Music Tip 2C Training and Resources
Below you will find answers to FAQs regarding digital media, usage, creation, and resources. Use the following buttons to navigate through the page.
Electronic Musical Instruments
1. Briefly explain the difference between electric music instruments and electronic music instruments.
Electric instruments transform physical sounds into electromagnetic waves (eg. theremin or electric guitar). They have a unipower trigger that typically generates sound through a disruption of a magnetic field. Electronic musical instruments create sound from an input or sequence (eg. keyboard). They typically use solid state sound generating technologies such as frequency modulation and amplitude modulation. Electric instruments can still create small sounds without power but electronic instruments cannot.
2. What is Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)? Identify pertinent aspects of the General MIDI standard.
MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) is a digital, non-proprietary, hardware and software protocol for data interchange among musical instruments and computers. Digital refers to binary levels of voltage. Non-proprietary means that it is free for anyone to use. Hardware and software protocol are the rules related to how we exchange information.
General MIDI, came to prominence in 1991, organized a bank of 128 sounds in categories such as keyboards, pipes, reed, brass, etc. The specs states that any GM (general MIDI) device must support 16 channels of which channel 10 is devoted to 1 or more drum kits.
3. Describe the difference between an electric piano or keyboard device and keyboards that are designated as “synthesizers”.
Electric pianos (really electronic) usually have a few different piano sounds such as grand piano, rhodes piano, harpsichord, and one or more organs. These pianos have weighted keys to emulate the feel of an acoustic piano. Synthesizers have multiple banks of preset sounds, often contain a General MIDI bank, and will allow you to create new sounds using frequency modulation techniques. Weighted keys are not always included. Casual keyboard (under $200 Casio, what have you) are typically general MIDI instruments onlyand may have built-in speakers.
4. What is a MIDI controller and what are the different types available to musicians?
A MIDI controller is a device that does not produce sound unless connected to a sound-generating MIDI device. Some keyboards come with MIDI controller capabilities but also have speakers. Most available to musicians are keyboards, wind controllers (typically used by flute, sax, and clarinet players), launch pad, MIDI drum pad set, brass controller, Zeta string controller, mi.mu gloves/gestural controllers, and vocoders.
5. What is a software synthesizer?
The audio that is triggered by the MIDI controller is often stored as software within a computer. Garageband is a well-known example of a product that contains many banks of software synthesizers. It is often built into a DAW (digital audio workstation).
6. Who are a few of the makers of current EMI products?
Korg/Boss, Roland, Yamaha, M-Audio
7. What are some of the educational resources (method materials, books, etc.) available for use with EMI?
YouTube, SoundTree (educational division of Korg), and MIE system (Yamaha).
8. What features have to be present in a piece of software before the software itself can be classified as a musical instrument?
Ability to manipulate pitches and the user can trigger different sounds by clicking or tapping, low latency.
This is very subjective to different people, but without the above aspects it is more of a "player".
9. Referencing the 2014 national standards: list the enduring understandings and essential questions you believe are most relevant to this technology content area.
Enduring Understanding: Musicians’ creative choices are influenced by their expertise, context, and expressive intent.
Enduring Understanding: Musicians evaluate and refine their work through openness to new ideas, persistence, and the application of appropriate criteria.
Essential Question: How do musicians improve the quality of their creative work?
Enduring Understanding: Musicians’ presentation of creative work is the culmination of a process of creation and communication.
Enduring Understanding: Analyzing creators’ context and how they manipulate elements of music provides insight into their intent and informs performance.
Essential Question: How do the other arts, other disciplines, contexts and daily life inform creating, performing, and responding to music?
10. EMI content examples in my teaching:
-Practice Recordings
-Performance Recording Editing
-Rehearsal Tools
-Performance Practices
-Student creation using iPad as midi controller
-SmartMusic
-Essential Elements Interactive
Digital Media
1. What is the difference between a compressed image format and a non-compressed image format? Likewise, what is the difference between a between a lossy file format and a non-lossy file format (audio or video)?
File type is the most notable difference between compressed and uncompressed image files but degradation of quality is also a part of the answer. Quality is the most notable difference between lossy and non-lossy file format for digital audio or video. Lossy audio deletes data that your ears cannot perceive so that it is more easily transferred over the internet. Some swear by Lossless.
