SENIOR SCHOOL
Searching for
Soundtrap
This year started perfectly well in the
classrooms and studios of the Music Faculty,
then halfway through Term 1 the world of
music education, and education in general,
was changed due to the COVID-19 virus.
Whilst many of the other faculties were able
to utilise Microsoft Teams, Zoom and various
other online teaching aids, these platforms
were not designed for instrumental music
lessons, due to latency with the audio. We
were committed to ensuring our students
could continue with their music lessons, so I
had to find a suitable alternative!
Enter Soundtrap; a cloud-based recording
platform that empowers students and
teachers of all ages and abilities to explore
creative sound recording. Students could
also record themselves and compose and
create tracks, using loops and the piano
keyboard in the program. Even better, they
could collaborate with their teachers and
each other live, by either a video feed or by
text, from within the program.
For my vocal lessons, it allowed the students
and I to not only communicate via video,
but for them to record their songs to the
tracks I uploaded to the program so that
we could both see and hear, in real time,
what they were singing and recording. I set
it up so that when students recorded their
songs during the week, in between lessons,
I received an email notification and I could
listen to what they were working on and
keep track of their progress.
The program has also been useful in the
classroom. One of the projects my Year 7
students undertake is to create their own
ringtone using musical loops and chords
they learned in class. Soundtrap allowed
them to complete these projects remotely
and share their work with me. I could check
to see how their projects were progressing
and send them messages within Soundtrap
on different techniques they could use
to improve their compositions. Some of
our students also collaborated with each
other to create a shared project, which
is something they have not been able to
achieve in the past.
So, whilst remote learning posed some
initial challenges for the Music Faculty, the
solution was one that we can continue to
use in our classroom teaching to improve
teaching and communication with our
music students.
Mr Mark Underwood
Music Teacher and Vocal Tutor
Hamish and Angus State Hockey Representatives
Twins Hamish (11SG) and Angus (11SG) Adamson started
playing hockey at 5 years of age and have developed a passion
for the sport that has seen them both selected in many junior
WA representative teams. Hamish was recently selected for the
School Sport All Australian Under-16 Team and Angus as a train-on
member of the team. This team was due to travel to South
Africa to play a series of matches but unfortunately, due to
the travel restrictions in place, the trip was cancelled.
Leading up to selection in the national team, Hamish and Angus
were selected for the following state teams, enjoying considerable
success at the various national tournaments:
• School Sport WA Under-12 team, bronze medal
• WA Under-13 team, 2 state teams selected finishing 2nd and
4th place
• WA Under-15 team, silver medal
• School Sport Under-16s, 5th place
Hamish and Angus also played in the WA Under-15 and 18 State
Indoor Hockey teams and last year the boys made their Premier
League 1st division debut, quite an achievement considering
their age.
Braydon Fernandes (11Sc) has played alongside Hamish and
Angus in the under 13, 15 and 16 teams and was also in the
squad for the under 18 team.
25