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Practical Projects for Your Elective Course

I will be presenting a session at the NJMEA Conference this week titled Practical Projects for Your Elective Course. In preparation for this presentation, I have reissued an older episode of my podcast with similar content to make it quickly accessible in the feed for attendees of the session.

This post contains the episode and resources related to the presentation.

The podcast episode opens with my first impressions of the Apple Vision Pro which I got to try out last week.

Enjoy!

Listen to the podcast episode and subscribe below!

Subscribe to the Podcast in… Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

This is the first year that I have had consistent access to a cloud-based DAW and notation editor with all of my students. The result of this experience has been dozens of new Soundtrap project ideas. I plan to do an episode and post about how I am using these tools for composition projects in the band classroom later this year.

In the episode above, and in this post, I give an overview of three of my most successful Soundtrap projects this year. These projects can be done in any digital audio workstation, including Bandlab, GarageBand, Logic, Ableton Live, etc.

Listen to the episode for a more thorough explanation of each idea.

C Melody and Loop Audition

Melody writing in Noteflight and producing in Soundtrap go hand in hand. Because of Noteflight’s many export options, you have many ways to get your melody out of Noteflight and into your Soundtrap project.

Melody writing in Noteflight and producing in Soundtrap go hand in hand. Because of Noteflight’s many export options, you have many ways to get your melody out of Noteflight and into your Soundtrap project.

After giving students some time to experience the user interface of Soundtrap, I have them write a short, 8 measure long, melody in the key of C using Noteflight.

Next, I have them export this melody as a MIDI file and then import it into a track in Soundtrap. Next, I have them add three more tracks and create an accompaniment for their melody using at least one of the three loop types.

  1. Bass

  2. Percussion

  3. Harmonic (guitar, synth, piano, etc.)

Here is a recent submission of this project one of my students made. This assignment was submitted later in the semester when we had expanded the project into composing two alternating melodies which became the basis of a song-form in Soundtrap. By alternating between both melodies (and varying the loop accompaniment) the student made a song that follows the form: Verse—Chorus—Verse—Chorus—Bridge—Chorus. This particular student chose to improvise the blues scale over the bridge.

Row Your Boat Multi-Track

This idea was taken from the amazing Middle School Music Technology class content in MusicFirst. I recommend checking out their subscription options if you like this idea. MusicFirst combines the activity with curated YouTube and Spotify playlists that give students an idea about early recording studio practices for multi-track recording before music was produced digitally.

I am giving an overview of this project with permission from MusicFirst. Full Disclosure: MusicFirst is a past sponsor of the Music Ed Tech Talk blog and podcast.

To start, the student performs the song Row Row Row Your Boat into a software instrument track in Soundtrap. After it is recorded, they quantize it to the nearest 1/8th or 1/16th note so that it is rhythmically accurate.

Next, they duplicate this track two times. Using the piano roll to edit the MIDI content of each loop, students select all notes and drag them higher to create harmony. I have them move the second track a third higher and the next track a fifth higher so that they get a nice three-part voicing.

After multi-tracking the melody of Row Row Row Your Boat, this student moved the starting point of each region to create a round.

After multi-tracking the melody of Row Row Row Your Boat, this student moved the starting point of each region to create a round.

Next, I have them move any notes that land on black keys as a result down to the nearest white key so that every note of each voice is in the key of C.

Next, I have them duplicate these three tracks and transpose them up an octave. Next, I have them take the lowest voice and transpose it down three octaves to add some bass. You can have students make the final result as dense as you like.

Optionally, students can experiment with using different instrument sounds and adding groove-based loop accompaniment.

Here are three recent examples of my student’s submissions:

All-Star Remix

In this assignment, I take a popular song that students choose and separate the voice from the instrumental accompaniment. Then I add it to an audio track in a Soundtrap template and match the tempo and key of the Soundtrap project to the vocal track.

This way, students can drag and drop loops and have them match the pitch and tempo content of the vocals.

