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4) Due to time constraints during the symposium, the presenters will respond to all questions by Thu, 16 Oct 4pm.

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This year's theme is Sustaining a Passion as Music Educators.

14 to 16 Oct CI NLC Mini-Symposium (Online asynchronous)

16 Oct 4.15pm - 5.00pm CI NLC Mini-Symposium (Online synchronous)

I was quite surprised to hear that the primary students were hesitant to sing! Perhaps you could explore letting them record on BandLab? At least in their own space, they could pick up the confidence to open their mouths without anyone judging.

Thank you for sharing your very wonderful project. I feel that the beauty of this project goes beyond the improvisation of your students' alien sounds creation but really into the SEL development of your students. Those 7 weeks with them, allowed them to feel that they are heard, that they are empowered to have a voice, to learn to work together across different age groups and also to build confidence in themselves while they create and perform.

I'm so proud that you could take an idea that you've learnt and expand on it and make it your own. Now, I'm going to try your lesson ideas too.😉 Keep up the wonderful work. -Allen

Question: What were the routines/cues that were established with the students (e.g. transiting from sitting to circle)?

Yi Han, Rivervale Pri

Thank you for your sharing! It's great to see how excited and engaged the students were in the lesson. :)

Could I check if there were any prior bonding lessons/ challenges faced in getting students to move and clap with each other? (Eg. students didn't want to pair with a certain someone/ any students were not comfortable with touching/clapping their friends?)

I'm just wondering if this engagement would pan out differently in a co-ed school/ secondary school/ upper-primary class...

Thank you! :)

Brenda, Bartley Sec.

Its heartening to see that the students enjoying the lesson with engaging hand clapping games combining games with teaching of concept will really make the students remember the song.=)

From

Lean Woon

Belinda, CCPS

I think its a really great idea to make use of daily objects to help students internalize rhythm. This saves costs as students have all these items at hand and also it makes the lesson more engaging.

Rhythm is definitely one of the important component in learning a song.

I will try incorporate these ideas into my lessons.

From Lean Woon

It’s fascinating to use cups to keep the rhythm while playing Jinkli Nona. I love how the students naturally internalize the beat. I also agree that scaffolding is essential in supporting this kind of intentional play. What’s particularly impressive is how their movements develop organically in response to the music. I also appreciate that students have the opportunity to feel and experience the concept of binary form before encountering it in theory. I’m curious, how might you extend this lesson to further deepen students’ understanding of form and rhythm?

Li Xin (Bukit View Primary School)

Belinda - CCPS

Instead of just using countless mind-numbing checklists, the whole thing became a playful and fun process! I am already thinking of creating such a character for my classes. Instead of a finger puppet, perhaps an adorable plushie???

[Joseph, NBPS].

Thank you so much for your sharing on Songwriting. Listening to your students' progress and musical works was inspiring and encouraging. :)

A few questions,

- The vocals recorded seemed rather clear! Were there any setups/ arrangements/ tips to enable clear recording by all groups at the same time in a single classroom?

- Were there instances where no one wanted to do level 3 song map as they didn't want to challenge themselves? How do you encourage them to choose a suitable song map?

- Would students be given a better score if they did a level 3 song map, vs level 1 song map? Or you focused on the final outcome of the musical work?

Thank you so much Clarissa for your sharing once again! :)

- Brenda, Bartley Sec.

I really like how systematically you documented and reflected on your students’ engagement, participation, and responses across the 8 weeks. The reflective journal approach really highlights intentional, sustained inquiry. I also love how you foregrounded inclusivity through practical strategies like games, peer support, and visual aids.

Some questions I have:

- How did you balance maintaining lesson flow for the whole class while providing individualised support for students with additional learning needs?

- In your view, how does practicing inclusive teaching sustain your own passion as an educator? Has it changed how you define “success” in the music classroom?

Thank you Sunshine, for sharing this meaningful presentation on inclusivity. I really like how you used visual aids to support student’s learning. Especially the colour coded notation which was a brilliant way to help visual learners connect with the song. It was heartwarming to see the student’s engagement improving and being able to help his buddy spot a mistake respectfully.

do you plan to use colour coded notation for every song they learn, or just for selected pieces? Would it take up too much preparation time? How do you decide when a child is ready to transition from colour coded notation to reading the same notation as their peers?

