Music Fun on the Internet

Summer is practically here -- a great time to find new ways to connect with music and have fun.  Have you ever played a music video game?  Creatingmusic.com has some fun stuff...  Click around and explore the many possibilities music has to tap into your creative side.

Explore Pitch

Playing with the C Scale

And here's my favorite (which lets you go as crazy as you would like).  This "game" gives you a whole new way to think of writing music and to experiment with sounds.  Explore all the buttons!

Creating your own Music

Have you found a place on the internet to experiment with composing your own music?  Share your findings!  And have a great summer!

Modern Music: Recording Tracks

Throughout human history, people created new styles and forms of music.  Sometimes the music was new because someone had built a new kind of instrument.  Sometimes the music was new because someone used a new kind of rhythm.  In today's world, technology has made it possible to do even more new and creative things with music.  Computers allow us to change the sound of our instrument at will, to record ourselves anytime, anywhere, and also to choose exactly which parts of a recording we want to put in our finished piece. 


A performance that is recorded using modern technology (like a digital recorder) is called a "track".  


The person who sets up all the microphones and equipment and records the music is called an audio engineer.


Once the tracks are recorded by the audio engineer, the mixing engineer will "mix" the tracks together so that they create one piece.  A mastering engineer will check to make sure everything sounds good and then will send the recording to be copied onto CDs or MP3s so that they can be sold to us.


The cool thing about using tracks is that now one person can record many tracks and mix them together so that it sounds like a group of people playing.  You could write a song with several parts, but then record each part as a track.  When you mix them together it will sound like you are playing them all at the same time!  You can create special effects to add to your music this way as well.


Here is an example of two musicians using tracks to record a piece.  Jon Schmidt played all the piano tracks and Steven Sharp Nelson played all the cello tracks (and the drum).  Notice how they create percussion sounds using their instruments.  These knocking sounds create a beat for their music.
   You will notice that Mr. Nelson has several different cellos.  Some of them are electric cellos that can make unique sounds like an electric guitar.


They have also combined modern music by Michael Jackson with classical music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  This piece is called "Michael meets Mozart".

**For Laura's Piano Students:  Click HERE for the summer schedule appointment calendar.

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