Engagement - Garage Band

Pure Exploration of Garage Band with the only task demand being to explore various instruments and app features.  The students think they are rock stars:)  They love jamming, recording and listening to their compositions.  Engagement is 100%.  I am considering purchasing the paid version for even more instrumental options.  Feedback is welcome if you have made this purchase.  Next step is to use the app to explore musical elements.

Music Apps

Here are two great apps that I am using in my music classes: NotateMe and ScoreCloud.

NotateMe

Available on the App Store

For iPad, iPhone 4 and later

$21.99 (yes... I know that's expensive, but is worth it for one or two iPads)

There is a FREE version called "NotateMeNow" which is a simplified version of this app (only a single staff of notation possible)

This app will turn handwritten music into printed score notation.  THAT's RIGHT!!!  Scribble down a quick melody on your iPad and it will turn it into print quality notation!!!  The program recognizes your hand writing and will find the correct musical symbol to correspond to your sketch.  And it's smart... the more you use it, the quicker it is at picking up your handwriting!!!  You can compose for a solo instrument/voice, or piano, or even an entire orchestra.  AND it will play back your sketches for you immediately.  You can add chord symbols, dynamic markings, etc...  VERY POWERFUL

In my opinion, the BEST part about this is that you can save/export your files as a PDF (ready for printing), MIDI file (so you can hear your creation) or as a MusicXML file - which is compatible with the Finale series of music notation programs!!! (which is also a ministry licensed software package and available for FREE to any school in Ontario).  You can then manipulate your quick sketch on a desktop computer and be ready to publish your own creations.

ScoreCloud 

(thanks to Melissa Stephens at HHSS for this recommendation)

Available on the App Store

For iPad, iPhone 4 and later, and I THINK for the iPod

FREE!!!

This app is awesome!!!  Have a tune in your head that you need to get down on "paper"?  Great idea for a melody in the middle of math class?  ScoreCloud will NOTATE a melody that you sing or play into the iPad!!!  YUP!  It's true!!!  This is a great tool for students during the brainstorming part of composition.  They can get all those ideas down on "digital paper" in a quick and really easy manner.  It acts like recording software... just press record and start to sing/play.  The app analyses the performance and produces a notated version of the performance.  

It can be a bit frustrating at times.  You need to keep a steady pulse and play/sing in tune, or you can get some "interesting" versions of your song.  However, for short melodies, and little musical ideas this is a really useful app!  A great tool for the beginner composer!

Music for iPad

Just wanted to share a link to the pre-amp that I am using in my music classroom that I had at the last meeting in Minden.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/HA957ZM/A/focusrite-itrack-solo-mic-preamp

Cost: $129.95 (but watch for sales!!!  I got mine for $99)

It's GREAT!  A really easy "plug and play" machine.  It allows for an XLR microphone connection and a ¼ inch instrument connection.  The GREAT thing is that it will allow for BOTH inputs to record at the SAME time!!!  This means you can do a really great quality live recording.  This machine plus Garage Band has been an AWESOME addition to my music class - especially my vocal class.

There are other preamps out there (and some do cost less than this one), but to be able to record two distinct tracks at the same time is pretty useful and worth the extra bit of money.

There is a little bit of a learning curve (for some of us less techie types) to figure out which settings to use in Garage Band, but there are lots of YouTube tutorials out there that easily explain the process.

Music Inquiry with Touch Piano and Taiko

In Kinderland we sing and make music daily. We use music to learn and consolidate letter names and sounds, sight words, counting by 1's, 5's, 10's, etc. We write music and record audio and video of us creating music. We love music! So, we decided it was time to do an inquiry about music since the kinders have such great interest in it. On the SMARTboard and iPads we've been watching stomp and other garbage band videos. Pinterest has been helpful for brainstorming ideas about how to make an outdoor music wall. Kinders made their own instruments and recorded their songs with repeating patterns(Math and Music) on video and Garage Band.  We went for a parade at an assembly showing off our instruments. Kinders have also been practising repeating patterns on a piano app called Touch Piano and a drumming app called Taiko.  We've put simple lyrics to these repeating patterns as a phonemic awareness activity with syllables(i.e. apple-apple-pear).