MUSICAL TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION LESSON PLAN

Introduction
The technology that is being used for this assignment is –
 iPads (Garageband)
This lesson is for the Advanced Music Theory and Songwriting course at Wildcat High School.
Juniors and Seniors can take this course as an elective. This will serve as their final project.
This lesson will challenge the students’ creativity, innovation, musical independence, and
composition skills. The use of technology is an appropriate choice to tackle this objective
because students have a wider access of creativity options, as the students could not have
physical access to the surplus of instruments/sounds that are offered on Garageband. It is
necessary for the students to have this accessibility to fully grasp the needed level of creativity.

Lesson Description
 Students will use Garageband on their iPads to create a 16-bar loop composition in 4/4
time. Students will select one consistent loop of their choice for background (piano,
drums, etc.)
 Students will then select three common household items (box of items provided by
teacher in the front of the room) to create unique sounds as “instruments” in their
compositions. You may use your voice as an addition, but not one of your three
instruments (household items).
 If the composition is pitched, the student should follow a common chord progression we
have used in class.
o Example: I, IV, V, I
o it most likely won’t be pitched as this project is percussive in nature, but it can
be! (Reflect back to the “Hit Songs of 2014” video)
Learning Objectives
 Students will learn about how people can compose music out of anything by watching
the “Hit Songs of 2014 – Performed With Household Items” video on Youtube.
 Students will apply previously learned skills in instrumentation, arranging, and
composing music by creating a cohesive and innovative 16-bar composition with drum
loops and recordings in Garageband.
 Students will reflect on the experience by writing a minimum 1-page paper on why they
chose each household item, why they used a specific background loop, how they used it,
what they think they did well, and how they think they could’ve made their song better.
(With more time, more resources, etc.)
Materials
 iPads, Garageband app
 Household items
 Introduction powerpoint and projector
o Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svg_fIoHij8
o Garageband tutorial: https://youtu.be/h8nOb_idlUQ
 Microsoft word (reflection)
Lesson Sequence

1. Hello everyone! Welcome to class.

2. Today, we are going to be starting our final project. Everything we have learned about
instrumentation, arranging, and composing has led you up to this point. Can some of
you tell me some of the main considerations we need to think of when we are
composing? (T takes several suggestions from S)
3. Good! Today, we are going to add a fun twist to your composing process-Garageband!
How many of you have used Garageband before? Good!
4. You will use Garageband on your iPads to create a 16-bar composition in 4/4 time.
5. You will select one consistent loop of your choice for background (piano, drums, etc.)
6. You will then select three common household items out of the box in the front of the
room. With those, you will create unique sounds as “instruments”.
7. You may use your voice as an addition, but not one of your three instruments
(household items).
8. If the composition is pitched, you should follow a common chord progression we have
used in class.
a. Example: I, IV, V, I
b. it most likely won’t be pitched as this project is percussive in nature, but it can
be! (Reflect back to the “Hit Songs of 2014” video)
9. You can create so many cool sounds out of just classic household items, and these
sounds can be so musical! Let’s watch a great example of this. (show youtube video)
10. What are some things that you guys noticed? (reflect on video time)
11. Alright, now that I have explained the assignment and hopefully have given you some
ideas for what you want to do, let’s look at a tutorial I have created for you all about
how to navigate Garageband. Get out your iPad and follow along please! (show video)
12. Okay, any questions? You will have all class to work on this and then next class we will
do last minute touch-ups and start presenting to one another!
13. After you have finished your composition, please write a one-page reflection on why
you chose each household item, why you used a specific background loop, how you
used it, what you think you did well, and how you think you could’ve made your song
better. (With more time, more resources, etc.)
14. Don’t make this too complicated for yourself to not finish it in a class and a half, but be
as creative as possible! Alright, get to work! I will be around to help if you need me.
15. After all projects have been presented, have a whole class discussion/reflection on the
experience. Essentially sum up the students’ reflections and facilitate student discussion.
Tutorial Sequence

