Garage Band - Content Exploration

Garage band is a type of music software program. This is a reference tool. It can teach it's users how to play the guitar or piano. It provides interactive video based lessons that teach the basic fundamentals and can teach you songs. It provides the first lesson and you are able to download more lessons off of the internet if you would like. Once you have learned a song it provides a complete backup band for you to practice with. You can also record, mix, and create arrangements of music. Garage Band can be a good tool for teachers to create accompaniments for their students. It can also be a good tool for students to learn how to play an instrument on their own or to learn how to mix and record their own music.

Music Book Accompaniments - Apple Learning Interchange

Through the Apple Learning Interchange I have found a section on using a program called "Garage Band." This particular "learning interchange" is called Music Book Accompaniments. It gives on ideas for ways in which you can use Garage Band in order to create instrumental accompaniments that students can use during their individual practice sessions at home. It also provides instructions ans suggestions for how to create these accompaniments.

I think that this is a great idea. I am always looking for more sources to use in the classroom whether they are technology based or not. I have heard of the program Garage Band before, but I have never had a chance to use it. I would like to test it at some point and see if it is something that I want to use in my classroom instruction.

SFS - Effective

http://www.sfskids.org/templates/splash.asp

The San Fransisco Symphony website is a very effective learning tool for kids. It helps to improve the effectiveness of student learning by providing students with a "music lab" with a variety of musical learning and musical reinforcement activities for the young music student. Students can work in the "music lab" at their own pace learning about the basics of music, tempo, rhythm, pitch, harmony, symbols, instrumentation, and composition.

DSO Kids - Enhancement

http://www.dsokids.com/listen/instrumentlist.aspx

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra website has a section of the sight that is devoted to musical instruments, their instrument families, and their sounds. All of the musical instruments on this website are organized by instrument families. Once you click on an instrument it shows you a picture of the instrument and has 1-3 links that lead to music and sounds played to that instrument. This enhances student learning by allowing them the opportunity that they would not normally have for them to visually see the instrument as well as allowing them to hear how the instrument sounds in different situations (solo and in an orchestra). Here is what the page would look like if I clicked on the Harp:

There is a picture, description, and sounds of the harp.