Unleashing creativity on a Chromebook

This program gives students an emotional outlet and creative choice in demonstrating learned content, collaborating, application with higher level thinking skills, plays to different ability levels, musician or non-musician - there's something for everyone. The possibilities are endless! Better yet, teachers don't need to know a lot about music to let the kids loose - it's very user-friendly. The tool seems simple at its base, nestling the intense, advance features deeper into the program in places that make sense for students who are ready for those tools to be able to find and use them.

As I mentioned above, Soundtrap has allowed me and my students to do everything Garage Band did plus more. It has made performance assessments in Chorus and in the instrumental portions of General Music Class so much better and easier for both me and the students. It has allowed us to embark on some really cool collaborative work that would not have been possible otherwise. There are occasionally some glitches that we need to overcome but a quick email to tech support usually solves that or at least brings it to their attention. There are nearly daily updates to Soundtrap and my students love to see the new features each time we log in whether it's a new loop, a new MIDI instrument, or a new visual feature.

Soundtrap is a powerful tool that today’s students can quickly learn to use. The possibilities are really only limited by the teacher’s imagination. Seeing my students work on a project on the desktop computers, then switching to the mobile app when the bell rang so they could share their creations with their friends in the hallway during class change was an eye opener for me. In addition, students are sharing their work with their parents who are fascinated by the work they are doing. In short, Soundtrap gets my students excited about learning and sharing their learning. The technology levels the playing field between my high flyers and those with learning challenges. Students today are digital natives. Soundtrap is an easily adaptable tool for almost any student to create, explore and demonstrate learning. I love it and so do my students!