We are a group of teachers, musicians and technologists who specialise in composition, improvisation and performance using iPads. Ben Sellers and Travis Snyder began running music workshops with iPads in a Hackney community centre in 2011, developing an approach that combined outstanding musical outcomes with implicit development of musicianship and theory.
They transferred this approach to both formal mainstream and SEND/ALN contexts, codifying their methods into what became the 2014 textbook ‘Teaching Music with Garageband for iPad’, and a popular teacher training scheme. In 2016, Travis returned to California to become the head of Assistive Technology for the San Francisco District School Board.
2017 saw the publication of several new resources, including a second edition of the Garageband textbook and an increased focus on training partnerships with Music Education Hubs. Since 2018 we have gained an increasingly strong reputation as SEND/ALN specialists, working with MEHs up and down the country to improve provision through co-delivery and bespoke training and resources.
Though our reputation has grown, we remain a small and focussed team, working hard to develop in young people the skill, desire and drive to use music to enhance their lives.
Ben Sellers
Ben is a multi-instrumentalist, trainer, and classroom teacher. His practice focuses on songwriting/composition and improvisation, often using technology, and often in ALN/SEND settings. Author of the textbook ‘Teaching Music with Garageband for iPad’, and leader of Transformance Music’s training programme, his approach and curricula are now used by teachers on five continents. Like his workshop leader heroes, he sees the music workshop as a space for personal and social transformation. In addition to his role as an Associate Musician with Drake Music and Inclusion Specialist with Charanga, past partners have included the BBC and Tokyo Symphony Orchestras, Sinfonia Viva, WOMAD Festival and numerous UK Music Hubs. Visit his website at www.bensellersmusic.com
Peter Keserue
Peter is an experienced multi-instrumentalist, specialising in working with at-risk cohorts of pupils in primary and secondary schools across London. Of Italian-Hungarian descent, he has led an avant-garde free improvisation project for almost a decade and has been singing with an overtone choir in the UK for the past 4 years. He also hosts free improvisational music nights. He specialises in empowering people to experiment and enjoy playing musical instruments at any level. He believes free improvisation challenges listening, while encouraging interaction and awareness of others in a collaborative, non-hierarchical environment.
Mónica Viñoly
Mónica is a violinist, vocalist and dancer. A native of the Canary Islands, she studied music and psychology in Tenerife, and was a member or the Bela Bartok Orchestra. Her work now focusses on facilitating music and dance with children and adults with additional needs, specifically looking at improvisation and combining art forms.
She is a regular on the London music scene, currently performing regularly with Flying Tailor and Okiem.
Courtney Castro
Courtney is a classroom teacher and trainer based in Orange County, CA. She has played multiple instruments since childhood and is currently completing a masters in songwriting pedagogy. She leads our training programme in the USA.