MUSIC TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT FOR ANY SUBJECT AREA

[Scott Guthre]

Hello,
My name is Scott Guthre. I'm the Director of Instrumental Music at Fordson HS in Dearborn Public School. I have written a few successful grants and have implemented a Music Technology Class which lets kids learn the basics of MIDI sequencing, Analogue to Digital mobile recording, Studio recording, mixing, mastering, dithering as well as creating industry quality CDs using a variety of technology including ProTools 8
I will post more info soon explaining what I do and how I would like to interact with you digital folks.

[Ben Rimes]

I know how to do the basic 12 bar blues on a piano, I've just never used GB (or any program for that matter) to make music. It's one of those things where because I'm not naturally inclined to be producing and using music in my classroom, I have to stretch outside of my range. It sounds like it'll be pretty easy once I start playing around with it, I just hadn't thought about it until now; which is what I like about this place; lots of different teachers in different areas offering up their own perspective on how to make teaching better :)

[Scott Guthre]

After you play with it a little try to raise or lower the key of the specific loop. There are 12 (1/2) steps in a chromatic scale. That scale repeats on and on up and down the keyboard. Start by creating a song and choosing a loop. The key of the first loop is the I chord. Then copy and paste the loop again but raise the pitch 5 (1/2) steps to produce the IV chord and 7 (1/2) steps to produce the V chord.
To construct a basic 12 bar (measure) blues:
The formula for the blues is 4 measures I chord, 2 measures IV chord, 2 measures I chord, 1 measure V chord, 1 measure IV chord and finally 2 measures I chord.

[Ben Rimes]

That would be very cool. I used to find little songs and things for some of my vocabulary, but unless it's premade, I really hadn't thought about doing anything myself. I'll have to look at GB again and see what I can do with some loops.

[Scott Guthre]

Yo Ben,
Garage band is actually very sophisticated and capable of many things that kids don't ever "feel" their way to when they interact with it. Someone who understands some basic music theory, however, can make a great class lesson with very little planning time. How would you like to play the blues while kids "rap" the concepts that you want them to learn?

[Tech Coach Z]

Awesome Scott. For a district that is in a budget crunch and can't purchase licenses for computers, what would you suggest. Garageband, Audacity are there any other open source free programs?

[Ben Rimes]

Sounds pretty exciting, thanks for sharing Scott, can't wait to see how the class goes.