Soundtrack Composing Using Music Tech
8th Graders recently completed a unit on composition and music technology that utilized the program Sequel 3, which is similar to GarageBand.
In this unit, they learned to use Sequel 3 to incorporate fundamentals of music that they have been learning about and using throughout their music careers: form, instrumentation, timbre, texture, and dynamics. They had several assignments to complete, including composing to illustrate an emotion musically. Their final project for this unit was based on a narrative clip from a novel; they then had to break down the clip and compose the soundtrack that would accompany this clip in a movie version. Below are some examples of student work from this unit.
In this unit, they learned to use Sequel 3 to incorporate fundamentals of music that they have been learning about and using throughout their music careers: form, instrumentation, timbre, texture, and dynamics. They had several assignments to complete, including composing to illustrate an emotion musically. Their final project for this unit was based on a narrative clip from a novel; they then had to break down the clip and compose the soundtrack that would accompany this clip in a movie version. Below are some examples of student work from this unit.
Assignments #2/#3:
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Final Project:
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Click Here to Create a Bibliography: www.easybib.com/
Websites to help start your research:
Here are some places you may want to start your research:
Remember, you want to use credible sources when doing research-- make sure websites and articles come from sources you can trust for facts. Wikipedia, blogs, and fan sites can have inaccurate information and lots of opinions, and are not acceptable sources for this project. If you have a question about whether a source is credible or not, ASK!
- Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Musicians
- GCS Media Center Research Page --try Grolier and EBSCO for this project
- Encyclopedia Britannica
- InfoPlease
- FactMonster
- InfoTopia
Remember, you want to use credible sources when doing research-- make sure websites and articles come from sources you can trust for facts. Wikipedia, blogs, and fan sites can have inaccurate information and lots of opinions, and are not acceptable sources for this project. If you have a question about whether a source is credible or not, ASK!
Composing Basic Theme:
Eighth grade students have been using the program Sequel 3 to compose music in the satellite lab. In this project, they chose from 7 paragraphs taken from a variety of different books, and had to compose a theme that would illustrate and express the excerpt they chose.
Thematic music composed by students for excerpt 1:
"Straddling the top of the world, one foot in China and the other in Nepal, I cleared the ice from my oxygen mask, hunched a shoulder against the wind, and stared absently down at the vastness of Tibet. I understood on some dim, detached level that the sweep of earth beneath my feet was a spectacular sight. I'd been fantasizing about this moment, and the release of emotions that would accompany it, for many months. But now that I was finally here, actually standing on the summit of Mount Everest, I just couldn't summon the energy to care." -From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer Thematic music composed by students for excerpt 3: Wings. Awestruck, I spread them wide, closed them tight, then opened them again. Watching their edges glitter in the sunshine, I realized they weren't made from flesh, blood, and bone, as was the rest of my body. No, these wings were made from something more ephemeral, like air, and more luminous, like starlight. Trouble whistled in delight and leaped into the air. Then came the greater miracle. I joined him! Pumping my broad, shimmering wings, I rose into the air above the circle of stones. Higher I climbed, and higher. Wind rushed over my face, flattening my hair and sending streams of tears across my temples. Though my glowing feathers quivered with every gust, the powerful wings kept beating rhythmically. I inhaled with every upstroke and exhaled with every downward whoosh." -From "The Wings of Merlin" by T.A. Barron Thematic music composed by students for excerpt 4: "Everybody agreed on this: There was one second showing on the clock when Danny released his layup maybe one foot further away from the basket than he would have preferred. He didn't know anything about where Bud Sheedy was, or how close he came to catching him, or the clock behind the basket. He was going by the clock inside his head, keeping his eyes on the prize: That little square right above the basket. He pushed off on his left leg, going up hard but laying the ball up there soft. He saw the ball hit the square as if there were a bull's eye painted on it. The last thing he saw before he went flying toward the stage was the ball go through the net, right before the horn sounded. He was sitting on the floor with his back against the stage when the Warriors came running for him. Warriors 34, Kirkland 32. Final." Thematic music composed by students for excerpt 5: "In the expectant quiet, there were only the usual sounds of the night. Wind in the big trees out past the school wall, starting to rise as the sky darkened. Crickets beginning to chirp. Then Sabriel heard it--the massed grinding of Dead joints, no longer joined by gristle, the padding of Dead feet, bones like hobnails clicking through necrotic flesh. "Hands," she said, nervously. "Hundreds of Hands." Even as she spoke, a solid wall of Dead flesh hit the iron gates, throwing them over in a split second's crash. Then vaguely human forms were everywhere, rushing towards them, Dead mouths gulping and hissing in a ghastly parody of a war cry. "Fire!" -from Sabriel by Garth Nix Thematic music composed by students for excerpt 6: "I went insane. I didn't have a weapon, but I grabbed the small ax I used for chopping up frozen meat and stormed in after the moose, screaming and cursing louder than the dogs, swinging like a madman, the ax slashing back and forth, and I think the noise startled her or confused her. Whatever the reason, she turned as if to attack me, stomped on one more dog, then vanished into the night." -From "Guts" by Gary Paulsen Thematic music composed by students for excerpt 7: "He's fighting a nightmare when they come for him. A great flood is swallowing the world, and in the middle of it all, he's being mauled by a bear. He's more annoyed than terrified. As if the flood isn't enough, his deep, dark mind has to send an angry grizzly to tear into him. The he's dragged feetfirst out of the jaws of death and drowning Armageddon. "Up! Now! Let's go!" He opens his eyes to a brightly lit bedroom that ought to be dark. Two Juvey-cops manhandle him, grabbing his arms, preventing him from fighting back long before he's awake enough to try. "No! Stop! What is this?" Handcuffs. First on his right wrist, then his left. "On your feet!"'" |
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