2. How does MIDI differ from digital audio file formats?
MIDI is a language for describing a musical performance in great detail. The actual performance, however, is produced by a software synthesizer or other MIDI device and is then typically stored as a digital audio file. MIDI is just data. A digital audio is data, certainly, but also directly produces the audio. A MIDI is similar in concept to the player piano role on an old time player piano. The piano role itself makes no sound. It must be attached to a sound generating device to make the actual music. A digital audio file is a complete representation of what happens when a MIDI file is performed by a sound generating device.
3. What graphic file formats are most commonly found on a web page and why?
JPEG (joint photographic experts group), PNG (portable network graphics), GIF (graphic interchange format), PDF (portable document format), SVG (scalable vector graphic).
PNG is great because it is not bitmap, but a vector image. AKA you can zoom in and not get pixel-y.
4. What are transparent image file formats and why would one want to use them?
Portions of a transparent image allow the existing background to show (supported by PNG, GIF, and SVG).
5. What commercial, online, and/or open-source tools are available for creating or editing audio---video?
Audacity (open source, so you can edit the coding), iMovie, ClipChamp, FinalCutPro, BandLab, GarageBand, Adobe Premiere, Acorn, Affinity Design
6. Explain why the PDF file format is an advantageous way to share finished documents.
Universal compatibility with all internet devices, security (encrypted and password protected), fidelity (formatting), reduces carbon footprint, and PDFs can be used for online forms/digital signatures.
7. Why is it necessary for musicians and educators to have a basic understanding of converting one Digital Media format into another?
Keeping up with the times :) File formats change frequently. MOV was once prominent but MP4 largely has replaced it for online video distribution. To manage file size, we convert from TIFF to JPG to be able to share a lovely photo with much shorter download time. To take advantage of a feature of the new format; for example, to convert JPG to PNG in order to add a transparency layer.
8. Why is the “art” of creating CD-ROMs, DVDs, and other physical multimedia formats becoming less necessary to master?
Pretty much everything now is digital, downloadable, or streaming.
9. Why would a teacher want to be able to embed a Digital Media product into an online resource such as a webpage?
To extend the classroom by allowing students to access media you recommend at home as well as at school. Also to help promote the work of your students, raise funds, impress parents, and decision makers who allocate money.
10. The ability to rapidly share and have others access files has led to cloud-based services such as Appleʼs iCloud, Dropbox, and Flickr. What are they and why are they important in todayʼs age of information exchange?
Security, share flexibility, file size limitations are eased. A cloud based service is both remote and distributed. Remote part simply means that the file exists on a remote drive. The distributed is that multiple copies of the file are available more quickly from remote data centers in multiple locations around the world.
11. What Web 2.0 websites allow students to create and share Digital Media?
TikTok, FlipGrid, YouTube, SnapChat, Instagram, Google MusicLab, AdobeSpark, NearPod, Kahoot, BrainPop, Screencast
12. What copyright concerns must be considered when creating or using Digital Media either in traditional models or distributing it via the Internet?
Traditional models (aka in the classroom): No problem, fair use. If you have licensed media you can use it in the classroom. That said, Canvas does audits to ensure that broadcast do not include copyrighted materials. Copyright actually exists to encourage creative activity by allowing creators to profit reasonably from their work. Alfred Music has a brochure called "It's All About Respect." If it is worth using, it is worth paying for. Penalties for copyright infringement are becoming more common so we must ask permission. But that also encourages us as teachers to create original content to avoid copyright restrictions.
13. What type of hardware and/or class environment is needed to make effective use of Digital Media for enhanced music learning?
Computer, projector, audio system, wifi, zoom, microphones/soundboard, video camera, playback devices for physical media etc.
14. Referencing the 2014 national standards: list the enduring understandings and essential questions you believe are most relevant to this technology content area.
Essential Question: How do musicians generate creative ideas?
Essential Question: When is creative work ready to share?
Enduring Understanding: Performers’ interest in and knowledge of musical works, understanding of their own technical skill, and the context for a performance influence the selection of repertoire.
