This term we've started a brand-new project working with students at the Fenland Junction Pupil Referral Unit. Our team of musicians (including violinist Manon Derome, viola player Kate Musker, cellist Julia Vohralik and workshop leader Simon Gunton), have been teaching the pupils some songwriting skills using GarageBand software to make some seriously cool sounds!
For our first couple of sessions, we've been focussing on getting to grips with GarageBand, learning how to record real live instrumental tracks in from musicians who really have worked with the stars, and creating our very own songs and film soundtracks!
Using GarageBand's pre-recorded samples of both melodies and beats, we started the sessions by encouraging pupils to have a go at creating a song from scratch, building up their own soundworlds with layers of rhythm and melody. Having done that, we then started recording live music clips from our musicians, introducing "classical" sounds to the mix. Not many of the pupils realised how much live music there is in the songs they hear on the radio every day, and definitely enjoyed the opportunity to have a melody in their own song played by someone who had just finished recording with Corinne Bailey Rae!
For our next few sessions, we'll be exploring how to really get the most out of live music mixed into tracks, what special effects the instruments can do, and how the students can start making music of their own!
Keep watching this space for much more to come...
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