- Describe your experience working with Garageband?
- What challenges did you run into working with the software? Do you think students would have the same challenges? Why?
- What are some ideas you have for framing a music learning experience using texture and loop-software?
- What other musical skills or concepts might a loop-based software environment work well for?
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Blog: Your experiences working with texture and Garageband
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14 comments:
At first, I was really frustrated about working with Garageband. I am not good with electronics and there is always this feeling of failure when working on an unfamiliar program. However, after my initial challeges, I found myself enjoying the work I produced. I think this could be a useful material within the classroom if the students are given plenty of time to work though their difficulties.
The challenges I faced revolved around finding the perfect beat to begin the composition. I wanted to begin with a layer or beat, and then add them together, slowly taking away one at a time at the end to show the different textures. I could not seem, at first, to find 4 or 5 combinations that worked well with one another. I think students could face these challenges. I think Dr. Ruthmann had a good idea to put a bunch of things together and then slowly take them away to form a good texture.
A good idea for using texture and loop software would be to begin by listening to pieces with clear, multiple layers of texture. Then, the students could use the software to create their own piece. Following that, they might be able to analyze some pieces with artwork or icons...it would be a difficult task, as it was for our class, but it could be effective.
Other musical concepts might involve the exposure to various instruments throughout the world. Alot of students have never heard some of the sounds, and it would be nice to have them experience instruments. Also, composition would be fun if the students could record sounds into the program to add to the preexisting beats.
1. My experience with working with garageband was kind of frustrating at first. I am not good at a lot of computer stuff. But, after I figured out how to use everything, things got a lot easier, and it was really neat.
2. The challenges I had were finding loops that fit well together. I seemed to only find things that had a constant beat. I think students would have the same issues working with the program because I would think they would start out just putting loops that they liked together and then realize that it doesn't sound good together.
3. I think one lesson that would be easy to teach with loop software is the idea of a round or fugue. You could have the students create their own fugue by adding the same loop in two different layers. I think that would be good because they could visually understand what a fugue would look like.
4. I think the loop software exposes children to not only a lot of timbres but also different genres of music. Students can hear the difference between Latin and country and rock. Garageband would be a very good tool for learning things like that.
my experience with working with garageband were to try and fuse together a bunch of different sounds to make something that sounded in the realm of music that could be described as "cool" or "rock!" the biggest challenge I think I had was that my experience in music caused me to not be happy with any of the sounds I was finding. I simply just couldn't get the sounds I wanted out of what was provided because I was looking for something too specific I think. I'm not sure if children would have the same problems, I think that most children would have less of those problems because they have more of an open mind about the sounds they hear in music. I think a great idea for framing a composing-based project out of Garageband would be to have the students create projects based on different moods or perhaps by having a set assortment of instruments such as saying they can only use african drums or they can only use guitars and bass guitars. I think that the main advantage to using Garageband is that the students do not have to have specific skills in music such as knowledge of notation or the ability to play the instruments. The students only need to have one real skill: the ability to listen and know what they like to hear.
Jennifer Boone
Like some of the other commenters, I too am not computer savvy. Your explanation didn't even help me too much. I just had to play around with it on my own. Once I kinda got the hang of it, I was amazed how many sounds there were, but was disappointed that they didn't have more specific/creative titles to help differentiate between the sounds. Maybe students can remember that they liked "Drum Beat 15" out of 30 options, but I sure couldn't. I spent most of my time listening to sounds, just to see what it had to offer, so I didn't really run into that many challenges. I definately think that students should have a day just to play around before they are asked to create something. I really like the idea of using loop-software to introduce texture and layering to young students. Maybe in the first grade, you have the kids create a one-line song, second grade work with two layers, and so on. Through the grades, you can incorporate the other musical elements into the year. I also think that because this is a visual representation of sound, that you could teach clearly different kinds of form. I agree that loop-software would be good for introducing students to different genres, but it could also help in the performing aspect because you can record yourself. At higher grade levels, the students may have enough skills on classroom instruments to record their own riffs and create a song.
Richard said:
I loved using the garage band program. For those students who are into technology and using computers, I believe it is a great tool to get them at least interested in composing music. Some students like Diana mentioned might have some difficulties, but I believe that they could be worked out by maybe setting some parameters to help guide them if they need that type of structure.