Essential Question: How do performers select repertoire?
Essential Question: When is a performance judged ready to present? How do context and the manner in which musical work is presented influence audience response?
15. How do you incorporate this content into your classroom?
-How I record, distribute, and share music
-Sharing content via physical copy vs digital download/streaming
-Determining the best format to resonate with
audiences and also have easy access
Instructional Software
1. What are the four broad categories of instructional software in music?
Drill and Practice, Discovery Simulation, Tutorials, Games
2. What are some of the major sources instructional software?
YouTube, MusicFirst, musictheory.net, SmartMusic, etc
3. What are some of the key or desirable characteristics of “good” instructional software for your teaching needs?
Free, User friendly, interactive, cloud-based (easy to manage), easy to integrate into curriculum, accurate content, defined/accountable authorship, not dependent on Flash, not dependent on Chrome/Internet Explorer etc
4. Name and discuss some of the instructional software appropriate for your teaching needs.
Garageband, SmartMusic, musictheory.net, quaver, Moosiko, notation software like finale and sibelius (especially for stuff like worksheets)
5. What other, more general, desktop software can be used to create learning opportunities for students?
SmartBoard, Doceri, PowerPoint,Word, Excel, Zoom, Skype, Teams
6. What Web-based software can be used to create learning opportunities for students?
Noteflight, Band-Lab, musictheory.net, plickers,
7. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using instructional software?
Advantages: Interactive, engaging, accessible to digital native, not humiliating, amplifies teacher power
Disadvantages: typing level for younger students is poor, they text more often than type, different type of tech than normal, takes time to set-up and teaching kids how to use it, discourages interpersonal communication, not playing instruments, dependent on electricity/internet/equipment, the digital experience can potentially supplant a more effective traditional experience, competency level of the teacher may not allow the teacher to use to its full capacity, encourages unhealthy
8. What Web 2.0 Web sites allow students to create and share instructional software?
YouTube, TikTok, and social sharing sites
9. What copyright concerns must be considered when creating or using instructional software while online?
For commercial software, no problem usually because the maker is responsible for clearing copyrights. MacGraw-Hill, Quaver etc should pose no issue. For tutorials on YouTube, sometimes (often) clearances are not obtained by the authors.
10. What type of hardware and/or class environment is needed to make effective use of instructional software for enhanced music learning?
Computer, projector, physical media player, network connection, audio players
11. Referencing the 2014 national standards: list the enduring understandings and essential questions you believe are most relevant to this technology content area.
Essential Question: How do individuals choose music to experience?
Enduring Understanding: Response to music is informed by analyzing context (social cultural, and historical) and how creators and performers manipulate the elements of music.
Enduring Understanding: Musicians connect their personal interests, experiences, ideas, and knowledge to creating, performing, and responding.
Enduring Understanding: Understanding connections to varied contexts and daily life enhances musicians’ creating, performing, and responding.
Essential Question: How do the other arts, other disciplines, contexts and daily life inform creating, performing, and responding to music?
Music Notation
1. Who are some of the well-known makers of Music Notation software and what are some of their related products?
Sibelius: Sibelius First, Scorch, Audio Score, Photo Score
Finale: PrintMusic, NotePad, SmartMusic
Steinberg's Dorico: Cubase
Hal Leonard's NoteFlight and SMP Press
2. Please describe some of the common practices and techniques of entering notation into notation software?
Point and click: SLOW but great for kids
Step Time: number and keyboard... faster but very precise
Real Time: very fast, great for people with MIDI skills, with click track
Scanning
Audio Transcription
3. How is sequencing software similar, yet different from Music Notation software?
Sequencing and Music Notation software both deals with a sequence of MIDI events. Sequencing focuses on creating expressive performance while notation software focuses on producing accurate and attractive scores.
4. MIDI devices are particularly useful when used in conjunction with Music Notation software. Why?
Faster input, better quality audio output (in some cases),
5. What is meant by “Pitch to MIDI” devices and why would anyone want to use this electronic convention with Music Notation software?
To convert the audio output of voice and acoustic instruments to MIDI events that can be transcribed and sequenced, to allow non-readers and non-digital musicians to record notation of their acoustic performances, saves time, and provides interesting feedback on pitch accuracy.
