Embedded Files
Live PE, ART, & MUSIC Sessions have begun! JOIN IN!
4/17
Happy Friday, APR!
Today's song, in spirit of the coming weekend and Spring break, is "Friday" by Rebecca Black. This song came out in September of 2011 to fanfares of people exclaiming how terrible it was, but I wanted to share this song today because it highlights a lot of important points about mainstream music.
Even though this youtube video has far more "dislikes" than "likes," the song itself has had hundreds of millions of views and Rebecca Black has hundreds of millions of subscribers. The song actually TOPPED the "US Heatseekers" chart back in 2011. The song, though people thought it was horrible, is lively, creative, wildly enthusiastic, and included several hilarious easter eggs in the music video (for example, at 0:53, the young man driving is almost definitely not of legal driving age....) Because of these qualities, people gravitated towards the song because it was nothing like any other pop song of the time.
There were songs that came out around the same time that were significantly better than "Friday," but they weren't as popular. So it begs the question - when you're trying to write a pop song that will top the charts, what are the qualities that will make the song sell? What about the song will make people gravitate towards it and want to listen to it? "Friday" certainly isn't a masterpiece, but it filled some sort of niche in 2011 that music consumers were looking for.
4/15
Good Morning APR,
This is a song that goes back all the way to 2001 - The Modern Age, by The Strokes. This garage rock song comes from an entire album of this style of music, and several rock bands from the past 20 years have been influenced by The Strokes' tight, simple, punk-rock sound. They are unique for drawing inspiration from bands far older than they are, such as The Velvet Underground, which was formed in 1964 - 37 years before this song came out!
4/13
Good Morning APR,
Here's another Coldplay song for this rainy day - it's called "Rainy Day." This song came out in 2008, about 9-10 years after they officially began recording music. When they started recording in 1998-1999, their music was far simpler; it mainly featured vocals, guitar, piano, and drums as the only instruments. This song is an example of how their sound has dramatically evolved over time - it features copious sound effects and several different instrument groupings throughout.
4/10/2020
Happy Friday, APR!
Here's a song from all the way back to 1969: "Here Comes the Sun," by The Beatles. The Beatles were a widely popular and influential band from the 1960s, and some of their songs are still popular to this day due to their masterful songwriting.
4/8/2020
Good afternoon APR,
Today's song comes from the mid 90s - Boys II Men's "Thank You." Boys II Men are an R&B / Hip Hop group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were very influential to the up-and-coming a cappella scene of the 90s and early 2000s.
**Check back frequently for the most updated postings (most recent on top)**
4/6/2020
Good morning, APR!
It is positively gorgeous today, so I'm hoping you all have an opportunity to get outside at least a little bit and soak up some sun. I'd like to share an old song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." This song was originally composed in 1939 for the movie "The Wizard Of Oz," but the version I want to share with you is from the early 2000s by an a cappella group called The Blanks.
I discovered this group while watching the sitcom "Scrubs" because they were commonly featured in the show. They were usually used as comedic relief, but they had a couple songs, like this one, that really showcased their talent as a group.
4/3/2020
Happy Friday, APR!
For today's song, we're going to go all the way back to 1972. Bill Withers's "Lean On Me" is one of the most celebrated songs about friendship and community from the 20th century.
Sadly, Bill Withers passed away this past Monday due to heart complications. He was 81 years old. He left behind a legacy of amazing songs such as "Ain't No Sunshine," "Lovely Day," and "Just the Two Of Us," and he will be remembered through his music for years to come.
4/1/2020
Good afternoon everybody,
Today’s song comes with a bit of backstory. Ed Sheeran became extremely popular after the release of his debut album, “+,” September of 2011. This song, “Thinking Out Loud,” came out a few years later, and much like his earlier singles, it was quite successful.
However, several people have accused Sheeran of ‘plagiarism’ - stealing someone else’s musical ideas - because they think it sounds too much like Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” written and recorded decades earlier. I’ve posted links to both songs for you to listen to both and come up with your own opinion - do you think “Thinking Out Loud sounds too similar to “Let’s Get It On?” Try singing one of the songs over the other - you'll be surprised to hear how similar they are in places!
