My students LOVE my soundtrack project.
Students are tasked to make a soundtrack of either their LIFE or a FAVORITE BOOK. They have to find music, draw an album cover (or create one on the computer) and write a little blurb about why they chose each song they chose. For the soundtrack AT LEAST one song must be created by the student. Some students choose to totally write their own song using the piano/ orff instruments/ etc and I love that!
Some are not quite at that level, however, so I have many tools available to them to help them be successful:
Incredibox- www.incredibox.com Students arrange beatboxing guys to make an awesome song.
Compose Yourself Cards- http://composeyourself.thinkfun.com/home (I bought the cards on Amazon) These cards are AWESOME. Each card is 1 measure (well 4 because they are reversible and see through so they can be flipped both ways). Students arrange how they want and then type their codes into the website and can hear an ORCHESTRA play the song. You can then save as an mp3 or easily share on social media.
Isle of Tune- www.isleoftune.com Students build a city and as a car drives by houses, trees, bushes, etc. the music plays. Each house/ tree/ bush, etc. is a different note or song. Littles LOVE this game!
Dash Robot Xlophone attachment- https://www.makewonder.com/dash This robot is so fun! Students are loving "coding" him to play music. Check out this video of a song a student made for their project. Sorry for the background noise- learning is fun!
SoundTrap- www.soundtrap.com This site is similar to Garage Band and students are loving creating their songs in this site. Check it out!
For the lesson we first listen to songs from a few soundtracks and discuss what we like about them, how they enhance the movie, etc. We also watch movies about how music affects a scene such as this one:
Or this one:
Both take one scene from a popular movie and change the music. Sometimes we watch Animated Movie Horror Trailers as well, but that depends on the class. These movies use creepy music and careful editing to make it appear as if a fun, happy animated movies like Toy Story or Tangled and make them appear like a horror film trailer. Nothing is added besides music but it can really change what one would perceive the movie would be about.
After we discuss soundtracks, the students then have 3 or 4 classes (45 minutes each) to work. They must have a total of 6 songs (more if they choose to work in a group) and be ready to present when they are done. Again, 1 must be created by the student BUT the others can come from youtube, the radio- anywhere (as long as they are school appropriate)! This is such a fun and easy lesson for the end of the year- especially this year when we have testing AND my classroom is disappearing due to construction and I will be on a cart for the last 4 weeks of school. What are your favorite end-of-the-year lessons?