I have a post with more details about this project here.

You can watch a video of how to do it below.

Here are two examples of my own student’s recent work:

For a Soundtrap project idea for teaching band/choir/orchestra students to compose, check out the podcast episode and blog post below:

Episode Info

See below for all notes associated with the podcast episode…

Description

Robby overviews his three most successful Soundtrap projects in 2021.

Chapters:

  • 00:00:00 - Intro

  • 00:00:14 - Sponsor: DMV Percussion Academy

  • 00:01:24 - About this Episode

  • 00:03:51 - YAY SUMMER

  • 00:05:11 - 1: Melody Composition / Loop Accompaniment

  • 00:14:35 - 1: Student Examples

  • 00:16:15 - 2: Row Your Boat Multi-Track

  • 00:22:19 - 2: Student Examples

  • 00:24:27 - 3: All-Star Remix

  • 00:34:38 - 3: Student Examples

  • 00:36:00 - Grading for Mastery Not Creativity

  • 00:37:47 - Tech Tip of the Week

  • 00:39:20 - App of the Week

  • 00:40:00 - Album of the Week

  • 00:42:44 - Conclusion

Show Notes:

App of the Week: 
Reeder 5

Album of the Week:
Alison Balsom - Paris

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, the DMV Percussion Academy. Learn more and register here.

Please don’t forget to rate the show and share it with others!

Subscribe to Music Ed Tech Talk:

Subscribe to the Blog

Subscribe to the Podcast in… Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

#71 - Adrian B. Sims

Composer Adrian B. Sims joins the show to talk about his career, musical journey, and favorite tools.

Learn more about Adrian and check out his upcoming music catalog here.

Subscribe to the Blog… RSS | Email Newsletter

Subscribe to the Podcast in… Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

Support Music Ed Tech Talk

Become a Patron!

Buy me a coffee

Thanks to my sponsors this month, Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks.

App of the Week:
Robby - Ridiculous Fishing
Adrian - Hevy

Album of the Week:
Robby - Phoenix - Dirty Loops

Adrian - Myth (album) - Wikipedia

Please don’t forget to rate the show and share it with others!

#63 - YouTube and Composition Workflows, with Dr. Scott Watson

Dr. Scott Watson (Professor of Music at Carin University, band director, composer, and YouTuber) joins the show to talk about his favorite technology, tips for rehearsing honors ensembles, his favorite young band compositions, and more!

Subscribe to the Blog...

RSS | Email Newsletter

Subscribe to the Podcast in...

Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

Support Music Ed Tech Talk

Become a Patron!

.bmc-button img{height: 34px !important;width: 35px !important;margin-bottom: 1px !important;box-shadow: none !important;border: none !important;vertical-align: middle !important;}.bmc-button{padding: 7px 15px 7px 10px !important;line-height: 35px !important;height:51px !important;text-decoration: none !important;display:inline-flex !important;color:#ffffff !important;background-color:#000000 !important;border-radius: 5px !important;border: 1px solid transparent !important;padding: 7px 15px 7px 10px !important;font-size: 20px !important;letter-spacing:0.6px !important;box-shadow: 0px 1px 2px rgba(190, 190, 190, 0.5) !important;-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 1px 2px 2px rgba(190, 190, 190, 0.5) !important;margin: 0 auto !important;font-family:'Arial', cursive !important;-webkit-box-sizing: border-box !important;box-sizing: border-box !important;}.bmc-button:hover, .bmc-button:active, .bmc-button:focus {-webkit-box-shadow: 0px 1px 2px 2px rgba(190, 190, 190, 0.5) !important;text-decoration: none !important;box-shadow: 0px 1px 2px 2px rgba(190, 190, 190, 0.5) !important;opacity: 0.85 !important;color:#ffffff !important;}Buy me a coffee

Thanks to my sponsors this month, Scale Exercise Play-Along Tracks.

