Top 10 Reasons to use Loop-Based Music Software in Music Class

Why use loop-based composition software in a music class?
Here are 10 reasons:

1. Students don't need prior knowledge of music fundamentals (though this knowledge certainly helps)
2. It is empowering when students are working on "real" music in their own way.
3. It is empowering because students can work on projects for "real world" purposes. (ie..creating music for school functions, websites; podcasting)
4. It is empowering because students can export their work as Mp3 files and share them on the web or put them on their i-pods where their name comes up as "the artist"
5. Music class becomes inextricably linked with technology which means two budgets feed the program.
6. All Music Standards can be taught in some way using loop-based composition
7. Students love it.
8. The software is fairly inexpensive given the possibilities
9. Independent work allows for one-on-one interaction between teacher and student. Perfect for differentiating learning.
10. Public Relations: When students talk up their experiences with loop-based composition, they spread the word that something exciting is happening in music at school (beyond the band and choral programs.)

More about Garageband
More about Sony Acid. Using Sony Acid to teach Song Form

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AudioCubes Provide Intriguing Possibilities for Music/Sound Production

Have you seen or tried AudioCubes?  If not, you are in for a treat. I was recently contacted by Bert Schiettecatte, founder of Percussa BVBA who asked me to take a look.  Though my schedule was busy, I was intrigued by what I saw and heard.  As a Music Educator who teaches in a middle school music technology lab, I saw potential for these sound/music making devices immediately.  Here are Bert's responses to questions I asked about AudioCubes.  I encourage anyone working in music, music education and/or electronic music to check these out.

Do  you see Audiocubes being used in schools as part of music education programs? How so?
BS: Yes, sure. In fact, there are already several schools who are using
the AudioCubes, at several levels. In higher education, Full Sail
University, the University of New Mexico and Berklee college of music
are just some examples of schools who have been using AudioCubes since
the beginning. Student artists use AudioCubes for sound design,
composition, live performance .... but also for research and teaching
/ education.

In lower education, and specifically in STEM education, kids as young
as 10 years old are using the AudioCubes, to experiment with sound and
music and learn about technology and science at the same time. Check
out http://land.percussa.com/audiocubes-music-education/

Why use Audiocubes over another music/sound production app?
What is compelling about your product?

BS: AudioCubes are unique in that they allow you to directly interact with
a piece of data or behaviour directly through a physical object
without pointing or clicking. The data or function is already there in
your working or living environment, because it is represented by a
physical object. This is apparent in these two software applications
which I developed the past year, called Improvisor and Evolvor:
http://land.percussa.com/audiocubes-evolvor and
http://land.percussa.com/audiocubes-improvisor

For live performers, AudioCubes are great because they make a
performance instantly visual, and gestural, and allow for audience
interaction. If you bring your live laptop setup and AudioCubes, you
don't need to bring a VJ necessarily. If it's a small performance, the
audience understands what you do through AudioCubes, and if it's a
large performance, you can put a camera on what you're doing with the
AudioCubes and you instantly have impressive visuals.

For sound designers, you can easily create and shape sounds simply
using your hands and fingers and one or two AudioCubes. You can learn
more about that at
http://land.percussa.com/create-sounds-using-your-hands-and-audiocubes/
for example. The cubes can be easily connected via MIDI to your
favourite effects or instruments, hardware or software. Each cube
senses distances in 4 directions, so you can easily control up to 8
parameters simultaneously, even if you have just 2 hands, using the
cubes.

For composers, we've created a generative music application, which I
already mentioned: Improvisor. The app lets you play back different
loops of notes and velocity patterns, and each loop is connected to a
cube automatically. Putting cubes next to each other will apply
transformations to the loops (such as adding loops from 2 cubes) so
you get totally new music. You can then send the notes via MIDI where
you want.

This is just scratching the surface - there are so many ways to use
AudioCubes, and we try to show this each week on our blog at
http://www.percussa.com/blog

Why would music students like this?

BS: Because new human computer interfaces allow new ways to interact with
computers, software and data, which gives rise to new sound and new
kinds of music, and makes the whole process feel less like "work" and
more like "play".

What's in line for the future?

BS: I'm working on more software which lets you use AudioCubes without
necessarily having to do MIDI or OSC mapping, and which generates
sound by itself. The most recent app I have been working on is a free
and open source FM synthesizer for audiocubes and Max4Live (the
development environment in Ableton Live, using Max/MSP by Cycling74).
We're also starting a mailing list which will be a great way for the
community to have more regular discussions about AudioCubes.