6. What are the limits of music notation scanning?
Works best on single line notation, multiple voices on a single line can be problematic, does a poor job of scanning old manuscripts or anything hand-written.
7. What ways other than “printing” can someone utilize a product created with the Music Notation software?
Scanning, audio transcriptions, reflector to share scores on mobile devices, arranging, original composition with audio feedback, worksheet generation, generative composition (aka it will make the drum track for you), analysis,
8. What are some uses for notated scores exported as audio files?
Copyright-free audio content for public domain works, publish background tracks with synchronized audio for students to use online.
9. What are some of the ways that a finished Music Notation product could be used in your daily teaching assignments?
Worksheets, quizzes, group practice, customized parts for alternative instrumentation
10. What collaborative options (whether included in the software or used in conjunction with other software) are available for students to utilize with each other and with the teacher?
NoteFlight allows sharing of embedded scores so teachers and students can collaborate
11. What copyright concerns and considerations must be discussed with the students in direct relationship to using and publishing any products created with Music Notation software?
Consider whether or not the work is in the public domain. Publishing derivative works online is likely not allowed. The chord progression associated with copyrighted melodies is not copyrighted, so publishing original accompaniments for melodies based on chord progressions is an allowed use. BE CAREFUL though because if it is too close, parodies have to get a lot of licensing for this permission.
12. Referencing the 2014 national standards: list the enduring understandings and essential questions you believe are most relevant to this technology content area.
Enduring Understanding: Musicians evaluate, and refine their work through openness to new ideas, persistence, and the application of appropriate criteria.
Essential Question: How do musicians improve the quality of their creative work?
Enduring Understanding: Response to music is informed by analyzing context (social, cultural, and historical) and how creators and performers manipulate the elements of music. Essential Question: How does understanding the structure and context of music inform a response?
Music Production
1. Who are some of the major makers of Music Production software?
Apple (Logic Pro, GarageBand), Audacity, Avid Pro Tools, Steinberg Cubase, Mark of the Unicorn (Digital Performer, Performer Lite, AudioDesk), educational products like incredibox, chrome music lab, groove pizza etc
2. What are the differences among sequencing, multi-track audio, and simple digital audio two-track editing?
Sequencing original referred only to MIDI generated data. Eventually the term became conflated with audio production that also includes digital audio recording. Multi-track audio editors allow you to have multiple audio tracks in your editable original and then export a stereo mixdown. Some simple shareware software is limited to editing stereo audio mixdowns for things like reverb and equalization.
3. Explain the differences between compressed (lossy) audio and non-compressed (non-lossy) audio file formats?
Quality is the chief difference but often the quality loss is not noticeable. File size is the secondary difference.
4. What are sampling rate and resolution? What are typical measurements for these characteristics of audio? How do they impact sound quality and file sizes?
Sampling rate is the number of times per second an audio signal is measured for amplitude and frequency. This effects the fidelity of the frequencies. If you measure at 44.1khz then you capture all the frequencies humans can hear... so like the pitches.
Sampling resolution is the degree of precision. If you measure each sample in 65,546 degrees of amplitude, you capture the full spectrum of dynamics that humans can hear. This is referred to as 16-bit sample resolution... so like dynamics.
5. What is bit rate (aka data rate) and how does it affect digital audio quality? Name three common bit rates for stereo audio files.
Bit rate represents the data content in each second of the digital audio.
The most common bit rates for stereo audio files are 128/160/192/256 kbps. But most (almost all) humans do not hear the difference beyond 256. kbps.
6. What is a DAW?
Digital Audio Workstation: electronic device to make and manipulate recorded audio. One form is a portable keyboard with onboard DAW. Another would be a software package like Pro Tools.
7. What are VST and AU audio technologies?
Software Synthesizers: VST (Virtual Studio Technology) and AU (Audio Units)
8. How is loop-based audio creation/editing different from traditional recording methods of creating/editing digital audio?
You can be musically illiterate and still make something worth listening to.
9. What Web 2.0 websites allow the sharing/collaboration of digital audio products?
SoundCloud, SoundTrap, YouTube
10. What copyright concerns must be considered anytime a non-original audio product is recorded and distributed in any way?