Show Notes:

App of the Week: Robby - AnyTune / Downie
Scott Watson - NotePerformer

Album of the Week: Robby - Arch Echo - You Won't Believe What Happens Next! Scott Watson - Barbers Overture to School for Scandal: https://youtu.be/Q387-LXIHUA / Stravinsky Octet for Wind Instruments: https://youtu.be/YyqLnP0hOnI

Where to Find Us: Robby - Twitter | Blog | Book
Scott Watson - Twitter | Website

Please don't forget to rate the show and share it with others!

More on Scott

Dr. Scott Watson is Professor of Music at Cairn University (Langhorne, PA), teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in music composition/arranging, music education and technology. For 35 years he was an instrumental and elective music teacher in the Parkland School District (Allentown, PA), first as high school Director of Bands, then as coordinator of the elementary band/strings program across the district. He is a frequently commissioned composer with more than 100 published pieces for band and strings at all levels that have been performed around the world at venues including the Academy of Music (Philadelphia), the Midwest Clinic (Chicago) and the White House (Washington, D.C.). He is an exclusive composer/clinician for Alfred Publications and a contributor for their Sound Innovations band series. Watson has presented numerous workshops/clinics for music educators, frequently serves as guest conductor/clinician for honor/festival bands, and is the author of the highly regarded music education text, Using Technology to Unlock Musical Creativity (©2011, Oxford University Press). To learn more, visit www.scottwatsonmusic.com.

,

Connecting the Strands: Teaching Melody and Harmony Writing with Ukulele, Noteflight, and Soundtrap

,

The post below first appeared on the Noteflight blog on November 11th, 2021. You can read it there by clicking here or continue on below.

Two important parts of teaching include:

  1. Sequencing learning so that students how to go from point A to point B.
  2. Doing it in a way that they understand how new skills fit into broader musical contexts.

As a band director who also teaches general music, I have always been confident in my ability to connect these dots in performing ensembles, and less so in general music classes. This year, I am determined to rectify that using new technologies in combination with traditional instruments.

AnimatedImage.gif

Historically, my school district's general music curriculum has been categorized into four “strands:”

  1. Drumming
  2. Piano performance
  3. Guitar performance
  4. Technology

Last year, we began using Noteflight and Soundtrap to engage students with virtual music making. This year, we returned to in-person instruction and replaced our guitars with ukuleles, making chord strumming (and therefore an understanding of harmonic accompaniment) accessible earlier on in the learning sequence.

Moving into this year, I knew it was important that I leverage new technology in combination with traditional instrumental performance skills to create bigger musical connections.

My General Music II class, made up of 8th graders, is currently working on an assignment that leverages composition, recording, producing, ukulele performance, and harmonic understanding.

CleanShot 2021-10-03 at 13.06.36.png

We start in Noteflight by composing an eight measure melody in C major. This is their first notation project of the year so directions and restrictions are fairly loose. Students are limited to certain rhythmic durations that I have taught them on drums but are otherwise free to experiment with their melody.

A blank eight measure Noteflight score is set as a template and linked to an assignment in my district’s Learning Management System, Canvas. Once students launch Noteflight as an external tool, they are taken immediately to the score depicted above, where they can begin editing, and submit their work in one click. In an LMS like Canvas, I am able to see the final submission in the Noteflight web app itself, where I can easily see the student’s work, demonstrate alterations for them, and provide other feedback directly.

After writing the melody, I had them write a chord progression in the key of C using our most familiar chords on the ukulele (C, F, G, Am). Pressing the letter K quickly allows for chord entry above the current selection.

CleanShot 2021-10-03 at 13.04.40.gif

Exporting the melody to Soundtrap is as easy as one click. Go to the Score Menu-->Export and then select "Open In Soundtrap." The notes of the melody will be brought in as a MIDI track.

CleanShot 2021-10-03 at 12.59.44.png

CleanShot 2021-10-03 at 13.01.04.png

From here, students can...

