Getting Started with Digital Audio Workstations: Practical Music‑Making for KS2 and KS3

Relevant to Music Leaders, Heads of Department, Classroom Teachers.

Description

This 90-minute CPD session is designed for primary teachers and KS3 colleagues who are new to music technology. Using Soundtrap as a model, it explores simple, practical approaches to helping pupils create music using a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), even with no prior experience.
 
The session focuses on building confidence in delivering creative, curriculum-aligned music lessons through accessible, classroom-ready approaches that can be applied across any DAW.
 
Participants will explore how to:
  • Introduce pupils to recording, editing and layering sounds using simple workflows.
  • Use loops and patterns to support composition and develop musical ideas. 
  • Use storytelling as a stimulus for creative composition
  • Teach musical structure (e.g. binary, ternary, rondo) through digital music-making.
 With a strong emphasis on creativity and practical application, this session provides strategies that work in real classroom settings and transfer effectively from primary into KS3.