Creating Music with Songsmith
Are you looking for a way to help auditory and kinesthetic learners engage with the curriculum? Bring songwriting into the classroom with Songsmith! Songsmith generates musical accompaniment to match a singer’s voice. Just choose a musical style, sing into your PC’s microphone, and Songsmith will create backing music for you. Then share your songs with your friends and family, post your songs online, or create your own music videos. Songsmith gives the novice user a taste of music creation, at the level a songwriter might think of music creation, without the underlying instrumental skills or music theory understanding. Overview of Module 7 min - Introduce Songsmith - Video example 20 min - Hands-on Demonstration- Learn to use Songsmith 13 min - Video Examples & Discussion - Other ways to use Songsmith 40 min - Hands-on-Project- Participants select a hands-on-project on which to work 10 min - Debrief/Share/Wrap up
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Table of Contents
Before the Session ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 Agenda......................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Step-By-Step ............................................................................................................................................................... 5 Hands on Projects ...................................................................................................................................................... 8 More Resources .......................................................................................................................................................... 8 Tips and Tricks ............................................................................................................................................................ 9 Digital Resources for Facilitator .............................................................................................................................. 14
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Before the Session Before the session Be sure to have a USB headset with microphone for each participant and a USB microphone for yourself for demonstration.
Save the Songsmith Demo to your Desktop. Launch it and minimize it so it is ready to go when you get to the live demo.
Post the Hands on Projects Word Document to a location on the internet that the participants can access.
Agenda Time Allotted Slide 1 As participants enter
Activity Display Slide 1 of the PowerPoint and greet participants.
Slide 2 2 min
Introduce Learning Objectives Participants will create a simple song using Songsmith that demonstrates basic song editing skills. Participants will select a hands-on project and synthesize their learning to develop their own project using Songsmith.
Slide 3 5 min
Introduce Songsmith - Video Example Music teacher Frank Machos from the High School of the Future (Philadelphia, PA) is using Microsoft Songsmith in his Digital Music class to teach the fundamentals of music theory while inspiring students to write their own music.
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In this example, the teachers uses Songsmith to teach musical concepts that are sometimes difficult, particularly how chords are used in music and how melodies and chords fit together.
Obviously, this is a high-level use of this tool. However, Songsmith is also a fantastic tool for young children who know nothing about how to create music. Songsmith gives the novice user a taste of music creation, at the level a songwriter might think of music creation, without the underlying instrumental skills or music theory understanding.
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Slide 4 & Live Demo 20 min
Demonstration of how to use Songsmith Using the Step-by-Step guide, give a demonstration for how to create a quick song using Songsmith. Be sure to go over the tips for improving songs and how to change chords (for the more musically inclined).
Slide 5 - 7 5 min
More ways to use Songsmith Now that you have experienced how Songsmith works, here are three quick examples of how Songsmith can be used in conjunction with Live Movie Maker to create a more powerful product. 1. In slide 5, the song was written and recorded in Songsmith. Then, 2. In slide 6, the authors took pictures with a digital camera and edited them in MovieMaker to create a product 3. In slide 7, the authors used PowerPoint to create the animation.
Slide 8 8 min
Slide 9-10 40 min
Turn and Talk In groups of two or three, have participants turn to each other and discuss their ideas for how they could use Songsmith with students. Randomly select 2-3 groups to share out. Hands-On Project Show participants where to access the Word document that describes the six projects from which they can select.
Slide 11 10 min
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Give the participants a choice as to what they want to work on.
Share Your Creation Have some of the participants share their creations with the class. Additionally, you can have them share ideas they have for using with their students.
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Step-By-Step Before the session Be sure to have a USB headset with microphone for each participant and a USB microphone for yourself for demonstration.
Save the Songsmith Demo to your Desktop. Launch it and minimize it so it is ready to go when you get to the live demo.
Post the Hands on Projects Word Document to a location on the internet that the participants can access.
1. Open the Songsmith Demo Songsmith Demo.songsmith
2. Show the basic anatomy of the program. ❶Song Starter ❷ Export (and export to MovieMaker) ❸ Record/Stop/Play ❹ Microphone Configuration ❺ Style/Measure/Tempo Options ❻ Adjust sound/mood ❼ The help button and window that give you more information
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3. Demonstrate how to create a quick song. 4. Pick a style for your song.