  1. Change the sound of the melody using a different software instrument.
  2. Record themselves strumming the ukulele part into an audio track.
  3. Edit the ukulele with effects if wanted.
  4. Add supplemental bass and drum parts from the loop library.

Image.png

In no time, they have written their own melody, recorded their own accompaniment, and used pre-existing samples to create the effect of an entire band playing their music.

I modeled a final project for my students in class. See a video below of the demo I showed.

Once we have moved on to some piano reading and performing, I plan to teach the students the notes of the chords as they relate to their melody. We can then iterate on this project, by composing melodies that make appropriate use of chord tones. We will even be able to use our understanding of the keyboard layout to input notes into Noteflight through the piano itself, via MIDI cables which conect our classroom pianos to our Chromebooks.

Once we have studied more forms and musical styles, am confident that we can be writing and performing out own songs.

3 Soundtrap Projects Your Students Will Love

Listen to the podcast episode and subscribe below!

Subscribe to the Podcast in… Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

This is the first year that I have had consistent access to a cloud-based DAW and notation editor with all of my students. The result of this experience has been dozens of new Soundtrap project ideas. I plan to do an episode and post about how I am using these tools for composition projects in the band classroom later this year.

In the episode above, and in this post, I give an overview of three of my most successful Soundtrap projects this year. These projects can be done in any digital audio workstation, including Bandlab, GarageBand, Logic, Ableton Live, etc.

Listen to the episode for a more thorough explanation of each idea.

C Melody and Loop Audition

Melody writing in Noteflight and producing in Soundtrap go hand in hand. Because of Noteflight’s many export options, you have many ways to get your melody out of Noteflight and into your Soundtrap project.

Melody writing in Noteflight and producing in Soundtrap go hand in hand. Because of Noteflight’s many export options, you have many ways to get your melody out of Noteflight and into your Soundtrap project.

After giving students some time to experience the user interface of Soundtrap, I have them write a short, 8 measure long, melody in the key of C using Noteflight.

Next, I have them export this melody as a MIDI file and then import it into a track in Soundtrap. Next, I have them add three more tracks and create an accompaniment for their melody using at least one of the three loop types.

  1. Bass

  2. Percussion

  3. Harmonic (guitar, synth, piano, etc.)

Here is a recent submission of this project one of my students made. This assignment was submitted later in the semester when we had expanded the project into composing two alternating melodies which became the basis of a song-form in Soundtrap. By alternating between both melodies (and varying the loop accompaniment) the student made a song that follows the form: Verse—Chorus—Verse—Chorus—Bridge—Chorus. This particular student chose to improvise the blues scale over the bridge.

Row Your Boat Multi-Track

This idea was taken from the amazing Middle School Music Technology class content in MusicFirst. I recommend checking out their subscription options if you like this idea. MusicFirst combines the activity with curated YouTube and Spotify playlists that give students an idea about early recording studio practices for multi-track recording before music was produced digitally.

I am giving an overview of this project with permission from MusicFirst. Full Disclosure: MusicFirst is a past sponsor of the Music Ed Tech Talk blog and podcast.

To start, the student performs the song Row Row Row Your Boat into a software instrument track in Soundtrap. After it is recorded, they quantize it to the nearest 1/8th or 1/16th note so that it is rhythmically accurate.

Next, they duplicate this track two times. Using the piano roll to edit the MIDI content of each loop, students select all notes and drag them higher to create harmony. I have them move the second track a third higher and the next track a fifth higher so that they get a nice three-part voicing.

After multi-tracking the melody of Row Row Row Your Boat, this student moved the starting point of each region to create a round.

After multi-tracking the melody of Row Row Row Your Boat, this student moved the starting point of each region to create a round.

Next, I have them move any notes that land on black keys as a result down to the nearest white key so that every note of each voice is in the key of C.

Next, I have them duplicate these three tracks and transpose them up an octave. Next, I have them take the lowest voice and transpose it down three octaves to add some bass. You can have students make the final result as dense as you like.

