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Lesson plan · Grades 9-12 · 50 minutes

Beat Lab

I can build a beat, add a bassline in a key, and arrange my loops into a short track with a clear build.

▶ Open the tool Download the tool
Standard
MU:Cr2 NCAS
Shape
Model, then make
Grouping
Whole class for the model, then students alone or in pairs on devices.
You need
The tool on the projector and on every student device. Headphones for every student (splitters let pairs share).
Tool
curioclass.org/tools/beat-lab/
  1. Hook5 min
  2. Model12 min
  3. Make22 min
  4. Share7 min
  5. Exit check4 min

Before class

  • Test headphones and volume on one device. The tool saves itself on each device, so pairs should keep the same machine.
  • Load the House demo on the projector and play it once to check the sound.
  • Write the brief on the board: an 8-bar track, at least two patterns, one moment where the energy drops and comes back.

Hook 5 min

  1. Play the House demo with Pump at zero, then turn Pump up. "What changed in the feel?" (The synths duck on every kick, so it breathes and bounces.)
  2. "Every track you know is built from short loops that come and go. Today you build one."

Model 12 min

  1. Load a fresh track. Press play: the starter is a kick on every beat. In the Channel rack, add hats with Fill (every eighth), then put the Snare on steps 5 and 13. "Why does the snare on 2 and 4 make people nod?" (It's the backbeat.)
  2. Right-click a hat step to make a ghost note, then turn up Swing. Ask what it does to the groove.
  3. Open the Piano roll, pick Bass, and click in a bassline that lands with the kick. Point out that scale lock keeps every row in the key.
  4. Open Sounds and press Use kit on Lo-fi, then on Trap. "Same pattern, different kit. Did the genre change?"
  5. Go to Song: copy the beat into pattern A and put the bass in B. Lay them out so the bass drops out for two bars and comes back. Play it in SONG mode.

Make 22 min

  1. Students build their own 8-bar track to the brief. The Producer missions in the left panel are a guide for anyone stuck.
  2. Check in at about 10 minutes: "Play me your groove. Where is your drop?"
  3. At 18 minutes, everyone moves to the Mixer: balance the levels so no part buries another, and try the Filter sweep into the drop.
  4. Finished tracks: Export WAV (in SONG mode) or Save file for the project.

Share 7 min

  1. Three or four volunteers play their track on the projector.
  2. Listeners name one choice that worked and where the energy changed: "the hats came in at bar 5", "the filter sweep before the drop".

Exit check 4 min

On a sticky note or in the class form: "Name one thing you changed to make a loop feel different, and why you changed it." Notes that only say "it sounded better" show who needs the vocabulary (backbeat, swing, layer, drop) again.

Support and stretch

  • Support: start from a Demo tracks loop and change one layer at a time instead of building from empty.
  • Support: keep the Snare on 5 and 13 and the kit fixed, and focus only on the arrangement.
  • Stretch: add a Chords part with Chord stamp and write a lead line with Record armed, playing the letter keys.
  • Stretch: record a sample (a beatboxed snare or a word) and play it as a Sampler in the piano roll.

Short on time

  • Hook with the Pump demo (3 min), then model only the beat and the Snare backbeat (7 min).
  • Students make one 4-bar loop with a kit swap (8 min), and two share (2 min).

How each button works is in the teacher notes. From Curio Class, free under CC BY 4.0: change it, print it, share it.