Paul Maher – Director, Simply Music M.Sc. in Education and Training Management (E-Learning) - 1st Class Honours BA Equivalency (Music) Diploma in Digital Multi Media Paul Maher is a professional orchestral percussionist with over 25 years experience in the classical music industry. He spent 13 years as Sub-principal Percussionist with the National Symphony Orchestra and performed with world-class soloists and conductors during this time. Additionally he is a music teacher providing private tuition in percussion for groups and individuals and has also tutored the Irish junior and senior youth orchestras. Paul is the founder and Director of Simply Music. He returned to education in 2001 to study digital multimedia as he had recognised the requirement for the integration of music, technology and performance. Subsequent to completion of his digital multimedia studies he was successful in attaining a place on the Create Enterprise Development Programme at the Institute of Art Design and Technology to pursue the development of this concept as a business. His product Simply Music is the combination of a twofold approach to interactive music education for the primary sector through an interactive educational CD-Rom and performance / technology workshop model. Simply Music has been funded for the past five years by The Arts Council of Ireland to run Interactive Music Workshops for primary schools. Paul has been successful in building an excellent partnership with the National Concert Hall towards the development of workshops for teachers and pupils in the incorporation of Simply Music as a learning tool in the classroom. Additionally, Simply Music and the National Concert Hall have run In Service Teacher Training Workshops (approved by the Dept. of Education & Skills) annually for primary teachers since 2007. In November 2011 Paul (Simply Music) received a "Highly Commended" European Award for its use of Technology in Education as part of the MEDEA Awards Ceremony, which took place during the Media & Learning Conference in Brussels. Subsequently, Paul represented the MEDEA Awards at the European Observatory on Children’s TV (OETI) Forum in Barcelona in November 2012. Simply Music continues to work on a range of educational projects with, Kildare County Council and in 2012 was accepted onto Dublin City Council’s Artists’ Panel. Professional engagements as a percussionist include; live performances, recording and touring of symphonic repertoire, ballet and opera for national and international audiences, as well as engagements with the RTE Concert Orchestra, Irish Film Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Riverdance, Anúna, and Screen Training Ireland Initiative amongst others. Paul was originally educated at Bolton Street College where he studied Engineering. He won a scholarship for percussion studies from the College of Music and was subsequently brought into the National Symphony Orchestra as freelance percussionist in 1987. Paul has an M.Sc. in Education and Training Management (E-learning) (First Class Honours Degree) from Dublin City University.

Simply Music - Technology Inspired Music in Education Simply Music (www.simplymusic.ie) is a Percussion Performance Workshop (English and Irish-Gaelscoileanna models), which incorporates Interactive Technology and Live Music Performance. It is supported by The Arts Council of Ireland and approved by The Department of Education and Skills. The model has been designed to enhance learning for different cognitive styles through the introduction of technology as a learning tool.

Simply Music (supported by The Arts Council of Ireland) delivers European Award Winning English & Gaelscoileanna music workshops. These workshops combine InteractiveTechnology and Live Music Performance with percussion through a fun-filled and engaging process. In November 2011 Simply Music received a ’Highly Commended’ European Award for its use of Technology in Education as part of the MEDEA Awards Ceremony, which took place during the Media & Learning Conference 2011 in Brussels. This European competition rewards excellence and creativity in media in education and this year the competition attracted 115 entries from 28 countries: http://www.medea-awards.com/showcase/simply-music-technology-inspired-music-in-education-workshops