CMPSR & Arrownotes. An Accessible Music System For The Classroom?
This article was written by Owain Wilson from Digit Music on their new Music system, the CMPSR:
Music classrooms and the modern music world can often seem worlds apart, but why? The technology needed can often be daunting and accessible music-making tools rarely excite teachers or students. Another factor is that technology advances at a rapid rate and ‘easy-to-use’ solutions are often not very ‘easy-to-use.’
CMPSR and Arrownotes offer a change to that, giving easy access to incredible sounds through an intuitive instrument and notation system so everyone in the classroom can sound like their musical heroes.
Music education has been consistently linked with many cognitive and personal growth benefits for students so every child should have access to music making and be excited by their music lessons.
"Students who engage with music often exhibit academic achievement scores that surpass their non-musical peers”
Elpus (2015) Journal of Research in Music Education (p. 105)
Removing Barriers:
Musical instruments have been around for almost as long as humans have been on Earth, but many of them take a lot of work to sound good - a huge barrier for students who want to be rewarded quickly. Also, a barrier for educators, keeping up with new technologies is a challenge for those who already have a lot on their plate.
We think it should be different - so Digit Music designed CMPSR and Arrownotes.
But what are they?
CMPSR: Is the old way the only way?
CMPSR uses a joystick to distil a full piano keyboard (and the person who knows how to play the piano) into an instrument that can be played with one finger. Split into 8 zones, each movement of the joystick plays a musical note from the selected scale meaning only the notes that work together can be easily played. Simple movements of the joystick result in beautifully harmonic chords or rhythmic synth bass lines and, as you can connect CMPSR to any music-making app on any device, the style of sounds you can play is endless. But don’t worry - Digit Music provide sets of instruments that work well together, or ready-made songs for you to jam over so you’re ready to play in seconds.
Arrownotes: The Future of Accessible Music Notation
If you give someone a traditional stave showing the note middle C and a piano with which to play the note - not everyone will understand which note to play.
If you give someone a joystick and an arrow - most people will understand which direction to move it. This is the essence of Arrownotes.
As CMPSR is a directionally based instrument, Digit Music been able to simplify complex musical concepts into a form that most people can understand, flipping the journey from beginner to composer on its head.
No longer do we need years of study and instrumental practice to compose original music, now we use intuition and sets of arrows to achieve the same goal. Arrownotes is an accessible music solution that takes beginners across 3 levels of progression to traditional notation, perfect for the music classroom.
Modernising the Music Curriculum with CMPSR & Arrownotes
As the National Plan for Music Education comes into effect, urging schools to implement a Music Development Plan during this academic year (2023-24), so that all children regardless of ability access high-quality music education, it’s important that the right support and technology are available for teachers and students.
CMPSR and Arrownotes, our music-making solution, comprising an instrument and notation system, is designed to support educators in modernising their music curriculum and upskilling their students for the creative industries workforce by making digital music easier to implement in the classroom.
How can CMPSR and Arrownotes help your school?
By using CMPSR and Arrownotes, teachers can successfully meet their curriculum goals while giving students access to the sounds they hear in the music they listen to outside of school.
“He achieved in 1 week with CMPSR what he had been working at for over 6 weeks previously”
Music Teacher
By reducing complex chords down to simple finger gestures and removing the dependency on theory, our accessible music solution means that:
- Students can create engaging compositions
- Teachers can help students achieve higher grades
- Senior leaders can create an inclusive and creative environment for learning
The Dawn of a New Era in Accessible Music Education
The music industry is evolving daily to ensure more and more people can access the joys of making music and the music classroom should be no different. Through small but effective changes in the technology used and the content lessons are built around we can ignite a musical passion in the next generation of creative minds.
Next steps
If you would like a short demo, or have any further questions, Digit Music are offering a teachers a short discovery tool with one of the creators.
Book a suitable time on this link.