5. Choose a tempo (speed).
6. Sing into your microphone . Sing something short such as "Are you looking for a way to help auditory and kinesthetic learners engage with the curriculum? Bring songwriting into the classroom with Songsmith!" Be sure that the red audio track shows when you are recording. No Audio Quiet The bigger the track, the louder your voice will sound.
Loud
If no red audio track shows when you are recording, you need to click "Options" and ensure that your microphone is set up correctly. 7. Save your project (so that you can edit it later if you like). 8. Export as WMA to share with 6
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others (demonstrate that you can also export to Live Movie Maker). 9. Have participants record a quick song using their headsets . 10. Demonstrate how to adjust chords by typing in the chord box. Load the demo song again. Change the chords by typing in the boxes. Press 'play' to listen to the new sounds. Songsmith Demo.songsmith
11. Share these suggestions for improving your songs (these are found on the Hands on Project Word Document as well): The first time you record a new song, you’re just listening to the drum beat. But if you press the ‘record’ button again after you’ve created a song, you'll be able to sing again with your music in the background. The chords for your song won’t change right away, but if you move the ‘happy’ and ‘jazzy’ sliders around after re-recording, Songsmith will be choosing chords to match your new vocal take. Recording In Parts Often you may want to work on a song in sections, for example maybe you want to work out one line at a time in your verse, exploring a variety of ways to back up a line before moving on to the next. Here’s a great way to take that approach with Songsmith: 1. Record your one or two lines, as if that were the whole song. 2. Experiment with the chords until you’re happy. Move the ‘happy’ and ‘jazzy’ sliders around, try out the ‘suggested’ chords that you get if you click the little arrow next to the chord, etc. Maybe you hear a chord you like that makes you think about the melody a little differently, so you can try ‘locking’ that chord (click the little arrow next to the chord and select “lock”) and recording the line again. 3. When you’re good with your line, lock all the chords you’ve recorded (by clicking the little arrow next to each chord and selecting ‘lock’, or by right-clicking each chord and selecting ‘lock’), so these chords won’t change until you unlock them. 4. Add a bunch of empty measures to the end of your song. You can do this by setting the combo box below the main chord area (called “Add/remove bar at”) to ‘End’, then clicking the ‘+’ button for each measure you want to add. 12. Have the participants spend the rest of the 20 minute demonstration session playing with Songsmith.
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Hands on Projects Write a song about…
Your favorite web 2.0 tools that you use in the classroom and why you love them. A summary of the last book you read. Your class rules that you can teach to the students each year. How to solve a math problem (the rules for solving a system of equations, Order of Operations, etc.). A shortened version of a play (example: Romeo and Juliet in 3 minutes). The periodic table. Why you became a teacher. The best holiday of your life. Your autobiography in 3 minutes. Your favorite poem (turn it into music).
If you understand music, you can use some of the "Tips and Tricks" to help make your song even better!
More Resources Microsoft's Songsmith Page: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/teachers.html Tutorials and Videos: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/music.html Help and How-To http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/howto.html Using Machine Learning to Support Pedagogy in the Arts: I. http://research.microsoft.com/enus/um/redmond/groups/cue/publications/Morris_Fiebrink_CHI_2011_CCI_Workshop.pdf
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Tips and Tricks Re-Recording
The first time you record a new song, you’re just listening to the drum beat. But if you press the ‘record’ button again after you’ve created a song, you'll be able to sing again with your music in the background. Whether you’re an amateur or a pro, you’ll deliver a better performance when you have some music to sing along with, so this is definitely an important step in getting your song just right. The chords for your song won’t change right away, but if you move the ‘happy’ and ‘jazzy’ sliders around after re-recording, Songsmith will be choosing chords to match your new vocal take. Recording In Parts Often you may want to work on a song in sections, for example maybe you want to work out one line at a time in your verse, exploring a bunch of different ways to back up that line before moving on to the next. Here’s a great way to take that approach with Songsmith: 1. Record your one or two lines, as if that were the whole song. 2. Experiment with the chords until you’re happy. Move the ‘happy’ and ‘jazzy’ sliders around, try out the ‘suggested’ chords that you get if you click the little arrow next to the chord, etc. Maybe you hear a chord you like that makes you think about the melody a little differently, so you can try ‘locking’ that chord (click the little arrow next to the chord and select “lock”) and recording the line again. 3. When you’re good with your line, lock all the chords you’ve recorded (by clicking the little arrow next to each chord and selecting ‘lock’, or by right-clicking each chord and selecting ‘lock’), so these chords won’t change until you unlock them. 4. Add a bunch of empty measures to the end of your song. You can do this by setting the combo box below the main chord area (called “Add/remove bar at”) to ‘End’, then clicking the ‘+’ button for each measure you want to add.
