Minnekhada middle school students are finding out there are other ways to make music than playing a musical instrument.
While many children start out playing the guitar or piano, some are turned off by formal music lessons. But at Minnekhada, the students in David Erickson's Must DJ club are learning to re-mix music to create new songs and are experiencing the joy of making music in nontraditional ways.
The pilot program has been going since September, thanks to funding for equipment from the school Parent Advisory Council, and the 16 Grade 6,7 and 8 students are pretty talented at matching up songs to make a new sound.
"It's not just a bunch of button pushing," explained Erickson, who is working on his Phd in music education. The long-time music teacher said the students are experimenting with music, learning about how music is made, the importance of beat and structure and connecting with music in new ways.
And since the school approved the purchase of a turntable, mixer, and the Serato DJ computer program, Erickson has been learning along with his students.
"It's cool," said Mariah Symchych, one of the students in the Must DJ club, "We can take a song and make it sound cooler," she added.
"It's awesome how you can create different effects," said Christine Clarin, another student in the club.
NEW CREATIONS
Nicholas Ram, who has his own DJ equipment at home, says he enjoys creating new music from songs that he likes and with his friends in the Delirious DJ club provided a demonstration. The students used the equipment, including a lap top and film screen in which the controls and outputs were portrayed, and mixed two songs together to create a new sound. They chose Love Somebody by Maroon 5 and Right on Time by Skrillex to make a new piece of music that had a great sound and driving beat.
Recently, the students showed off their DJing skills at a school dance that also raised funds for the Share food bank.
"It took me a while to accept this as a legitimate form of music making," Erickson said. But, after reading an article by Karen Snell in a book published by the Canadian Music Educators Association, to which he also contributed, Erickson he wanted to see how students could use DJing to explore different pathways to music.
His principal supports the idea and James Gill, with the school district, is making a video of the Must DJ club to show other middle schools. Minnekhada principal Darren Macmillan said it's a school's job to continually update and meet the students where their interests are.
"Whether a student is creating a project on a computer or using paper and pen, or whether they create music from an instrument or a turntable the most important thing is they are owning their learning and excited about sharing," Macmillan said.
