Garageband Musical Elements Applied Abigail S. Blair IMEC January 27, 2012
A Few Tips *Electronic instruments should never replace real instruments *This is meant to enhance your current teaching style *Don t be afraid of the t word. It doesn t mean more work. *Set yourself up for discovery with your students. *Take your teaching strength + a musical element and you ll find your way of teaching technology * Save early and save often. project recommendations grade as a class with a partner alone K X X 1 X X 2 X X 3 X 4 5 6
Lesson 1: Vocab What do I do? Pass out a blank worksheet like this with terms only. Let the kids experiment and try to find all these things. Share at the end of class. They just want to play! Let them discover these and share at the end to promote the idea of sharing ideas. Term Where it s found What it is Track Upper left hand corner Instrument Mixer Top left, next to tracks Controls volume Controls which speaker you hear it in Measure Under the song title Measures the length of the song Loop Browser Eyeball Bottom left Categorizes all your sounds Tempo Beats By the blue clock In the loop browser In loop browser Next to tempo tells you how fast or slow the music is How long the sound is Loop Loop browser The sounds that repeat Track Menu In the toolbar at the top Gives you choices for tracks Share Menu In the toolbar at the top Gives you choices for sharing and burning songs Undo COMMAND + Z Edit Menu Fixes all your problems!
(Group) Lesson 2: Sound Story Telling a story as well as exposure to the program and its basic elements: Modeling technology as a tool not a toy. 1. Prepare a sound story for early elementary students, such as Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger. 2. After rehearsing the song and identifying sound effects needed for the story, have students search through the FX loops to find sounds that would work (cow moo s, sheep, a zoop magical sound). As interesting loops are found, check them as favorites to use later. 3. Record yourself or students narrating the story. 4. Listen to the voice recording, and when sound effects are needed, pause and add the favorites that were identified previously. If students identify the need for a sound that is not in the FX box, create a separate list to get to later. 5. Once all favorites are added to the correct places, plan what instruments, voices, or body percussion are needed to create the remaining effects and rehearse those. 6. Have students listen again, and pause this time when a sound effect needs to be recorded. Create a new real instrument track and record each one as it occurs. Be sure to listen back and ask the students to critique their recordings: Is it in the right spot? Was it loud enough? Too loud? Does it create the right mood? (Group) Lesson 3: Auditions Study musical styles and instrument timbre by auditioning 1. Open a new project in Magic Garageband. 2. Choose a musical style that the class has been studying. Audition instruments for that style as a class or in small groups by clicking on each instrument and hearing the different timbre possibilities for each. 3. When all instruments have been auditioned, click open in Garageband. You will see all the loops and song form provided! Extensions: Students can then write a song and record their voices (as a class or small group) or alter the form to copy and paste sections (see the musical patterns lesson later).
(Group) Lesson 4: Slideshow Students work together to match musical moods to visual art. 1. Present the students with a pre-made slideshow as a PODCAST with photos from class, art works, etc, showing contrasting moods and styles. Images should be about 10 seconds long. 2. Students select JINGLES (finally!) from the loop browser to match each visual and drag and drop them into the appropriate places. 3. Students should crossfade each jingle by using the dynamics level within the mixer. I use the following analogy with my kids: The volume looks like the sea level. Click on it to add a bubble. Add another bubble and you can change the sea level. Images presented: Sunday in the Park by Georges Seurrat, Scream by Edvard Munch, The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso, Bronco Buster by Frederic Remington, glass works by Dale Chihuly. Extensions: a) Students could present their work as a class gift to a teacher at the end of the year (photos of their year, a field trip, etc) b) This could be a cross-curricular lesson with science, art, or geography depending on the photos.
Lesson 5: Simply Symmetrical Explore what symmetry looks and sounds like in music while reinforcing instrument classifications and the power of a rest. 1. Layer in new percussion instruments (up to 8) every 2 measures. One can be a melody loop. 2. When all instruments are at least 2 measures long, stop them all suddenly. 3. Next, copy and paste all your instruments back in. Hold down shift and click on each loop, then go to the Edit menu, click copy. Put your red marker after 1 or 2 measures of rest, make sure nothing is highlighted, and then go to Edit, paste. 6. Gradually layer your instruments out in the same order, like a palindrome. You can do this by copying the first half and re-aligning it for the second half so that it is a mirror image of the first. You will end with the same instrument that began the song. Extension: a) Have students change it from symmetrical to asymmetrical by adding an effect at the beginning or end. b) Have students create another section with new instruments and then copy the first section again, creating an ABA song - symmetry within symmetry. Lesson 6: Musical Patterns *This lesson was modified from one found on the Apple Website by Theodore Lai in 2004. Explore musical form with the [OPTION] click of a button. 1. Open up the loop browser. Select a bass, percussion, and melody instrument and create a section is 4-8 measures long and happens all at the same time. This is your A section. Do not use jingles! 2. Go to the track menu and select show arrangement track. Click the + and name the first section A, making sure it goes as long as your music does. 3. Next, find three NEW bass, percussion, and melody loops to create a contrasting B section, 4 or 8 measures long. Click the + button again in the arrangement track and name this one B.