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Advanced Rhythm
You can always edit any chord just by clicking on it and typing. But if you’re looking to add a little rhythmic and arrangement excitement to your songs, there’s a special notation for turning instruments on and off and for creating drum breaks or “hard stops”. You and can add ‘.’, ‘..’, or ‘...’ to any chord to create silence, a hard stop, or a hanging stop respectively, and you can use the notation ‘d.’ (or ‘d..’ or ‘d...’), for example, to say “everything but drums should stop here”,
with ‘b’ for bass, ‘k’ for keyboard, ‘g’ for guitar, and ‘s’ for strings.
So, for example, the chord “Cminbd...” would be a C minor chord with a hanging stop on everything except the drums and bass. Note that if you move the ‘happy’ or ‘jazzy’ sliders around to change the chords, these special annotations will be lost, so you might want to use the ‘lock’ feature (right-click on a chord and select ‘lock’) to lock in any special annotations you add to a chord. You can see this special notation in action in one of our online demo songs – “Another Boring Love Song” (Songsmith file) (audio file) – which uses a ‘..’ in the last measure to create a hard stop at the end of the song.
Recording in Parts
Often you may want to work on a song in sections, for example maybe you want to work out one line at a time in your verse, exploring a bunch of different ways to back up that line before moving on to the next. Here’s a great way to take that approach with Songsmith: 1. Record your one or two lines, as if that were the whole song. 2. Experiment with the chords until you’re happy. Move the ‘happy’ and ‘jazzy’ sliders around, try out the ‘suggested’ chords that you get if you click the little arrow next to the chord, etc. Maybe you hear a chord you like that makes you think about the melody a little differently, so you can try ‘locking’ that chord (click the little arrow next to the chord and select “lock”) and recording the line again. 3. When you’re good with your line, lock all the chords you’ve recorded (by clicking the little arrow next to each chord and selecting ‘lock’, or by right-clicking each chord and selecting ‘lock’), so these chords won’t change until you unlock them. 4. Add a lot of empty measures to the end of your song. You can do this by setting the combo box below the main chord area (called “Add/remove bar at”) to ‘End’, then clicking the ‘+’ button for each measure you want to add.
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5. Now record again, and sing your old line and your new line. Songsmith won’t touch the chords you already worked on (because you locked them), but will make new chords in the empty measures. This is a great way to work on a song piece by piece, and a great way to work on a song where you already have some idea what the chords should sound like for part of the song, but want Songsmith to help out with other parts.
Keyboard Shortcuts
This is a list of some useful keyboard shortcuts available in Songsmith, available when you’ working in the Songsmith main window. As with most Windows applications, pressing the ‘Alt’ key will underline most of the keyboard shortcuts available at any given time. Alt-N
Bring up the “New Song Starter”
Alt-L
Load a song
Alt-S
Save your song
Alt-Z
Bring up the “Save As” menu (then use ‘S’ for “save as” and ‘E’ for “export”)
Alt-R
Record a new vocal take
Alt-O
Stop playback or recording
Alt-P
Play your song
Alt-U
Undo
Alt-E
“Clean slate”, i.e. erase your song and start over
P
Preview the current chord (when a measure is selected)
P
Preview the current chord (when a measure is selected)
Alt-Y
Select the “choose style” combo (then use the up and down arrows to change styles)
Alt-W
Bring up the “choose style” window
Alt-B
Select the “choose chords per bar” combo (then use the up and down arrows to change the chords per bar)
Alt-A
Select the combo box that lets you choose whether to add or remove bars at the beginning or end of the song. Then use the up and down arrows to change the value, and use ‘Ctrl-plus’ and ‘Ctrl-minus’ to actually add or delete bars.
