Student Andy Sherman and teacher Jessica Elkhatib use Sibelius 7 on an interactive whiteboard (Photo: Mark Chapman)
The Scarsdale Daily ran a story over the weekend about a joint effort between Quaker Ridge Elementary School and Scarsdale High School in Scarsdale, New York to provide the elementary students who play in the school’s orchestra with some exciting new arrangements of songs by Bruno Mars, Adele and OneRepublic.
Andy Sherman, a junior at Scarsdale High School, is working an internship with Quaker Ridge music teacher Jessica Elkhatib in the month of January, and is using Sibelius 7 to produce the arrangements for the orchestra. From Mark Chapman’s article:
As for the Quaker Ridge project, Sherman said he has just started using Sibelius software, which allows for fast musical notation, but he is more familiar with Logic Pro, which he calls “a much more confusing program, more for recording.”
The Sibelius program, which is being introduced to the elementary pupils, also allows for copying and pasting, instant transposition – lowering or raising the music to a different key – and changing instrumentation such as converting a flute part, for instance, into a violin part. The software makes it easy, for instance, to combine two pop songs – “Secrets” and “Someone Like You” – into a medley to take advantage of their similar bass lines, Elkhatib said.
“We are having a great time,” she said, “and really learning a lot.”
It’s always great to see Sibelius being used in schools, and especially with children as young as elementary or primary students. If you know of any other great projects like this one, please get in touch!
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Is it OK to arrange current songs which are no doubt under copyright?
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