out boomwhackers and have them perform the melody. Song Maker uses the colors that are closely related to boomwhacker colors. In addition, the music educator can show a visualiza- tion of beat subdivisions by creating a song in a simple, triple meter and having the “Settings” show “Beats per bar 3/Split beats into 1” (see Figure 4). Have the stu- dents or the teacher create a melody when the notes will appear as dotted half notes. Then go back into the “Settings” and change “Split beats into 3”. The melody now changes and shows the subdivision within each measure. In a 1:World class-
Figure 4: Song Maker
room setting, have the students create a melody and rhythm in a guided form, such as ABA coda, or AABB.
Sharing the Song: When finished, click the “Save” button and the app will generate a link. The students can share this link on your music classroom’s Facebook or Twitter page. You can also copy the embed code to embed in a music classroom webpage. Finally, the students can copy the link and email you the link (if you do not share your email address with your students, consider setting up a gmail account just for students to send you work, ie
examplemusicteacherschoolexample@gmail.com), place the link on their Seesaw journal, or place the link on their Google classroom. Finally, share the link with another el- ementary music classroom and have the students collabo- rate and comment on each other’s musical work.
Groove Pizza (
https://apps.musedlab.org/groove-
pizza/) Groove Pizza is a music creation app that can be found
in the MusEDLab (
musedlab.org). Led and researched by Alex Ruthmann, “The NYU Music Experience Design Lab (MusEDLab) researches and designs new technolo- gies and experiences for music making learning and en- gagement together with students, educators, non-profit, and industry partners” (NYU, 2017). MusEDLab has six
TEMPO 40
apps that promote creativity with music, but the one I mainly focus on is Groove Pizza.
Elementary students can experiment with creat- ing looping drumbeats using mathematics in the forms of shapes and angles. One of the lessons that I enjoy is to have the students use one of the special loops called, “ROCK YOU” (see Figure 5). The first part of the loop is the drumbeat found in the song, “We Will Rock You,” written by Brian May and recorded by Queen. The loop is based on the shape of a rectangle (see Figure 6). The students can create more loops for the other three measures based on other shapes and then they compare and contrast the loops.
Once finished, the newly
created loops can be exported as a MIDI or audio file that can be opened in any notation software or digital audio workstation (DAW). It also can be automatically opened in Soundtrap by tapping the “CONTINUE IN SOUNDTRAP” button. Since we have the EDU version of Soßundtrap, the students can now add a track where they record themselves play- ing “We will, we will rock you” on the recorder, boom- whacker, or Orff instrument using the notes C B A G A A. In Soundtrap, the students can collaborate with other students in other music classes found in the same school or around the country.
Figure 6: Rectangle Loop These five examples show a way to enhance, engage,
or extend how to teach a musical concept or integration across the curriculum in an elementary music classroom with one device or 1:World devices. There are many more apps and websites that music educators can access or have their students access to enhance, engage, or extend their lessons. These apps and websites do not need to be uti-
MAY 2018
Figure 5: ROCK YOU
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