Garageband 3

I am laying down tracks, making each loop longer by repeating, I am playing with the introduction of loops and fading loops in and out.  I like how you can easily isolate tracks to manipulate the volume, then quickly and easily turn the other loops back on to hear what you just did.  

I also think that it is amazing how easily the songs are converted and put directly in your iTunes library.  I didn't even realize it until I heard one of my songs playing in the car!  I had synced my iPod and had it on shuffle when this familiar song came on.  I was not expecting it and had a, "wow, technology is really cool" moment. 

I did all of the tutorial videos on the Apple website minus the videos that instruct in real instruments or the videos that show you how to record your instruments.  For now, I am happy playing with the electronic loops.  I think it would be pretty incredible to record your own instrument and mix it with the tracks in Garageband.

Garageband 2

I started doing the video tutorials on the Apple website.  I did "Getting Started with Garageband," and "Building a Song."  The videos are excellent and a further testament to the Apple production machine.  They really have a good thing going.

The problem I am having is that there is too much.  As a person with ADD, this is like crack for me!  There are so many loops and possibilities to create songs.  Pick your genre and mix it up because that is exactly what I am doing.  It is fun, but I haven't made anything worth keeping yet.

Garageband

Okay, I have to admit that I don't know much about Garageband.  I can find the longer loops and put them down, but that is about it.  I really want to learn how to lay a bunch of tracks down and create my own music pieces.  I think that they would be effective for videos.

I also want to use Garageband with my students.  I think they would love it.  In order for me to be a resource for it, I had better learn it.  I am going to use the video tutorials on the Apple website.  I want to use these because I am going to direct my students there so they can begin to use web resources to learn new skills on the computer.  The best way for me to teach is to go through the experience myself.  Here I go...

Quest Atlantis - Quests completed.

I am getting further along in Quest Atlantis and have completed quests.  I even wrote a poem!  I haven't written a poem for years. 

I think that this is going to be an amazing thing for the students to use.  I think all community members of my school will be thrilled to find out about this and to use it.  This gets me excited about my Action Research.

I have three more PD sessions to complete.  The next one is tomorrow night.  I look forward to learning more about how this can be used to blend gaming, real life situations, and academic standards all in the pursuit to increase student engagement and achievement.

BP11_Mindmeister

BP10_Comment_on_Pam's_Blog

Follow this link to see my comments on Pam Holifield's review.

PB9_Comment_to_Jason_Reed

Follow this link to see what I said about Jason's find.