Digital Composition
Exploring Digital Sound - Lesson 3
Objectives
- To combine sounds to compose a simple tune with a beat.
- Explore a range of electronic music and sound devices and software.
Lesson Resources
- Lesson Slides
- Headphones
Lesson 1 - Exploring Simple Sounds
Lesson 2 - Composing a Beat
Lesson 3 - Digital Composition
Lesson 4 - Building a tune
Lesson 5 - Combining Images and Sounds
Lesson 6 - Creating a Soundtrack For an Image
Introduction
Recap last week and making regular repeating beats or loops. Begin by again clapping some rhythms and asking the children to try and copy them. Can you keep the correct rhythm and timing? Can anyone create their own beat for others to follow?
Recap (if you got to it last time) 2Sequence and discuss how sounds are often represented by pictures (or icons) on a computer when composing. Putting these pictures in the right order determines when the sounds play. What sort of things could we do with 2Sequence that we couldn’t do before?
Today, we are going to experiment with two really interesting tools that also let you layer up sound in different ways. The first is Song Maker from the Chrome Music Lab.
Song Maker - Chrome Music Lab
This video explains all the things you can do with it. Thanks to Creative Mentoring Rotherham for the excellent video guide! watch from 1:20 to 3:51 for Song Maker.
Ask the children to have a go a composing a few different tunes with this tool. Remind them the advice from the video, less is more and try to think about each sound you place.
Cove
Cove is a really interesting app that links music to our emotions and how we are feeling. The NHS list it in their app library and are testing it for supporting mental health treatment in patients. Cove is like a mood journal, except instead of using words to express how you feel, you use music. To create music, you can choose from a wide range of different moods and once you've selected your mood, you can easily add and remove different musical effects.
It can also be used on a very simple level as a purely music making tool. Take a look at this excellent video guide, again from Creative Mentoring Rotherham.
Plenary
If you have the facility to allow some of the class to share what they have been creating do so. Ask them about the two tools/apps they have used today. Do these apps have anything in common? They both allow is to add layers of sound and sequence when the sounds play. How easy were these music programs to use? Why? Which did you like best? Why?