Platt Middle School opens first digital music lab in the district, part of expanded learning/career pathways

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The Boulder Valley School District’s (BVSD) Information Technology (IT) department partnered with teachers and administration at Platt Middle School to create the first digital music lab in the district, featuring equipment commonly used by music industry professionals. 

The lab opened for classes following winter break and the IT team is already partnering with BVSD’s Career Technical Education (CTE) team to explore opportunities to set up similar labs with CTE pathways in high schools. 

Music production and composition are core programs offered across BVSD, and Platt Middle School has been an innovator and leader in music curriculum. The music tech lab will help support current music students and also provide a connection to music for students that aren't in band, choir, or orchestra but still have a passion and capacity to create. 

The Music Tech and Innovation Lab
The lab offers 28 student stations equipped with top-of-the-line iMacs, piano keyboards, microphones and digital music composition and mixing software. There is also a recording studio adjacent to the lab with additional digital instruments to allow for an experience similar to a full digital music studio. 

“In its newest iteration, the music tech lab will ensure that students at Platt have an even more comprehensive music experience; one that will open doors to musical paths/careers across the spectrum,” shared Caleb Starbuck, the Band Director at Platt Middle. “The industry-level equipment and software in the lab is incredible and will definitely prepare them for what they will likely encounter going forward.”

Starbuck has been a champion of the partnership with IT and the new lab equipment.

“Music technology has long been a passion for me; I definitely geek out quite regularly about the latest music software/hardware and how it can supplement learning for young musicians (and myself!)”, shares Starbuck. “Music technology, once a cost-prohibitive and complex field, has become readily available (it's amazing what you can do with just a smart-phone) and accessible with a fairly shallow learning curve.”

He shares that in addition to being a stand-alone area of study, it can support learning with "traditional" instrumental and vocal music. Students can use technology to learn on their own, collaborate with other musicians, record, alter, or add elements to their own recordings, and share that music with the world. 

Future plans for the space include collaborative performance with electronic instruments, hands-on training for live sound production, student "recording engineers" that are available for solo and ensemble recordings, a streaming channel for student work, and supporting other teachers with projects to enhance their curriculum (podcasts, commercials, etc). 

Karen Hannahoe is the first teacher to host classes in the new space. She teaches Choir, Music Tech, and is the Assistant Musical Director of Platt Middle School.

“It has been an incredible experience so far. Yet, we have only made some initial brush strokes on a wide open canvas of sound exploration. Every day I learn something new and the kids are continuously engaged and exploring,” shared Hannahoe. “This semester we are only diving in with one class as we try out the new equipment. I foresee it being a very popular class in semesters to come.”

Logic software opens new opportunities
While lots of music is being created, visiting the lab feels mostly quiet as students are plugged into their computers via headphones, mixing their music, practicing their skills on the piano keyboards, and occasionally speaking or singing into each station’s microphone.

Platt students this semester have been working in the Apple program Logic, a digital audio workstation used by many of today’s most popular musicians. 

Some of the core components of this year’s class titled “Music Technology” are learning how the elements of music such as rhythm, melody, harmony and instrumentation can be combined in various ways to create new and interesting music. The class will also use the Logic software to create other audio projects this semester including podcast recordings and creating audio tracks for silent cartoons.

“Representatives from Apple came out and met with our music team when we got the lab,” says Hanahoe. “I was really inspired when they talked to us about Apple’s basic approach and guidelines to learning. It’s less structured than “just do these tasks” and more about supporting collaboration, expression, and creativity to allow students to create their own learning paths. That’s what I hope to do in these classes.”

The Logic software can turn sung notes into written music notes, a voice note into a marimba sound, a drum beat into a dance rhythm.

“Having access to the Logic software has really changed everything for us in terms of what we can do with music and audio production. We’re really grateful to the BVSD IT team, who doesn’t primarily work with Apple software and devices, for exploring this with us and making it a reality for our students.”

Making their own music
The lab equipment allows the teacher to speak to students, playback student music or other examples, or speak to them directly via their headphones.

In a recent class, the students were creating a one-day snapshot assignment of an original piece of music based off of four chords using their microphones and piano keyboards. 

The final projects included a soft, modern-sounding melody, an alternative rock riff, and a country-sounding melody with an organ instrument sound.

Rita Dayley, a 7th grader at Platt, is also in choir and was drawn to the class as she loves music and wanted to learn how to make her own. Wearing a Billie Eilish tour t-shirt, she shared that she knows some of her favorite artists (including Elish) use the same software to create songs.

“Last night I watched the Grammys and it was cool to see some of today’s artists performing music made in this same way,” she shared.

6th grader Royal Rankin shared that taking the class and learning the Logic program has been a connection for he and his dad, who is a musician who plays guitar and keyboard. Rankin says he likes getting to work with the new technology and equipment, but also the music education component of the class. 

Many students said the part of the class they are most looking forward to is learning how to create and record their own podcasts.

“The opportunities for creativity are endless,” said Hanahoe. It feels like every week when they show me something they’ve made I think, who knew we could do that?”

Future career pathways
The goal of these types of learning spaces are to create spaces and courses that expose BVSD students to different career and learning pathways that may inspire future career and educational opportunities.

Platt Middle School is also planned to receive design work thanks to the BVSD bond program in 2026. The plans will outfit a sound booth in the adjacent room to support the program.

Within the BVSD CTE program, middle school students who want to expand their learning and industry experience in music and audio technology can then take video production, journalism, or music production classes either at their own high school or at Boulder TEC, BVSD’s Career and College Center.

Learn more about Career Technical Education (CTE) in the district on the Career and Technical Education webpage.

Learn more about Platt Middle School on their school website.