Danny Pineyro (red shirt), Tristan Leung (plaid shirt), and Anna Krammes (denim shirt) are undergraduate music education majors in the College of Arts and Sciences volunteering with kids at Girls Inc. as part of the "Beat Goes On" - a summer program in which UD students work with kids from local community organizations to create music with various apps on the iPad. For 2017, the Beat Goes On program worked with summer camp groups from the Capital Music Camp at Dover High School, the Choir School of Delaware, the Salvation Army, and Girls Inc. to give participating kids a chance to express themselves and become more familiar with technology and music. - (Evan Krape / University of Delaware)

UD Summer Service-Learning Scholars Anna Krammes and Tristan Leung of the Beat Goes On bring music alive for the students at Girls Inc

The Beat Goes On for Delaware youth

Article by Chris Kelley Photos by Evan Krape September 25, 2017

Summer Service-Learning Scholars help bring music to life for kids with tablet technology

For four years, the University of Delaware’s Beat Goes On service-learning program has brought music to life for children of all ages through a unique teaching platform focused on using tablet technology creatively.

Established in 2013, the Beat Goes On is a service-learning project developed and led by faculty mentor and music education professor Suzanne Burton. Burton, both the director of graduate studies and the Music Education Program director for the Department of Music at UD, has pioneered the program’s creative education enrichment platform since its inception.

The inspiration behind the unique service-learning program came to Burton by way of the Beat Making Lab, a traveling electronic music studio described as “small enough to fit in a backpack” born out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Through the Beat Goes On, UD students serving as Summer Service-Learning Scholars travel to music camps throughout the state each summer, bringing with them mini “music studios” of their own and providing a wealth of educational enrichment opportunities.

Bringing the beat

This summer, UD Service-Learning Scholars Tristan Leung, Danny Piñeyro and Anna Krammes brought the ‘Beat’ to four community partners -- Capital Music Camp at Dover High School, the Choir School of Delaware, the Salvation Army and Girls Inc. of Delaware -- all in a matter of 10 weeks. Their secret weapon? Apple iPads.

“At each music camp, our teaching was based around a handful of different apps on the iPad,” said Krammes, a senior at UD. “Some were more process-oriented applications where the student could select options that were tied to musical commands. On the other hand, some students liked to take command and use the iPad to create their own voice recordings.”

UD Summer Service-Learning Scholar Anna Krammes shows a student how to use iPad applications to create a song.

Beat Goes On allows the girls of Girls Inc. to create music using tablet technology.

UD Summer Service-Learning Scholar Danny Piñeyro works with the students at Girls Inc.

Younger students enjoyed apps like Toca Band, an educational platform that allows users to explore different sounds and rhythms by way of interactive characters, while older students gravitated toward applications like GarageBand, a fully equipped music creation studio, to bring their creative visions to life.

After students were shown how to navigate through the tablets provided to them, they were tasked with creating their own song. This unique lesson arrangement allowed for students to work independently and as a team to combine melodies and stimulate musical creativity. “Some of the kids were really nervous at first because they had never presented something like this before, but their peers were all very supportive,” Krammes said of her music camp class at Girls Inc. “In the end, I think you could tell that all of the students loved making and sharing their work.”

Benefits behind the beat

Just as the Beat Goes On, so does the list of the program’s benefits.

For Krammes, Leung and Piñeyro -- all music education majors -- the opportunity to engineer a lesson structure and schedule like that of Beat Goes On’s 10-week run was invaluable.

“As a music education major, the Beat Goes On played a big part in furthering our education and teaching skills so that we can continue to teach as many students as possible, whether it’s those who have the resources or not,” said Krammes.

And for the students within the community who mastered iPad technology, challenged their creativity and created music this summer with Beat Goes On? They received an education enrichment opportunity that is not always afforded to urban Delaware youth.

The state of Delaware is no stranger to education cuts, leaving many students and teachers with limited resources when it comes to music education. With the current retail price of Apple’s base model iPad sitting at $329 and apps like GarageBand priced at $4.99 per license, it’s unlikely that most students in the state have these resources available to them in an education setting.

But despite a multitude of funding and resource obstacles, with programs in place like this one and Service-Learning Scholars like Krammes, Leung and Piñeyro, the beat goes on.

“Our main goal this summer was to share this experience with as many students as possible, particularly those whose schools may not have as many resources,” said Krammes. “The Beat Goes On is all about giving everyone the same opportunities.”