Ctrl-Plus Add a bar to the beginning or end of the song
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CtrlMinus
Delete a bar from the beginning or end of the song
Alt-T
Activate the “tempo” slider, which lets you change the tempo of your song. Then use the left or right keys to change tempo. Only available when you have not recorded any voice for the current song.
Alt-H
Activate the “happy” slider, which lets you change the feel (happy vs. sad) of your song. Then use the left or right keys to change the “happy” value.
Alt-J
Activate the “jazzy” slider, which lets you make your chords more traditional or more advanturous. Then use the left or right keys to change the “jazzy” value.
Alt-C
Activate the “voice volume” slider. The use the left or right keys to change the voice volume.
Alt-M
Activate the “master volume” slider. The use the left or right keys to change the master volume.
Alt-X
Open the “mix” window
Alt-T
Open the “advanced options” window
F1
Open the Songsmith online help system
How Musicians Use Songsmith Is Songsmith going to replace the craft of songwriting? - Never. Could it be a super-useful “intelligent scratchpad” for exploring new melodies and ideas? Definitely! If you’re a songwriter, you’ve probably had the experience of coming up with a melody, then reaching for the nearest object with a “record” button on it, just to get your idea down. Imagine that first quick experience also letting you explore chord progressions, styles, even basic arrangement ideas. Then of course you’d work with other tools, other people, your instruments, and your own musical intuition to really develop a song. But Songsmith can be a great tool that lets you quickly explore new ideas in places where you couldn’t before (on the go, on the bus, in the airport, etc.). And Songsmith works great with instrumental input too... What features does Songsmith have for musicians? First and foremost, the core functionality of Songsmith – automatic accompaniment for melodies – is every bit as useful to musicians as it is to novices. Explore chord progressions you might not otherwise have tried, explore styles and sounds you might not otherwise have tried, and do it all quickly, in places you might not have worked on a song before. But Songsmith does more than that... here are a few other features we want to point out to musicians; these are things we love to use every day: 12
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Edit chords directly if you want to work your ideas in with Songsmith’s suggested chords. Songsmith can work with a huge variety of chords, and it understands lots of chords that it may never generate automatically. Play an instrument instead of singing into Songsmith; Songsmith works great with instrumental melodies. Export to MIDI and toss your MIDI into your favorite host application as a skeleton, just to get started working on a new song. Sometimes the hardest part of getting started on a demo is just getting that skeleton in place, and Songsmith is a great way to do that, even if you don’t keep a single note from the original Songsmith track. The samples you hear in Songsmith aren’t toy sounds... they’re a high-powered general MIDI set from Garritan, one of the biggest names in the industry. And in fact Garritan will be offering instrument upgrades Songsmith if you’re looking to take the sounds to another level. Songsmith is even compatible with Garritan’s newest professional line of virtual instruments. Type in chords directly without ever playing or singing a note if you just want to generate some backing music for jamming or practicing. Exported audio is time-aligned to zero, no matter where you started singing, which makes it really easy to drag clips into any host application that supports snapping clips to measure or beat boundaries (which, in 2009, is basically all of them). This is a great way to work with multiple vocal takes, or to put the background and vocal takes separately into a host app and put some effects on one or the other. That’s exactly how we made this recording, for example. Intelligent “suggest” feature suggests new root chord (triad) substitutions based on progression context and melody. Not a replacement for your own ear, but a great way to audition chords you might not have tried on your own.
I want to hear more about how other musicians are using Songsmith. Over at our community forum, we’ve set up a musicians area just to “talk shop”. This project would never have happened if the folks who came up with the idea for Songsmith weren’t musicians ourselves. And we can’t tell you just how excited we are to talk to other musicians and get you pumped about Songsmith, so count on us being available in the forums.
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Digital Resources for Facilitator PowerPoint Songsmith Module.pptx
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