Browsing by Author "Marttinen, Emma"

The creative production of music, which among other things means improvisation and composing, is a central goal throughout compulsory education within the musical curriculum. There is an ever-increasing emphasis on technology in education and within musical education it has a clear place in achieving the goal of creative musical production. Research has shown that despite this goal, teachers rarely utilize creative musical production or musical technology in their own teaching methods and that only a part of students completing their compulsory education have experience for example in composing. In a school context musical technology is usually a reference to moveable mobile devices, such as tablets or computers. In this thesis the emphasize is on iPads and the various musical apps available to the device. The goal of this thesis is to determine what does it actually mean to utilize iPads as a method of creative musical production and to provide practical tips on using iPads as a method of creative musical production by looking at what possibilities and challenges it presents. For this thesis four music teachers with experience in utilizing iPads as a method of creative musical production were interviewed. The thesis was conducted as a qualitative case-study and the research material was analysed using content -and thematic analytical methods. Research results were reviewed and compared to previous theoretical research, articles, professional literature and curriculum found in the theoretical background, regarding creative musical production and musical technology, which formed the basis for the deductions presented in this thesis. Research showed that iPads were utilized for both creating music to also musical improvisation using musical apps. Most teachers preferred the application Garageband for creating music, whilst other applications used were Launchpad, Chrome Music Lab and Thumbjam. Due to their easy use musical applications allowed students the possibility to create music regardless of their skill and thus also increased student agency and motivation whilst also learning environment permitting the possibility for musical differentiation. The challenges facing the uses of iPads foremost involve resources, such as the availability of devices and applications and their features. Musical technology appears to have a place as a way to provide creative musical production when it’s use can be justified from a pedagogical standpoint.