1. Hello everyone! Ms. Davidson here and welcome to your final project for Advanced
Music Theory and Songwriting. I am so excited to see what you all come up with during
these next few days.
2. As always, after this video, please let me know if you have any more questions or if I can
help in any way.
3. I am going to show you how to use the different features on Garageband that you will
need for this project.
4. First, you are going to unlock your iPad and select the Garageband app. It has an orange
guitar picture on it.
5. You should see a screen like this. You are probably not going to have any recent
projects, but if you have used the app before, your other projects should be here.
6. You are now going to the top right corner, and tap the plus button.
7. This screen will come up with a microphone. There are some other instrument options.
But for this assignment, we are going to start on the voice recorder.
8. Click on the “voice” part of this screen in the bottom left of the audio recorder square.
9. Alright, so now you will see something like this. We are going to explore these options in
a second. But for right now, go ahead and click on the little button in the top left with
the different lengthed rectangles. It is the third button from the left.
10. You should now see this screen. Now, it is time to pick your background loop that you
are going to base your song on. Tap on the loop-di-loop in the top right corner of the
screen. It is directly to the left of the gear picture.
11. So now you will see all of these options. You can tap on the pictures next to each loop to
test them to see which one you want. (Demonstrate)
12. When you finally find the one you want, tap and hold down on it and drag it to the left
black space under the microphone section.
13. You will now see a drum, piano, or whatever you picked pop up with your loop.
14. If you tap the play button on top, you can play it and the moving line will show you right
where you are in the loop.
15. The numbers at the top that look like they are on a ruler are your measure numbers.
You are going to want to make this number 16 measures.
16. At the top right under the question mark, there is a plus sign. Go ahead and tap that.
17. You should now see an option that says “8 bars”. You are going to want to change this
to “16 bars”.
18. Click back
19. Your composition is now 16 bars. Your background loop should last the entire 16 bars. If
it does not, drag the end of it and make it match up.
20. Now it is time for you to start recording your instruments after you have chosen three
household items.
21. Tap on the little microphone at the top left
22. Now you should see the screen that we were at before.
23. So, as you can see, there are all of these different ways you can manipulate your
recording. You can use the chipmunk to make it super high, the robot to make it sound
futuristic, and so on so forth. Experiment a little on your own time how you can
manipulate your recordings later on.
24. First, I want you to tap on the little metronome on the top of the page and turn it off.
This will just make things easier for you when you’re recording.
25. Now it is time to record your household items, or “instruments”.
26. Tap on the little microphone at the top of the circle and make sure it is selected.
27. When you are ready to record, tap the red circle on the top of the screen. A
metronome will count you in, and then you start. Right now, I am going to use my cup
as my instrument. (demonstrate)
28. Now, tap on the play button to listen back
29. Let’s say you don’t like this recording and want to restart. Tap the roundabout arrow at
the top middle left next to the rewind button and that should restart the recording for
you.
30. Let’s say you do like it though and you want to add it to your piece. Click the button at
the top left with the different lengthed rectangles.
31. Now you should see your recording pop up on top of the background loop you chose
earlier.
32. Now, let’s say you want this recording in a different spot in the song. Simply tap in the
middle of the square, hold it, and drag it and set it up in the right measure by looking
at the top.
33. If you want to delete, copy, or loop your recording, tap once in the middle of the
square and you will see all your options to do so.

34. Now, you are going to go through this process three times. Edit and manipulate
however you want, be as creative as you want!
35. When you are done or want to save your progress, tap the top left corner picture of
the folding piece of paper to save it.

36. Okay guys, that is pretty much everything. Please let me know if you have any
questions! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Assessment Task

Students will present their composition projects to the class and I (teacher) will assess them
with the following rubric. If students do not pass the project with at least 15 points (50%),
students will be asked to come in and complete the project again with teacher assistance.

Scoring Device

Superior Proficient In-Progress Unsatisfactory

10 pt 8 pt 4 pt 1 pt
Content Student Student Student Student
Knowledge demonstrated demonstrated a demonstrated demonstrated
beyond basic level of some, but not a almost no
expected expected lot of expected understanding
knowledge of knowledge of knowledge of of compositional
compositional compositional compositional concepts such as
concepts such as concepts such as concepts such as chord
chord chord chord progression,
progression, progression, progression, instrumentation,
instrumentation, instrumentation, instrumentation, etc.
etc. etc. etc.
Composition Student showed Student showed Student showed Student showed
Creativity exemplary effort a basic level of little effort no effort
towards being effort towards towards being towards being
creative and being creative creative and creative and
original with and original with original with original with
their their their their
composition. composition. composition composition
(Experimented (Experimented a (Did not (Copying others,
with several little with experiment with only one
instrument instrument instrument recording, etc.)
combinations, combinations, combinations,
created more created just four etc.)
than just four basic recordings)
basic recordings)
Student Student’s Student’s Student’s Student did not
Reflection reflection reflection reflection complete a
fulfilled all basic fulfilled most, fulfilled little to reflection.
requirements but not all basic no basic
and also requirements requirements
facilitated outlined in the outlined in the
dialogue assignment assignment
(challenges, handout. handout.
considerations…)
Personal Reflection

While creating this lesson plan. I was significantly more challenged and stretched than I
expected. First, I realized how much more explaining goes into technology-based lessons, as
each and every step is important (especially in this lesson). I even went ahead and created the
Garageband tutorial because I needed to see the full picture to feel satisfied with being “done”
with the lesson plan. I realized how hard it can be, but also how important it is to loosen the
reigns and let your students have creative autonomy. This was a great exercise in designing a
lesson that specifically caters towards student creativity and expression. I found myself
imagining the kinds of projects that my students could create under this lesson and I got really
excited. I think that my next challenge is seeing how I could integrate something like this into an
ensemble class, like marching or concert band.