Tool - Incredibox

If you’ve never heard of the Incredibox, then let me be the first to introduce you to it. You’ll thank me - and your students will too. If you have heard of and/or used this incredibly engaging and fun site with your students, then I’m sure you’ll agree.

I first stumbled onto Incredibox about 5 or 6 years ago and I was an instant fan. The site allows users to layer beatboxing, bass and melodic patterns onto unsuspecting, shirtless, tired looking hipsters. When you launch the free web version, you are asked to select from 8 different “songs”. Four of them are free and 4 of them require you to access them on the paid mobile app. If you are an existing MusicFirst Classroom customer, you will find Incredibox in the Resources tab of your site.

Incredibox menu

My personal favorite is “The Love”. Once the song is selected, you can drag various apparel and accessory items onto the 8 unsuspecting, shirtless, tired looking hipsters. Be warned, the shirtless hipsters have nipples!

Each apparel and accessory item is an 8-measure audio loop. You can layer the loops to create very cool sounding songs. You can solo and mute each hipster. You can record your compositions and share them with friends. Your students will absolutely LOVE working with this site and it is a PERFECT gateway to digital audio workstations (DAWs) like Soundtrap, Soundation, and many others. I HIGHLY recommend checking this site out with your students. Use it as an introductory activity for composition, a mini lesson on layering sound, and introduction to beatboxing, or simply a fun activity for your students. You’ll thank me - and your students will too :)