This resource is a great place to start when introducing Synthesis to A Level Music Technology students. It introduces the three main processes/components involved in subtractive synthesis: Oscillators, Filters, and Envelopes. This Powerpoint is fully animated to allow for ease of delivery and is designed to spark curiosity about synthesis and synthesisers, ready for further development throughout later lessons. This resource also contains a task to foster creative exploration within a variety of software instruments. This resource contains essential knowledge for A Level students, particularly for Technology-Based Composition (All boards) and for their Component 3 & 4 exams (Edexcel specific). I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource! NB This resource is written with Logic X as DAW in mind. It is easily adaptable for Cubase, Ableton, or any other DAW.

This resource is part of the ’Sound of Popular Music’ series. This series is designed carefully to allow pupils to draw parallels between their musical, historical, practical, and technical knowledge, and further appreciate how developments in Music Technology shaped the course of popular music throughout the 20th Century. In doing so, pupils are better equipped to deal with exam-style questions, particularly extended responses. This resource charts the rise of Motown, and how a consistent approach to recording, massive output, and a focus on quality made Motown a force to be reckoned with in the 1960s. This resource also explores the Motown ‘process’, and what it was that gave Motown its distinctive sound. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This is a great resource to supplement the teaching of more advanced harmony, particularly in the creation of sevenths, further extended, and altered chords. ***PDF included to avoid any formatting issues. *** This resource is fully animated for ease of delivery, and is set up for use during remote learning. Pupils often struggle to achieve good marks with harmony in composition, and this resource is perfect for aiding and enhancing composition with sevenths, extended, and altered chords at both **GCSE and A Level. ** This resource will also support the teaching of a number of jazz, pop, or film-based set works across many different boards, and could also be used to help more able younger pupils extend their knowledge. I hope you enjoy this resource!

This is an in-depth exploration of the characteristics of tape, and the nature of recordings made with tape. This resource also explores all of the essential knowledge pupils require regarding the anatomy of a tape machine, and also an introduction to the editing process when recording with tape. This resource is a great way to improve pupils’ (and teachers’) knowledge and understanding of a technology that is rarely practised but is an essential part of the specification. Includes: Magnetic Tape anatomy Tape Machine anatomy Tape head develops and explanation AC Bias Saturation + Soft Clipping Drift, Wow, and Flutter Print-through Cross-talk This resource is also an excellent companion to the upcoming ‘Sound of Popular Music’ series, in which the historical context of this tape technology is explored in more detail, providing pupils with a solid foundation upon which to build high quality extended answers, rich in both technical and contextual information.

This resource explores the explosion in popularity of Rock’n’Roll with the first ‘post-war’ generation, and how improvements in recording (pioneered by Sam Phillips and other influential artists/engineers/studios) and the availability and mass-distribution of records paved the way for the first pop mega-stars. This resource is part of the ’Sound of Popular Music’ series. This series is designed carefully to allow pupils to draw parallels between their musical, historical, practical, and technical knowledge, and further appreciate how developments in Music Technology shaped the course of popular music throughout the 20th Century. In doing so, pupils are better equipped to deal with exam-style questions, particularly extended responses. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

In this resource, we explore the trailblazing recording and production techniques of Joe Meek and Phil Spector in the 1950s-60s. We explore how they crafted their own vision of recorded music, and how they manipulated their sound in unique and innovative ways to pave the way for the ‘modern producer’, rather than engineers in lab coats. This resource is fully animated for ease of delivery, and contains many embedded audio examples. It also contains an exam-style comparison question between Meek and Spector’s work. This resource is part of the ’Sound of Popular Music’ series. This series is designed carefully to allow pupils to draw parallels between their musical, historical, practical, and technical knowledge, and further appreciate how developments in Music Technology shaped the course of popular music throughout the 20th Century. In doing so, pupils are better equipped to deal with exam-style questions, particularly extended responses. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This resource is an exploration of the electric guitar, including it’s history, construction, and electronics. This resource explores all the relevant information needed to be successful at A Level Music Technology. This resource is a great way to improve pupils’ (and teachers’) knowledge and understanding of technology that is rarely practised/used by most but is an essential part of the specification. Includes: Brief History Construction of different types of electric guitar single coil and humbucker pickups An overview of outboard effects and modifications This resource is also an excellent companion to the upcoming ‘Sound of Popular Music’ series, in which the historical context of this technology is explored in more detail, providing pupils with a solid foundation upon which to build high quality extended answers, rich in both technical and contextual information.

This resource explores Reverb, from its beginnings as a by-product of recording in a room to the essential effect used by every engineer and producer. This resource also explores the various parameters and characteristics of reverb, the graphical representation of reverb, and how to read a reverb graph (Early reflections, Body RT60, Decay etc.) This is essential knowledge for all A level Music Technology pupils, and forms an integral part of the deeper understanding required to access the **highest possible marks. ** This resource is part of the ‘Effects’ series, examining the historical development, characteristics, and technical features of some of the most common effects that your pupils use on a day-to-day basis. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

A presentation that outlines different orchestral instrument families (except percussion - see note below) and common playing techniques, including many audio-visual and notation examples. This resource could be used as an extension of an ‘Instruments of the Orchestra’ Scheme of Work, or as a resource for GCSE and A level Music pupils who are developing their composition skills. The audio/video examples come from a wide variety of composers within the classical tradition, exposing pupils to music outside of the normal syllabus. Where possible, the videos not only provide an audio stimulus but also a visual one, where the pupils can see the technique in action and/or what it looks like on a score. I hope you enjoy this resource. NB - The Percussion section is not included in this resource, as there are a huge number of unusual playing techniques specific to each individual piece of percussion; too many to cover in a short presentation.

This resource tracks the rise in popularity of the Rock genre as a separate entity as it moved further away from mainstream pop. We start with the counterculture movement of the 1960s, moving into psychedelia and the increase of ‘Garage Rock’ bands that lead into the development of Hard Rock in the early 70s. This resource finishes by outlining the rise of Punk in the late 70s as a reaction against mainstream pop and rock. This resource includes many audio examples, and is fully animated for ease of delivery. A PDF of the powerpoint is also included in case of formatting issues, but there is no interactivity. This resource is part of the ’Sound of Popular Music’ series. This series is designed carefully to allow pupils to draw parallels between their musical, historical, practical, and technical knowledge, and further appreciate how developments in Music Technology shaped the course of popular music throughout the 20th Century. In doing so, pupils are better equipped to deal with exam-style questions, particularly extended responses. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This resource and accompanying worksheet will aid your delivery of the content required for the Samba em Preludio - Esperanza Spalding set work as part of the Edexcel GCSE Music course. This resource would easily cover a series of lessons and can be worked through at your own/your pupils’ pace. This PowerPoint includes all the relevant information and knowledge required to understand this set work, including an in depth exploration of the harmony in Samba em Preludio - Esperanza Spalding. It is fully animated for ease of delivery, includes embedded video examples, and is optimised for either classroom learning or remote learning. This resource also includes an example of a past question (and the mark scheme) to expose pupils to the types of questions they might face. The PDF of the powerpoint is included to avoid formatting issues, but does not include the interactivity. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!