Music for school projects, made for your video

Tracks for school projects

• Quiet under a narrated presentation or slideshow

  Dreamy Trumpet Night · 0:30 · Jazz · Mysterious · 60 BPM

• For a history project with old photos and maps

  Bittersweet Piano Reflection · 2:57 · Classical · Emotional · 81 BPM

• A curious bed for a science or nature explainer

  Uplifting Synthpop Summer · 5:01 · Electronic · Upbeat · 118 BPM

• For the tense middle of a book trailer

  Interstellar Synth Atmospheres · 4:08 · Electronic · Inspiring · 123 BPM

• An upbeat close over the credits and thank you slide

  Pristine Corporate Motion · 6:00 · Corporate · Calm · 112 BPM

Library tracks are free for personal use. Commercial use needs Pro or above. More tracks like these in the music library

Why music helps a school project

A short video can make a school project stand out, and music is one of the easiest ways to make it feel finished. A calm background under your voice makes the video easier to listen to; a little drama in a history project or curiosity in a science video helps your audience understand the mood of the topic. Teachers notice when a video feels put together with care.

The most important rule is that your words come first. Your teacher is grading what you say and show, not the music. Keep the music quiet, simple and steady wherever you are talking, and save louder or more dramatic music for the opening, transitions and ending.

Choosing music for your topic

Match the music to the subject. History projects suit strings, piano and slow drums that feel serious and thoughtful. Science projects suit light electronic music with bright plucks and soft pulses that sound curious. Geography and travel projects suit world percussion and guitar. Projects about nature or the environment suit calm ambient music or gentle piano. Book trailers and literature projects suit cinematic music that builds tension, like a movie trailer.

If your project is about a serious topic, such as a war, a disaster or an illness, choose quiet and respectful music, or leave the music out entirely during the most serious parts. It is better to be too gentle than too dramatic.

• History: strings, piano, slow drums.
• Science and technology: light electronic, curious and bright.
• Literature and book trailers: cinematic, building tension.
• Presentations on any topic: calm modern instrumental with a light beat.

Recording your voice

Record your narration first, in a quiet room, with your phone or laptop close to your mouth. Soft furnishings like curtains, a bed or a sofa help reduce echo. Speak a little slower than you think you need to. Once your voice is recorded and your pictures or clips are in place, add the music last.

Keep the music much quieter than your voice, around a quarter as loud or less. If you are not sure, make it quieter. The speech setting on the create page keeps your narration in the video while the music around it is replaced, and the music has its own volume control before you export.

Timing your slides and clips

Most school project videos are two to five minutes long. If you are showing slides or photos, give each one enough time to be read: five to eight seconds for a slide with text, three to five seconds for a photo. Change slides at the end of a sentence rather than in the middle, so your words and pictures stay together.

Use a short musical moment, two or three seconds, between sections of your project, for example between the introduction, the main points and the conclusion. It helps your audience notice that a new part is starting and gives you a natural place to breathe.

Book trailers and creative projects

Book trailers are a popular English and literature assignment. Treat them like a movie trailer: start quietly with the setting, build tension as you introduce the problem, and end on a big moment with the book title and author on screen. About one minute is usually enough. Do not give away the ending of the book.

For creative projects, such as a short film, a music video for a poem or an animated story, you can use music more freely. Think about how the music should change as the story changes, and end on a clear final chord rather than a fade.

Group projects

Group projects often combine parts recorded by different students, on different devices, in different rooms. The voices will sound different, and some will be louder than others. Steady background music helps tie the parts together, but it also makes differences in volume more obvious. Before adding music, try to bring all the voices to a similar level in your editor.

Agree on one style of music for the whole video, so it feels like a single project rather than several videos stuck together. If each person presents a different section, a short musical moment between sections, with the name of the next speaker on screen, keeps things organized.

Decide who is responsible for the final edit, and leave enough time before the deadline to watch the whole video together. Small problems, like a slide left on screen too long or music that is too loud in one section, are easy to fix the day before and very hard to fix ten minutes before class.

Using music fairly

Many schools teach students to give credit for the images, clips and music they use. Using original music made for your video avoids having to find permission for a famous song. Whatever music you use, it is good practice to add a short credit at the end of your video, along with your sources for facts and images.

If your project will be posted publicly, for example on a school channel or a competition website, check the rules first. Some competitions ask for a list of all music and images used.

A quick checklist before you hand it in

Watch the whole video from start to finish on the device your teacher will use. Check that every word you say can be heard clearly over the music, that slides stay on screen long enough to read, and that the music ends when your video ends rather than stopping suddenly or carrying on over a black screen. Fix any of these and your project will feel much more polished.

How to make music for school projects

1. 1

   Finish your project video

   Record your narration and put your slides, photos or clips in order, then export the video.

2. 2

   Pick a preset

   Choose Presentation bed, History project, Science explainer or Book trailer, or describe your topic in your own words.

3. 3

   Generate and export

   Generate on the create page, where the credit cost is shown before anything runs, then keep the music quieter than your voice before you export.

Questions before you start

Music for other kinds of video