6th Grade uses

GARAGEBAND

Preston Thomas
Christa McAuliffe Elementary 2019
Identification of the Unit
Identification of the Concept
This unit is designed for students to be able to create and edit their own song using GarageBand
on the iPad. The students should have already learned about different styles of music and what
makes them sound unique. This unit will also teach a lot of how to navigate in the GarageBand
application.

Pre-Assessment
Before I start my unit on GarageBand I will have the students complete a questionnaire on how
comfortable they are with technology. These are some questions that are on the questionnaire:
1) Have you ever used GarageBand before, either making a complete song or just messing
around? 1 means no and 5 means yes.
2) On a scale of 1 to 5, how comfortable are you with navigating GarageBand?
3) On a scale of 1 to 5, how comfortable are you with improvising a melody given a chord
progression?
4) On a scale of 1 to 5, how comfortable are you with adding efx like reverb and delay to a
track?
5) Do you listen closely to the songs that you enjoy understanding what makes them sound
good to you? 1 means never and 5 means all the time
6) Are you okay with loose guidelines on a project? 1 means not at all and 5 means that it
is your preferred method of working.
7) If you don’t know how to do something, are you comfortable with exploring and trying
things until you do know how to do it? 1 means completely uncomfortable, 5 means you
love to explore new things.
This pre-assessment will let me know who will need more help during the project versus who
are the students who can work well on their own. Because these aren’t true skills to be able to
teach in a classroom setting, I move on but keep these answers in mind when helping students.

Post-Assessment
As a final assessment for the students I would ask them to play their song for the audience (the
class, their family, or I) and tell them how they created this song from scratch. Detailing the
different steps that they took to get there. I also gave them the questionnaire again at the end
switching out the words for past/future tense (ex. Will you listen closely to songs on the
radio…)

Other musical concepts

Balance – knowing to adjust track volumes to hear everything
Time-keeping – it will be hard to record a good song if the parts don’t line up
Tone – being able to choose the right instrument sound that they want
Creativity – most of this project has to come from nothing
Cross-Curricular
The process of creating and then revising will be helpful in every class that has to write a paper
(history, English, science). Experimentation with different sound will help with science and
math. Figuring out balance and timing will help math skills.

Outline of the Unit

This unit will be stretched to 4 different class periods of 50 minutes each.
Class 1 – Figuring out how to navigate GarageBand and inputting basic chord progressions
Class 2 – Revising chord progressions and adding bass and drums
Class 3 – Add a melody
Class 4 – Feedback circles and revisions

Lesson 1
Lesson Objective:
Students will be able to open GarageBand navigate to a chorded
instrument and input a chord progression. Students will also be able
to add more sections to their composition to make it ABA form.

National Standards:
MU:Cr1.1.T.Ia Generate melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic ideas for
compositions or improvisations using digital tools.

Assessment:
I will have volunteer students come to the front and share their
chord progressions with the class.

Class Time:
• T explains that the project they will be working on for the next 4 classes will be to create
their own song using GarageBand. Every good song needs a chord progression behind it and
this tic-tac-toe board of chords is to help students choose something they like.
• T will demonstrate possible chord progression possibilities on the piano
o Progressions can be left-right, right-left, up-down, down-up, or diagonal in either
direction
o The lines underneath each chord represent how many beats or bars each on is held
for
• Have students open GarageBand to a new project and select Smart Keyboard from the
instrument selector
o Keyboard should be the first instrument on screen if opening a new project
§ If not, scroll left or right until you see the keyboard
§ Smart Keyboard is the bottom left button
o Allow students to experiment with the board to find their favorite progression
• Have students record their favorite progression into the A section
o Record is the red circle button at the top
 o In order for it to fit in the 8-bar default that GarageBand has the student has to play
the chord progression twice
• Create a new section
o Tap the plus button on the top right underneath the question mark icon (help) and
click add. GarageBand will automatically add a B section with 8 bars
• Have students find and record their second favorite progression into the B section
• Have students click the plus button like they are going to add a new section but click on A
and click duplicate. Finish by clicking all sections
o If done correctly, it should appear that the first (A) and third (B) sections are the
same and the middle one is different
§ GarageBand calls it section A, B, and C but in musical terms it is ABA form
• Have any student volunteers come to the front, plug their iPad into the main speakers and
share with the class what progressions they used and why they like them
Lesson 2
Lesson Objective:
Students will be able to revise their chord progressions and add a bass line and drum track.

National Standards:
MU:Cr1.1.T.Ia Generate melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic ideas for compositions or
improvisations using digital tools.
MU:Cr2.1.T.Ia Select melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic ideas to develop into a larger work using
digital tools and resources.

Assessment:
I will have volunteer students (different than last class) come to the front and share their
project so far with the class.

