EDI (Electronic Digital Instrument) provides the student the opportunity to work creatively from the start, regardless of their level.

When students are asked to create a sound, choose or come up with an instrumental, and prepare elements like samples or backing tracks for ensemble play, their creative abilities are both is exercised and clearly demonstrated. To participate in a musical context with EDI, making active creative choices is essential. For instance, creating or selecting/modifying a sound to play with is a prerequisite for engaging in the music-making process. Therefore, creative decisions are a natural requirement for practicing EDI.

Since the computer can theoretically sound like most instruments, the EDI instrumentalist must actively make creative choices regarding, for example:

• Sound design

• Music style 

• Instrument configuration (e.g., choice of control surface)

Work from inspiration and examples; avoid looking for definitive answers.

Let the creative process guide the learning.

Choose a control surface that matches the student's prior knowledge and the needs of the song. The placement of the control surface should ensure good ergonomics and playability. 

Instrument lesson: 

1. • Assign the student to produce a backing track (at a level appropriate for the student). This could be a remix of a song. The student might aim to have the song played in an ensemble and later mute the instruments that the live ensemble can contribute. The student can also play an instrumental part in this production. Here, the student makes creative decisions about sound, structure and reflects on the level of the instrumental parts created to ensure they are manageable for themselves and the rest of the ensemble to play.

   • Create sounds to play with, for example based on a template (e.g., a synth). Try to get as close to the original as possible but reflect on the differences and how these can be enhanced to create a more accurate and personal sound based on what the student artistically wants to convey with their playing.

Ensemble: 

1. • Involve the group in the arrangement process and have them provide feedback on sound and structure. Let the members reflect on the technical and collectively arrive at a whole that represents them as a group and what they want to convey with their performance.

   • Allow the EDI instrumentalist to sample acoustic elements played by other instrumentalists in the ensemble and play these samples with finger drumming. 

The teacher and students analyze sounds based on a template. In a creative process to recreate the sound design, the control surface Push is used to control parameters in Ableton's synths. Starting with presets that have similar qualities, they modify these to resemble the original.

In the sound creation phase, the instrument's configuration and its inherent possibilities are fully  utilized to creatively shape, create, and modify sounds.

In the ensemble, the student adjusts the sound of instruments, soundscape, and arrangement on the backing track in reeal-time to create a stronger whole.

Genre is discussed based on sound design differences. The teacher asks whether it has an electronic or acoustic character.

The student chooses to start from a preset due to the time constraints.

The EDI student independently solves launch issues after instructions changing the structure.

The EDI student creates samples of the instruments in the ensemble room and plays these on a sampler.

How are the students' creative efforts activated and maintained?