Working with a quarterly wheel: Modern music making in short-term classes

Abstract

This article details a route of using digital music in a wheel setting for students in secondary school (ages 11 and up). Students worked on song writing, group compositions, presentation skills, creating album artwork, autobiographies and more in a short, seven-week-long class setting. Using digital music in the wheel helped to ensure that music making was accessible, the experience was interactive and inclusive, and gave students an outlet they were excited to come to class for. This wheel was part of the school’s ‘applied academics’, which allowed students to rotate through different classes and electives. Digital music was a small part of applied academics, but had one of the biggest impacts on the students.