Garageband roect - Drumseohsmusic.weebly.com/uploads/4/3/2/4/43240877/studentassignme… · • Choose the instrument ‘keyboard’ • Change the sound to a bass or bass synth sound

Composition Projects for GarageBand - 2017 Edition Copyright The Fun Music Company 2017

Garageband Project iPad-1

Task A: Record this beat on your iPad, using regular drums:

Student assignmentAim: To be able to record an eight bar drum beat on the iPad.

You need: iPad with GarageBand app (any version).

- Drums

TIPS:• Choose the instrument ‘drums’, not ‘drummer’• Stick just to the bass drum for this task• Try to stay in beat with the metronome click• If you make a mistake click the ‘undo’ arrow.

• Recording again will add the hi-hat over your existing bass drum part

• You can use the ride cymbal (on the right) instead of the hi-hat if you wish.

• Enter track view, and then double tap to bring up the menu, and then press EDIT on the pop up menu to bring up the piano roll editor. You can then drag your notes around to line them up with the vertical beat lines.

Student achievement

Task B:Add a hi-hat part to your beat

Task C:Add some more drums and cymbals to your beat, and edit it using the piano roll editor.

Student achievement

Student achievement


Garageband Project iPad-2- MelodyStudent assignmentAim: To be able to create your own melodic parts on the iPad.


Task A: Record an 8 bar melody using a piano sound.

Task B: Record an 2 bar bass riff using a keyboard and edit it using the piano roll editor, then make it repeat through the entire piece.

Task C: Re-record or edit your piano part so it works well together with the bass part.

TIPS:• Choose the instrument ‘keyboard’• Change the sound by clicking the

instrument picture in the middle of the screen.

• Press the button ‘SCALE’ and change to ‘Major Pentatonic’ to get a screen like the picture on the left.

• Choose the instrument ‘keyboard’• Change the sound to a bass or bass synth

sound.• Record only two bars. If you record more

than two, drag the region back to two bars exactly. Then double tap it and choose ‘LOOP’ to repeat it over eight bars.

• You may choose any instrument sound you wish that works with your music.

• You may choose to simplify and remove notes

• Use a mixture of long and short notes.• Edit with the piano roll editor by double

tapping the region in the track view and choosing ‘edit’ from the pop-up menu.

Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement


Garageband Project iPad-3- Smart DrumsStudent assignmentAim: To be able to create musical parts with the Smart Drummer.


Task A: Record an 8 bar drum part using Smart Drummer using just bass drum, snare drum and hi-hat.

Task B: Create a musical change at the fifth bar by varying the positions and adding at least one instrument.

Task C: Use the random feature to create a drum part that changes every two bars.

• In the newer version of GarageBand, choose the instrument ‘Smart Drums’ from the bottom left corner of the ‘Drums’ menu item. In the older version of GarageBand, ‘Smart Drums’ has its own menu item.

• Experiment until you find a pattern you like, and then press record to record it for 8 bars.

• Drag the play-head to the start of Bar 5, then make changes the positions of the instruments, then press record.

• Use only small changes first and listen to the difference in style.

• Use the dice picture on the bottom left to create random patterns, and record the change every two bars.

• Experiment with changing the drum kit and listening to the different sounds.

Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement



Task A: Record an 8 bar guitar part using manual strumming and just the chords: C, F and G.

Task B: Record a guitar part using the autoplay feature using the following chord progression.| C | | G | | C | | G | |

Task C: Record a guitar part using the autoplay feature using the chords C, F and G in any order, but with no more than one chord per bar. Then write down your chord progression below.

Student assignmentAim: To create musical guitar parts and chord progressions.


- Guitar

Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement

• Start with a previously created ‘smart drums’ track, and delete the bass track.

• Make sure the ‘chords’ or ‘notes’ switch is set to CHORDS.

• Use manual strumming, You can either strum the strings downwards or press where the letter of the chord is written.

• Move the ‘autoplay’ dial to remove the strings, and then experiment until you find a pattern you like.

• Try the different guitars, and notice that the autoplay patterns for each guitar are different.

• You can also experiment with the effect buttons to vary the sound.

My chord progression:

| | | | | | | | |

• Choose a guitar part and strumming pattern first.

• Keep to one chord per bar.

• Begin and end with C, as this is the tonic chord of the key, and makes the listener feel like the music has completed.



Task A: Use the manual chord bass to create a bass line to go with a C and G chord progression.

Task B: Create a bass line to go with your C and G progression using the autoplay feature.

Task C: Create a bass line to go with your own progression from task C of the guitar lesson using either the autoplay or manual chord bass.

- BassStudent assignmentAim: Create musical bass parts which match a chord progression.


Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement

• Begin with the project from the guitar lesson: (yourname).guitar.2 or create a track with a drum and guitar part with this chord progression: | C | | G | | C | | G | |

• Use the manual chord bass and play any of the strings in the C and G chords while the guitar is playing that chord.

• Experiment with the autoplay dial until you find a bass pattern that suits your music.

• You can also experiment with the different bass guitar sounds, by clicking the bass guitar picture.

• Make sure you touch the chords at exactly the right time, so they change at the right time.

• Begin with the project from the guitar lesson: (yourname).guitar.3 or create a track with drums and an 8 bar progression of your choice.

• Experiment with the different bass guitars and autoplay patterns until you find one that really suits your music.

