This past semester, students in our first grade Digital Music class at the Oliver Hazard Perry School have been hard at work on an exciting multimedia project. The class, taught by BMP Teaching Artist Sébastien Ridoré learned how to work with different audio interfaces on their computers to write melodies, and create and present a narrative in a musical way.
Mr. Ridoré shared more details about how the project started.
“Students began by choosing a story out of a batch of children’s books. [They] were then assigned pages of the story to illustrate and write music for using the audio interface Chrome Music Lab. Similar to an audio book, students were recorded speaking abridged lines of the story. Afterwards, all of the pictures, songs, and recordings of the class were compiled together. The end result was a unique retelling of Susan Hood’s ‘Ada’s Violin’.”
He speaks about the process and skills that students learned throughout the semester.
“Every week, the class learned one or two new skills regarding music-making. Afterward, students shared and listened to each other’s creations. Later, the class was given different templates that contained chord progressions which they could manipulate and add their own melodies on top. By the end of the semester, students were composing independently. Their music in the project is inspired by their page in the story and is written to help paint a more vivid picture of the story to the audience.”
Through the students’ hard work and collaboration, the final project culminated in this wonderful multimedia retelling of the story.
Learn more about our Perry School Partnership and other in-school partnership programs.
This program is sponsored in part by Boston Public Schools and the BPS Arts Expansion from EdVestors.