Goal

• Convey knowledge of drum and percussion terms and understanding of concepts of rhythm production in GarageBand.

Recording Techniques Demonstrated

• Control Timing with Groove Tracks
• Follow the Rhythm of Another Track
• Record Multipass Drum Beats
• Record Arpeggiated Drum Machine Beats
• Make Recorded MIDI Regions Loop Ready
• Make Recorded Audio Regions Loop-Ready
• Add Regions to the Loop Library
• Work with the Tempo of a Track

Terms and Concept Definitions

Product

• Create a blog post with embedded media from YouTube, SoundCloud, and/or Flickr off your composition and explanation of the rhythm recording techniques used.

Examples

• Spencer’s post (screenshots and descriptive text)
• Mikayla’s post (screenshots and descriptive text)
• Maddy’s post (screenshots and descriptive text)
• Riley’s post (screenshots and descriptive text)
• Taylor’s post (screenshots and descriptive text)
• Joe’s post (videos and screenshots)
• Clint’s post (videos and screenshots)
• Emily’s post (Voicethread)
• Kinsey’s post (screenshots and descriptive text)
• Mayah’s post (screenshots and descriptive text)
• Carson’s post (screenshots and descriptive text)
• Blake’s post (screenshots and descriptive text)
• Ethan’s post (video)

Steps

• Day 1 – Create Blog Post, Add Section Headings,  and Define Terms
  • Create blog post titled, Rhythm Recording Project
  • Create the headings
    • Summary
    • Recording Techniques
    • Terms and Concepts
    • What I Learned
  • Create the Terms and Concepts Defined heading
    • Copy and paste all the terms
    • Working in teams: start writing the definitions in your own words
• Day 2-5 – Refine Terms and Start Drum and Percussion Lessons
  • Finish definitions
• Day 5 through second to last day of project
  • Work on composition
  • Project parameters
    • 8 measures (can be longer, but only publish the first 8 measures)
    • Needs a distinct rhythm and melody track
      • So we can hear each piece clearly
      • Needs to have at least one real-world sound, not computer generated
      • Needs to be hosted on Soundcloud and the link embedded into a blog post
        • So we can hear it on the class sound system
    • Melody decisions
      • Compose in the key of C
      • 
      • Start on the end on the tonic note (C)
      • Build tension in measures 4 and/or 5 (green notes)
      • 
      • Decide on pitches (notes)
      • Think about how many notes
        • Fast = happy
        • Slow = sad
      • Think about notes rising or descending
        • Rising = happy
        • Descending = sad
    • Rhythm decisions – what to use and when
      • Pulse
        • What timing 4/4, 2/4, or other
      • Tempo
        • Think about how many beats per measure
          • Fast = happy
          • Slow = sad
      • Accent
        • Pick a beat in each measure to be the strongest beat
      • Syncopation
      • 
        • Read Syncopation in pop/rock music
        • He uses Musescore, free music scoring software for Mac
      • Cross-rhythm
        • You could have overlapping rhythms like in rap
      • Rhythm decisions
        • Pulse
        • Tempo
        • Accent
        • Syncopation
        • Cross-rhythm
  • Create the Recording Techniques Demonstrated heading
  • Gather evidence of rhythm recording techniques
    • Include evidence as audio from Soundcloud, video from YouTube and/or images from Flickr
• 2nd To Last Day
  • Create What I Learned heading
    • Explain what you learned and at least one problem you overcame
• Last Day
  • Present project

Tools

• MuseScore
• GarageBand 10
• Soundcloud
• YouTube
• Flickr

Resources

• Syncopation in pop/rock music
• GarageBand Basics
  • Working with Drum and Percussion Tracks
  • Controlling Timing with Groove Tracks
  • Following the Rhythm of Another Track
  • Recording Multipass Drum Beats
  • Recording Arpeggiated Drum Machine Beats
  • Making Recorded MIDI Regions Loop Ready
  • Making Recorded Audio Regions Loop-Ready
  • Adding Regions to the Loop Library
  • Working with the Tempo of a Track
• Adding ID3 tag information and art in iTunes
  • Work on this in class with either GarageBand or Audacity
• Music Theory
  • Rhythm defined at Wikipedia
  • How Music Works with Howard Goodall – Rhythm
• GarageBand Basics Screencast Video Tutorial

Feedback Form

• Rhythm Recording Project Feedback Form  (PDF)