GarageBand is the perfect app for differ-
entiation in music composition. Novice or
experienced students can create and com-
pose music in all genres. Smart instruments
available in this app allow everyone to learn
about rhythmic patterns, chord progressions, and different
styles of music with strings, guitar, or keyboard instruments.
The keyboard instruments engage students in learning
notes and playing music with all the scales and modes.
Students at our school use iPads to become composers
by creating tracks as they record, loop, mix, and engineer
their compositions. They can add, merge, or create short
rhythmic patterns from a variety of instruments or vocals.
They have fun making their own music!
One of my students is especially fond of the bongos. He
sets his own rhythm and programs it to fit right into his
composition. An added benefit is the ability to import a
song and incorporate it into your own project.
Platforms: iOS
Cost: free
Music Made Easy with GarageBand
Here are a few more apps our members recommend for music education:
Discover Musical Instruments: A collection of 60
instruments, pictures, and sound clips to teach music.
iOS; $1.99
Pitch Painter: A musical fingerpainting app offering
a variety of instrumental sounds and scale tunings.
iOS; $3.99
Name that Note: A note quiz for beginners to
virtuosos who want to test their music-reading skills.
iOS; free
Rhythm Cat: An entertaining game that teaches
users to read rhythm notation.
Android, iOS; free
Notion: A music-creation tool that allows users to
compose, edit, and play back scores.
iPad; $14.99
Tempo: A highly accurate metronome to help
musicians keep the beat.
Android, iOS; $1.25 to $1.99
Piano Dust Buster: An app that “listens” to you play
and offers feedback on timing and accuracy.
iOS; free
Wild Chords: An app that helps teach guitar with
tips, tutorials, and suggestions for beginners.
iPad; $24.99
Smart Music: Music software with access to 50
method books and 50,000 skill-building exercises.
iOS; free
Note Squish: A simple game that teaches the
names of the notes on the treble, bass, and C-clef.
iOS; 99 cents.
Percussive: A collection of five instruments—
glockenspiel, kalimba, xylophone, vibraphone,
and marimba. iPad; $1.99
Tonal Energy: Chromatic tuner for musicians playing
a brass, woodwind, or string instrument.
iOS; $3.99
Mary Barringer teaches junior kindergarten through grade 6
at Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School in St. Louis, Missouri.
She has been teaching music for 20 years. She is fascinated
by the evolution of technology and the positive impact it has
made on her music curriculum. She participates in music
workshops, classes, and conferences to keep up to date
with current trends in education.
