Bob Habersat teaches Music Tech, Honors Music Composition & Production and is the Director of Modern Music Ensemble at Oak Lawn Community High School SD 229 in Illinois. He runs The Shed, a provider of music technology lesson and curriculum materials for students of all ages. He was recently named a 2025 Yamaha “40 under 40” music educator. Read more about Bob at http://emusicelements.com.

How has technology changed music teaching since the beginning of your career?

When I started teaching, technology was very different—everything felt more analog. Software had to be loaded onto a computer, and files were stored locally—if you lost your CD, thumb drive, or SD card, you were out of luck! Each teacher MAYBE had a computer, and classes would have to compete for lab time. The inconvenience, combined with a higher knowledge and skill barrier, made it difficult to use tech in the classroom.

Luckily, my father was an electronics engineer, and I grew up building circuits and diagnosing signal paths. I always saw tech as a way to solve problems, and I was accustomed to that higher barrier of entry. I remember using a spectrogram 13 years ago when I taught choir to create a real-time feedback loop, allowing the ensemble to see how their vowel shapes aligned by observing which overtones were excited and to judge the quality of their entrances by assessing how crisp the transient attack looked on the graph. My setup required a veritable noodle salad of cables and a whole lot of nerdery. It took all of my engineering skill, but it truly helped students see their sound. Tech thirteen years ago was cumbersome, yet it still enabled knowledgeable teachers to solve classroom-level problems.

NOW, most students are 1:1 with devices, and everything is cloud-based and easy to use. This not only makes it easier for teachers to address classroom challenges with tech, but it also opens up whole new worlds of access for students. Non-performance tools in Ableton Live and cloud-based DAWs like Soundtrap enable everyone to make music without the previous skill barrier. We have recording studios in our pockets—students can create, iterate, edit, and publish to distribution platforms in minutes. It is an amazing time to be a tech educator!

Briefly describe your journey in building a technology infused music curriculum (or integrating tech into a traditional curriculum)

My first gig was with 5th and 6th grade general music. I had a cart to push into classes, and when the district asked what I wanted for my cart, I requested a QSC K8 speaker bolted in the middle, a projector, a mixer with an audio interface, and a wireless mic. I wanted to ensure that the music sounded exciting for the students—hence the huge speaker. I also wanted to be louder than the students could ever be (a great classroom management technique), so I included the microphone. The mixer allowed me to bring in different sources, record them, and play them back for the students. We would write out drum patterns in sequencer notation, program on my computer together, and then beatbox them individually (since they didn’t have devices). I’m sure we annoyed the adjacent rooms, but it was a lot of fun.

I was hired 13 years ago to teach choir, piano, and run music tech at Oak Lawn Community High School. The music tech curriculum was based on Mixcraft and focused solely on manipulating loops. I didn’t have much of a budget, but I knew we needed to revamp the space. The keyboard lab had one of those Korg GEC systems, but it no longer worked. Instead, there were several half-working Korg X5 keyboards in a storage closet. I cleaned all the carbon contacts on the keybeds and sold them on eBay—each fetched about the same price as when new. I guess there is a high demand for trumpet sounds in electronic banda music—who knew! With the money, I bought MIDI controllers, a digital mixer, and mics. I also discovered some great gear stored away in various school rooms and cabinets; we even had a pair of Sennheiser 421s in a locker at the back of a gym! After years of Craigslist finds and budget buying, we now have a great recording room, several student collaboration rooms, a live room, and two touring live sound systems based on the M/X32 mixer.

Since I’m a guitar player, I eventually took over the one guitar class offered the next year. About 10 years ago, I began recording instructional videos on fundamental topics like rhythm, pitch, and harmony for guitar and theory classes. I hosted these videos on our department’s webpage to help students who missed lessons. The first ones were recorded in a storage room using a webcam duct-taped to a mic stand, and they focused on naming the strings on the guitar—it’s hard to watch now. Since then, the setup has evolved into a multicam system in my basement, switched via a foot controller. I even expanded the content to include specialized topics such as jazz, complete with embedded Noteflight scores to help students learn how to write solos in an authentic jazz language. Students then used these resources on their devices (our school was one of the first in Illinois to go 1:1) for remediation or enrichment. This type of video-based flipped learning was incorporated into our music technology course, making it much easier for me to walk around and connect with students. The band director, Paul Levy, and I eventually moved these videos to a new site, shedthemusic.com, and I’ve been having fun making videos and developing curricula for the platform ever since.

