Someday

Project Title: Someday

Subjects Incorporated: Social Studies, English, and Music

Technology Tools: GarageBand, Word Processing, Digital Camera (iSight camera), Comic Life, Internet, Microphone (built in or external microphone)

Age Group: This project was completed by 6th grade students but is adaptable to fit several grades before and above this grade.

Overview: Two local Memphis, TN artists allowed a 6th grade class to write a fourth verse to their song entitled Someday. The students formed small group bands, wrote a new 4th verse, and created a CD front and back cover to depict the song’s meaning. The local artists then chose the winning verse, rerecord the song with the student-generated verse added, and chose the best CD cover.

Learning Objectives:

Student Assigned Projects: Write and record lyrics Create a CD cover

The Process: At the beginning of this project the teacher introduced the song Someday to the students and discussed its lyrics. The students then formed small groups (3 to 4) to create a “band” and collaboratively wrote a new verse.

The school’s instrumental teacher used GarageBand and an acoustic guitar to record an instrumental version of the song for the students. The students wrote lyrics together then used the GarageBand song track to record and submit their verse. (Singing quality was not needed for this project. The teacher reinforced the fact that the content and meaning of the lyrics were the most important aspect of the project.) The local song writers then listened to all the students’ recordings and chose the top 4 winners. The winners were announced on a bulletin board. The musicians then chose the winning verse and recorded the song adding the students’ lyrics. The winning band was then announced and the new song was shared amongst the classes.

The students also used Comic Life to create a cover CD. The students were directed to create a front cover representing the meaning of the song, using image(s), state their band name, and song title. The back cover’s requirement was to display a band photo and the students’ names. The local musicians chose the best CD sleeve and was announced on the bulletin board.