Teaching Literature, Technology

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

10 Comments

Using an idea from Chris Renino in Shakespeare Set Free and Chris Shamburg, my students created a radio play of Macbeth 4.1, in which the witches prepare the “hell broth.” Take a listen:

Download Macbeth 4.1

Nuts and bolts:

  • We used GarageBand on my Mac. One of my students knew how to produce the echo effect. I think Audacity would work, too, but I’m not sure if it has all the effects GarageBand has.
  • We did two run-throughs without recording before we did the recording. We were happy with our first recording, so we used it as our final.
  • The crunching leaves were created by potato chips in a bowl.
  • We used a large vase with water to make the cauldron noises.
  • Students created the howling winds and dogs.

It was totally awesome! The students loved it, I loved it, and we had fun.

Update: 11/12/09 at 7:29 P.M.: I am adding the podcast created by my other British Lit. class. This particular podcast was created by only four students (as opposed to the other, which was created by 17 students). Considering their small numbers, I think it turned out extremely well. We had to use multiple tracks and do more cutting and editing, both of which made this particular recording more of a challenge.

Download Macbeth 4.1

10 thoughts on “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble”

  1. Dana,

    That audio was terrific. Your students did a great job. Will you be posting more?

    If you're interested, I have a few links below.

    This is a Macbeth rap from flocabulary.com

    My 10th graders created these movie trailers based on short stories they had written. They used Windows Movie Maker and Audacity
    http://www.berkeley.k12.sc.us/webpages/DCady/inde…

    My 9th graders created these audio podcasts last year based on novels. They used Audacity.
    http://www.berkeley.k12.sc.us/webpages/DCady/inde…

    Thanks for sharing the work of your students,

    Don

    1. Thanks for the links, Don. I'll check those out. I was really proud of their work. We had a lot of fun today making the radio play. I'm not sure if I'll be posting more. It depends on some choices they make on their final project and whether or not they give me permission. I had their permission to share this (plus, no identifying information was posted).

  2. Please tell your students that I listened to this at about midnight, when I was the only one in the house who was up, and it really creeped me out!!!! Excellent!

  3. Dana:

    As always you leave me in awe. What an awesome idea and what great effects.

    Thanks for sharing.

    -PP

  5. Awesome!

    I'm just starting to experiment with podcasting with my AP students, and my juniors are in the middle of reading Macbeth this week. I might have to try something like this, too.

    What a great scene to play with, too.

  6. Just wanted to say that I love this idea! Also, I don't have a Mac or any sound editing software but I checked out Audacity as mentioned in earlier postings….looks pretty neat and totally appropriate for the classroom! So thanks for two great ideas!

  8. Very, very cool. I bet the kids will remember this section of Macbeth forever now! I'm going to have to try something like this when we start Macbeth this winter. Thanks for sharing!

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