Apple - Education - K12 - Digital Authoring

GarageBand in Education

Ignite learning with music and podcasting

GarageBand, part of the iLife ’08 suite of digital authoring applications, provides an incredibly easy, affordable, and exciting way to bring music and podcasting into the classroom.

With GarageBand, students of all ages can create original songs, produce media-rich podcasts, develop background music for their digital movies and slideshows, and capture oral readings for assessment. GarageBand brings a new dimension in learning to projects in all subject areas.

Podcasting made simple

It’s a snap to create professional-quality podcasts with GarageBand, with no other software needed. Students can record audio for a podcast by plugging in a microphone or using the one built in to the computer. They can enliven the audio by selecting from hundreds of special effects and jingles and by adding images, presentation slides, video, or music via the Media Browser.

GarageBand will adjust the podcast’s sound quality and volume levels — it can even automatically lower background music when someone is speaking. Students can then publish their finished podcast directly to a web page using iWeb and a MobileMe* account and even submit their podcast to the iTunes Store.

Learn more about podcasting in education.

GarageBand Lesson Plans

Visit the Apple Learning Interchange to access educator-created GarageBand lesson plans for all grade levels and subject areas.

*MobileMe is available to persons age 13 and older. Annual subscription fee and Internet access required. Terms and conditions apply.

Create music with easy-to-use tools

With GarageBand, students have access to a digital recording studio with over 100 professional-sounding instruments, as well as amps, effects, and editing tools. With no musical training, they can create original music by simply combining a series of Apple prerecorded loops. Or, they can plug in a guitar, keyboard, or microphone and record their own music.

To make composing even easier, the new Magic GarageBand feature provides students with a virtual stage where they can choose a band and instruments to create songs in a variety of styles. Magic GarageBand also provides students a fundamental understanding of the many different types of instruments used in music, playing styles, and how they might be used to arrange and build a song.

Students can view and print full musical notation of their compositions, add them as soundtracks for their digital projects, or export them to iTunes and create their own music CDs.