Five LLL courses focused on enhancement of digital skills and knowledge in music teachers and music professionals working in the pre-college level music and general education schools, developed by teachers of the Faculty of Music in Belgrade (Partner 1), Academy of Arts in Novi Sad (Partner 2) and the Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac (Partner 3) in the frame of the project DEMUSIS, were held online in December 2022.
Despite shared thematic field, each of the courses had a unique focus, relying on the specific expertise of the trainers and answering particular needs of attendees.
The first of them implemented was Music education in digital environment, held from 26 November to 3 December to 41 attendees who rated it with a high 3.97 score (on the scale 0 to 4) in their QA questionnaires. The course was focused on use of digital tools (such as open source Kahoot, Wordwall, Audacity and other) and their implementation in teaching music theory, harmony, solfeggio and ear training and other music subjects, in completing learning outcomes in distance learning context. Additionally, it introduced principles of edutainment in teaching, both in distance and in classroom. To ensure safe environment for exchange of ideas and practice, closed Trello boards were created, with all teaching materials and complete videos available for participants even after the end of the course, accompanied by a specific forum for participants for sharing practice, challenges and solutions with peers.
The course Digital classical music resources as contribution to the enhancement of music teaching, realized on 21-26 December 2022, aimed at strengthening digital competencies of music teachers in music and general education schools of primary and secondary level for using digital open source resources on classical music (digital collections, databases, archives, catalogues) available on internet, as specific teaching tools for achieving learning outcomes and making music classes more appealing to the young audience. To that extent, a handbook was created and shared with course participants, also available here.
Faculty of Philology and Arts, University of Kragujevac, offered and implemented from 14 November to 17 December three online courses on using specific digital tools and software for music classes with children in general and music schools. Therefore, objectives of the course Digital arranging and production of audio and video materials for online music teaching and entertainment-educational platforms, attended by 53 participants, focused on skills and knowledge necessary for creating sound and music arrangements in digital format. These included audio, video and midi editing, work with music notography software, using basic arranging techniques, enabling attendees, by the end of the course, to create music material on their own for online teaching, edit music for radio and TV shows and make video clips. Some of the examples of course takers’ short audio and video clips created to promote their work, can be found here and here. Complete teaching materials, including a short handbook on digital arranging, information on audio and video software as well as complete video recordings of course sessions, are available online, on a website specifically created for this purpose. The video playlist from the course is also available here.
Similarly, Creating digital matrix for children music performance was created and offered to answer specific need of music teachers to gain skills and knowledge for creating sound and music arrangements in digital format for accompaniment to children choirs or soloists. The course included acquiring skills and knowledge in basic arranging techniques, use of specific music software for digital notography, midi editing and audio production, so that by the end of the course attendees were able to produce on their own music arrangements of children songs to be used in their everyday work. To that extent, the trainees did a number of projects with trainers on the closed platform Bandlab, which could be accessed only by the course attendees. However, complete course materials and video recordings of the sessions are made available here and here. Additionally, one of the successful examples of individual work of the course participant was made publicly available (with kind permission of the author Natalija Macura).
The highest ranked online (and overall) LLL course developed and implemented in the DEMUSIS project is Digital tools in music education, scoring 4.00. The course aimed at heightening the level of digital literacy of music teachers and professionals in all levels of educational system. During the course, participants learned to use and create different types of digital learning material.
In addition to the online courses, another one dedicated to the enhancement of digital literacy of music professionals was held in presence. The LLL course Digital music literacy, developed and implemented by the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad (P2), was held on 10 December in Music School “Isidor Bajić“. Its objectives lie in the field of mastering digital notation software for the use in classroom and distance teaching. Additionally, the participants learned how to edit and prepare for printing the digital scores they previously made, or how to transfer it to audio file.
The last LLL course developed by P3 – Application of digital technologies on teaching alterations and modulations in solfeggio will kick off in 2023. After it, the course takers will be able to enrich their solfeggio classes and make them more attractive to children, while enhancing children’s ear training and helping them develop their music skills further in a more inventive and interesting way.
All LLL courses developed in the framework of the DEMUSIS project are accredited for the three-year period, until 2025. Based on the high interest in all courses not only in Serbia, but in the region as well, plans have been made to make them available in some of the ex-Yugoslavia countries in near future.
Implementation of LLL courses, offered by academic teaching staff to the teachers in primary and secondary music schools in order to develop their entrepreneurial knowledge, attitudes and skills, is one the key project milestones, pertaining to the project objective B. In addition to reaching this goal, networking with primary and secondary schools remains one of the main impacts of the work package 5 and the project on the whole.
Creating digital matrix for children music performance
Digital arranging and production of audio and video materials for online music teaching and entertainment-educational platforms
Digital classical music resources as contribution to the enhancement of music teaching
Digital tools in music education
