BreakThroughs
In Jazz Education Music Technology:
November 16, 2007 at 10:15 a.m.
2007 Nebraska Music Educators Conference
This workshops offers many options/applications, including improvisation instruction. Demonstrate various music technology hardware/software applications that can and will make a significant difference on the development of jazz education performers. Jazz application topics covered include: 1) jazz ear training, 2) jazz theory, 3) jazz improvisation, 4) jazz styles, 5) jazz history, 6) jazz play-along - automatic accompaniment generation, 8) transcribing, 8) jazz instrument techniques: drums, piano, guitar, bass, individual instruments, vocals 8) digital/audio/MIDI sequencing and 9) jazz composition.
Other Comprehensive
On-Line Jazz Related Hand-Outs with links available at:
| Primary Web Site | http://www.kuzmich.com/Nebraskajazzeducation.html |
| Play-Along Web Site: | http://www.kuzmich.com/handouts/2006TMEA.html |
| Band-In-A-Box Ear Training Tutorial: | http://www.kuzmich.com/handouts/Band_In_A_Box.html |
| MiBAC Jazz Tutorial | http://www.kuzmich.com/handouts/MiBACJazz.html |
| Superscope PSD 340 Quick Start Tutorials | http://www.kuzmich.com/handouts/superscope.html |
| "Digital Magic: Seamlessly From "Live" Recording to MP3 to the Audio Streaming/Web Posting in Minutes!" | 2003 IAJE Conference in Toronto, Canada |
| Part 1 of an IAJE Watch Out Column for Digital Recording With the Superscope PSD 300 | http://www.superscopetechnologies.com/press/IAJEcolumn.shtml |
Part 2 of an IAJE Watch Out Column for Digital Recording With the Superscope PSD 300 |
http://www.superscopetechnologies.com/press/IAJEcolumn2.shtml |
Comprehensive
On-Line Hand-Out at:
http://www.kuzmich.com/Nebraskajazzeducation.html
A previous jazz technology workshop is also audio streamed from the 2006 Texas Music Educators Conference at: http://www.kuzmich2.com/2006TMEA/2006TMEA.html for 85+ minutes
What Are The Essential Ingredients to Jazz Education?
Answers to these essential jazz education ingredients and more can be found at: http://www.kuzmich.com/jazzbooks.html
Essential Music Technology Ingredients for Jazz Education!
| Softsynths | Jazz Links | Hardware | Software | Play-Along | On-Line Technology Courses | Music Tech Reference Books |
Something to keep in mind – virtual instruments require a lot of memory – the more the better. I recommend at least 1 GB, and if you can, 2GB or 3GB is better. You will also need a fairly quick processor and a good, low latency sound card. If you are using your built in soundcard, you will experience a lot of latency! Ideally you should use a professional soundcard (not SoundBlaster!) or audio interface with low latency ASIO drivers to reduce the amount of delay.
To keep things simple, try to use a virtual instrument that is supported by the software – for example, GPO or any of Sibelius' sound libraries work great with Sibelius. Also, any virtual instrument that supports GM2 also makes it easy – BandStand or Colossus are good GM compatible soft synths.
Clarification of softsynths built for proprietary software as Finale 2008 and Sibelius 5.1. The differences between the two versions have to do with the way the notation programs work and how GPO integrates. Sibelius and Finale each work differently. Both GPO versions were custom tailored and specifically programmed for the respective notation programs. GPO Finale takes advantage of Human playback and other features. The Sibelius edition incorporated some of the plug ins(crescendo/diminuendo, legato/slur/keyswitch) and takes advantage of Sibelius' expression feature. Finale has the ambience reverb whereas Sibelius does not.
Sibelius Sounds is a range of high-quality collections of sound samples for Sibelius 3/4 and G7 with 1) Kontact Gold at: http://www.sibelius.com/products/kontakt_player/, 2) Garritan Personal Orchestra (Sibelius Edition) and 3) Rock & Pop Collection . For detailed info, go to: http://www.sibelius.com/products/sibelius_sounds/
The Garritan Sibelius Edition allows for you to choose a sound set that includes both Garritan and Kontakt Gold sounds. This includes both orchestral and Big Band instruments, and you need to have Kontakt Gold to make it work. Kontakt Gold retails for $149. GPO Sibelius Edition retails for $219.
