Soundation: Creation, Collaboration, & Evaluation
Soundation: Creation, Collaboration, & Evaluation
Soundation: Creation, Collaboration, & Evaluation
Soundation is an excellent free online tool along the vein of Garage Band that allows users to create and mix their own music. Soundation forces students to use all 5 lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy as it reaches the highest level; creating. The knowledge gained using this interface prepares students to be confortable in using many online tools available today, as well as prepares students for peer collaboration and personal evaluation, valuable skills for any life scenario.Subjects
Music Keywords
collaboration, creative, music, soundation Grades
K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 >12 Objectives:
At the end of this class activity students will be able to:
• Define key components within the Soundation workspace
• Demonstrate understanding of basic Soundation functions including dragging/dropping samples, looping samples, layering samples, and importing/exporting files from/to appropriate locations
• Discuss sample choices with peers defending inclusion or exclusion of sample with regards to the overall musical theme of the composition
• Create an original song using Soundation samples with 5 or more audio channels, one or more voice channels, and 2-3 minutes in length
Materials:
• Enough working computers for all the students
• Internet access
• Headphones
Ben Witter
About the author
I am a teacher of music. I like Macs and Mopars.
Procedure:
• Students will watch a teacher demonstration explaining the basic functions of Soundation
• Students will explore the functionality of Soundation, experimenting with samples and loops, asking questions to the teacher when unclear
• Students will begin creating their own song using the free samples provided, choosing samples based on personal preferences
• Students will collaborate with peers, and the teacher in some instances, to determine what sounds best and if their song meets all the criteria
• Students will export their song as a .wav file to the appropriate location
• Students will share their compositions with the rest of the class
• Students will discuss and rate the final products of their peers
Assessment:
See attached rubric
Technology:
Soundation is an online music studio that allows users to record, add loops, and mix their own sounds to create professional sounding songs (http://soundation.com).
Reflection:
• Student: The students will fill out a brief questionnaire based on their personal experience with the program and their thoughts on their final product, including likelihood of using this program on their own time. (See attachment)
• Teacher: Based on the process and the final products, and taking into account the personal reflections of the students, the teacher will determine if any step needs to be tweaked or expanded on and revise the lesson accordingly. If many students had difficulty with particular parts or aspects of the process, more time and explanation should be devoted to those trouble areas.
Audience:
My target audience is my 7/8 grade computers class, comprised of 56 students split between 2 classes.
Making Connections:
The learner will make connections with the assignment based on the following:
• Previous knowledge: Students know what they like and dislike musically speaking and they will compose a song based on those preferences. They also have some familiarity with the interface based on an online paint program we have used earlier this year; Sumo Paint.
• Relevance: I am asking them to create their own music based on their own preferences, it can’t get much more personal or relevant than that. I will not have to worry about lyrics, as Soundation is almost exclusively instrumental in nature. Some students will explore this site further on their own time and may even sign up for an account to save projects to work on later.
• Audience: The first obvious audience is the teacher, when they turn it in for an assessment. The second audience is their peers. The audience would grow exponentially after that if they choose to share their compositions with their parents or other students not in the class. Soundation allows for online publishing of compositions, very similar to Sound Cloud, where the students can publish their songs on the Soundation site or embed their song on a personal webpage or networking site.