To start off, tell us about yourself
My name is Patrick Boudrias and I was born in 1976 in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, Canada. I first got into music when I was 7 years old. My parents received a piano from my aunt and because there was an instrument in the house, everyone started taking piano lessons.
Years later, a music program was started in an elementary school near my parents’ house. I was selected for the grade 3 class and every day we practiced piano, Orff instruments, singing, and music history until grade 11.
When I was 12 years old, I discovered the trombone with a friend of my parents who was a high school music teacher. I was so impressed by the pleasure of playing in a band that I auditioned to start my studies as a trombonist. I was accepted into Cégep Lionnel-Groulx (a 2-year program between high school and university) in a classical music program. I auditioned at the Université of Montréal in classical trombone for three years. After that, I was admitted to the Université du Québec à Montréal in music and theatre teaching programs.
Can you tell us about the school where you teach?
I have been a music teacher for mostly 25 years and have taught from kindergarten to high school.
For the last 19 years, I have been teaching at the Externat Sacré-Coeur de Rosemère (www.externat.qc.ca). There are 1200 students enrolled and everyone has an introduction to the wind band in grade 7 for 5 months. After that, they make a choice between several arts.
I teach in groups of 34 students each as follows:
Grade 7: 6 groups
Grade 9: 2 groups
Grade 10: 2 groups
In addition to these, I also teach two groups of Grades 7&8 in a special program called ‘Inspiration’ where we do music and visual arts on an iPad.”
Speaking of iPad, how (and when) did you introduce it in your school?
We started using iPads about 8 years ago and every kid has their own iPad. We were already using some apps before the lockdown due to COVID-19, but the pandemic boosted the process of digital transformation.
Overall, the use of iPads both in presence and remotely has been a great addition to our teaching process and has helped us adapt to the changing times.
Today we feel confident in using the Apple ecosystem in an engaging way for students, as well as an effective and time-saving workflow for teachers.
What are the biggest challenges you have faced?
Using digital devices and eventually the access to social media requires a lot of discipline because it’s everywhere and anytime. It’s easy to get addicted to screens and spend too much time on them.
Additionally, managing memory, cloud storage, Wi-Fi connectivity, and updates requires a lot of attention and management.
Luckily, using Apple Classroom can enormously help in the management of a large fleet of devices and users of different ages in a school environment.
Teaching music with iPad: what are the benefits?
You can benefit from many apps that assist you in music creation and composition in class by using iPad, such as Newzik, GarageBand, Noteflight, Fonofone. Students can practice at home with apps such as Anytune, BandMate, Rythm Dictation, Music Tutor.
Preparing and teaching lessons and keeping track of students’ progress are things we can do as teachers.
Favorite apps?
I extensively use Newzik and GarageBand for my music lessons.
Reading music: why Newzik?
Newzik is not just a music reader, and it helps me in my day-to-day activities as a music teacher. Here is how it changed how I teach music:
The management of the digital library is clever, as pieces are like ‘folders’ containing all the parts of a composition (and not single PDFs, like in other reader apps); this is useful from the point of view of the teacher/conductor in ensembles.
Finally we do not need photocopies: time saver, environment-friendly!
No parts lost: everything is always at your fingertips, literally.
Annotations and marks: you can work on different layers for different students, or even prepare pracite-ready ‘templates and they are saved for ever.
Sight reading: you can easily prepare music reading activities whenever you want
Collaboration: students/musicians and teacher can collaborate on Projects, this being one other strong point for NewZik
Easy importing: you can import scores to the library with different approached, cloud services, even using iPad embedded scanning capabilities to directly create PDF from older or handwritten scores (digitalising the entire school music archive)
Optical Music Recognition: this allows to transform PDF scores into MIDI files, that can be use in a myriad of modes for composition and arrangement purposes
Player capabilities: so we have a tool that can literally ‘play’ the score:
the scores become a “tuner” for everyone,
easy transposing,
ability to listen to the pieces, also muting some instruments to play along with the piece,
better practice and analysis overall.
Producing music: why GarageBand?
My Use of GarageBand:
Music introduction - in the first music lesson, I use the smart tool to demonstrate to my student how they can create an insta pop song in 45 minutes. It’s always a hit. Without knowing any thing in music, they bring home a cool song in the first week.
Music theory - the MIDI interface makes it easy to demonstrate rhythms and notes. It helps to understand high or low pitches, and long or short durations.
Discover bass and drum - before making them try the real instruments, I can teach the technic, and how to use the instrument.
Musical dictation - when the ears can’t find what rhythm is played, the visual of Garage Band help the kids to focus on the rhythms.
Composing a melody on a chords pattern is better when you can hear the chords played by the smart instruments.
Instead of giving an exam on note reading, I ask them to transcribe a musical sheet on GarageBand
Improving the students’ skills by recording their plays and comparing different versions over time.
Recording several instruments to learn how to build a chord.
Did you noticed improvements in the students learning experience? How can you summarise your experience?
iPad is a great ‘toy' that needs to be converted into a great ‘tool’ by us, as educators.
It has many useful uses and can help some students achieve better instant results. But for the same reason, the iPad also reduces the interest in a human in front of the class. You absolutely need strict rules and apps like “Apple Classroom” with the kids. With Classroom, teachers can control connected iPads, opening apps, creating workgroups, and keeping track of student progress with screen sharing. It is a powerful teaching assistant that helps a teacher guide students through a lesson, see their progress, and keep them on track.
However, there are no measurable consistent results of how my students enhance their musical skills. Frequent recordings can help students develop their listening and self-assessment.
Surely they certainly acquire the ability to do many new things. The technology inspires them when they explore composition or musical dictation. For example, music theory is finally easy and enjoyable.
Your commitment and passion for innovating in music education and sharing your story are admirable, Patrick. Thank you.
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