Some questions that I have are:

- You mentioned peer pairing and leadership as part of differentiation. How did you prepare or guide peers and leaders to support their classmates effectively?

- What were some of the challenges in balancing differentiated instruction with time management and overall class pacing, especially in performance preparation?

I really enjoyed how you began with the “We First Mentally” and thoughtfully wove it into the EDIPT framework. The strategy of noticing stood out to me as especially powerful—it encourages students to pause, reflect, and think more deeply about taking action, and then to take the action.

Thank you for sharing this meaningful approach, Atika. I’m inspired to try it out with my P6 students next year!

A quick question for you: How long is this popband module?

Thank you for sharing how the EDIPT framework works in band playing. The idea of using a song map as a blueprint for the song is really interesting. How do students create their own blueprint of the songs? Is there ay prior knowledge before they begin?

The Praise, Polish, Ponder approach is an excellent way to guide students in giving constructive feedback to one another. Encouraging students to reflect on their own growth is also a wonderful strategy to help them stay focused and mindful of their progress.

I’m curious, do you share all the reflection questions with students at once, or introduce them gradually? At what point did you notice students shifting from being distracted to direction?

Li Xin (Bukit View Primary School)

My school also does a pop band module with our P6s. I would love to explore the approaches such as using padlet and the EDIPT framework for reflection, factoring time for peers to peers feedback, in my lessons! 😊

Question: Do your students have other platforms in school to perform what they have managed to accomplish as a band?

Yi Han, Rivervale Pri

Thank you for sharing so many frameworks and strategies you used to empower your students' through their band rehearsals and performance. Indeed, a band becomes greater when they think about the group sound first, after their own. The song map you shared is really helpful in allowing students to visualise and plan their performance flow too! Really liked how to got students to continually reflect on their music through their band rehearsals. Reflecting is never easy, especially when the kids are tired of thinking for the day.. ><

Just 2 questions on logistics:

- How do students practise so that they can hear each other? (Are all singers equipped with mics/ are all groups allocated a room for practice?)

- Score sheets wise, how do students know what to play? (Eg. Does the Tuba find his own chords/notes online to play? I'm guessing, if he's not too musically inclined, he may only be familiar with sheet music?)

Thank you so much! :)

-Brenda, Bartley Sec.

Thank you for sharing! I liked how you taught students to visualise the music through Song Maps. My question is, what specific scaffolding or structures did you implement during the earlier stages of the EDIPT framework to help groups manage their practice time effectively and ensure all band members (especially those on non-melody instruments) have their parts clear before the pressure of the Test stage arrives?

Just a question: Regarding the issue of helping students vocalize their challenges, what would you have done differently in that reflective activity?

[Joseph, NBPS]

Yet, managing this ‘terror’ becomes a powerful teachable moment to teach the value of resilience!

I especially liked your edited survey questions which would be helpful to many music teachers in assessing their students’ current readiness in performing!

[Joseph, NBPS]

(Xin Ru, Cedar Primary School)

Belinda, CCPS

Indeed using play at the start of learning song and teamwork I feel really helps to make the performing experience more enjoyable and less fearful.

Thank you for your sharing on how small compositional activities can encourage students to sing! Indeed, singing becomes challenging as students (and even adults!) become more self-conscious. Evidently, singing as a group allowed students to "hide" together, and hopefully this exposure would encourage them to sing more in other future music projects you have installed for them! :)

Some questions,

- Are they expected to sing in the same pitch as the melody line? (I face this struggle too, girls/boys being unsure what is the correct pitch/range to sing, and require guidance from us)

- Just a wondering thought, could a jingle of a slightly longer length allow them to settle into the song and reduce their awkwardness?

- Are these jingles used in any real-life school contexts? (Eg. played before the recess bell rings/ played before morning assembly begins/ etc). Just a wondering thought if good student works could encourage and promote a singing culture in the school too! :)

Thank you Lee Loo for sharing once again!

