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At Counterpoint, we've been supplying schools with musical equipment for decades now. Depending on the age group and skill level you are teaching to, you may want a feature rich keyboard or something that keeps things simple. What is the best music keyboard for schools? Well, that depends on your situation and the skill level of your students. In this post, we've rounded up our top picks for the best music keyboards for schools

Everyone knows that iPads aren’t cheap. And when it comes to buying an entire fleet of iPads for your school it can be difficult to fit into your budget. Yes, we can secure you a discount if you buy in bulk but you’ll still need to find a significant amount of capital to fund your purchase. This means that students at schools with smaller budgets can be left behind others if they don’t have access to the latest computer technology

We’ve spoken before about some of the reasons why handwriting is still important in schools.

There’s no doubt that iPads are fantastic devices and when you buy one for personal use it can be relatively simple to get it working straight out of the box yourself.

However, when it comes to deploying iPads in education environments it’s a different story. There are several factors that need to be taken into account for you to have a smooth and successful rollout. Let’s take a look at each one:

You already know what a fantastic tool Sibelius is for creating music in a studio or classroom, but did you know that you can now make music anywhere with the new iPad app?

iPads are an essential part of any classroom. If you want to give your students the best possible educational experience then you can’t afford to be without them. From taking notes, drawing pictures or diagrams, to sharing information with classmates, the slick functionality of an iPad is sure to get them fully engaged with any task.

The world has gone digital, and with it so have our classrooms. It’s not uncommon to see classrooms without a pen in sight. However, while typing is certainly a critical skill in the modern world, handwriting still maintains a number of advantages.

In this post we will look at some of the benefits of writing in school classrooms, we will then look at some ways to merge the digital with the physical in order to get the best of both worlds.

Staff are key to any organisation. No matter what policies and procedures you have in place, if you don’t have the right staff to carry them out they’re worthless.

If your MacBook isn’t running as fast as it used to, you might be tempted to go out and buy a new one. But before you decide on that significant outlay, have you considered upgrading the hard drive to SSD?

It’s much less expensive and it could be just what you need to return your computer to peak performance. Especially if you’ve recently upgraded to High Sierra (2017) or later as these operating systems are optimised for SSDs.

You’ve kitted your teachers and students out with the latest...

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The term counterpoint originates from the Latin punctus contra punctum meaning “point against point

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Working from home is becoming more and more common. Whilst this can bring many benefits, it also creates challenges, such as how to access all the software that you use in your office or classroom.

As a teacher, you’ll know first-hand how difficult it can be to keep the full attention of your class. Whether it’s nearly home time or it’s been a long day, students who aren’t engaged miss out on the opportunity to learn and achieve their full potential.

Buying new computing hardware is a big purchasing decision for any department. Modern computers all come with a significant price tag, and every organisation is looking to minimise costs

iPad charging units offer a secure way to store, and recharge, all of your iPads at once. There are two core types - trolleys fitted with castors that can easily be moved throughout your building,

The Zoom H1n is loaded with features accessible to both beginners and professionals. The clever design of the unit means that most of the controls you’ll need are instantly to hand.

The Steinberg UR44 comes with 6 inputs, 4 on the front (2 hi-z and 2 line), and 2 on the back (line). The front inputs are controlled by gain knobs, and the 2 rear inputs can be set to +4dBV or -10dBV in dspMixFX software. Such a wide range of inputs should suit someone

Technology in the classroom has a profound impact on learning, with many teachers and parents keen to utilise and maximise the benefits. Technology offers a responsive and resilient approach to teaching, and allows schools to adapt to new teaching approaches and pupils’

Look at a list of top-selling audio interfaces, and you’re guaranteed to find a range of Focusrite products in the top spots. The Focusrite 2i2 is the slightly bigger brother to the popular Scarlett Solo, offering an additional input in a similar

The M-Audio SP-2 is an extremely affordable, lightweight sustain pedal built for use with MIDI controllers or electronic keyboards. It comes with a generous cable length of 6ft and connects to a wide range of devices with its ¼” jack cable.

Used by artists as diverse as The Sex Pistols, Bono, Buddy Guy, and more, the Shure SM58 is a legend in its field. A uni-directional cardioid mic, it offers a tailored frequency response, as well as a pneumatic shock-mount system to minimize

IK Multimedia’s iRig Mic Cast 2 offers a slim feature set, focusing instead on simplicity and portability. For a budget microphone to extend your phone with, it does have some clever additions, and an app that allows easy export to Dropbox, OneDrive etc.

As a novice keyboard player, I found the Casio CTK-240 an extremely easy instrument to get to grips with. Being a Casio, I knew that I would get great build and sound quality,

Affinity Photo comes feature-packed and ready to compete with industry standard top-dog, Adobe Photoshop. Affinity Photo’s rich array of tools will satisfy the majority of users, from HDR Merge with mapping controls, to focus stacking, batch processing, and a wide array of brush tools.

The Q49 is a bare-bones MIDI keyboard, choosing not to include multiple pads, faders or knobs. This may be an issue for someone looking for more customisation, compared to the similarly-priced Alesis V49 - which comes with 8 pads and buttons, and 4 control knobs.

Putting the M40X through their paces on lossless audio streaming, they respond with a wide frequency response and excellent sound quality. For music playback, I found the sound to be crisp and detailed,

The use of iPad technology provides some fantastic benefits to those in the Classroom - for both teachers and students alike. Using iPads in education is an exciting trend which we’re keen to see more schools.

As an Academy school, based in Corringham, Gable Hall consistently uses their music technology suite and recording studio to produce some of the UK’s most talented young musicians.

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