This would be great for teaching some broader musical concepts such as texture and showing the differences between one line and several lines of music meshed together. They could try it on their own so they could be doing something hands on which would possibly eliminate any discipline issues as well. It's also great for composition for those students that may have a harder time putting music together with the instruments in the classroom. It gives them another creative outlet for composing that wasn't available before. There are so many possibilities that can be taken from this type of technology. I'm sure there can many disadvantages found as well, but I like it's possibilities.
I honestly had a lot of fun messing around with Garage Band. I'm a slight techno-tard, so I had a little trouble remembering what buttons do what, but after awhile I figured it all out. I ended up composing a really cool Latin sounding piece that melded into an 80s dance tune, then returned back to the Latin style. Even though the two styles really don't go together, it sounds like a dance beat from a club. It sounds really cool!
I had a lot of trouble at first finding beats that fit. It seemed like every beat was too fast or too slow, and I couldn't change the tempo. I had to do a lot of listening. After class let out, I was frustrated, but I hung around, and it seemed like everything just started coming together perfectly.
I don't think students will have the same problem because they may not notice if the beats don't line up exactly. They may have the same problem of remembering what each button does, but they can play around with it and figure it out.
If you set a goal for the class for a lesson on texture such as to write a piece with 6 layers using certain instruments, they would be able to exercise their ability to listen to music as well as their knowledge of musical instruments.
I think texture is a great lesson to use this program with. Ritornello would be so easy to explain. Form would be great to teach, too. I think you would have to set guidelines for them, but they would be able to compose what you ask.
Describe your experience working with Garageband?
I really enjoy the Garage Band program. It reminded me of my young days playing Mario Paint on the Super Nintendo. :O)
What challenges did you run into working with the software?
I found trouble in clearing up the clutter in the file. What I mean is when I would select an instrument, then not like it and delete it, the "line" was still there, which got confusing sometimes.
Do you think students would have the same challenges? Why?
I do think they may experience this, but I am sure there is a way to clear this up, so the children just need to know this information and they will be fine.
What are some ideas you have for framing a music learning experience using texture and loop-software?
I could create a file full of instruments and have each student remove one or more instruments to create something different, so they all start with the same texture, but then create many different textures.
What other musical skills or concepts might a loop-based software environment work well for?
You could possibly practice improvisational skills on an instrument if you create a simple background and play it on a loop, while you improvise a melody.
working with garageband is something that i had never done before and now i wish i had a mac just so i could play with it! the only challenges that i had with the software were the 'millions' of different choices i had when deciding which sounds to use in my song. younger students might have trouble with this because of the same reasons. they might spend more time listening to the sounds just to hear what they are instead of listening to try and hear which sounds would sound the best together.
as far as a lesson with loop software about texture, i think a cool idea might be to have the students arrange or compose their own choral piece, one for each kind of texture. they could record one melody and loop it into a round to create polyphony, put the melody alone for monophony, and use the melody accompanied by other voices to create homophony.
loop software could also be used in a scoring class to make things easier for the students and the teacher, and in a composition class because again, it makes the process of writing out the music much easier. also, there is a wide range of instruments and sounds available to help give students more creative options.
amanda writtenhouse
I love working with garage Band! The challenges I had are the same that everyone has and that is just the numbers of loops there are. I am really familiar with garage band too because I have used it a numbers of times. This version has even more new loops that I was not familiar with. It seems like you can do anything with garage band. Especially as the new versions come out. I think it can be such a great thing for the classroom to create music to learn from and to have the students create their own music. It is an incredible tool for composition to understand form and even style. What makes it so cool is the quality of the loops. Even the midi loops are cool. But the loops that are actual recordings are what makes this program such a cool resource.
I forgot to mention texture...it's ideal for it because of the visual aspect of the loops first off. If you compose something for the students to listen to on garage band it helps the students to visualize texture. This will also help the visual learner understand better while composing a texture oriented piece. The layering aspect is what can help to solidify this concept in a students understanding.
Garage Band is a fun program to work in, and it's fuuny how people can sit for hours and just experiement with sound and texture. Some of the challenges that garage band presents are in the choosing of sounds to use. There are so many sounds that students sometimes have a really hard time narrowing down which sound to use. I believe that texture is the best lesson that students can take from garage bang because of the experience with that layering of sounds. Past that the students get to explore the realm of composition through almost a "chance" music setting.
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