-Brenda, Bartley Sec.

The struggle is real!

I wonder, before starting this song writing module proper, do they do whole class singing of various ‘Call and Response’ songs? [Am sure there would be some silly rhymes and songs out there!].

Finally, I also felt using P5 camp as a source of rap creation a really great idea!

[Joseph, NBPS]

Thank you for sharing an engaging and creative songwriting lesson, Ms Chan! The rap warm up linked to the P5 camp experiment was a great introduction to songwriting to make learning relevant. I really like how you used the call and response approach to scaffold the songwriting process. The fixed parameters for rhythm and melody gave students structure while still allowing room for creativity (I really love their responses on SLS). Will there be an extension where students create their own melody as well?

I also often find my P5 students too shy to perform. many ask, “Do we have to perform in front of the class?” how did you support them to overcome that?

With AI tools becoming more common, would you consider allowing students to use AI to help find rhyming words or generate lyrical ideas?

Do they need to notate or record down their melody? Do they need to perform their final creation for the whole song?

Earn Chi, CPS

Thank you for sharing! I love how you described it as a playground for students! It really gives them the time and space to explore the interface of the app and learn through experience before shaping their music to express emotions. I also liked how the students showed layering in GarageBand. I am wondering, do you usually give feedback while they work? And how do you help them choose which loops to use?

Li Xin (Bukit View Primary)

(Xin Ru, Cedar Primary School)

Can I ask how did you provide guidance along the way to assist students maybe in their transition or lack of depth?

Earn Chi, CPS

May I ask how would your research outcome influence the way you teach the same lesson going forward. I would like to pick up some best practices from you too. Thank you.

Some questions that I have are:

- How did you guide students to analyse and reflect on the AI-generated songs as examples of musical form and flow?

- Since Suno.AI outputs were used as study material for musical form, how did you scaffold students’ listening and reflection so they could meaningfully connect what they heard to their own compositional thinking?

Thank you both for sharing about Suno AI! I’ve personally used it many times for my own enjoyment and also as a teaching resource, like creating backing tracks, but I haven’t tried having students use it yet.

I’m curious, which level would you suggest is suitable for students to try this?

I also wonder what scaffolding you provided before asking students to identify the form, and what guiding questions you used to help them analyse using the correct musical language.

What an absolutely interesting insight into the use of AI and how students feel about it. While I can see that the students are favourable of using such tools for music compositions, I would like to seek your team's opinion on whether you think that the creative/music elements are taken away by the use of such tools after carrying out this project. Thank you :)

I'm also concerned about the creation of Chatbots impersonating local musicians - is there a question to be answered about ethics?

One worry I have today is- How relevent are musicians and music education in this AI generation. How do we transform to keep our music trade relevant. Musicians could losing paid commission work due to AI in the future.

First, there were canned music content which content creators could use freely and cheaply by-passing hiring a musician to write music; Now AI can write a whole song much faster than a human musician.

It also makes me reflect our role as musicians and music educators in this AI age. Of course, AI created music now lacks the human touch we real musicians give, but certainly AI is a cheap and fast way to churn out music for content creators.

What are your thoughts?

Some questions I have are:

- Your approach of scaffolding before introducing AI is very thoughtful. How did you determine the right moment to bring AI into the process so it enhanced rather than replaced creativity?

- What strategies did you use to help students critically evaluate and refine AI-generated lyrics or jingles, ensuring they still exercised musical judgment and personal voice?

From

Lean Woon

Thank you for sharing your lesson on film music! It was great to see how student A and B became more engaged through the groupwork sessions and produced such good quality work (faster than other peers even!).

A few questions,

- Were there any challenges faced when stitching the music and video clip together? (I'm assuming students had to toggle between watching the video on 1 pld/screen tab, and arranging/selecting the bandlab music loops on another tab). Please correct me if I'm wrong!

- I noticed there were some sound effects (eg. rat scampering, computer sound, breath sounds). Were students given a completely muted video clip, and these all added in by the students? Or you just required them to create the underscoring music track for the video?