The curriculum for the tech class changed several times for the first-level tech course, and now it is a non-performance-based course using Soundtrap and the Electronic Music Elements curriculum—so much better than the Mixcraft days! Now, all our general music courses (which we have rebranded as commercial music classes) include video resources to accompany everything. A few years ago, we added songwriting to our guitar courses, and soon after, we noticed a huge jump in enrollment. Now, students record their songs in one of our collaboration rooms (practice rooms with sound panels) or in our studio rooms (upgraded broom closets with a computer, interface, microphone, and RGB lights). Since all students are 1:1 with iPads, they can write and record scratch tracks almost anywhere. There has been a significant cultural shift in the department since students started recording!

We started a commercial music group in 2019 as an extension of our electric guitar ensemble. Now we have two director-run groups and around 15 student-run groups. There is a student-run entertainment label that produces a show each week in our media center. Students in Morning Show Media (the name of our production group) meet with acts at the beginning of the week, plan a stage plot, set up channel locations for the mixer, and determine the lighting for the performance. We record the audio through our X32, and students in production class mix the audio. The best mix is added to a video feed of the show and then posted on our YouTube channel. Everyone learns how to use the X32 and M32 in production class, and they run the show for both these and larger events. I don’t really go to work—I get to have fun making music with students, and it’s amazing!

Bob Habersat on how music tech promotes student individuality:

“One particularly introverted student chose to work alone…The next day, she returned with a beautiful melody and heartfelt lyrics about being yourself and believing in yourself.”

What technology are you using in your music lessons on a daily basis?

Firstly, I use a DJI clip mic through the classroom PA (an EAW 3-way with a huge QSC amp I found in the school) every day to save my voice. In both of my rooms, we have a backline of rock band gear—I love the Boss Katana amps for bass and guitar—and we also have a Roland Juno and a Korg SV-1. The lab is outfitted with relatively new M1 Mac minis, and each station has a MIDI controller. We are in the process of adding a Yamaha DANTE network system for station communication and enhanced collaboration between students.
For our live shows, we use a Midas M32R and a Behringer X32 Producer, and students in production class use the accompanying app. They practice mixing with dummy tracks in our room and then run the mix during our small weekly concerts. We record everything in Logic, and the best mix is added to the concert video, which then goes on our YouTube channel.

In guitar class, we use IK Multimedia audio interfaces that work with student devices. These allow students to connect electric guitars and even quiz themselves using an app I created called FRET FINDER. They also use these interfaces for songwriting and recording in class. The most significant piece of technology we use in class, however, is our video library on The Shed. With well over a thousand videos sequenced for each course—including extra material for remediation and enrichment—students always know where to go if they miss a class or need additional practice.

What is a particular success story from using technology in your music classes?

This is an easy one. Here’s some background: We use the Electronic Music Elements curriculum in our beginning music tech class at OLCHS, which employs non-performance-based tools in Soundtrap to help students write music. Our students are 1:1 with iPads, and the class was working on writing melodies and lyrics for a backing track they created. They could work individually or in groups. One particularly introverted student chose to work alone, as I had struggled to get her to connect in class or answer questions out loud. When it came time to record vocals in our practice rooms, she asked if she could record at home instead. The next day, she returned with a beautiful melody and heartfelt lyrics about being yourself and believing in yourself. After this assignment, she became more active in class. Recording at home allowed her to transform through the music-making process, fostering a sense of self-worth and empowerment.

What advice do you have for others reshaping their music classes with technology-based lessons?

Technology is a tool to solve problems and unlock possibilities that were once impossible. View it as a means to address both student-centered and classroom-centered challenges. Reflect on the pain points in your teaching and consider how your students could become more creative and expressive. Start by outlining areas for improvement using the resources you already have. Look around your school for available tools—speakers, microphones, or even unused stage lighting—because sometimes a simple DIY setup can yield excellent results. Develop an honest feedback loop with your students to continually refine and improve your lessons.

Ultimately, I believe technology should make it easier for students to create, connect, and share music with each other and their communities. At the same time, it should empower the teacher to facilitate that creativity, build meaningful connections with students, and provide them with a space to share and promote their work. If you use that framework for your decision making, tech will not only serve you, but it will unlock creative potential in your students.