PERTH, Australia—At Churchlands Senior High School in Western Australia, students' musical interests cover the map. Whether their tastes lean more toward opera, jazz, or karaoke classics, they are able to polish their skills in the school's well-equipped music technology laboratory.

Music Director Glenn Robinson introduced the computer-based music lab in 2002 and says it has proved "a runaway success." Churchlands, founded in 1962, is one of two schools in Western Australia to offer students an accelerated music program. Nearly half of the 1,300 students take part in music education, and many go on to launch successful careers as performers and composers.

The music lab is equipped with 16 networked computers with musical instrument digital interfaces, known as MIDI. Using MIDI keyboards and digital headphones, a class of students can work on individual assignments. Even the desks are ergonomically designed to accommodate the hardware and keyboards. Robinson explains: "The teacher can interrupt a student at any time and, using a microphone and headphones, discuss what the student is doing, point out errors, or even play a solution on his own laptop computer or keyboard."

Typically, students spend four hours per week in the music lab, supplementing their half-hour weekly instrument lesson. "The lab is mainly used for music history, music theory, and aural training," Robinson explains. "They might be composing, playing along with melodies, or practicing scales and aural exercises."

Students take advantage of a wide selection of software for composition and notation. Software called GVOX.com*, which Robinson compares to "the musical equivalent of a word processing package," allows users to "write a song, melody, accompaniments, even a full rock composition on the fly and play it back as they progress." Students can select which is the most appropriate instrument for playing back the song. MIDI files can be converted to other formats, as well. Robinson explains, "This enables students to burn compositions to CD, creating their own karaoke accompaniments to sing or play along with, using their own instruments," says Robinson.

When students are ready to enter their work in competitions, they use a mini-disk recorder for digital recordings. "They use this when adding vocal parts to their compositions," the music director explains, using sound editing equipment to mix the vocal and instrumental parts.

For aural training, students use a program called Auralia, developed in Australia by Rising Software. Auralia offers a large number of graded exercises with instant feedback that has students copying rhythms, identifying melodies and different rhythmic notes, and putting them in the right order.

For music theory, the school uses a self-paced theory program, Musition, that teaches about key signatures, scales, and cadences (patterns of chords).

The school also provides Webcasts of student performances and concerts, enabling relatives from as far as away as Spain to listen to recitals and performances via the Internet.

John Agostinelli, information technology coordinator at Churchlands Senior High School, explains that streaming the performances at 28K bits per second allows access by listeners who are using dial-up services. "As a result, we have people dialing in from all over Australia, from locals who were unable to get a ticket when the show sold out, to friends in Albany, 500 kilometers away, to the rest of the world."

Graduates from Churchlands have gone on to sing at the Sydney Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the English National Opera in London. Some have made names for themselves in the worlds of jazz and classical music. Says Robinson, "Of the 40 music graduates each year, about seven continue into careers in music and most of the rest continue to play in community orchestras, bands, or choirs."

More information about upcoming performances by Churchlands Senior High School is available at www.churchlands.wa.edu.au*.