Thank you so much for sharing once again!

- Brenda, Bartley Sec.

Thank you Wee Kiong for the wonderful and insightful video! I really liked how you used the Sarinande+ to teach both chords and scales, it’s a creative and accessible way for students to experience harmony.

I also liked how you emphasised that if students play the leading note, they need to end with the tonic note. It’s a great way to reinforce tonal awareness. I love how there was ample time for exploration and discovery which made your students quickly spotted the chord pattern on their own! I was so impressed that the student discovered the 4th note, forming a 7th chord.

It was also great that students were introduced to cipher notation. This connection will definitely help them when they encounter cipher notation again while learning Chinese music.

I also liked how you constantly checked for understanding as students pressed the chords with the given starting note he/she was really confident.

I’m curious: for the iPad players, do they each play one assigned note, or do they perform the entire melody individually? Would you have considered playing at a slightly slower tempo to help those on iPads prepare their notes, especially with the app’s latency? this way student also experience different tempos.

- Peizhen [HGS]

Thank you for sharing about the app Sarinande+! I’ve never heard of it before, and it looks really fun and engaging. I noticed that it uses number notation instead of solfege letter names, and I was wondering if this is ever confusing for students, for example remembering that 6 means la. I understand that you use a song, but how long did it take the students to remember?

I also like that the app includes chord progressions, not just numbers. I’m curious, when playing together with the class, since students are pressing the notes on the iPad, is there any noticeable gap or lag when changing from one note to another?

I agree that AI is the tool and we must be guided by sound Pedagogy. I like your take on how the use of different Pedagogies (Orff, Delcroze, Kodaly) with AI may have differing outcome, it is a interesting research topic on its own. I think the teacher plays a big part in the student outcome of AI in Music writing. Just curious, may I ask what main Pedagogies besides informal learning did you use in this research? (Eclectic, Orff, Kodaly)?

I feel the teacher plays a big role in the outcome too. The way we view AI and how we decide to use it as a tool in music-writing will inevitably influence how our students react to the use of AI. I think we need to prepare our students, no matter what they may feel about AI, we are in this AI age and we have to adapt/ embrace it and make the best of the situation with AI, both as music learners, musicians and as a person.

Hi Dorcas, I thought that the Pokemon narrative is really fun. For me, the incentive to level up would have taken over what I have learnt as content. I just wonder if:

1) there is going to be a retention of knowledge through short-term recall. As both teaching and assessing are simultaneous in your SLS lesson, would students forget what they have learnt after they close their web browsers. That said, I fully understand that we are music generalists, and thus only teach for exposure rather than mastery... but it is still something I think about!

Thank you for sharing about using gamification on SLS! I’ve actually tried it before with my Primary 3 students in a quiz on orchestra instruments. I noticed that when students completed it on their own, for example filling in the blanks, many gave wrong answers, but when we did it together face-to-face, they could answer correctly. When I asked, some mentioned they didn’t quite understand the questions, so I think it’s a great idea to try it with Primary 6 students instead, since their vocabulary is stronger. I’m curious if you’ve encountered a similar issue and what kind of scaffolding you usually do before letting students use these SLS functions on their own?

I really enjoyed your engaging game that revolves around a Pokémon story and turns it into an adventure for the students, combined with meaningful music activities. I especially like how you’ve woven elements of world music into the lesson. It is a good idea.

Are you planning to share this on the SLS platform? It looks very interesting, and I’m sure my students would enjoy it too. If I were a student, I’d definitely want to take part in this game!

I am wondering, was it your intention for students to explore different types of world music across the four lessons? How are these lessons connected to one another? Also, do students need any prior knowledge before attempting the SLS assignments?

Li Xin (Bukit View Primary School)

Belinda, CCPS

[Joseph, NBPS]

I really enjoyed your sharing. I’ve tried incorporating the 5 senses into songwriting before but didn’t have much success. I love how you connected it to your students’ recent experiences, like the P5 camp, to make the learning more authentic and meaningful. That context really helped your students create lyrics that reflected the 5 senses naturally. Thank you for the inspiring idea — I’ll definitely try that approach next time!

