Week 1: Loops and Layering
Unit: Loops and Layering
Welcome to Music Technology. Monday is a digital learning day you complete from home: the syllabus, the About Me activity, and a BrainPOP lesson on sound waves. Tuesday through Friday are early-release days, so each lesson is sized to fit a shorter period. You get set up on the classroom Macs and in Soundtrap, then start making music immediately — no instrument required. You dig through Soundtrap’s loop library on a scavenger hunt, share your best set with the class, and learn what separates four loops piled on top of each other from an arrangement.
Weekly Schedule
| Day | Date | Topic | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mon 10/12 | Digital Learning Day: Syllabus, About Me, and Sound Waves | From home: read the syllabus, complete About Me in CTLS, and do the BrainPOP Sound Waves lesson. |
| 2 | Tue 10/13 | Welcome to Music Technology | Log in to the Macs, go over class procedures, and set up Soundtrap. |
| 3 | Wed 10/14 | Soundtrap Loop Scavenger Hunt | Explore the Sound library and build five projects, each with four loops that fit together. |
| 4 | Thu 10/15 | Finish the Scavenger Hunt | Finish the hunt, turn in your worksheet, and pick the one set you will share. |
| 5 | Fri 10/16 | Layering and Dynamics | Share one loop set with the class, then rebuild it so the loops enter over time and stay balanced. |
Graded Assignments
- About Me (Monday, from home) — Complete the About Me activity in CTLS.
- BrainPOP — Sound Waves (Monday, from home) — The quiz is a daily grade.
- Loop Scavenger Hunt (due Thursday 10/15) — Five Soundtrap projects, four loops in each, every loop name and project name on your worksheet.
Late work will receive a one-time 20 point deduction.
Week 2 Preview
Next week you finish the loops unit by choosing loops by category and genre, then start making beats: the parts of a drum kit, a beat built from individual loops, what MIDI is, and your own drum pattern in Soundtrap’s Patterns Beatmaker. By Friday you play a beat on a MIDI controller and clean up the timing with quantization.