High School Learning with Apple #30: Creating a Song

Jennifer Orton (@jorton) and I met at ADE institute in 2023 and have been working on compiling lessons for high school teachers using MacBooks or iPads in class. Jennifer uses iPads, and I use MacBooks, and in our collaboration, we realized that small adjustments can be made to apply the lessons in each environment. Over the next 30 days, we’ll post one lesson idea each day!

Lesson Idea #30: Creating a Song

Sample book page with a screenshot from GarageBand and a lesson description

For many teachers, using GarageBand is the scariest program to use (especially on a MacBook). It is important to practice as much as possible with the nuances of the instruments and tools prior to using it.

This teacher wanted his students to create an original song at the end of their course to take everything they had learned into consideration. As listed in the image above, students were given clear requirements and guidance with lots of time to complete it.

When starting a new project in GarageBand, you are given options as to what instruments you can use to start your song.

When recording a voice, you can choose vocal effects to add before you press Record.

Add an instrument and choose the effects you would like when creating music.

📣 How could you use GarageBand in your classroom?

On a side note, Jennifer (@jorton) and I would like to thank you for joining us for 30 days of activities using Apple in high school lessons. We hope that you were able to find something that could inspire a lesson in your class along the way.

In Action: Collaborate Through Music Production

Get students moving the the beat

Elementary Music class gets moving with Keynote. By using placeholders, Apple makes it easy to move and grove while learning about rhythm and beat. Students typically know these common Fortnite moves, but you could show

GarageBand Composition Alternatives?

What types of resources or support would you provide staff that are not able to play instruments or compose music while still providing support for achieving the GarageBand badge and becoming Apple Teachers?

3 replies

December 31, 2024

Thank You Jennifer and Megan for the 30 Learning with Apple posts for high school classes in 30 days! I've learned from each one of them and I especially tuned in to those for history (my curricular area) - however many would certainly work across several curricular areas.

And thanks to your teacher contributors - what is so powerful about your 30 is that you got each one from classroom teachers, tried and true! And that you provided student examples and a detailed explanations.

Also I am most delighted that you plan to share these in a book! Congratulations for an outstanding collaborative initiative!

December 31, 2024

Great post, and what an awesome idea for your series. I will be sharing this with my colleagues. ADE class of 2023! Best class ever!!

January 02, 2025

GarageBand is always the app that teachers are most nervous to use but the students love it! Our elementary ITFS help students create podcasts to high school students using loops and instruments on iPads to compose their own songs.

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