I just wanted to check, did the students use their own earphones, or were they provided by the school? If they used school earphones, do they need to change the covers for different student and each lesson?

Thank you so much for your sharing!

The small but effective games you shared was engaging for the students and looked so fun! (Play-along with video, Rhythm Train, Rhythm Trainer). It's also nice to hear there was a regular structure for students to learn - I do, We do, You do. I believe this encouraged students and gave them all the confidence to try.

Keeping a steady beat is still a struggle for some students in Secondary school, so thank you both for starting them on the right track using fun and engaging means in Primary school! :)

-Brenda, Bartley Sec.

Belinda, CCPS

Thank you for the engaging and inspiring video! I really liked how you used Gimkit to help students learn solfege and hand signs. the use of play really made learning fun and purposeful.

I previously wanted to use use gimkit for teaching standard notations and letter names, but realised I had to upgrade my account to include pictures. May I ask how you managed to include images in your question and answer sets?

I also liked that you included both a control and an experimental group where the comparison clearly showed how Gimkit boosted student motivation and learning. Watching your video has really motivated me to try Gimkit with my students!

a) What's your process for assigning Gimkit activities for students to complete at home?

b) How do you use this tool to get students' participation if we were to use this in class?

Thank you

Peizhen (HGS)

Thank you for sharing about Gimkit! I’ve never tried it before, but it looks really fun and engaging. I also like how it allows teachers to track learning progress through the reports, which seems very useful.

I’m curious if there’s an option to include audio recordings in the questions, for example, could students listen to a sound clip and identify which instrument it is?

Belinda, CCPS

Using Gimkit to create an game-based learning experience for our students which combines quiz elements will definitely keep our students engaged and motivated to learn.

I really enjoyed how you emphasized building shared understanding through both vocal and instrumental sounds like “peep” and “doop.” It’s great how students of different levels could explore and create together based on these common cues. It is something I’d love to try in my own class. I also liked the non-verbal communication happening through music, the leader’s hand signals, and the overall flow of energy between students. It showed how musical dialogue can happen without words, which felt very authentic and engaging.

The way you built on a student’s idea of rubbing the floor to imitate a dolphin sound was inspiring. It really showed how teachers can model creativity by exploring alongside students.

Question: I noticed the process led to a performance. Was there any way the students captured or reflected on their work? For example, writing or recording why they created certain sounds or what inspired their choices? It’d be interesting to see how they make sense of their own creative process.

Li Xin (Bukit View Primary)

Thank you Joseph for the engaging and creative sharing. Makes me want to be in that class too! I really loved the use of the alien theme as an introduction and it really aroused students’ interest and imagination. It was inspiring to see students experimenting with different ways of playing instruments and expressing sounds freely through collective improvisation. Your activity reminded me a lot of creating soundscapes, where students layer and organise sounds to tell a story or express an idea.

I was wondering whether do you see soundscape activities as a possible pathway that could lead to CMFI eventually? How might we help students progress from soundscapes to CMFI or even using CMFI for soundscapes?

I also found your choice to prioritise exploration over technique very refreshing and inspiring! Is there a reason you didn’t emphasise holding or playing the instruments in the conventional way?

I'm thinking, as a music teacher how can I develop myself so that I can facilitate students' composition, given a more open ended lesson like yours?

(Xin Ru, Cedar Primary School)

Some questions:

1. If you had the luxury of 2 more lessons, how would you further develop the students’ improvisational skills?

2. Why do you think the groups doing ‘Soundscapes’ were less successfully in the performing CFMI?

Thank you!

(Joseph, NBPS)

(Joseph, NBPS)

Some questions I have are:

- You mentioned that students reflected on their improvisations in the final lessons. What kinds of language or frameworks did you use to help them articulate these abstract musical processes?

- Given that CFMI is inherently unpredictable, how did you decide when to intervene as the teacher versus letting the musical dialogue unfold naturally?

I’ve introduced Suno to my students before, but I’ve mostly kept it open-ended, having them write lyrics first before generating the song.

