Jazz Education Technology Options:

A to Z and Beyond

With "Digital Magic!"

(Work In Progress)

 

by John Kuzmich, Jr. with Special Assistance from Leigh Kallestad of MakeMusic

 

February 18, 2006 at 3 p.m.

2006 Texas Music Educators Conference

Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas
Comprehensive On-Line Hand-Oust with all links available at:

Primary Web Site http://www.kuzmich.com/handouts/Jazz%20Education%20Technology%20Options.htm
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

Comprehensive On-Line Hand-Out at: http://www.kuzmich.com/handouts/Jazz%20Education%20Technology%20Options.html

Entire workshop is also audio streamed at: http://www.kuzmich2.com/2006TMEA/2006TMEA.html for 85+ minutes

 


What Are The Essential Ingredients to Jazz Education?

  1. Membership in the International Association of Jazz Educators is highly recommended. Go to: http://www.iaje.org
  2. Membership in TI:ME (Technology Institute for Music Educators) is highly recommended: Go to http:/www.ti-me.org
  3. Philosophy and Music Rationale with emphasis on "Comprehensive Musicianship."
  4. Curriculum with musical skills as:
  5. Applied performance techniques
  6. Combo/Improvisation: the essence of jazz education
  7. Musical styles
  8. Music history

  9. Creative scheduling within the given class periods!

Answers to these essential jazz education ingredients and more can be found at: http://www.kuzmich.com/jazzbooks.html

Essential Music Technolo


gy Ingredients for Jazz Education!

| Softsynths | Jazz Links | Hardware | Software | Play-Along | On-Line Technology Courses | Music Tech Reference Books |

  1. The future of music technology is what's happening today with softsynths. Softsynths with VST Interface Usage for third-party software programmers to create and sell virtual instruments for notation, digital/audio sequencers and other software applications. VST hosts include: Cubase, Fruityloops, Sonar, Abelton Live, Garage Band 3 , Audacity and others. Competing systems include Apple Computer's Audio Units, Microsoft's DirectSound, Digidesign's AudioSuite, Real-time AudioSuite, LADSPA, DSSI for Linux, and TDM. Here are some examples below for your perusal.

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    Clarification of softsynths built for proprietary software as Finale 2006 and Sibelius 4.0. 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 plugins (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/

    Finale 2006 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 2006 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).

     

    The Garritan Jazz & Big Band Library (JBBL) at: http://www.garritan.com/ represents the ultimate first in jazz softsynths. 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 distrinct instruments in eadch of 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 indidvidualist by 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 unqiue audio 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 arrangments, it is recommended a 2.8 GHz or better computer (Mac or PC). 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 noation programs. it integrates directly in Finale 2006 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 ot obtrain realistic playback directly from a score; JBBL does the same for jazz sounds.

    Hints for making RAM and hard disk drive more functionalon Windows computers for softsynth operation.

     

  3. Appropriate Jazz Web Links to Open Up Your Perspective of Jazz Education, K-12, and Beyond!
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  5. Hardware Solutions: Variable Pitch/Tempo CD Players/Recorders for Creative Practicing.. Not as flexible as software applications in pitch/tempo flexibility but very easy to use and in some cases, you literally have a recording studio in a box without the need for a computer. Thus, dedicated hardware solutions make great portable systems. Recommended external speakers for maximum digital audio quality. For a rather in-depth preview of automatic accompaniment generating software/hardware/play-along/transcribing applications, go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/handouts/2006TMEA_workshop.html

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  7. Software Solutions are inexpensive and very flexible and powerful for their cost.

      • SmartMusic by MakeMusic. 13 essential improvisation patterns, See piano, bass and drum parts as performed in "real" time.. Learn to read chord changes by responding automatically toc hord symbols. Play by ear exercises to develop the critical skill of playing what is in your mind.
      • eMedia Intermediate Piano & Keyboard Method, volume 2 at: http://www.emediamusic.com
      • Band-In-A-Box published by PG Music. http://www.pgmusic.com. Uses the Band-In-A-Box Soloist Feature.

     

  8. Play-Along Repertory: 1,000+ Albums. Can’t live without play-along repertory for the touch of real musicians! Works great with both transcription software and dedicated hardware solutions. Offers the best audio solutions. For a rather in-depth preview of automatic accompaniment generating software/hardware/play-along/transcribing applications, go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/handouts/2006TMEA_workshop.html

     

  9. On-Line Technology Courses

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  11. Music Technology Reference Books

For more information, John Kuzmich, Jr.’s e-mail address is: jkuzmich@earthlink.net and his web site is: http://www.kuzmich.com