to entry
• As students begin to engage, the Handsonic 20’s sound set allows access to all the instrumentation and so much more thats specified in the national curriculum
• Built in within the drum are coaching options which work you out in the key areas of rhythm – the exercises are also structured in such a way where they are great fun to take part in
• Touch screen drum apps are becoming more and more prevalent on iOS & Android devices. The Handsonic 20 picks up on that method of learning offering zones to hit on one surface
• As students begin to master the basics, the Handsonic 20 grows with you. You can input pedals creating a multi layered percussive approach
• As students begin to explore studio work, the midi compatibility combined with the units USB access allow easy set up with desk top mixing software

In summary, the Handsonic 20 offers very much the complete package for drummers and percussionists. It provides ease of access for beginners, allows intermediates to progress un-aided with the coaching features and offers more than enough depth to keep the most experienced musician happy. So whats the catch?

The first is minor but needs consideration. You cannot hit the Handsonic 20 with sticks. If you plan to use the instrument in an environment where drum kits and drum sticks are readily available, you need to consider carefully if your students and your workflow dictate you need an instrument that will allow sticks OR hands. We will be reviewing options for this in later posts. If you need advice in the meantime you can contact me at dan@mixmusiceducation.co.uk and I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction.

The second catch is the biggy and I’m afraid it is probably what you expected, its the cost. At £849 inc VAT RRP it would stretch most music departments budgets, although you will find some great deals online cheaper than this. Even so it is still a major investment. But stop for a moment and reread the bullet points above, the Handsonic 20 fulfils a huge part, if not all of your potential rhythmic curriculum. If you consider the investment needed to fulfil all the areas we’ve discussed it far outways the price tag. 

The key to success is applying the instrument in the right environment and in the right way. With a lesson plan structured to get the most out of the instrument and with the classroom best constructed to allow you to get going immediately, the Handsonic 20 could pay for itself very quickly. We are here to help you do exactly this, so. If you are interested in incorporating the Handsonic 20 in to your classroom, drop me a line at dan@mixmusiceducation.co.uk. I can share lesson plans with you and point you in the direction of schools who are using these instruments every day to deliver their music curriculum. We can then best advise you on how to procure and then implement using this amazing drum in YOUR music classroom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx39llh5Bs8&feature=youtu.be

Dan Jones – Managing Director, Mix Music Education