Here are two sample files for the sounds that are included with Sibelius:
http://www.sibelius.com/products/sibelius_sounds/essentials_mp3/clarinet_concerto.mp3 http://www.sibelius.com/products/sibelius_sounds/essentials_mp3/big_band.mp3
If someone already has the stand-alone GPO, they can purchase the GPO Sibelius Edition at a discounted price of $49.00. To order this, they just need to call their service center: 1-888-474-2354. After taking the credit card, they will be directed to a site where they can download the GPO Sibelius Edition.
In regards to the soft synths, VST support is now available in Sibelius 5. As well Sibelius no longer uses Kontakt Silver or Gold, and these are not compatible with Sibelius 5. Instead, Sibelius provides a good basic library of instruments with Sibelius 5, and then you can add any of their sound libraries, or use any VST soft synth. The advantage of using their sound libraries is that they integrate very easily into the program and respond to virtually all of the markings on your score (articulations, dynamics, etc.) There is no longer a GPO Sibelius Edition for Sibelius 5, instead, Sibelius has built support into Sibelius 5 for the regular GPO. This is great news, since someone who buys the regular GPO can use it very easily in Sibelius, but also with Sonar, Cubase, Band in a Box, etc. Sibelius recently released a World Music collection and a Choral Library – there are MP3 recordings on Kelly's Music web sitefor these under the “Downloads” tab on the respective product pages. I think you will find that they are very impressive, especially given the price.
In addition to the libraries from Sibelius and Garritan that are well integrated into Sibelius, you can use any VST instrument. The only disadvantage, is that if it doesn't respond to GM (General MIDI) or GM2, then you may have to “teach” Sibelius where the instruments are located in the sample library. The new mixer in Sibelius makes this fairly easy, and is actually quite clever about trying to figure it out for you.
Finale 2008 features Human Playback integration. There is amazing tutorial to peruse at: http://www.garritan.com/support/GPOHPiTutorialSupplement.pdf. The regular version of GPO integrates directly with Finale. For Sibelius, there is a special edition that is a separate product. http://sibelius.com/products/gpo_sibelius/ which has an excellent presentation about their softsynths. The versions of both Finale 2008 and Sibelius 4.0 ship with a lite version. It has enough to get a person going to make orchestrations. The upgrades to the full version gives the user many more instruments and patches (3x the amount).
Finale 2008 still uses Kontakt 2 to support virtual instruments. This means that you can use any virtual instrument that uses Native Instrument's Kontakt as the “engine”. This means most Native Instruments soft synths/samplers will work, along with many third party (but not all – unlike Sibelius, Finale does not support all VST instruments.) Getting them to work in Finale isn't always easy, and definitely not for beginners as it can be a very daunting task, especially with all of the MIDI control messages going on.
The Garritan Jazz & Big Band Library (JBBL) at: http://www.garritan.com/ represents the ultimate first in jazz softsynths for music educators. It is the only company dedicated to softsynths for notation software applications. Other companies are mainly interested in softsynths for synthesizers and sequencers. This library contains over 50 individual instruments, and each instrument offers a great deal of real-time control. For compositional purposes, there are separate and distinctinstruments in eachof the sections. These can be played back (in sequencing and notation software) in a way consistent with most standard arrangements. There are no unison section samples and each instrument has its own unique voice. This lends itself to jazz writing which is improvisational and individualisticby nature. Techniques unique to a particular instrument type are also represented (e.g. trumpet falloffs, doits, and even the characteristic "kiss" or "rip" when a high note is released. Shakes have been designed with the future application of scripting in mind, so that shakes can be tailored to specific needs rather than limited to switchable recordings of particular shakes. Note: Garritan also has special versions for Propellerhead Reason and Cakewalk's Dimension Pro. Dimension Pro is a uniqueaudio engine that combines sampling with advanced synthesis capabilities, giving you a wide array of sound possibilities. It works on the Mac and Windows platforms and is compatible with hosts that support DirectX, VST, or Audio Units.