After your sharing, I realised there are many other ways I can use Suno — especially to help students explore musical forms and spark new ideas.

With the ease of generating music on the platform, students can also be exposed to a wider range of genres and learn to discern their own musical preferences more thoughtfully. Thank you for sharing your ideas — I’ll definitely be trying them out!

Thank you for sharing this interesting and creative idea! I really enjoyed seeing how you used apps to make angklung ensemble learning more engaging and effective. It’s such a smart way to merge technology with music-making — not only does it help students play more confidently together, but it also teaches them valuable skills in troubleshooting and adapting when tech issues arise. I especially loved how you introduced chords through the angklung, allowing students to see and hear the harmony come alive. It’s such a beautiful and hands-on way to deepen their understanding of music. I’m feeling inspired to try something similar with my own classes!

-Allen

Thank you for sharing your research. In this day and age, with the rapid advancement of technology and AI, I really agree that it’s even more important to nurture reflective learners. I appreciated how your project placed such strong emphasis on guiding students to evaluate their own personal growth and development before coming together to play as an ensemble. That intentional process not only builds musical skill but also deepens self-awareness and collaboration. It’s a great reminder that true learning happens when students reflect, connect, and make meaning together.

Thank you for sharing about how the topic of film music and using Bandlab helps to engage your students! I thought that it was especially helpful that you allowed students to articulate their musical/thought processes through Task 2 (group presentation questions), and I definitely hope to incorporate that in future :)

Just a couple of questions:

1. Was collaboration on the Bandlab project itself possible, i.e., multiple users in one project at the same time? While I managed to assign group projects via Bandlab, my students could only edit the project on one device and that made collaboration tricky.

2. Do you think this project would have been successful too if students did the project in pairs instead of groups? It was definitely great to see students A & B bonding with their groupmates while working on the project, but were there other groups where some students might not have been as engaged as they took less ownership in the work/left most of the work to their groupmates? I unfortunately observe this disengagement in some of my students when they do work in groups.

I especially enjoyed how students learnt the song through play, as well as the seamless transitions. Using the stools as beats was such a concrete way for visual and auditory learners to see and hear the rhythm, effectively helping students make sense of it.

What steps or techniques did you use to build these routines while ensuring the lesson stayed playful and engaging, rather than frontal?

I especially enjoyed watching your students perform their created soundscape with the video stimulus. I agree that play can definitely nurture a growth mindset and encourage resilience in students.

I will definitely be trying out your strategies for future soundscape lessons with my students!

Thanks for sharing this inquiry on using play to teach music and reduce performance anxiety! It is such an relatable issue for music teachers. Through play, it also creates a safe environment where students feel comfortable performing in front of their friends, which naturally reduces that performance anxiety.

I really like how you used control and experimental groups with actual data to back up your findings. This data informed approach is really helpful to help assess our methods in class!

Thank you for your wonderful sharing! I really appreciate how this project provides a meaningful platform for students to develop their critical and inventive thinking skills while giving them a voice in their own learning. I also love how the voice recording of the story was integrated into the music composition. I’ve always wondered how to effectively guide students in using GarageBand loops to compose their own pieces. Your sharing has given me valuable ideas and insights that I can apply in my upper primary classes.

1.            From your observations, do you think this activity could also work with classes that have middle- or lower-progress students? What are some considerations or types of support we might need to provide for learners who require more guidance?

2.            May I check how much time was allocated for students to select their loops? Since GarageBand offers so many options, I imagine students would be quite excited to explore and listen to different loops before deciding which ones to use for their composition.

3.            Were there any success criteria or guidelines shared with your students for this music composition task?

4.            What were some of the challenges you faced while conducting the music composition lessons?

I love the energy in your presentation and the way you stitch and edit the video. Thank you for the song map concept - It is a very structure yet clear way to help students know exactly when to come in. The "praise, polish and ponder" approach where groups perform for each other is a great way to build empathy and respect towards one another! This can really help to serve as some sort of a 'score' and develop their planning skills.

I'm curious about the implementation process - how long does it typically take for your students to become receptive to this routine and start being self-directed in conducting these feedback sessions?

