Working with MIDI Regions in Band Lab

Thanks to Brandywine Heights High School for this project.

Goals

In this activity, you will be working in BandLab to practice the following edit functions:

• Cut - Remove a loop - Use Command+X or Edit > Cut

• Copy - Make a copy of a loop - Command+C or Edit > Copy

• Split - Split one loop into two or more - Command +T or Edit > Split

• Paste - Paste a loop somewhere else - Command+V or Edit > Paste

You will also become acquainted with the following concepts:

• Form - the structure of your music - how the music is organized

• Beat - a steady pulse

• measure - a group of pitches and beats; each measure has the same number of beats; in BandLab you can see the measure numbers on the timeline at the top of the screen.

• phrase - a short musical idea, usually 4 or 8 measures long

• intro - the introduction - beginning of the music - often 4 measures long

• outro - the ending of the music, also sometimes called the CODA.

Part 1: Looking Around

1. In BandLab, open the assignment and select the top option, "Teacher's Assignment."

2. Take a look at each track. Each colored "bubble" is called a REGION. All of the regions in this project are MIDI regions.

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.

The pitches in these MIDI regions are generated using a MIDI instrument (probably a keyboard), and it plays using virtual sounds that are inside the software.

These regions are meant to sound “real,” but they are in fact synthetic. The great thing about MIDI is that you can change the pitches and rhythms very easily!

3. Look at each track.

• Track 1 is the melody to the familiar American folk tune, "Yankee Doodle," played by a flute.

• Track 2 is a chordal accompaniment.

• Track 3 is a bass line.

• Track 4 contains a 2-measure drum loop.

4. Hit the PLAY button to playback the file. Observe the playhead (white vertical line) as it sweeps along, showing the song position. As you listen, notice the different parts of the song. After the two measures of drums, you will hear the verse and the chorus (sometimes called the refrain).

Notice that each verse and each refrain is the length of one phrase (4 measures.), and the intro. is 2 measures long.

6. Do you hear a steady "tick - tick - tick" during playback? This is metronome. Turn it off by clicking the metronome icon at the top of the screen, just to the right of center. Or, go to SETTINGS, and de-select "Enable metronome."

Part 2: You are going to edit this project using some of the tools you learned.

1. Extend the Drum Loop

Right now, the drum loop only plays a two-measure introduction.

You want to make it play for the entire verse 1 and refrain, so you need to extend it to the end of measure 10.

Extend the drum loop by first clicking on the drum loop region. Then, hover your mouse over the loop icon (circle arrow) in the upper right corner of the region. Your pointer will become an arrow; and click-hold-drag to the right.

The loop repeats over and over as far as you drag it. Replicate (drag) the loop until the end of measure 10.

Remember to save your work.

2. Now you are going to use Copy and Paste to create a second verse, with another refrain.

When you are done with these steps, the music will be extended to the end of measure 18. Here's how to do it:

• Select the flute track region (click on it). Two-finger tap on the region and select "Copy," or just hit Control-C.

• Place the play head at the beginning of measure 11. Move your pointer to the open space to the right of the region, then two-finger tap and select "Paste," or just hit Control-V. The flute region copies to m. 11. Now the flute is playing verse 2 and the refrain, extending to the end of measure 18.

• Do the same thing with the accompaniment track and bass track. Now the flute, accompaniment, and bass tracks all play verse 1/refrain, verse 2/refrain, extending from measures 3 to the end of measure 18.

• Each verse and each refrain should be the length of one phrase (4 measures).

Your project will look like this so far:

3. Now you are going to use the Split tool to do some more editing.

• Place the playhead at measure 17 and select the Accompaniment and Bass tracks (shift-click, or clickhold-drag around to select both tracks).

• Go to the Edit menu in BandLab, then select "Slice at Playhead." Notice that, at measure 17, what was one loop is now sliced into two loops!

• Now click anywhere OUTSIDE these regions to UNSELECT them and SAVE YOUR WORK!

Your screen will be similar to this after this step:

4. At this point you have a drum introduction, verse 1 with refrain, and verse 2 with refrain.

Now you need to add the accompaniment and bass to the introduction of the music (first 2 measures).

• Select the Accompaniment region of measures 17 and 18. We will be copying and pasting this material to measures 1 and 2 to use as an INTRODUCTION.

• Two-finger tap on the region and select "Copy," or just hit Control-C. Place the playhead at the beginning. Two-finger tap and select "Paste," or just hit Control-V.

• Repeat the previous step for the bass region.

• You used SPLIT to get to the last two measure of the refrain, and then used COPY and PASTE to place these measures at the beginning, so now you have a nice introduction!

5. Use what you know about selecting regions, splitting, copying, and pasting to create a brief outro (coda) at the end, either 2, 4, or 8 measures in length.

You want it to sound like "the end."

6. Check the rubric below to make sure all necessary items are complete.

7. DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PROJECT YET! Be sure to SAVE, and let Mr. Carter know that you are finished.

By the end, you project should have this song form:

INTRODUCTION (2 measures)

– VERSE 1/CHORUS (8 measures; 2 phrases)

– VERSE 2/CHORUS 2 (8 measures; 2 phrases)

– OUTRO (2, 4, or 8 measures)

RUBRIC

• 2 points: You extended the drum loop until the end of measure 10.

• 8 points: The flute, accompaniment, and bass tracks all play verse 1/refrain, verse 2/refrain, and extend from measure 3 to the end of measure 18.

• 2 points: The introduction includes accompaniment, bass, and drums.

• 8 points: You created a brief outro (coda) at the end that makes sense and sounds like an ending.

TOTAL: 20 points