My Composition
My first composition using
Soundation ultimately represents my experience in playing around with the
program. Therefore, I gave my
composition the title “Playtime.” It
seemed like a fitting title to the process and also because my family said it
sounded like music for a video game.
I wrote the composition in the same
style I use for the elementary classroom.
I used the idea of layering a series of basic ostinati or loops. I started with the basic beat, adding on
texture until the sound was filled with the beat, melody, harmony, and
auxiliary percussion. Once I had a full
sound, I broke it down again, highlighting the melody. I
ended the piece by fading the layers out, bookending the piece the way it had
begun.
Honestly, my first goal was to
create something that would last for about two minutes while keeping the
attention of an audience. The goal
beyond that was to find a sample of music and see what I could build with
it. I wasn’t sure if I would start with melody or
rhythm. Ultimately, I ended up using a
melodic sample from the Soundation MIDI files called RnB Love Keys. I liked the basic flow of the sample. It was happy and had a distinct melody. I decided to use that melody to create the
rest of my composition. I used another sample
from Soundation’s Electronica files for the auxiliary percussion. For the basic drums, I decided to create my
own line using the drum machine. It was
fun to play with adding and subtracting sounds and effects with the drum
machine.
The Software
When I first opened up the
Soundation studio, I was overwhelmed by all the buttons and samples. I had watched the videos, so I understood how
to go about starting a project, but it took a little while to feel comfortable
with the process. Once I got hang of “writing”
in the “Edit Note Clip” box, I was able to add sounds or take them out according
to my listening taste. My workflow
became easier as I learned how to copy and paste specific parts of MIDI samples
so I could thin out the melody or bring out a particular melody, harmony, or
non-pitched rhythm.
I was challenged by all the effects
and terminology. Audio terms like dry, wet, fakie, and supersaw
were all new to me. (I only knew a “fakie” to be something Shawn
White did on a snowboard.) I took some time to practice listening to how
each effect changed the sound. It would
take a very trained and experienced ear to hear some of the slight changes and
to know how to create a desired effect.
Educational
Implications
As a music educator, I observe that
Soundation offers students a way to create their own compositions in a
non-threatening way. Students do not
necessarily have to come up with original ideas to begin the composition
process. Soundation offers a huge
amount of musical samples that can serve as springboards for new compositions.
I believe students would take to
Soundation similarly to how the teachers in this group took to Soundation. Some students would take to it very
easily. Some would be overwhelmed. Some people are very tied to notation and writing original
ideas. Others are excited about taking existing
material and changing it without having to worry about notation. It would be very interesting to require two
projects back-to-back much like this graduate class, one using notation
software like Noteflight or Musescore, the other using Soundation or Garageband. I
think I would also approach the activities with exploratory objectives. I would present my students with a rubric
listing specific requirements.
Preliminary activities would be graded for use of the software rather
than the quality of the finished product.
After the class had had an
opportunity to “play” with each type of composition, I could assign a project
with specific objectives, but allowing the students to choose the format of
their composition. Both types of
composition projects would provide growth opportunities for students. These projects would push students out of
their comfort zones while challenging them at different levels. There would be tremendous differences in the
finished projects depending on the individual student’s experience and
musicianship.
The end result - check it out at the following link:
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