Theory, Practice, and Digital Apps

Digital App: BandLab https://www.bandlab.com/

I started using this software with my classes during the pandemic. Its structure is like a collaborative Garage Band. Different users can be working on the same project in real time. You can record, compose, make arrangements, create audio and engage with a community of online music producers. 

A sample learning activity I have done with BandLab is to have students work in small ensembles of 4 to 5 and record their parts into the software. Each student will take a recording of their own part and add it into the project. Their job as a group is to ensure all the timings lineup, and that the levels are balanced. Finally, they are to export the song and share it to the online classroom, where their classmates can listen to their track. Students can use their own devices to record their individual parts, a recording program such as Audacity, or record directly into the BandLab project.

I originally got this idea when I was doing B.Ed during the pandemic and we wanted to create a track for our Music professor at the end of our program. We selected a piece he had performed to us and changed the lyrics to dedicate it to him. I first recorded the piano part and put the audio in. Then, each person in the class recorded themselves singing to the track. Lastly, somebody edited all the parts together, adjusted the balance, and exported the song with our own album art creation. Back then, BandLab could have about 10 collaborators before it started to bug out, but it now advertises up to 50 collaborators. Though I have not used the program very recently, it does open up more opportunities for collaborating if this software can now sustain more users on it at a time.