The new Music Technology facilities are proving very popular with University of Cape Town students and with external visitors. On Saturday, 11 June, the South African College of Music hosted a Teacher Training workshop for the Western Cape Education Department in the school’s C09 laboratory. Keith Tabisher (Senior Curriculum Planner for Music, WCED), Marga Smith (Head of the Music, Sans Souci Girls’ School) and Meryl van Noie (UCT Music Technology Officer), presented a music workshop aimed at Further Education and Training (FET Grades 10-12) high school music teachers. 

The interactive one day workshop focussed on integrating technology in the preparation of music examination papers. Armed with the latest curriculum policy documents and examination guidelines, teachers were encouraged to participate in the various practical and hands-on sessions. Workshop topics covered: the setting of music assessments; hands-on music notation skills training as well as introductory audio technology training with the goal of preparing audio examples for teaching and assessments. The lab’s 21 iMacs along with other specialised music technology equipment provided a different and stimulating training environment. Theo Herbst (departmental head for Music Technology) welcomed the twenty-six delegates and said that the SACM welcomed the opportunity to interact with teachers in order to promote the potential that music technology harboured. 

Music Technology is a relatively new undergraduate degree and course major at the University of Cape Town. The programme consists of two undergraduate course streams: A-stream for vocational training and a B-stream that merges theory and practice . The Music Technology Laboratory, which was unveiled in 2014, is the main lecture and project venue for the undergraduate A-stream courses. It consists of 21 computer music workstations, each equipped with iMacs, audio interface, and three audio specific MIDI controllers. All the workstations are routed to a central mixing system to allow for flexible and interactive teaching and learning. The venue also features a vocal recording booth.

According to van Noie, feedback from the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has been positive with delegates commenting on how they have enjoyed the opportunity to learn new skills within a state-of-the-art training environment. The department have since indicated an intention to collaborate with the SACM again in the near future.

“The session clearly showed that our music teachers are all at varying levels of skills and knowledge when it comes to the use and application of Music Technology and are definitely in need of ongoing (differentiated) support. The WCED is certainly very interested in growing a partnership with the UCT SACM Music Technology department and we look forward to further collaboration as we develop our teachers and build their skills in the use of Music Technology,” said Keith Tabisher, Western Cape Education Department.