Very cool stuff!  I believe that Bert and Percussa are on to something-especially since the way one interacts with the cubes adds a dimension to the sound creation process.  

Prediction:  In the future, schools will not only have regular Concert and Marching Bands, they will have "iBands" that will include app-driven sound creation devices like AudioCubes, iPads and the like.  That's a cool future.

Should School Music Classes Go "I-Phone"

"The iPhone may be the first instrument —electronic or acoustic — that millions of people will carry in their pockets."

That being said should they be used in school music classes? Professor Wang thinks so.
http://bit.ly/5ApJNv

The i-Phone As A Musical Instrument

Ever since Apple opened up the i-Phone, apps for it seem to crop up daily. I don't think too many people saw this one coming: The i-Phone-As-Musical-Instrument. True enough, this app "senses" the pressure of one's breath on the microphone. Digital keys show up (in the classic ocarina pattern) on the face allowing an individual to play the i-Phone. Really! Check it out.

How to Grab Flash Videos From a Website

If you're using tools to create digital music, chances are you're well positioned to begin experimenting with video (or you already are using free and easy tools such as windows movie maker.) In a recent post, I wrote about programs that will allow you to download, rip and/or convert video formats.

Another possibility exists in Vixy.net, an online video conversion service where all you need to do is supply the URL of a video file and indicate what format you want to convert to. When you submit a URL, it will download and convert to the video format, and then you can download the converted file.

Then what? How about adding in some of your own (or mixed) music to create new content?

You Tube, Toddlers and The Future of Music

Digital technology has made it easy to create new works from existing art, but copyright law has yet to catch up.

In early February 2007, Stephanie Lenz's 13-month-old son started dancing. Pushing a walker across her kitchen floor, Holden Lenz started moving to the distinctive beat of a song by Prince, "Let's Go Crazy." He had heard the song before. The beat had obviously stuck. So when Holden heard the song again, he did what any sensible 13-month-old would do -- he accepted Prince's invitation and went "crazy" to the beat. Holden's mom grabbed her camcorder and, for 29 seconds, captured the priceless image of Holden dancing, with the barely discernible Prince playing on a CD player somewhere in the background.

Valerie Sinclair

Ms. Lenz wanted her mother to see the film. But you can't easily email a movie. So she did what any citizen of the 21st century would do: She uploaded the file to YouTube and sent her relatives and friends the link. They watched the video scores of times. It was a perfect YouTube moment: a community of laughs around a homemade video, readily shared with anyone who wanted to watch.

Sometime over the next four months, however, someone from Universal Music Group also watched Holden dance. Universal manages the copyrights of Prince. It fired off a letter to YouTube demanding that it remove the unauthorized "performance" of Prince's music. YouTube, to avoid liability itself, complied. A spokeswoman for YouTube declined to comment.

Read the rest of this excellent article by Lawrence Lessig at the Wall Street Journal.

Stream Your Own Music With Twango

In the last post, I recommended Seeqpod as a useful tool to help you embed music on a webpage or in a blog. While there is plenty music to choose from there, Seeqpod can't help you embed your own music.

Which got me searching for ways to do this. It took half a day to discover (to me) an acceptable solution. I signed up for a half dozen accounts at as many sites claiming to offer this ability but there were always MAJOR flaws. The worst was the need for a particular program to upload your entire music library to an online database. Really? This could take literally take days given the size of some libraries.

What I discovered, so far thankfully, is Twango (now called OVI). Twango lets you do exactly what I wanted:
1-To upload a recording (one at a time or multiple files of you like)
2-To create a stream of each separate recording.
3-To provide embed options for websites and blogs.

For musicians in particular, who want to share their own music but want to limit downloads, I believe this service (which is free) is a gem.

The Future And MySpace Music

MySpace Music is set to launch sometime next week. It will offer free streams of full-length tracks from all the major labels, legitimizing the advertising-supported model that is beginning to challenge iTunes’ pay-per-download approach. It will be more akin to a subscription model like Rhapsody’s, but without the subscription.

The big unanswered question is whether MySpace Music will pay music labels lower prices (or simply accept a share of MySpace Music’s revenues). The music industry desperately needs a new digital business model. There is no question about that. But if the labels are going to allow MySpace Music to pay less per stream or not at all, and they themselves are joint venture partners in MySpace Music, that will open them up to charges of preferential pricing, collusion, and price discrimination.

Read more at TechCrunch.

Marketing Music To Kids

Some bands know how to have fun. Kids love to have fun. That's why fun bands eventually make albums for kids. The latest band to do just that is the Barenaked Ladies and the album is called Snacktime. The result is a win-win situation. Young kids learn, older kids appreciate the humor and the Barenaked Ladies have (had) a blast making the album.