3/31/2020
Happy Tuesday, everyone!
Back in high school and college, I performed in several A Cappella groups, which are groups of singers making music without instruments. At the end of my senior year of high school, this song came out - "Royals," by Lorde, and it blew my A Cappella friends and me away with its musical innovation.
While it's not strictly "A Cappella" (ie there are some drums and bass added,) Royals's musical genius comes from how simple it is - from its groovy beat to its catchy chorus melody, it has plenty to love despite it only including two instruments and Lorde's voice.
Also, for anyone who's interested, I also included a recording of me singing an older classic rock song, "Doctor My Eyes" by Jackson Browne. This was recorded during the Summer of 2015 by the Vineyard Sound, a seasonal A Cappella group I used to be in.
3/30/2020
Good morning, APR!
Hope everybody had a safe, restful weekend. I'm sharing an older song than the ones I shared last week. This song is "Clocks," by Coldplay, and it's one of their first hits, having come out in 2003.
The song's piano melody is extremely iconic to the band. It's been sampled dozens of times in other artists' songs! Several artists also took influence from the song's simple instrumentation. The lyrics are very creative as well, making a lot of unique connections and descriptions.
3/27/2020
Happy Friday everyone!
I’m sharing a newer artist today. Daniel Caesar is a Canadian songwriter that gathered a following after the release of two EPs in 2014 and 2015.
The songs in this performance, “We Find Love" & "Blessed,” come from his first full-length album - “Freudian,” which was released in 2017. In both this performance and the album, they lead into each other in a beautiful transition (it starts around 4:15 in this video.) Caesar was only 22 years old when this album came out and had already been known in the pop music realm for a couple years!
3/25/2020
Good afternoon everybody,
I want to share an older pop song by American soul duo, Gnarls Barkley. The two members - Danger Mouse and Cee Lo Green - formed the group in 2003. This was their first single off their first album in 2006, and it became a major hit. Rolling Stone magazine has even claimed it to be the best song of the 2000-2010 decade!
3/24/2020
Good morning APR family,
Happy Tuesday! I hope you’ve all been staying healthy and are enjoying or creating music over this time! I want to start posting a song every couple days that I think our community will enjoy. This song is called “River,” and it’s written and performed by Leon Bridges, a Texas-based singer/songwriter that specializes in soul music.
Hello APR students, families and staff:
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Michael Patterson, and I am the middle school and high school music teacher at APR. In response to school being closed, I wanted to share a PDF of some musical activities and resources we can all use as a means of therapy, recreation, and continued music education.
First of all, if anyone is interested, I am offering free skype voice, piano/keyboard, guitar, and ukulele lessons! I understand a lot of us either currently take lessons and can’t make it due to social distancing or simply haven’t taken them in a while / at all, and I’d like to give everybody the opportunity to use this impromptu leave from school to set musical goals to achieve if they are interested. Students may sign-up and schedule skype lessons on any of the listed instruments, 11am-5pm Monday thru Friday for 30 minute lessons. If you are interested in signing up, please contact me via my pacrim e-mail (mpatterson@pacrim.org) or directly through PowerSchool with your availability and desired instruments, and we will get lessons set up ASAP!
Second of all, there are several websites that allow you to make and share music online. I will share a handful of the ones I’ve had the most luck / fun using, and I will explain how to get started with each.
Second of all, there are several websites that allow you to make and share music online. I will share a handful of the ones I’ve had the most luck / fun using, and I will explain how to get started with each.
#1 INCREDIBOX
#1 INCREDIBOX
Incredibox is a website that allows you to create different styles of beats by choosing from a selection of loops to combine. It is probably the simplest of all of these websites to begin making music, so this is a great beginner app if you’re interested in making music on a computer but don’t know where to start.
Click “try web version” on the bottom left-hand corner of the homepage, and select one of the top four styles (the bottom three aren’t included in the free version.) You should get to a page that looks something like this (it will vary slightly given the style you chose:)
You can click and drag the squares at the bottom of the screen onto one of the guys at the top of the screen to add new loops to your beat.
