Name of Lesson: American Composer Podcast

Grade Level: 4 Subject: Music Prepared by: John Potosnak Overview and Purpose: This lesson will teach students how to create a podcast on an iPad using the GarageBand App. They will also learn about the history of American music by researching one composer and by listening to student created podcasts about other American composers. National Standards for Music Education 6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music. 8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts. 9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

Demonstrate knowledge of an American composer through the creation of a podcast. use Spotify to locate and listen to recordings by a specific composer. summarize researched information into a biography. plan and write a podcast on an assigned topic. record, edit and structure audio in GarageBand. critique classmates podcasts through written comments.

Materials Needed: iPads (1 per group) Projector/white board Worksheet of questions to be researched GarageBand App Spotify App Google Docs

Information: Give and/or demonstration necessary information This project will take multiple class periods to complete. During the first class the students will listen to a teacher created example podcast.

The following composers will be researched: Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Scott Joplin, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and Samuel Barber. At the beginning of each class a portion of the activity will be demonstrated to the class (iPad will be projected on board for demonstrations). Day 1: What is a podcast? Researching the composer on iPad and searching for music on Spotify. Day 2: Using Google docs to type biography. Day 3: Creating a song in Garageband, how to set up an audio recording for podcast. Day 4: Importing audio file into Garageband, how to edit and structure audio. Day 5: How to share podcast to iTunes. Teacher will review demonstrations with individual groups/class as needed.

Verification: Steps to check for student understanding

Teacher will monitor group work and check each groups progress and understanding multiple times per class. Students research and written biographies will need to be approved by the teacher before students begin creating the podcast. Before final step, teacher will listen to students podcast and recommend ways to enhance the performance. Each group will be required to listen to other classmates podcast and comment on classroom blog.

Activity: Describe activity that will reinforce the lesson 1 2 Students will be placed in groups of three. Each group will be assigned an American composer. Students will conduct research using iPads and answer the following questions about their composer: When and where was the composer born? What was the first instrument the composer learned? How old were they when they learned their first instrument? Why/how did the composer become interested in music? What style of music did the composer write? Why did they prefer this style of music? List two historical events that impacted the composers life in someway (big or small). List 3 major compositions written by the composer. What instruments were the compositions written for (example: an orchestra, solo piano, flute and piano, voice, etc.) List 3 interesting and unique facts about the composers life. When did the composer die and at what age? Students will use Spotify to research the composers music and select three of their favorite pieces (to be used in the podcast).

Once the research is complete students will use google docs to type a short biography about their composer (The answered questions should be restated in complete sentences for this biography). 5 Teacher will check and approve written biography. 6 Students will use Garageband to record their written biography as an informational podcast. 7 Each student should read/record a section of the biography. Recordings will be done in the hallway to avoid background noise. 8 Once the recording is done students will add three audio clips of the composers compositions. (Clips should be no more than 30 seconds) 9 The audio samples should be placed throughout the podcast (in-between speaking). Teacher will demonstrate how to import music, split tracks, shorten audio files, and set volume levels. 10 Once the podcast is complete students should share to iTunes. 11 Completed podcasts will be played for the class and posted on the classroom music blog. 12 Groups will comment on other students podcast on the classroom blog.