Debbie's Quick Teaching Tips #4

iPads and GarageBand - Collaborative Composition and Performance

You may have seen this teaching tip in our February newsletter from the wonderful Alison Lunnon. Are you receiving our newsletter? Sign up here. Just enter your details on the right hand side of the page to join the mailing list. 

"I was using iPads this term to do some compositions with Garage Band with my year 5-7s and all of them were successfully able to create an 8 bar riff with a simple vocal phrase and melodic and percussive stabs. My higher achievers added verses and turned their simple vocal phrases into the choruses. 

Next year I am petitioning for each iPad to have a rock star (headphone jack with 5 ports to plug in so 5 students can work on the same iPad) and for my classroom to have a class set of headphones for this purpose. 

Students originally had studied the genre they were composing for and had brainstormed ideas before making groups of 2-3 to work together and make the final product. Some of the better ukulele players even strummed in their progressions - some very clever students! 

Another colleague of mine has been doing class compositions and then recorded each student singing onto the composition and used it as their singing mark. A very clever idea I thought."