My chord progression is:

| | | | | | | | |



Task A: Create an 8 bar drummer region to go with a previously created bass pattern

Task B: Create two four bar drummer regions to go with your bass pattern with some logical contrast between the two regions.

Task C: Create a new 8 bar drummer track with a dance or hip hop style beat that you can rap with.

- DrummerStudent assignmentAim: To learn to use the ‘drummer’ feature in GarageBand musically.

You need: iPad with GarageBand app (ios 9 or later).

Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement

• Start by duplicating the file (yourname).bass.3, created in the bass guitar lesson. Start by deleting the existing drum part, before creating a ‘drummer’ track.

• Listen to the difference between using an acoustic style of drummer and an electronic drummer style.

• Grab the end of the drummer track region, and drag it back so that it only covers four bars.

• Tap in the empty space and choose ‘create’ to create a new drummer region.

• Experiment to create a suitable amount of contrast between the two sections.

• Create a new project and start with a drummer track. Choose an electronic style drummer.

• Optionally add a ‘fill’ region in the last bar.

• Adjust the tempo so that you could speak or ‘rap’ along with the beat.



Task A: Record an two bar vocal pattern over a previously created drum track, and loop it over eight bars

Task B: Apply an effect to your vocal part so it sounds like an instrument rather than a voice

Task C: Record a second vocal part, this time that last the full 8 bars and then apply a contrasting effect to it.

- VocalStudent assignmentAim: to record a vocal rap and alter it with effects.

You need: iPad with GarageBand app (any version), headphones.

Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement

• Start with an 8 bar drum track in a dance beat style.

• Add a new track of the type ‘audio recorder’.

• Watch the input levels while recording and adjust your volume level accordingly. Make sure the green level indicator lifts up nearly to the top, but not right into the red part.

• When complete, adjust the length to exactly two bars, and select LOOP to copy it over eight bars.

• Start by choosing the FUN effects, and observing what they do to the sound.

• Experiment with the controls to further refine your sound to suit your piece of music

• Experiment with both STUDIO and FUN effect settings.

• Begin a new track, otherwise the audio recorder will overwrite what you did in Task B.

• Record for eight bars, and you can experiment with other sounds if you wish, such as body percussion.



Task A: Create a song with a drum part and bass line which has two eight bar sections in A-B form.

Task B: Extend the song into A-B-A form with three eight bar sections.

Task C: Add two more parts of your choice to your composition - so your composition should have at least four parts and be in A-B-A form.

- FormStudent assignmentAim: To create a song with more than one section.


Possible chord Progressions:|C |Am |Dm |G |C |Am |F |G ||C |F |C |G |C |F |Dm |G ||C |G |C |G |C |Am |Dm |G |

Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement

• Start a new project, and begin with a ‘drummer’ or ‘smart drums’ track.

• Then create a bass or guitar part with one of the chord progressions below

• Create a ‘B’ section by clicking the ‘plus’ sign to the right of the track indicator.

• Click the ‘plus’ sign to the right of the track indicator to open the song sections, then select the A section and click ‘duplicate’.

• View all sections and play the song to ensure that you have three sections, and that the C section is identical to the A section.

• You may choose to add a guitar, keyboard, strings or any other part you wish.

• Present the completed composition to your teacher for assessment.



Task A: Chose a live loops template style and use live loops to record an 8 bar song with a musical change every two bars.

Task B: Record a contrasting B section for your live loops composition, so you’ve completed a song with two 8 bar sections.

Task C: Record some DJ effects to add to your live loops composition

- Live LoopsStudent assignmentAim: Use the live loops feature to create your own dance mix.

You need: iPad with GarageBand app (ios10 version or later).

Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement

• Create a new project and then select ‘live loops’ from the switch selector at the top of the screen.

• Choose a live loops template style from this screen.

• Record an 8 bar song with a change every two bars. Make sure you stop after 8 bars, as it will continue recording if you don’t. You can trim it back to 8 bars in the ‘song sections’ box.

• Use the song sections control (plus sign near the top right), to add a B section.

• Stick to 8 bars, and leave ‘automatic’ switched to OFF.

• Try to generate some logical contrast between the two sections.

• Use the button marked FX to bring up the DJ effects panel at the bottom of the screen.

• You can bring up the FX panel while on the live loops panel screen, or on the track screen.



Task A: Create a live loops pallette, select loops and import them into at least three different instrument tracks.

Task B: Using just those three instrument tracks, record a piece of at least 16 bars

Task C: Use the DJ effects panel to add effects to complete your composition

- Loops palletteStudent assignmentAim: construct your own live loops pallette for your own composition.

You need: iPad with GarageBand app (ios10 version or later).

Student achievement

Student achievement

Student achievement

• Create a new project and then select ‘live loops’ from the switch selector at the top of the screen, then choose ‘new’ from the live loops template selector.

• Press the icon that looks like a loop of string to bring up the loops list which comes with GarageBand.

• Record your ordering of the live loop sounds. If your recording does go past 16 bars, use the song sections pop up box and switch off ‘automatic’ and limit the song to 16 bars.

• Your piece can have all three instruments playing all the time, or it can introduce one at a time.

• Use the button marked FX to bring up the DJ effects panel at the bottom of the screen.

• Make sure to press record to save your effects performance.

• Save the piece, and give it your own name.

Documents

Garageband roect - Drumseohsmusic.weebly.com/uploads/4/3/2/4/43240877/studentassignme… · • Choose the instrument ‘keyboard’ • Change the sound to a bass or bass synth sound