I just got done reading throught the One Best Thing iBook book "From Pachelbel to iPad: Student-Performed GarageBand Concerts". This book is about Daniel J. Laubacher ( www.danieljlaubacher.com) who teachers music and technology through a one-to-one iPad program to middle school students. He discovered that students with little instrumental knowledge can create music and even play Pachelbel's Canon in D Major while understanding some of then fundemntal principles of harmony, structure, tempo, and key using GarageBand. (appsto.re/us/zQgxy.i)
The first step through this process he took was setting up the iPad. Before you can really start the process of understanding the fundamentals we first must look at the key the instruments are in and also change the tempo that garage band has. Then you must configure the sounding tracks of the Bass, Smart Strings, Guitar, and solo string parts. For the stings you only need to set up two tracks. One for strings parts 1-4 and a second track for string parts 5-6. He used the Hollywood Strings keyboard instrument sound, which goes quite well with the pizzicato and arch sounds of the Smart Strings.
First the Bass line is heard alone at the start of Pachelbel's Canon. It's eight notes over two bars in the abbreviated arrangement is performed a total of eight times, concluding with a final low D (D1) note. The bass is the spine of the piece and must be played very steadily and not speeding up (44 bpm).
For the Smart Guitar the part consists of two bar eight chord progression: D-A-Bm-F#m/ G-D-G-A. After the bass plays it's entrance then the Smart Guitar enters. The chord progression will repeat a total of six times, with it ending on a D chord. You can either play the full chord or "strum" the guitar or even use a picking technique to add more to the mix.
For the Smart Strings the part will enter two bars after the bass line with the Smart Guitar. The part is meant to be more of a harmonic fill, to support the rhythmic quality of the Smart Guitar and to add a build up.
For the Smart Strings the part will enter two bars after the bass line with the Smart Guitar. The part is meant to be more of a harmonic fill, to support the rhythmic quality of the Smart Guitar and to add a build up.
Some other ways to further develop the music making is to change the instruments. Allow the students to use different guitars to express themselves and what sounds they enjoy. Add instruments like drums to excite the sound. Record the project so you can show others your creation and you can even over record if necessary. You can use jam session to add real live element to the music. Or even add real instruments to add a new sound to previously recorded songs.
If you want to get in contact with Dr. Laubacher you can find his website at http://www.danieljlaubacher.com/