Optionally, students can experiment with using different instrument sounds and adding groove-based loop accompaniment.

Here are three recent examples of my student’s submissions:

All-Star Remix

In this assignment, I take a popular song that students choose and separate the voice from the instrumental accompaniment. Then I add it to an audio track in a Soundtrap template and match the tempo and key of the Soundtrap project to the vocal track.

This way, students can drag and drop loops and have them match the pitch and tempo content of the vocals.

I have a post with more details about this project here.

You can watch a video of how to do it below.

Here are two examples of my own student’s recent work:

For a Soundtrap project idea for teaching band/choir/orchestra students to compose, check out the podcast episode and blog post below:

Episode Info

See below for all notes associated with the podcast episode…

Description

Robby overviews his three most successful Soundtrap projects in 2021.

Chapters:

  • 00:00:00 - Intro

  • 00:00:14 - Sponsor: DMV Percussion Academy

  • 00:01:24 - About this Episode

  • 00:03:51 - YAY SUMMER

  • 00:05:11 - 1: Melody Composition / Loop Accompaniment

  • 00:14:35 - 1: Student Examples

  • 00:16:15 - 2: Row Your Boat Multi-Track

  • 00:22:19 - 2: Student Examples

  • 00:24:27 - 3: All-Star Remix

  • 00:34:38 - 3: Student Examples

  • 00:36:00 - Grading for Mastery Not Creativity

  • 00:37:47 - Tech Tip of the Week

  • 00:39:20 - App of the Week

  • 00:40:00 - Album of the Week

  • 00:42:44 - Conclusion

Show Notes:

App of the Week: 
Reeder 5

Album of the Week:
Alison Balsom - Paris

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, the DMV Percussion Academy. Learn more and register here.

Please don’t forget to rate the show and share it with others!

Subscribe to Music Ed Tech Talk:

Subscribe to the Blog

Subscribe to the Podcast in… Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

The Prime Directive, featuring Will Kuhn and Ethan Hein (Music Ed Tech Talk Podcast #32)

Description

Ethan and Will join the show to talk about their book Electronic Music School, the Prime Directive, writing apps, and the future of the iPad.

Thanks to this week's sponsor, the DMV Percussion Academy. Leran more and registere here.

Chapters:

  • 00:00:00 - Intro
  • 00:01:25 - Sponsor: DMV Percussion Academy
  • 00:02:03 - Star Trek
  • 00:04:18 - Electronic Music School
  • 00:10:09 - Teaching Underlying Musical Concepts of Electronic Music Styles
  • 00:18:33 - Perceived Threat by Traditional Performing Arts Teachers
  • 00:24:28 - Teaching Songwriting
  • 00:27:23 - Scaffolding
  • 00:37:15 - Fighting Racism with Music Education
  • 00:48:37 - The Prime Directive
  • 00:52:34 - Staying Relevant?
  • 01:07:15 - We Live on Twitter
  • 01:07:15 - Writing Apps
  • 01:13:21 - Bedtime
  • 01:16:07 - The M1 iPad Pro
  • 01:35:51 - Tech Tip of the Week
  • 01:38:14 - Album of the Week
  • 01:41:07 - App of the Week
  • 01:43:24 - Closing

Show Notes:

App of the Week:
Robby - Tot
Will - In Haler Radio
Ethan - Figure

Album of the Week:
Robby - Tauk - Shapeshifter II: Outbreak
Will - Suburban Lawns - Janitor (Original Video)
Ethan - Clipping - The Deep

Where to Find Us:
Robby - Twitter | Blog | Book
Will - Twitter | Website
Ethan - Twitter | Website

Please don't forget to rate the show and share it with others!

Subscribe to Music Ed Tech Talk:

Subscribe to the Blog

Subscribe to the Podcast in... Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Castro | Spotify | RSS

Find Robby elsewhere on the web