This paper describes a project that links interests within both the Norwegian educational system and the music community. Further, the paper presents a recently completed educational software package that has been tailored for teaching sound, sound processing and composition from the elementary school level to junior college level. Two projects that have been completed using this CD-ROM are also discussed.

The project was developed as a whole, and has already been realized in part. The following assumptions did form the basis for the project:

• There is a need for updating teachers’ education within the field music and technology
• There is a need for an introduction to aesthetics related to the musical use of technology
• There is a wish to develop music education that has relevance to children’s experiences outside of school
• The educational material itself should emphasize and mirror the aesthetic and academic content
• There is a desire to (re)establish creative projects for children and young people within music and composition
• The project should grow and develop over time
• There is a desire to anchor the project within the educational system and link the project to the professional music community

The Ministry of Education

The plans regulating the content of elementary school education have been altered recently (during the last four years) to include language stating that children shall use technology within music education, and that they shall compose as part of their music education. However, this does not necessarily mean that teachers have been sufficiently trained to teach either music technology or composition, or that adequate financing has been allocated in the fiscal budget for equipping classrooms. Nevertheless, the ambition is there, and NoTAM has viewed this as both an opportunity and a responsibility to assist in meeting these mandates.

The most significant obstacle seemed to be the lack of software that was both easy to use and that allowed the creative process as much free reign as possible. Typically, large international corporations have manufactured easy-to-use, follow-the-grid software. These are almost without exception MIDI-based, commercial sequencer or sequencer-like packages of varying complexity with no access to or