4. When the B section is finished, repeat A by copying it. To do this, click on the arrangement track you name A, go to the Edit Menu, click copy, and then hold down the OPTION key while you drag it into its new place after the B section. Extension: a) Add a C section and a D or E. As many as you like. Just remember to repeat the A section between all of them, and make each new section sound very different than the last. b) Add in a 4 th or 5 th instrument to one or more section to finish the sound. Lesson 7: Rap Song Assess students rhythm, diction, and/or vocal expression. 1. Students choose a poem from a provided packet (Jack Prelutsky or nursery rhymes are great). 2. Choose a few rhythm loops (up to 3) to layer in as an introduction. 3. Add a strong bass pattern. Rap music NEEDS a good bass. 4. Go to the track menu and create a new track, a real instrument. Put on some headphones, rap your poem to the beat! It may take a few takes. 5. When it s recorded, click on the i on the lower right hand corner to find more info on what to do with your voice track. Highlight your voice track and play around with some of the voice effects. 6. If there are pauses in your rap, use sound effects (FX in the loop browser) to fill those spaces as complementary rhythms. Extension: 1. Add more instruments to your background track. 2. Change the instruments during different parts of your rap to bring out certain words and feelings in the music.
Lesson 8: Theme and variation Students will create a theme and variation on part of Beethoven s Fur Elise. 1. Teacher provides students with a pre-made midi recording of Fur Elise. They should save it with a new name, etc, so work is not lost. 2. Students create an arrangement track copy and paste the recording about 4-6 times for 4-6 variations IN DIFFERENT TRACKS. 3. Each variation should provide the melody in a new way. Ideas for change: a. add or take away an instrument b. choice the instrument voicings c. add effects to the instruments d. transpose a variation by clicking the edit button (the scissors at the bottom right). Find the tuning area and change the pitch. It does by half steps, so provide some guidelines for finding safe numbers to switch to, like 4 or 5 or -4 or -5. e. allow some creativity - atonal music is still music. Lesson 9: Stylish Blues Students will transpose loops to create the 12 bar blues in the musical style of their choice. Version 1: 1. Students establish their desired musical style (latin, rock, disco, world music). 2. Create a melodic loop that is 12 measures long, using at least bass and melody tracks. 3. Go to Edit and find split in the menu. Split your new section at measures 5, 7, 9, and 10. 4. Next, use the following chart to transpose different measures to create the blues progression (pitches transposed in half steps). m.1 m.2 m.3 m.4 pitch = 0 pitch = 0 pitch = 0 pitch = 0 m.5 m.6 m.7 m.8 pitch = 5 pitch = 5 pitch = 0 pitch = 0 m.9 m.10 m.11 m.12 pitch = 7 pitch = 5 pitch = 0 pitch = 0 6. Next, add rhythm/percussion to the section.
7. Use the arrangement track to repeat this chorus or add new loops until you have 4 chorus in the 12 bar blues progression. 8. Leave the first chorus the way you made it, but make the following choruses different by adding or deleting a track, changing the instruments, etc. 9. Create a short intro with a loop or two at the beginning, and a coda at the end. Lesson 10: Soundtrack Students will employ the use of themes, sound effects, and mood music to support a story. Version 1: 1. Students write a sequel to a fairy tale (maybe it wasn t happily ever after...). Student records his/her voice reading it (I highly suggest recording it in segments), about 1 minute long. 2. Student splits voice and uses effects for different characters. 3. Student assigns themes to characters using one or two loops. 4. Students add mood music where needed using jingles. 5. Students add sound effects as needed, recording if necessary. Version 2: 1. Provide students with a video clip missing its audio. Students use sound effects, voice recordings, themes, and mood music to provide the audio. Use a black and white movie clip, a video taped role play from class, etc. itunes ipad, ipod Teacher uses More Ideas - Export each project into an itunes playlist and burn a CD of student projects - Create album art in KidPix, Photobooth, or another program. Create a jpeg and go to a track s info in itunes, and add album art. - Students can create a short jingle to loop, recording smart instruments, and create a commercial - use smart piano or smart guitar to play chord progressions with blues and rock - Record in-class performances to share via website, Voicethread, etc. - Record background tracks for performances in no accompanist is available (musical typing)
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