'It’s actually quite remarkable that people have been making music with electronic devices for more than 100 years, yet you still don’t see this reflected much in music education. As a music teacher, you have the wonderful opportunity to broaden your students’ musical horizons, including when it comes to music technology. At the Music in Education programme in Enschede, we help you recognise and develop your students’ talents – including when their musical instrument is digital.'
About the teacher
My name is Benno Spieker. After studying civil engineering, I graduated as a Music Teacher from ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem in 2003. In 2015, I obtained my Master’s degree in Musicology from Utrecht University, and I am currently working on a PhD research project at the University of Twente. I have worked as a music teacher at Liemers College in Zevenaar and Didam, as a teacher educator at Iselinge University of Applied Sciences (teacher training), and as a freelance professional through muzketier.nl for various clients in the Netherlands and abroad, both within music education and the arts and cultural sector, as well as in other fields.
For many years, I have worked as a principal subject teacher in the Music Education programme at the ArtEZ Conservatory in Enschede. In recent years, my work has increasingly focused on developing technology-enhanced music education. I was given the opportunity to design a dedicated learning pathway within the programme, in which we systematically prepare our students to use contemporary, electronic and digital technologies in meaningful ways in music education.
Like any typical music teacher, I play several instruments, with percussion and the computer as instruments that I grew up with. I played drums in the Dutch band BUSTED, with whom I won the audience award and third prize from the professional jury at the 2002 Grote Prijs van Nederland in the Pop/Rock category.
I also try to contribute to high-quality music education for all children in the Netherlands and Europe. I do this as an advisor to the Méér Muziek in de Klas Foundation, as a board member of VLS (the professional association and trade union for music teachers in the Netherlands), and as a board member of the European Association for Music in Schools (EAS), for which I also coordinate European Day of Music in Schools.