Today, we will be exploring the Song Maker tool from the Chrome Music Lab. This tool lets us write music as a rainbow-colored grid, instead of music notes. It’s like a virtual set of Boomwhackers.
Explore: Click here to watch the Song Maker play the "ABC Song"
First, you will watch the Song Maker play the "ABC Song." Notice that...
different colors make different sounds
higher boxes make higher sounds
boxes that are close together make the notes sound fast
Try It: Click here to try your first Song Maker Experiment!
Now, it's your turn to try the Song Maker. You should...
Click on some boxes to change their colors. Click again to erase the colors, if you like.
Press play and listen to the sounds you have created, then experiment some more!
When you are happy with your creation, SAVE your work, COPY LINK, and click HERE to share your work with Mrs. Sessler..
Challenge 1: Melody Copycat
Copy my melody 3 times to fill up the rest of the empty song.
When you are happy with your creation, SAVE your work, COPY LINK, and click HERE to share your work with Mrs. Sessler.
Challenge 2: Rhythm Copycat
Rhythms are written using circles and triangles beneath the colors of the melody.
Copy my rhythm 3 times to fill up the rest of the empty song.
When you are happy with your creation, SAVE your work, COPY LINK, and click HERE to share your work with Mrs. Sessler.
Challenge 3: Complete the Song
Create your own melody to fill in the empty space at the end of the song. Need some inspiration? Check out this melody. Or this one.
When you are happy with your creation, SAVE your work, COPY LINK, and click HERE to share your work with Mrs. Sessler.
Challenge 4: Missing Notes
I’ve started the song “Hot Cross Buns,” for you. Can you fill in the missing notes?
Hint #1: The whole song uses only Red, Orange and Yellow
Hint #2: ONLY the fastest notes, “one a penny, two a penny” should touch each other.
When you are happy with your creation, SAVE you work, COPY LINK, and click HERE to share your work with Mrs. Sessler.
Challenge 5: Play with the Settings
Click on the settings gear change some of the settings. See what it does to the Song Maker grid, then get creative!
When you are happy with your creation, SAVE you work, COPY LINK, and click HERE to share your work with Mrs. Sessler.
Challenge 6: Compose with a Buddy
Choose a buddy and decide which computer you will share.
Buddy 1 may use: Red, Yellow, Teal (dark green)
Buddy 2 may use: Teal, Bright Pink (not purple) and Orange
Take turns creating single measures of music. A measure contains 8 columns of boxes. The background of each measure is slighted shaded white or gray to help you keep your place. I piled up the notes you are allowed to use at the beginning of each measure. You may erase my "pile" or notes, but you must create your melody using only those colors. The last measure should only be RED notes, but you can change the rhythm by spacing them out differently.
When you are happy with your creation, SAVE you work, COPY LINK, and click HERE to share your work with Mrs. Sessler. Be sure to type BOTH of your names.
Challenge 7: Rock n' Row Your Boat
Fill in the missing notes to finish the song, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."
Add a cool drum part using the circles and triangles at the bottom on the page.
When you are happy with your creation, SAVE you work, COPY LINK, and click HERE to share your work with Mrs. Sessler.
Challenge 8: Boom-along Song
In this challenge you will work with a buddy to create a pentatonic song that you can play using boomwhackers. Be VERY CAREFUL that you do not hit your computer with a boomwhacker!
The colors you may choose from are: Red, Orange, Yellow, Teal (dark green), Violet (not pink!)
Decide which person is in charge of playing each color - someone will have to juggle 3 boomwhackers if you use all 5 colors in your song.
Create a melody that you can play along with using INVISIBLE boomwhackers (hit the floor with your hands) and adjust the speed so you can keep up! If you discover that what you wrote is too tricky...change it!
When your song is FINISHED, and you are very good at playing along using your INVISIBLE boomwhackers, you may try it with real boomwhackers. Be careful!
When you are happy with your creation, SAVE you work, COPY LINK, and click HERE to share your work with Mrs. Sessler. Be sure to type BOTH of your names.