Just a quick question, how different was student engagement when you used interest-based DI compared to ability-based DI?

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing how AI can be used to support students’ learning in the Music classroom. I really like how the students were given the flexibility to generate their own songs using Suno.AI. It’s also a very interesting idea to have them identify the form and structure of the songs they created through AI — it helps deepen their musical understanding in a meaningful way.

I was just wondering if the students have the freedom to generate songs in any music genre? Are the students familiar/have some knowledge with different genres of music so that they know what prompts to key in for generating the music? For the peer review on Padlet, may I know if each student was assigned a peer to review their work (so that everyone receives feedback), or were they free to comment on any piece shared in the class Padlet? How did you guide students whose analysis of musical form was not entirely accurate?

Hope to understand more on how this can be carried out and any other considerations to note, thank you. 😊

The SLS lesson module looks super fun and engaging! If I were a Primary 6 student, I will definitely feel motivated to complete this lesson. I really like how you used Pokémon as the game narrative and set a mission to inspire students to learn more about folk songs. The way you have designed the game using SLS features - where students earn XP to level up, makes learning feel like play and keeps them excited to continue exploring. Thank you for your sharing! :)

Thank you for sharing such creative ideas on how you’ve engaged your students in learning and playing rhythms through different playful approaches like chopsticks tapping, the rhythm train, and the rhythm trainer. The rhythm train game looks especially fun and seems to bring a lot of joy to the learning experience. I’m really excited to try this out with my classes too!

The joy of teaching shines through when we connect with like-minded educators, learn from one another, and witness the impact of innovative practices in real classrooms. Such collaboration not only enriches our teaching repertoire but also rekindles our sense of purpose — reminding us why we chose to be a music educator. When teachers learn together, we grow stronger as a community, and that collective spirit ultimately benefits our students the most.

It was also evident that there was a high level of collaboration among the students, fostering active participation and musical understanding. I observed how Peizhen and Wei Shan built upon each other’s ideas seamlessly, which further enriched the lesson and inspired even more creative possibilities.

I truly appreciate your sharing. I’ll be taking away some of your lesson ideas to try out as well! Thank you once again for the wonderful and inspiring presentation.

I particularly appreciated how Suno AI was utilized to analyze musical concepts such as form and structure.

Could you elaborate on any specific prompts you provided to students when generating their compositions?

Additionally, I’m curious to know how you guided the students in critically analyzing the structure of their pieces.

Thank you!

Your approach encouraged students to self-critique, analyse, and take ownership of their learning. It is a testament to the thoughtful design and intent behind your teaching. It was evident that a great deal of both hard work and heart went into planning these lessons, creating opportunities for students to learn through collaborative play.

Wonderful work! Thank you for sharing your creative ideas and passion for music education!

I have also been exploring with the various AI tools to incorporate it into my songwriting lessons and music lessons.

I saw that you shared about SUNO and I must say that when I first found out about SUNO, I was firstly so amazed at that tool and then I was conflicted on whether I should incorporate it into my lessons because I was worried that it might take away the process of the experimentation.

I am just wondering..

1) if you faced any issues having to have introduced many AI tools?

2) are the students provided with the laptop every lesson and how do you manage the students' work progress if the laptop does not belong to them?

Thank you for your sharing again : )

I really appreciated how you framed AI as a creative partner, especially with the human-centered approach you emphasized. It was great to hear that AI is used to support and inspire students without replacing the role of the teacher. I also liked how you highlighted the ways AI can help students, particularly those with lower English proficiency, by improving their lyric generation and focus.

Given these strengths, how do you see these AI tools, like MagicSchool AI and Suno AI, influencing students' long-term creative growth in music composition?

Your approach to lowering the entry barriers for students is commendable. By building on familiar patterns and providing structure while allowing creative freedom, you have created an accessible and empowering way for students to explore songwriting.

Thank you once again for your inspiring sharing and for showing us how meaningful music learning can begin on the right note.

Your sharing for it was clear and concise, which was super helpful to navigate what was useful in particular for Music.