Is the original content public domain? Creating derivative works requires special copyright clearances. See previous blog posts on copyright.
11. Referencing the 2014 national standards: list the enduring understandings and essential questions you believe are most relevant to this technology content area.
Enduring Understanding: The creative ideas, concepts, and feelings that influence musicians’ work emerge from a variety of sources.
Essential Question: How do musicians generate creative ideas?
Essential Question: How do musicians improve the quality of their performance?
Enduring Understanding: Through their use of elements and structures of music, creators and performers provide clues to their expressive intent.
Essential Question: How do we discern musical creators’ and performers’ expressive intent?
Information Processing
1. Name three current manufacturers of computer systems and the operating systems that are commonly associated with them.
Apple (MacOS and iOS), Microsoft (Windows), Google (Chrome OS), and other various manufacturers (like Linus)
2. Name three current manufacturers of mobile computer devices.
Apple (iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch), Samsung (Android, Galaxy, Smart Watch), LG, Amazon (Kindle, Fire Tablet), Google (pixel, Nexus), Hewlett Packard (Tablet/PC hybrid), Microsoft (Tablet/PC hybrid)
3. In todayʼs current laptop and desktop computers, how much memory (RAM) do we expect to for a normal system? How much storage space? Speed? Number of processors (CPUs)? What is an SSD and how is it different from a traditional hard drive?
RAM (8 GB), Storage (Hard Drive, mostly external, SSD, flashdrive), SSD,
4. Describe how Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) devices are typically connected to todayʼs computers.
USB - providing both power and connectivity
In the past, you purchase a USB MIDI Interface and then connected the computer to the interface with MIDI cables.
5. What are Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs)? How are they typically used in music education environments?
SmartBoard, Promethean as a display and touch sensitive surface.
6. What are some of the productivity software programs typically installed on a desktop/laptop? MIDI software? Music education software?
Productivity: Office 365 or other suite, Google Docs, notes
MIDI Software: Garageband,
Music ed Software: not installed, mostly in the cloud or need downloaded
7. Describe how a LAN is similar and different from a WAN.
Local Area Network allows you to connect printers and other shared devices and have them available only to users in a single room or building.
Wide Area Network is a group of LANs connected together typically at the enterprise level.
8. How is Bluetooth different from WI-FI technologies? What are 3G, 4G, 5G, and LTE technologies as they relate to cellular communication?
Bluetooth is short range, wireless communication. Wifi could cover an entire building or floor of a building. Only use WiFi that demand a password for access. Otherwise, your data is observable. Free WiFi can be dangerous if not encrypted. The other option is to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network). 3G/4G/5G/LTE technologies.... 3G is almost extinct. 4G is dominant and 5G is coming fast. It has super fast, high-bandwidth wireless tech that can serve undeserved areas where there is no profit in laying down wired connections. LTE (long term evolution) is similar to 5G but is more available.
9. What are the typical security measures that should be taken to protect your computers from malware and viruses?
Frequent backups- particularly to protect against RansomWare. Be smart... don't click links in your emails because phishing attempts are rampant. If you have concerns, just go directly to the site instead of through an external link. Don't download software from free software sites unless directed to authentic site by an admin. Free software often includes SpyWare. Use commercial anti-malware software, or better yet, request it from your admin!
10. Using USB MIDI devices, how can a non-specific-computer lab be turned into a functional music education lab?
Add controllers and use software synthesizers already installed on the computers. Have students bring their own headphones and have a few very tacky, poorly colored alternatives for them to use if they forget.
11. What companies help with developing music-education specific hardware and help with designing music computer lab environments?
SoundTree- a division of Korg, Yamaha- no longer sells MTE but does sell educational content and instruments.
12. What copyright concerns must be considered in connection with this topic?
Information processing... make sure you have the rights or get permission
13. Referencing the 2014 national standards: list the enduring understandings and essential questions you believe are most relevant to this technology content area.
Essential Question: How do the other arts, other disciplines, contexts, and daily life inform creating, performing, and responding to music?
Enduring Understanding: Response to music is informed by analyzing context (social, cultural, and historical) and how creators and performers manipulate the elements of music.