I recently attended a trade fair on innovation in education in the Netherlands.

I had not expected to find much that was new for music education — certainly not something that literally makes music and comes from the niche world of synthesiser enthusiasts, modular wizards and Eurorack fans.

And yet, there it was: a stand by Erica Synths.
I was surprised, to say the least — but in a good way!

Still, why would you work with synthesisers in (music) education in primary and secondary schools? And what are synthesisers doing at an innovation fair? Are they innovative?

Are synthesisers innovative?

Well, innovation within the synthesiser world is certainly alive and well. But synthesisers as instruments can hardly be called new. Generating sound electronically has existed since the late eighteenth century, and synthesisers have been popular among musicians and producers since the mid-twentieth century.

Why synths in education?

And that is precisely why they belong in music education: they are part of both our historical and contemporary musical practice. Students should become familiar with them, just as they learn about acoustic instruments as tools for musical expression.

Moreover, synthesisers are ideally suited for experimenting with sound. Physics teachers have known this for decades. To explain vibrations, waveforms and the characteristics of sound, oscillators, signal generators and amplifiers (or their digital equivalents) have long been used in physics classrooms — components that are also found in synthesisers.

How valuable would it be if this did not stop in the physics lab? If those sound experiments found their way into creative subjects or technology education?

What synth to choose?

There are many synthesisers you could use in (music) education, available at a range of price points. Here is a short list* of synths and synth lines that may be interesting to explore:

• Korg Volca series (see also my post about these small music devices and ideas for using them in music lessons), including the Volca Keys, Volca Bass, Volca FM, Volca Drum and Volca Modular.
• Roland Aira Compact S-1 (I will publish an article about the Aira compact series soon).
• Little bits – Korg Synth kit.
• DUO by DATO (also see my post about the DUO and about their DRUM)
• Bullfrog and Bullfrog XL by Erica Synths.
• Phase 8 by Korg Berlin.
• Moog Mavis and Moog Grandmother.
• Behringer mini synths, including JT-mini, Phara-O-mini, UB-Xa mini.
• Stylophone (simple) and Stylophone GEN X-2 by Dubreq (more advanced)

Of course, the list is far from complete. Moreover, most DAWs also offer built-in synthesisers, and there are many app-based synthesisers available as well.

Let me know if you would like to try out some of these synthesisers yourself. I have a few available, and I am happy to arrange a session.

Please also feel free to get in touch if you would like support in implementing synthesisers in your music teaching practice.

* My apologies if I have missed any interesting synthesisers in this short overview that would be suitable for music education. Please let me know in the comments which synth you think should be included!