Thank you again! : )

I would like to find out more about the following:

a) How much time is set aside for the use of Gimkit in Week 1 and Week 2?

b) Based on your observations, do students remain focused throughout the game, or do some tend of click answers randomly out of excitement?

c) How do you help students balance the fun, competitive element with meaningful learning?

Thank you for sharing :D

I'm happy that my previous research resonated with you and indeed, there is so much we could learn from our students that would influence our teacher moves. Agree with the intent of strong teacher facilitation and tools, these could strengthen our teaching practices to help students to check-in, self-assess and navigate through challenging situations they face. Looking forward to explore the resource further! Thank you for sharing :D

You highlighted how technology can foster collaboration and creativity, which clearly empowers diverse learners.

I’m curious, were student groupings strategically planned to maximise peer learning and scaffolded support, or were they self-selected based on social comfort?

Also, how might differentiated instruction be designed to ensure both accessibility and meaningful creative output, while ensuring learning objectives were met?

I like that the app allows students to choose whether to play a single note or chords. With the actual instrument, we often need to wait until most students have reached a similar level of technical proficiency before they can perform in harmony or as an ensemble.

Thank you for sharing your teacher resource! I found it really helpful and plan to use it in my classroom group activities too. I totally agree that students often feel more comfortable working with their friends rather than in teacher-assigned groups.

I was just wondering — the templates look quite detailed. Do you ever find that some students have trouble completing them?

I really love how you’ve blended play with key music concepts in your classroom — it’s such an effective approach! The students look genuinely happy and engaged, and it’s inspiring to see how much they’re enjoying learning.

I love the way you’ve incorporated blended learning in the Uku module for the kids. Thank you for sharing this idea — it gives me great inspiration for how to include similar strategies during HBL lessons for my secondary school students.

Great to know that most of your kids enjoyed your gamification of lessons for them. More than that, I am most appreciative of how you candidly shared about students who were also disengaged as a non-intended consequence.

While there will always be disengaged students, I personally feel that your choice of doing this in a blended manner will help to cushion the effects of students who became disengaged or unmotivated to learn. At least F2F you can understand how they feel and see if any further feedback can be given and acted upon.

Afterall, we are human and cannot be devoid of the human touch.

Well done, Dorcas!!!! (Share the package leh!!!)

Thank you for teaching me a new useful tool!

I can see myself trying it out on my students for "drier" concepts like the five line staff. It's also great to be able to share resources with people all around the world!

Realistically, (as with all other gamified lessons) One unintended consequence that usually happens with some of our game-minded kids: I'll just tikam because i want to play the games (not really interested in the questions).

I think to assess whether the students have learnt as intended (rather than "tikam" their way through), perhaps i would follow up with music activities. It also seems like it will provide us some data on the percentage of students who have gotten a question correct - good to know for feedback during F2F classes!

Thank you once again for sharing!

I completely resonate with you in making music lessons more like life lessons - it teaches us that beyond musical concepts or skills, we are teaching our students how to be "proper" human beings first.

While many of us also have similar activities for our students, you made it human. You have also made it very thoughtful, rich and full of depth by anchoring your approach on design thinking practices and a great reflective/feedback approach - it distinguishes us as music educators from the layman out there.

I actually find myself wondering how would your assessment then look like? Do you also take into account their peer feedback? How do you ensure the quality of students' feedback (like more metacognitive)?

Thank you so much for your sharing. An improvement in behaviour, no matter how small, is definitely a good improvement.

Your conscientious detailing of your observation of your 3 boys was very inspiring and impressive - an effort that could only be done by a teacher who deeply cares for her students. Please keep this heart!!!

I think the way you scaffolded the lessons for the boys can also aid in giving the rest of your students more clarity in their tasks.

Putting myself in your shoes, I think i may encounter an issue where the high-performing students might lose engagement for a little bit if it becomes too scaffolded. Did you also put in other methods to safeguard your high-performing students from this issue?

That being said, i believe some of our additional needs students can also be very creative! I wonder have you tried to let them create or improvise too?

Once again, really appreciate your hardwork for your students. Very inspiring!