GarageBand for iPad: a musical result before a mouse would have got there
Touch gets there before a mouse does
GarageBand for iPad is built for fingers. Touch instruments respond like instruments rather than like a screen, and Live Loops lets a student trigger parts and hear an arrangement take shape before they know what an arrangement is. Students reach a musical result faster than they would with a mouse and a piano roll.
Which is exactly what phase one of Learn the DAW needs. Students spend that phase exploring with no instruction at all, and a platform where pressing something sounds good immediately keeps them exploring for longer before they get frustrated and give up.
"A student who enters the tutorial library with a real question will get far more from it than one who just watches from the beginning."
What you need to run it
| Cost | Free from the App Store |
| Runs on | iPad |
| Accounts | None beyond whatever the iPad already uses |
| Headphones | Worth having. Thirty iPads in one room is thirty iPads in one room |
| Moving on | Projects open on a Mac later |
Teacher move: in a one-to-one iPad programme the device goes home, so the unit does too. Phase one works perfectly well as homework, and students turn up to lesson two with questions you did not have to manufacture.
For iPad classes and one-to-one programmes
Learn the DAW is the same unit on six platforms. Students tinker before anyone explains anything, work out what they cannot do, then raid a library of short How To clips to answer their own question. The five phases are set out in full on the unit page, and they do not change when the software does.
If your school has iPads and Macs, use both courses rather than choosing. Students can start here and finish in GarageBand for macOS when they want a keyboard and a proper interface, and the project travels with them.
The GarageBand for iPad How To library
Each clip covers one technique, made on an iPad rather than translated from the desktop version. Students watch only the ones that answer the question they wrote down. Nobody starts at video one. This list comes straight from the course, so it stays current as clips are added. Access is via subscription.
1Teacher Guide1 lesson
2GarageBand for iPad 'Recreate' Tutorials7 lessons
3GarageBand for iPad 'How to' Tutorials31 lessons
Common questions
Is GarageBand free on iPad?
Yes. It is a free download from the App Store and needs no subscription. For a one-to-one iPad programme that makes it the shortest path to a whole class making music.
Why is touch better for this than a laptop?
Touch instruments and Live Loops get students to a musical result faster than a mouse and a piano roll do. In phase one, when they are exploring with no instruction, hearing something good early is the point.
Can students move a project to a Mac later?
GarageBand projects move from iPad to Mac, which is useful if a class starts on iPads and finishes somewhere with a keyboard and a proper interface. The macOS course covers what changes when they get there.
Is this the same course as GarageBand for macOS?
No. They are separate courses because the software is genuinely different. Pick the one matching the devices in the room, and use both if your school has both.
You may also like
Learn the DAW
The five phases, the assessment and all six platforms in one place.
Read moreGarageBand for macOS
The desktop version, already on every Mac. A separate course.
Read moreRecreate
The tutorials students follow in phase four, across every platform.
Read moreReady to run GarageBand for iPad with your classes?
Everything above is ready to go the moment you subscribe. No setup, no printing, no hunting for parts.
GarageBand for iPad is included in Music Tech Pack & Full Access.