In honor of a certain spooky holiday this week, Music Tech students will be adding sound effects (from a newly-uploaded cache of over 3,200 awesome sounds!) to their choice of spooky stories. Uploaded to iTunes are classic tales from the books of Alvin Schwartz. Schwartz collected often-told spooky stories, as well as urban legends, and published in three books which we are using for our project this week: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones.
If one of these storiess (read brilliantly by actor George Irving) calls for a ringing phone, a barking dog, a howling wind, a cackling witch — plus just about anything else one could imagine — students can add them from the sound effects menu to enhance their recording.
Who doesn’t love a Shel Silverstein poem? They’re quirky, laid back, and often in a conversational style. Above all, Shel Silverstein poetry is rhythmic, a perfect place to start our first real recording project. Using the computer’s built-in microphone, students will, working in pairs, record a short Silverstein poem. Once this step is completed, the fun begins! Students add melody and rhythm loops ( and even sound effects) to enhance their recording.
For a detailed plan of this week’s lessons and activities, click on “lesson plans” tab, above.
Looks like another week of schedule changes as Milwood Magnet students finish the MEAP test. Music Tech classes will meet on Monday, Tuesday and Friday, and students will complete the Beat Box project begun last week. Conferences are Thursday afternoon and evening. See you then!
Here is the Wikipedia definition of “beatboxing”, also known as “human beatboxing”: Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one’s mouth, lips, tongue, and voice. It may also involve singing, vocal imitation of turntablism (manipulating sounds using phonograph turntable), and the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments. Beatboxing today is connected withhip-hop culture, being one of “the elements”, although it is not limited to hip-hop music. The term “beatboxing” is sometimes used to refer to vocal percussion in general.
People have imitated percussion sounds vocally throughout history. Beatboxing has become an art form and requires real talent and hard work to become proficient. However, in this week’s project at Milwood Magnet, we will take the easy way out.
Instead of a “one take” beat box recording, students will record themselves chanting various beatbox-style sounds using a microphone, kind of like the process used in this video. The performer in this video recorded various beatbox sounds, but he used a microphone and a video camera. Next he edited the sounds so that they made rhythmic sense. We will follow the same process, but without capturing video. Afterward, students will move the recorded regions around in GarageBand.
Check back in the “Current Student Projects” tab to see how we did!
How I Spent My Saturday
It was my pleasure to join the Milwood Magnet Cross Country Team for a 5 Kilometer race through the beautiful campus of Western Michigan University. After taking my place with the team near the starting line, I was quickly left in the dust by our speedy middle schoolers. I was impressed with the team, all of whom finished ahead of me. Way to go Lancers!
For a detailed plan of this week’s lessons and activities, please click on the “Lesson PLans” tab, above.