Chrome Music Lab is a website with a lot of apps for creating and experimenting with music and sound. The “Song Maker” app allows you to write a small piece with your choice of different instruments. The “Spectrogram” app turns your chromebook into a Spectrogram, a machine that depicts the sound being picked up by its microphone visually. The “Voice Spinner” app can manipulate any sound it picks up by changing its speed, pitch, or playing it in reverse. Similarly, the “Piano Roll” app will take any sound it picks up and manipulate it to play back a popular piano song. These are just a few of my favorite apps from this great site; all of them are worth checking out!
Chrome Music Lab is a website with a lot of apps for creating and experimenting with music and sound. The “Song Maker” app allows you to write a small piece with your choice of different instruments. The “Spectrogram” app turns your chromebook into a Spectrogram, a machine that depicts the sound being picked up by its microphone visually. The “Voice Spinner” app can manipulate any sound it picks up by changing its speed, pitch, or playing it in reverse. Similarly, the “Piano Roll” app will take any sound it picks up and manipulate it to play back a popular piano song. These are just a few of my favorite apps from this great site; all of them are worth checking out!
#3 LOOPLABS
#3 LOOPLABS
LoopLabs is a free website that allows you to create your own music choosing from a large bank of “loops” - short, repeatable recordings of instruments that you can put together to create a full song. You can create a free account by clicking “Join” on the top-right of the website. Enter in a username, an e-mail (your pacrim e-mail should work fine,) your location (Hyde Park, MA will work) and a valid password that you will remember, and press “sign up.” Then, immediately click “login” and try putting in the information you just submitted.
If you are having trouble creating an account, you may use an account I made for all APR students:
E-mail: aprlooplabs@gmail.com Password: aprKGPRIDE
Once you are logged in, click “studio” on the top-left corner of the screen. Once it loads, click “start from scratch” and you will be on a screen that looks like this:
This is the main screen you will use to compose music on LoopLabs. On the left-side of the screen are the names of the Loops currently included in your composition. You will also find the “play” button (black triangle,) and clicking this will allow you to listen to your composition. You will also find the “record” button (red circle,) and clicking this will allow you to record your voice or other sounds using your chromebook microphone.
In the middle of the screen is a visual representation of what your loops will sound like together. As you play your music, you will see a red line moving from left to right that helps you follow along with your composition as you listen to it.
On the top-right side of the screen is a toolbar that allows you to search for loops and access your saved compositions. The tab opened on the above image is the loops tab, and it includes a search bar as well as genre/instrument filters to help you find loops. You can listen to a loop by left-clicking on it, and you can add it to your composition by clicking and dragging it over to the center of your screen. Once it’s there, you can make the loop longer or shorter by clicking on the ends and dragging them to the desired length.
If you want to save any work you’ve done, click “file” and “save.” Once you do, at the top-left of your screen, it will have you type in a name for your composition. Type in a name and press “enter,” and when you do, check that it is saved by going over to the toolbar on the right-hand side of the screen and clicking the tab above the loops tab. You should find the name of your saved composition in this tab. If you want to open a composition saved in this tab, simply hover over the name of it with your mouse and look for the “open” option. Once you click it, it will load all the loops for that composition.
#4 PIANU
#4 PIANU
Pianu is one of several websites that turn your computer keyboard into a piano - different letter, number, and grammar keys represent different keys on a piano. This particular site gives beginner piano / music reading lessons as well.
#5 SOUNDTRAP
#5 SOUNDTRAP
Soundtrap is similar to LoopLabs in the sense that you can choose Loops to use in a composition and change them around to suit exactly what you want. However, Soundtrap’s free version also allows you to create your own beats and manipulate Loops slightly more than LoopLabs. Because of this, there are parts of SoundTrap that are unfortunately only available with the paid version. It is also slightly more complicated than the other sites I’ve included. It’s still a really fun free program to use and is great for making music online, but it will take more patience to learn how to use it optimally. There are tutorials on SoundTrap’s website to help newcomers begin composing music.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse