garage band ideas

[nancy kabat]

hi techies,

I am looking for some new ideas on using garage band with my 4th and 5th grade classes. So far we do a composition project in each grade. 4th grade focuses on using lyrics that tie in with their simple machines science unit. You can check out their comps on our glen grove school web site under teams-fine arts-music. 5th grade does a Halloween scary composition and has more creative choices for lyrics, styles, etc. But I would love to hear what other general music teachers are doing out there.

[Laurel Farmer]

I am currently taking a master's class on Digital and Participatory Culture. We are working on a project that might be fun (probably more for 5th grade) creating soundscapes for spaces. For example, my group chose the courtyard outside. We have to create a soundscape for the area using recorded sound, real and digital instruments, etc. Then it is downloaded to an MP3 file. There are other groups who are assigned to two different spaces, and then we create the soundscapes for the routes to get to the different spaces. Not sure if this is clear as mud...

[Edie Opitz]

I've done a project using a silent movie. Using Zamzar, I converted a Charlie Chaplin youtube video. Once you bring it into GB, it becomes it's own track. Remove the music from the track and have the kids add their own music and sound effects. It can be very funny!
Let me know if you try this and how it worked out for you.
Edie