For complete big-band arrangements it is recommended a 2.8 GHz or better computer (Mac or PC) with 2 GB RAM is recommended. For small jazz ensembles, less powerful computers are needed. The next update will include a "lite" folder containing instruments that are less demanding on computer resources. The library works as a plug-in in Logic, Cubase, Digital Performer, Sonar, GarageBand, ProTools, Nuendo, FL Studio, Samplitude, Tracktion, etc. or with notationprograms. it integrates directly in Finale 2008 and also works with most other notation programs (like Sibelius) with the Garritan Studio host. The Garritan Personal Orchestra pioneered the use of samples with notation programs toobtainrealistic playback directly from a score; JBBL does the same for jazz sounds.
Hints for making RAM and hard disk drive more functional onWindows computers for softsynth operation.
Need an Affordable VST Notation software program besides professional levels at $300? Scorewriter is $45 and BandStand Academic is $70, so it is definitely an affordable solution. Scorewriter is a good entry level notation program, similar to Print Music 2008, but many find it a bit easier to learn. A demo is available at http://kellysmusic.net/savemoney.asp?c=1703 - just click on the "Downloads" tab. It allows you to use up to two VST instrument, such as BandStand, for realistic playback. There is also a good video that shows how BandStand works at http://kellysmusic.net/savemoney.asp?c=6570 One of the great features is that it can convert a MIDI file to an audio file for burning to a CD, etc.
Haverford High School Jazz Education by Tom Rudolph at: http://www.haverford.k12.pa.us/jazz/practice.html
Piano
Guitar
Bass
Here is the link to the new colored keyboard that has the Sibelius keyboard shortcuts on the keys:
There are many ways to use Band-in-a-Box forear training, including interval and chord tutor modules, and arcade-style games to develop specific musical skills.
With the Soloist and Melodist, a huge amount of sight-reading material can be generated. You can select the key you want the songs to be generated in, the style of music, the song form, and much more.
An excellent way for a horn player to practice sight-reading is to start with a single line melody, use the MIDI Harmony feature to add a harmony (over 200 different harmony types are available), then view the track in the Lead Sheet window. You have control over each individual harmony voice, for example you could mute the voice that you want play.
The Harmonization features give you a great opportunity to study how harmonies are made. Once band-in-a-Box has generated a harmony, convert it to the melody track (so you can see the notation) and analyze each of the voices.
Band-in-a-Box is a huge knowledge base of styles, especially if you have the MegaPAK, SUperPAK or UltraPAK. Use Band-in-a-Box to analyze and learn about different styles of music.
Teachers could have a group of people read from the lead sheet window - increase the font size, reduce staves per page, and turn on the scroll-ahead feature. With scroll-ahead you can see what's coming up, which simulates what people do naturally when reading music from a "real" book.
By listening and watching different instrument tracks in themotation window, you can learn how the different instruments in the band, and different voices of a harmony, work together.
One of the most import sections is the rhythm section - Band-in-a-Box offers a great way to see how things are put together in the rhythm section. For example, open a FreddieG style and study the guitar part by muting the other instruments and watching the fretboard and tab. Or, use the Guitar Tutor which will show you rhythm guitar chords for any song.
Reharmonizing a song with the Chord Substitution Wizard is a fun and educational way to perform or practice a familiar song in a brand new way. For example, if you had chords such as "Dm7 G7 Cmaj7", a list of substitutions including the tritone substitution "Dm7 Db7b5 Cmaj7" would be offered to you. There are also helpful comments associated with each substitution, showing you why a given substitution might work in each case.
In the Notation Window, notes can be displayed in different colors, and/or with the note names inside them. The colors and names can be 'absolute', or relative to chord or key. The default color scheme is the one introduced by the Russian composer Scriabin.
In the Chords WIndow, you can set the chords to be displayed in Roman Numeral (ex. IIm7, V7, Imaj7), Nashville (ex. 2m7, 57, 1maj7), or Solfeggio (ex. Rem7, So7, DoMaj7) notation.
You can display a visible metronome on-screen during the entire song (or just the lead-in). Seeing a metronome on-screen is a great way for a student to learn to keep on the beat, and with a settable size, students can view this from across the room.
For more information, John Kuzmich, Jr.’s e-mail address is: jkuzmich@earthlink.net and his web site is: http://www.kuzmich.com