Multimedia presentation using electronic instruments

Bonnie Myers
bmyers@connecttime.net
South Butler County Schools

TI:ME Technology Areas Addressed:

Electronic Musical Instruments
Notation Software
Multimedia

Level:

High School

Class:

Instrumental

Equipment:

1. Finale Notepad software (this is free shareware)
2. The iMovie software
3. Each student needs a floppy disk on which to save their work.

Duration:

200 Minutes

Prior Knowledge and Skills:

1. Students know how to successfully enter notation into the Finale Notepad program.
2. Students are familiar with the iMovie software
3. Students know how to create rhythms in different time signatures so that they can successfully create a well written piece of music that is at least 16 measures long.
4. Students understand how to save images from the internet to the desktop of the computer and then to import this into the iMovie.
5. Students understand how to record their written piece into the iMovie and save it as their “soundtrack”. They will use electronic instruments to do this.
6. Students understand how to save their finished project and how to export this from the computer onto a VCR tape.

MENC Standards Addressed:

MENC 3: Improvising melodies, harmonies, and accompaniments.
MENC 4: Composing and Arranging Music within specified guidelines.
MENC 5: Reading and notating music.
MENC 6: Listening to, analyzing and describing music.
MENC 7: Evaluating music and music performances.
MENC 8: Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
MENC 9: Understanding Music in Relation to History and Culture

Materials:

1. Finale Notepad software (this is free shareware)
2. The iMovie software
3. Each student needs a floppy disk on which to save their work. Duration:

Objectives:

Objectives:
1. Students will create a multimedia presentation that will be shown for a future concert. This presentation will have a theme that is chosen by the student. (In the past, we have had students use the themes of 9/11, the orient, immigration and tropical islands).
2. Students will create a melody that is at least 16 measures long. This melody will be made up of rhythms that we have learned in class through pieces and rhythmic dictation.
3. Students will chose an electronic instrument on which to perform and record their piece into the imovie.
4. Students will use the internet to capture, save and import images to the iMovie. Their written music will provide the soundtrack.
5. Students will save and then export their finished project from the VCR through the firewire to the digital camera. The project will then be imported onto a VCR tape through a television and a VCR.
6. The student displays this work at the next concert and gains much self-confidence by producing something beautiful. If the teacher wishes to, the entire class can work on one project. We have created a project on the anniversary of 9/11 that was shown to the entire school at once via the televisions that are in each classroom. We have also created a project that was shown to the history classes that was a remembrance of the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. There are a lot of uses for your finished projects.

Procedures:

1. Day one – Explain the project in detail to the class. Show them several finished projects and discuss this with the group.
2. Day one – Be very clear with what your goal is. This could be one large multimedia production with one theme or this could be small groups on a project or individual projects.
3. Day one – Have the students pick a theme.
4. Day Two – Have the students then begin to write their piece of music. The piece should make sense musically, rhythmically and emotionally. The piece gets saved to the disk for the student’s portfolio.
5. Day Three – The students chose an electronic instrument on which to record their music. They record their piece into their iMovie. They may use the Roland synthesizer (which has a myriad of sounds) or the electronic stringed instruments we have. This is saved into their iMovie.
6. Day Four – The students begin to find and save and import images to their iMovie project. They will need to find enough images to fill the amount of time the song has taken.
7. Day Four – The students will then create a title page and ending credits to their work. This will get saved as well.
8. Day Five – The students view their project from beginning to end on the computer. When they are satisfied with their work, they save this and export this to the digital camcorder.
9. Day Five – The student then takes the camcorder to the VCR/t.v. in the room and exports the film from the camcorder to the VCR tape.
10. Day Five – The film is now ready to be shown through a video projector to a large group.

Evaluation:

1. The teacher will observe the student working on the project and working out the problems that will surface. The students must see the project from beginning to end. Therefore, each student must hand to the teacher a finished project.
2. The class will have evaluation sheets and watch each project and will evaluate the work based on –

1. Is the theme clear?
2. Does the song written make sense? Does it really sound like a song?
3. Was the sound chosen in which the song recorded the best sound for the song? (did they make the best use of the electronic instruments?)
4. Do the images fit the topic?
5. Does the finished project flow?
6. Amount of effort put into the project.

**Each item a-e will be worth 10 points.

Follow Up:

Students can make multimedia presentations for any topic or concert in the future. As time permits, they may decide to do a lengthy film(with electronic music) that can be shown as a tribute to a veteran’s group when the class plays a concert. There are endless possibilities for such presentations.

Items to Purchase:

iMac computers, a digital camcorder, electronic instruments, floppy disks, blank VCR tapes, the iMovie, Finale Notepad, Roland synthesizer.

When budget should be submitted:

In the South Butler County Schools, our budgets are submitted by November of the previous school year. We purchased our materials over time. The computer and the camcorder were purchased by the Knoch Orchestra Parents organization. I myself purchased one of the electronic violins. The school district purchased one electronic violin and one electronic viola and the Roland keyboard. Finale Notepad is free shareware.