Class Time:
• T shows video of person creating a song entirely in one sitting. Could be the 1-hour song
challenge that many YouTube artists do or something else. The video I will use is Levi
Niha creating a beat using one finger.
o With Levi, you have to skip over when he says “G**d***” right after he finishes
creating his first melody
• T tells class that they will be doing the same sort of thing today by adding the bass and
drums
• Point out that Levi has some active parts (bass and drums) and some parts that are
more relaxed (melody and chords) and encourage students to balance their own song in
a way that the listener knows what to focus on
• T has class pull up project that students began last class (chord progressions in ABA
form)
• Have students navigate to the smart bass
o Click the plus button in the bottom left corner to add an instrument and scroll
until you find the bass (some students confuse the picture with the guitar but it
will actually say “Bass” so you can know you are on the correct one)
o Click smart bass
§ Bottom left
o Add bass line that is the same as chord progressions for the A B and final A
section
o Tips for this step
§ The bottom and third from bottom string sound the note that is displayed
at the top. The second from bottom plays the fifth and the top plays the
third
§ Instead of having to recreate the final A section the student can record it
once and then copy and past
• To copy – double tap the section to copy and select copy
• To paste – move top cursor to area where you want to paste and
tap the empty space and select paste
• Drums (4 different types)
o Smart drums
§ Drag instruments onto grid and it will automatically create a groove for
you
• left and right change it from simple to more complex
• up and down change volume
§ There is a dice button to randomize all the options
§ Press the record button to record this beat
o Acoustic drums
§ Standard tap to play
§ Tip
• Record drums first
• Record cymbals second
o Beat sequencer
§ Select any step to light up and turn on
§ By default, GarageBand is set up with a one measure, sixteenth note grid
§ There is a dice button to randomize al the options
§ Press the record button to record this beat
o Drummer (separate instrument selector)
§ Automatically creates a drum beat
§ You can adjust complexity of each part of the kit or the kit as a whole
§ It is automatically put in your project, you do not have to push record
• Have any student volunteers come to the front, plug their iPad into the main speakers
and share with the class what they have created and tell a little about their idea
Lesson 3
Lesson Objective:
Students will be able to revise their projects and add a melody

National Standards:
MU:Cr1.1.T.Ia Generate melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic ideas for compositions or
improvisations using digital tools.
MU:Cr2.1.T.Ia Select melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic ideas to develop into a larger work using
digital tools and resources.

Assessment:
I will have volunteer students (different than last class) come to the front and share their
project so far with the class.

Class Time:
• T will demonstrate some good melodies by playing pop songs
o Possible songs to use
§ Fight song by Rachel Platten
§ Can’t Stop This Feeling by Justin Timberlake
§ Bye Bye Bye by NSYNC
§ I Gotta Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas
o Talk about the balance between active and relaxed parts of the song.
• Have students start adding melody
o For students who cannot read a keyboard but want a piano (or synthesizer
sound)
§ Add a new instrument button and click alchemy synth underneath the
keyboard instrument selection
§ Click the “SCALE” button and choose what scale they are in (most likely
major)
• If they want a super easy, no wrong note possible scale, choose
major pentatonic
§ To change instrument sounds, click the title of the sound (default is Epic
Cloud Formation) and select a new one
• For a melody the best ones come from the leads category on the
far left
o For students who cannot read a guitar fretboard but want a guitar sound
§ Add a new instrument button and click “SCALES” underneath the guitar
instrument selection
• You can change the scale type from within this screen
• Revise
o Use the rest of class as work time to adjust settings or other musical elements.
Maybe re-record a bass line or drums track if you want a certain type of melody.
Maybe add a new chords layer with strings or a pad sound (ex. Epic Cloud
Formation)
Lesson 4
Lesson objectives:
Students will be able to listen critically to their peers and their own work and give feedback and
do revision on their project. Students will share project with an audience of some sort (class,
family, teacher)

National Standards:
MU:Cr3.1.T.Ia Drawing on feedback from teachers and peers, develop and implement strategies
to improve and refine the technical and expressive aspects of draft compositions and
improvisations.
MU:Cr3.2.T.Ia Share compositions or improvisations that demonstrate a proficient level of
musical and technological craftsmanship as well as the use of digital tools and resources in
developing and organizing musical ideas.

Assessment:
I will have volunteer students come to the front and share their project with the class.

Class Time:
• T will have students open project and listen to it to remember what they had previously
done
• T will explain to go into feedback circles and to give comments on each person’s project
o Use phrases like
§ “Maybe you could try…”
§ “What happens if you…”
§ “Why did you choose…”
o Avoid “I don’t like”
§ Music won’t be liked by everyone and this is likely the students first time
creating a song using digital tools
o Two minutes per person
§ At GarageBands default settings for tempo at 110, it takes about a
minute to play the whole composition.
§ Give feedback for one minute then move on to the next person
o Divide into two groups to make it go quicker
§ Each group gets a Bluetooth speaker because the iPad speakers don’t do
well with the bass and drums
• After feedback, if there is time allow for some small revisions
• Explain ‘homework” is to share it with someone and tell them how they created this
song from scratch. Detailing the different steps that they took to get there.
o Student volunteers can share with the class