Comments on: III-Apple’s GarageBand in an Elementary Music Classroom

By: awillis2

awillis2 — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:52:51 +0000

Hi Barbara,

Thank you so much. I completely agree with you that students do get a great sense of accomplishment of creating a piece by using GarageBand.

My husband was impressed when Apple lowered the Logic price. He is an audio engineer who uses ProTools in the studio. He was wondering if Apple was trying to compete with ProTools when they lowered the price. You make a great point that the lowered price makes it nicer for the students to purchase and use in their homes. Definitely better than playing guitar hero! (Though my students do love that game.)

I am so impressed when my previous elementary students who are now high schoolers come back to visit me and state that they are now working with Logic. They will send me links to some of their projects and it blows me away. They are so proud of their works. I think that it is great that Logic and other similar programs are being used in high schools and high school students are learning a new type of appreciation for music making.

Thanks for leaving a comment and for sharing my blog with your elementary colleagues.

Best,
Amy Burns

By: Barbara Freedman

Barbara Freedman — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:13:26 +0000

Nice work with the article. Very informative. I am going to send this link to my elementary colleagues. I teach high school and my Intro class uses GarageBand. I find the loops helpful especially as a first project. Kids get a sense of music progressing over time and they get to learn the program somewhat. They get a good sense of accomplishment that they can create a piece on their own. That’s the last time I let them use prerecorded loops! They then learn how to make their own beats, melodies, harmonies and bass lines. They get better as they progress, of course. When they get to EMusic 1, they move over to Logic 8/Studio. Too bad they only get an hour every other day or so.Learning these programs takes as much practice as learning an instrument. I was really happy when Apple lowered the price on Logic 8/Studio and Express. More students can purchase the product and use it at home. Better than playing Guitar Hero!

By: Amy Burns

Amy Burns — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:20:50 +0000

HI Erinn,

Thanks for the reply about Super Duper Music Looper. I have never had the chance to use it because I have always owned a MAC. However, now my personal laptop is a MacBook Pro with an Intel processor, so I run Windows XP through the Parallels software, I am hoping that I now will be able to have the program on my laptop and be able to experiment with it in my classroom.

I will definitely check out your blog!
Amy Burns

By: Erinn Wrobel

Erinn Wrobel — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:34:09 +0000

Amy,

We use PCs at my school and this year we have had success with Super Duper Music Looper. The kids had no problem navigating SDML and are ready to move on to more advanced software like GarageBand and Acid. I would like to put Acid Xpress on our computers. It’s free and we can use the loops from the SDML cds.

I have a post on my blog with more information about our SDML adventures. Thanks for posting on this topic! It’s great to hear how other teachers use this type of software in the classroom.

By: awillis2

awillis2 — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:58:47 +0000

Hi Ken,

I just looked at your blog. Very nice job! I really enjoyed the Shostakovich listening map made into a podcast. Great work!

I will add you to my blog roll too.

Thanks so much for leaving a comment!
Amy Burns

By: Ken Pendergrass

Ken Pendergrass — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:28:07 +0000

Amy- Great blog post! I am an elementary music teacher using Garageband extensively with my classroom and have several posts devoted to this over at my blog: Music is Not for Insects. The related post links at the end should be helpful.

Welcome to the MEBlogger crew! I’ll be adding your blog to my blogroll.