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Welcome to our first MT issue of the year. I trust you've had (or are having) an enjoyable break with family and friends and are feeling rejuvenated in time for the start of term.
This month's MT dives deep into recording and from a practical perspective. We have professional sound engineer Ken Blair explain the conventions around mic'ing according to musical genre, based on how listeners consume pop and classical. We have A Level Music Tech guru Tim Hallas describe how to teach recording, covering the basics and analogue (remember that?), and how to capture, edit or process sound. And we have producer/performer/DJ and teacher Nico Bentley advise readers on DAW organisation, track-naming, and what to spend on mics or how to position your tweeters (without reference to Elon Musk).
For more sound-production tips, our friends at TiME have kindly supplied one of their posters for young producers. TiME's Kate Rounding, in addition, reviews Tascam's Model 12 mixing-desk, and Richard Llewellyn introduces the amazing Airwave from ROLI, a piece of kit destined to change our understanding of ‘piano performance’. I strongly urge readers to watch the videos from the links in this article.
Maintaining the recording focus, John Calcott provides another fascinating insight, this time into microphone modelling and UAD Hemisphere microphones, for that all-in-one solution. John, like the others, is clearly a jobbing teacher.
Tech things aside (quite dramatically in terms of the range of music ed), I'm delighted to welcome the British Association of Music Therapy as a partner. Over the course of the year, BAMT and its members will be contributing to our Health and Wellbeing column. This month we set the scene with an article on communication from BAMT's Director of Education & Research, Clare Maddocks, who discusses her approach and the end goals when working.
Elsewhere in this month's MT, you'll find a philosophical discussion around music teaching, courtesy of Professor Martin Fautley, and an exploration of pedagogy in relation to musical understanding, thanks to Liz Dunbar and Asha Bishop and recent training they've been running. We also consider the benefits of backing-tracks, through the eyes of Kay Charlton and published research.
Finally, do remember it's the Music & Drama Education Expo this month (30 and 31 January), and that tickets are available for the annual MDE Awards ceremony, which takes place on Thursday 30th. I look forward to seeing many of you there.
