My middle school students want to create their own beats and background music, but I haven’t had software for them to use. I had considered bringing in my Mac so they could create with Garageband, but wasn’t comfortable with sharing my expensive MacBookPro that I’m using for my schooling needs. Then I started learning about Web 2.0 tools, and wondered if such a site existed. I think Indabamusic is even better, since it is creating music collaboratively.
Indabamusic.com has a similar creating page as Garageband with drag and drop riffs and other pre-made sounds. You can also record your own sounds, and then mix them. There are examples of music created by different people laying down track at different times who are located around the country. The tutorials are pretty good, too.
I’m not clear, though, if this is an entirely free site. I’ve emailed the creators for this clarification. I’ll update this post when I learn how far their free use goes.
I would love to use this site in my classes for students to produce original music and beats that they could use in their presentations, videos, and as music to lyrics for demonstrating their understanding of content. I visualize second language learners being supported by collaborating with students proficient in English, so that all learners are successfully meeting assignment objectives. I could also envision meeting classes across the country so that students could collaborate on projects that would include a music piece to their project presentations. Students could even have “critical friends” who are either college level musicians or professionals! That would be incredible. (For example, I wonder if professional musicians with the San Francisco Symphony might love to work with interested students. This could be a truly win-win as S.F. Symphony professionals reach out to public schools and the students successfully engage in their learning activities.) This also embraces the “Beyond the Classroom” goals that our district strives to achieve for our students.
© 2009, D. Cowden
Hi Debbie, Did you find out if this is free? I'd love to have my students make beats and riffs when we make videos. Looking forward to it and thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteI did receive a reply from IndabaMusic, and it was clarified that there are different ways to use the site. The free accounts was recommended for my student's use, and a "first level" paid account for me so that I would have more control and offerings for my classes. I haven't joined at this level, yet, but am working on curriculum that would use this site for student projects. At that point, I'll decide if the free account would continue to work for my classroom needs, or if I would need a paid account.
ReplyDeletePlease know that I would be interested to learn from your experiences with this tool, too.