It's absolutely brilliant and every Mom, Dad and teacher should own a copy. Here's a video using the music from the song "7,8,9" from that album.

Finding Cool Wave Files

One of the projects we do is a "found sound" project. Using the internet, we search for wave files that we can use and incorporate them into original compositions.

Here are some human generated sounds that work quite well. Other sounds can be found in the following categories-human, natural, animal, music and entertainment at amazing sounds.

Vehicles

Car

car1.wav cardooropen.wav carscreech2.wav car2.wav cardoorshut.wav carscreech3.wav caralarm.wav carhornold2.wav carstart.wav carclunker.wav carhornshort.wav carstart2.wav carcrash.wav carhorntwice.wav carstartdrive.wav cardoording.wav carracestop.wav oldcarhorn.wav cardoording2.wav carscreech.wav traffichorns.wav trafficjam.wav racecar.wav racecar1a.wav racecarpass.wav racecars.wav racehorn.wav

Plane

planecrash.wav planeflyover.wav planelow.wav planeflyby.wav planeidle.wav jet2.wav jetfly.wav jetidle.wav jetpass.wav jetpass2.wav jetstart.wav jetstart2.wav jetstart3.wav F15.wav

Train

train.wav train_crossing.wav trainannounce.wav trainarrive.wav trainhorn.wav trainpassfast.wav trainpassslow.wac trainpullaway.wav trainsteamwhistle.wav trainsteamwhistlepass.wav

Boat

boat.wav boatairhorn.wav boatairhorn2.wav boatcreak.wav boathorn.wav motorboat.wav tugboathorn.wav

Other

truckhorn.wav truckdriveby.wav motorcycle.wav bicycle.wav helicopter.wav helicopter2.wav busdoorslide.wav bushorn.wav

Sirens & Alarms

siren.wav siren1.wav siren03.wav siren04.wav siren07.wav siren08.wav siren_europe.wav sirenhilo.wav alarm02.wav alarm1.wav policearrive.wav policepass.wav policeradio.wav policesiren2.wav loudsirenwah_wah.wav

Laser & Beams

beam01.wav beam03.wav beam05.wav beam07.wav beam09.wav beam11.wav beam13.wav laser2.wav laserfire.wav laserfire2.wav laserfire3.wav lasersword.wav lasersword2.wav

War Related

m16.wav m16distant.wav m16singleshot.wav m50.wav 357magnun.wav arrow.wav arrowhit.wav atomicbomb.wav bomberstart.wav cannon.wav cockgun.wav cockgun2.wav cockgun3.wav colt45.wav explode.wav explosio.wav explosion.wav explosion2.wav gun1.wav gun2.wav gunbattle.wav gunfight.wav gunfight2.wav gunshot1.wav gunshot2.wav gunshots3.wav implosion.wav implosion2.wav loadclip.wav mgun.wav missle.wav oldwestgunbattle.wav pistolshot.wav rocketblastoff.wav rocketcountdown.wav shotgun.wav shotgun2.wav singlegunshot.wav sword.wav whip.wav whip2.wav whipcrack.wav sword2.wav sword3.wav

FX

adjustradio.wav adjustradiolong.wav arcade01.wav arcade03.wav arcade07.wav arcade09.wav arcade11.wav beep.wav bell.wav benddown.wav bionicfx.wav buzzer.wav buzzerheavy.wav buzzthru.wav buzzthruloud.wav censoredbeep.wav chainrattle.wav chimes.wav clock10g.wav clocktick2.wav clocktickfast.wav computerbeep.wav computerbeetp2.wav computerbeep3.wav computerbeep4.wav computerprocess.wav computerprocess2.wav computerspring.wav crash1.wav crash2.wav dissolve.wav dissolve2.wav driveupclunker.wav electricalcurrent.wav electricalcurrent2.wav alectricarc.wav electricdrill.wav electronic.wav electronicdoor.wav futurebeep.wav futurebeep2.wav futurebeep3.wav minimize_fx.wav modem.wav monitorflatline.wav phaser.wav phaser2.wav phone1.wav phone2.wav photon.wav pinball.wav ping.wav ping2.wav plask1.wav plask2.wav plask3.wav ploop.wav roadconstruction.wav robotarm.wav sci_fi_fx.wav sci_fi_fx2.wav sci_fi_takeoff.wav scissors.wav slap.wav slash.wav slice.wav sliderock.wav slideup.wav smash.wav speed.wav splat.wav squish.wav squishwe.wav ufo.wav ufo2.wav ufofly.wav wobble1.wav wobble2.wav zingpop.wav zap4.wav zawap.wav zingzing.wav zippopdo.wav spacebeep.wav spaceship.wav spaceshipland.wav whoosh01.wav whoosh03.wav whoosh05.wav whoosh07.wav whoosh09.wav

