Embedded Files
Project S.U.S.T.A.I.N.
Project S.U.S.T.A.I.N.
In 2017, I connected with fellow Soundtrap educator, Benjamin Kelly, via the Soundtrap for Education Facebook page. He was starting an exciting new project focused on students using Soundtrap all around the world. I jumped on board and have been working with students on this amazing initiative ever since.
For the last two years a select group of 7th & 8th grade students have worked on a worldwide collaboration to help promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals by composing music in Soundtrap.
Students meet once a week during lunch or after school to create original lyrics and music components which they then record into a collaborative project in Soundtrap.
The Gorham Middle School project is featured on the home page of Project S.U.S.T.A.I.N., has been featured in multiple blog posts by Soundtrap and Education Technology sites, has been presented at multiple conferences and has been retweeted by prominent educators and world-wide organizations supporting Teaching with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Click on the following video links to listen to Gorham Middle School's two original song contributions to the Project S.U.S.T.A.I.N. album and see their recording planning and recording process using Soundtrap!
Project S.U.S.T.A.I.N. - Clean EnergyProject S.U.S.T.A.I.N. - Life Below WaterOur third project, Life on Land was unfortunately cut short due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. This video is the progress the students made that year.
Soundtrap Compositions
Soundtrap Compositions
Students in 6th Grade Music Class learn how the Digital Audio Workstation Soundtrap works and then we use the built in loops to create compositions to learn about musical form and genre.
Soundtrap Blues Song Writing Recordings
Soundtrap Blues Song Writing Recordings
After learning guitar and keyboard, students in 6th Grade Music Class learn about the early Blues and compose a song in Blues form. They write original lyrics about a topic that gives middle schoolers the Blues. They use the collaborative features in Soundtrap to record their guitar and keyboard playing, then work as a group to record their original lyrics. We use the editing tools to produce the song at the end.
Keyboard Playing
Keyboard Playing
Students in 6th Grade Music Class have the option of learning guitar or keyboard. The keyboards are MIDI keyboards that work through a Digital Audio Workstation such as Soundtrap or Garage Band. Students use their laptops with their keyboards daily to learn chords and melodies and eventually perform their summative assessments right into Soundtrap.
WeVideo & Soundtrap Poem Soundtracks
WeVideo & Soundtrap Poem Soundtracks
Students in 6th Grade Music Class learn about the video processing app WeVideo. Students select a poem and record their voice in either Soundtrap or WeVideo. They add music and sound effects to support the emotion of the written words and, in WeVideo, they add images at the end. They can choose to add moving or still images and they can choose to have the images move with the rhythm of the poem or more fluidly.
WeVideo Slideshow Soundtrack
WeVideo Slideshow Soundtrack
Students in 6th Grade Music Class learn about the video processing app WeVideo. We use WeVideo to create slideshows with music soundtracks to learn about how music can enhance the emotion of an image.
Garage Band Movie Soundtrack Project
Garage Band Movie Soundtrack Project
Students in 7th Grade Music Class use Garage Band to recreate the soundtrack to a short movie clip of their choice. They can work alone or collaborate with a partner. They record the dialog for the characters, add effective music to support the action, add all the foley or sound effects to create all the sounds of the environment in which the scene takes place and use the automation features in Garage Band to edit the sound. This projects help students to analyze, plan and creatively problem solve.
GMS Music Website
GMS Music Website
Everything students need in music class, Chorus, Steel Band, Advisory as well as additional information about area music lessons or performing ensembles can be found on the GMS Music website. The standards, performance indicators, project directions and rubrics, links to resources are all available. We access this site daily.
Click on the image below to access the full site.
Rhythm Unit Formative and Summative Assessments
Rhythm Unit Formative and Summative Assessments
7th Grade Music students use the site The Rhythm Trainer for pre and post assessments to collect data on their music reading skills.
Students use Flipgrid to record summative performance assessments at the end of the rhythm unit.
Final performance assessments of written multi-part rhythm compositions are videoed and uploaded to a shared Google Drive folder for analyzing and self-reflection using Flipgrid as well.
Google Sites
Report abuse