ICT in learning - with emphasis on music technology » Multimodal texts

A short rap on digital literacy in music education

Ø. Kvinge — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:00:41 +0000

Finally, I have added a short rap to to the backing track of Go to church. I will let the track speak for it self …

Jazz solo on “Go to church!”

Ø. Kvinge — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:47:46 +0000

Now that I have created a working backing track, I will present some possibilities which music technology offers. As I have shown, Cubase is an example of a kind of software which allows the user to record and play back music, both in the format of MIDI and audio. From a learner’s point of view this opens up many new possibilities.

Within the field of jazz and improvised music, music technology allows the musician to create a customised harmonic and rythmical musical setting. This may on one hand represent a “safe” rehearsal space as part of preparations for a live gig. It may also be particularly designed to targed standard concepts within jazz theory, such as leaning the standard key changes shuch as “Rythm changes, “Coltrane changes” og other standard progressions.

The music technology lets the learner practice in a customized musical settig and listen to what s/he just played. The possibility to use one’s own ears to jude and assess one’s owen musical performance is just one advantage which the music technology represents.

As an example I have recorded a few rounds of piano solos on the already made backing track. A musical challenge is to create more open tonal space in a tune which is composed only by using minor and major tridads with no references to jazz.

I opened up the character of the chords by suspending the thirds of all chords. By playing all chords as 11ths, I got the sound which I associate with 70s jazz rock idiom.

Chord progression is added to the movie in a separate overlay.

Go to church – piano solo!

“Go to church!” – step by step

Ø. Kvinge — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:13:10 +0000

It is time to provide an example of how some popular music software works, and some aspects of it which may lend it self to music education.

In this video, I will step by step add different musical parts that belong in the arrangement of Ice Cube’s “Go to church”. The work is done within the environment of the popular sequencer program Steinberg Cubase which is linked to Propellerheads’ Reason.

The sound sources are software synthesizers, software samplers, hardware synthesizers and the recording of an acoustic melodica. The software instruments are triggered by an external synthesizer via MIDI, and what I record in Cubase is not the actual sound of the synthesizers, but the MIDI data. Examples of MIDI data are keystrokes, velocity and the use of pedal. Once MIDI data is recorded, I am able to change what software instrument the recorded musical phrases should be directed towards. I can change the timbre after the recording is done.

The recording of the melodica represents a different approach to digital recording. The melodica is recorded as audio on to the hard drive in the same fashion as if the hard drive were a tape deck.

If the video does not appear below, please click here!

“Go to church!” by Ice Cube – digital tools at work

Ø. Kvinge — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:50:56 +0000

To provide examples on how digital tools can be used in a musical context I have recreated the backing tracks of the tune “Go to church” by the American rap artist Ice Cube. I will elaborate on the process and on what kind of tools I have been using in the next articles. Here is the backing track I made of the chorus.

Chorus of Ice Cube’s Go to church

Norwegian national curriculum and digital literacy in music education

Ø. Kvinge — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:59:35 +0000

The aim of this series of postings is to convert the most important features of a pure text based essay into a multimodal text. The essay which I am about to convert, is an assignment I wrote earlier this autumn as part of the Master Studies in ITC in learning at the University College at Stord/Haugesund, Norway. The overall subject matter of the essay, is digital literacy and a discussion of different definitions of the term. I also discuss the the term digital literacy in view of music eduction, which is what I am about to explore further in my next postings.

In this first posting, I will present a short multimodal text which summarises key points on what digital skills are required in the field of music education according to the the national curriculum LK06 / Kunnskapsløftet.

If the movie does not appear in the post below, please click here!