Cartoon

cartoon1.wav cartoon2.wav cartoon3.wav cartoon4.wav cartooncharge.wav cartoondoor.wav cartoonhammer.wav cartoonphone.wav cartoonrise.wav cartoonrun.wav cartoonspinstop.wav cartoonsplit.wav cartoonwhistle.wav

Household

big_door_shut.wav bigdooropen.wav door.wav poolballhit.wav poolbreak.wav poolshot.wav rundoorslam.wav schoolbell.wav schoolbellstereo.wav typewriter.wav typefast.wav typewriterding.wav typewritershift.wav pager.wav pageturn.wav windowclose.wav windowslide.wav breakwindow.wav phone1.wav phone2.wav

The Future of Music

Music and Technology have become irrevocably linked. Technology is used to create music, to perform music and to market music.

David Byrne already wrote a compelling summary of the music business pasty and present. More business and marketing folks, such as Seth Godin, have added their thoughts about the future of music.

He did a talk recently on the subject and what he has to say (as always) is fascinating and in my opinion right on. It's true: music is at once a business but it also inhabits a very personal and emotional space for all of us. And we know through educational research that learning takes place best when there are two things occurring at once:

1-Compelling new information
2-Some kind of emotional experience

Here's what Mr. Godin had to say on the subject and here is a book on the Future of Music.

What Is Natural Talent? Listen to David Archuleta

David Archuleta has what is called natural talent. His musical sensitivity and phrasing are well beyond his years. Listen to how he tastefully pushes through the end of the first phrase and then listen to how he actually sings slightly behind the beat (rubato). Brilliant and beautiful stuff. It will be a joy to see where his career takes him.

Music Learning Software for Elementary Music Teachers

It really is an exciting time to be a music teacher. The ubiquitous nature of digital music, the expansion of hard drive space and the increased processing speed of computers has paved the path for quality music learning programs that are software-based.

For Elementary Music teachers, Sibelius Groovy Music is an excellent choice for teaching/learning music. And it's great fun. NEW Groovy Music is a series of three exciting software programs for elementary and middle school students. Fun to use, Groovy Music teaches the basics of sound, rhythm, pitch and composition using pictures and animation - progressing to the study of simple notation as well as major and minor scales.

Students love Groovy Music. It guides them with a simple voiceover and lets them create their own music as well as carry out directed activities, so there's plenty of room for creativity. In fact, Groovy Music is so compelling that once students start making music; they just won't want to stop! And best of all, it's incredibly easy for both teachers and students.

Stay tuned for excellent music software products for middle and high school age groups.

Music, Technology and What's Possible: Part 1

What Is Music Technology?

What is Music Technology when we are talking about a class with the same name?

There are many ways to answer the question but for the purpose of refining the focus of this blog and for the benefit of those who are left wondering, here's a concise definition.

Music Technology by itself can mean digital musical instruments such as digital keyboards and sequencers. In Education though, music technology refers to technological applications (computers, software, digital sound machines, keyboards, etc..) being used to learn about and to create music. The term Music Education Technology might be more accurate but Music Technology works just as well.

Most elementary classroom music programs in the U.S. are still called General Music. This is where basic fundamentals of music are taught and learned. Increasingly, music technology labs are being adopted in secondary music classrooms (Grades6-12). These classrooms usually contain MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) labs where computers are connected to digital keyboards. Software is usually loaded onto the computers that allow for the learning of music via the direct manipulation of keys on the digital keyboards or via the computer mouse.

Some Music Notation programs will actually display notes on the computer screen that a music student plays on the digital keyboard. In this context the keyboard is called a MIDI instrument since it is connected to a computer. Other programs are focused on music literacy and offer game-like lessons that allow students to learn about musical elements such as music notation, scales, key signatures, clefs, time signatures and timbre.

With the increased use of technology in Education and in student's lives, it is well worth a school district's time and expense to gradually adopt music technology programs. The ubiquitous nature of the i-pod is reason enough to go this route. Performing programs such as Band and Chorus should always be a part of every school in the country but music technology programs should also exist to serve the musical interests of non-performing students. In terms of enrollment, these students usually outnumber the performers 3:1.

To learn more, try giving a Music Education Technology Magazine a read. There are many articles and examples to sample.