Ableton Educator's Day

Ableton Education Sessions — Austin
About this Event

Join us for a free, full-day professional development event at the UT Austin Fine Arts Library in Austin, TX: Ableton Educator’s Day, happening Thursday, November 19!

Get hands-on with Ableton's creative tools through presentations, live demos, and guided music-making sessions. Meet the Ableton Education Team, trade ideas with fellow educators, and see how music tech is showing up in classrooms right now.

Sessions will dig into project-based curriculum, live performance, the role of video in the classroom, sound design, RNBO and creative coding, and alternative career paths in music, showcasing new approaches to teaching, creating, and performing music.

No prior Ableton experience is necessary! Whether you're a longtime user or exploring Ableton products for the first time, all are welcome.

Attendees will also receive a free Live Intro license, a free Splice trial, Ableton swag, access to curriculum and teaching resources, and other giveaways.

Lunch and dinner will be provided, and Texas K-12 educators can earn 5 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hours for attending.

Space is limited, registration required.

Presented as part of Ableton Education Sessions

This event is part of the Ableton Education Sessions at UT Austin, presented in partnership by the Department of Arts and Entertainment Technologies, Austin Community College's ATI Department, Ableton Education and dadageek.

Plus, join us the day before for Ableton Artist Day on Wednesday, November 18, 6:00-9:30PM: a free night of live performances, hands-on time with Ableton hardware, and a panel with the visiting artists. Register for Artist Day or see the full Education Sessions schedule.

Agenda

🕑: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
KEYNOTE: Elevate Student Voice with Project-Based Learning
Host: Lawrence Grey

Info: Bringing music production into the classroom often requires a paradigm shift for music teachers. When students write their own tracks instead of playing other people's music, teachers become facilitators of a creative community. It doesn't matter if teachers know what all the buttons and knobs do in a DAW, learning simple project-based learning pedagogies can transform their music class into a space of sanctuary, inspiration, and fun. Learn the essential strategies to elevate student voice and tap into the joy of making music in your classroom.

🕑: 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Lunch

Info: Join us for a free lunch and the chance to network with fellow educators, presenters, and the Ableton Education team.

🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Your Instrument, Supercharged: Performing with Ableton Live
Host: Cloudchord

Info: Discover how Ableton Live can transform a computer into a powerful instrument for live performance and improvisation. Led by Ableton Certified Trainer and performing artist Cloudchord, this workshop explores practical ways to combine traditional instruments with looping, effects, MIDI controllers, and real-time music production.

Turn musical experimentation into engaging performances—and have fun along the way!

🕑: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Amplifying Music Education Through Video
Host: TAETRO

Info: Video has become an essential tool for today's music educators - not just for online teaching, but for showcasing student achievement, supporting grant applications, creating lasting instructional resources, and preparing students for modern creative careers. In this practical workshop, musician, educator, and content creator TAETRO explores approachable strategies for producing high-quality video content with accessible equipment and streamlined workflows. Participants will leave with practical production skills they can immediately apply to elevate their teaching practice and celebrate student achievement through engaging visual media.

🕑: 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sound Design & Synthesis with Drift
Host: Francis Preve

Info: Synthesizer design, sound synthesis, and electronic music production have evolved dramatically over decades, and few people have watched that evolution more closely than Francis Preve. A veteran sound designer, educator, and author whose work has shaped countless productions and patch libraries, Francis brings deep expertise to this hands-on workshop exploring Ableton's Drift synthesizer. Participants will dive into the fundamentals of synthesis through Drift's intuitive architecture, building practical sound design skills applicable across styles and genres. Best of all, Drift is available throughout the Ableton ecosystem — whether you're working in Live Intro, Suite, or on hardware like Push or Move, you can follow along and apply what you learn right away.

🕑: 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Getting Started with RNBO
Host: Tom Hall

Info: RNBO is Cycling '74's powerful framework for building and exporting custom audio patches, allowing educators to bring cutting-edge audio tools into their practice. In this session, participants will get a practical introduction to RNBO's core concepts and code-export workflow, including RNBO's Takeover Mode with Ableton Move. No prior RNBO experience is required.

🕑: 02:00 PM - 05:00 PM
From 0 to 100 with Ableton Move (concurrent session / separate room)
Host: Lawrence Grey

Info: Ableton designed Move to spark creative flow: four tracks, fast workflows, and infinite possibilities. Join Lawrence Grey for a crash course on how to use this simple but powerful production and performance tool. After creating a short piece of music, each attendee will share their work with the group at the end. Is three hours enough for all that? With Move, of course it is! Moves provided. Max 12 attendees.

🕑: 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Tacos (provided by Ableton)

Info: Enjoy free tacos, an Ableton Move concert, and the chance to connect further with educator peers, presenters, and the Ableton Education team.

🕑: 06:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Audio Pixel Collider Afterparty

Info: Join us afterwards for Audio Pixel Collider (APC), an immersive evening of live music, vibrant visuals, and cutting-edge lighting design, all created by AET students! This one-of-a-kind experience will feature a VJ-style event where student DJs will showcase their original music along with their creative visual design and lighting work.