It is so important that we ‘meet students where they live’. Learning needs to be relevant and help students to make connections to their lives, interests, and experiences.
GarageBand for iPad has been a vital part of achieving this in my music classes.
This activity gives students a hands-on introduction to creating modern pop songs in the style of artists they love—and using just four chords!
The C-G-Am-F chord progression is used in lots of modern pop songs and in other styles of music. It’s a great starting point for students to begin creating their own songs with GarageBand. It gives them a fun and positive first experience as music creators.
Writing songs with GarageBand for iPad makes music making easy and possible for all students, no matter their experience. The more they create, the more they learn. Students can then add more instruments to their track and to truly make it their own.
They can craft their songs with sparkling and soaring synth leads, ambient layers of chords on keyboard, punchy electronic drums, and deep resonant basses. make it They can make their creation sound just like the songs of their favourite artists, such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, or more!
Once students know how to write a song using the C-G-Am-F chord progression in GarageBand, they can take the next step:
- Students can explore song structure by duplicating Section A. They can add or delete track regions to build a more exciting arrangement.
- They can add a melody using other touch instruments. Or write lyrics and sing a melody over their song by adding an audio recorder track.
- They can even reorder and rearrange and the four chords to create something new!
Writing a song with GarageBand doesn’t have to stay in the music classroom. Students can use the C-G-Am-F chord progression to make songs for video projects in iMovie or Clips, for podcasts with GarageBand, or in a Keynote or other class project across any subject area.
You can learn how to bring music making with GarageBand for iPad to your classroom using the Everyone Can Create Project ‘Write Your First Song'.
Learn how, and explore more Everyone Can Create Projects >
June 11, 2025 .
English
You caught me with your first sentence Eoin! Although I'm not a music teacher I'm always so impressed with the way you connect your students to music creation on GarageBand. And "meeting students where they live" is important to all disciplines. Thanks for explaining how you do it with music.
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