Untitled

So after reading assignment 2a and 2b, I was a bit intimidated and went away wondering what I could do that could incorporate music and not infringe on any copyright laws. It then came to me that there couldn’t be anything safer to record than generic ‘scales’. So this was an experiment done in 2 parts. I first recorded myself using Audacity to play various types of scales on the piano and then Pachelbel’s Canon in D. A few days later, whether it was the correct way to do it or not, through trial and error I managed to add my voice onto a second track. I think there was a bit of interference with the piano track playing in the background as I first attempted to record my voice on a second track without a headset. Probably not an ideal solution, but I muted the piano track and recorded what I needed to say, timing things based on the audio patterns I could see.

I played with the amplification quite a bit in different places because my voice actually was quite soft in comparison to the piano in the background. I deleted a segment of the scales, and most of the Canon in D piece as it would have made the audio too long. I used the adjustable fade out on the piano as my voice came in at the beginning, and I used the fade out at the end of the recording. This audio should have been a bit more polished (there is still an um in there and the levels are not quite right, but not wanting to fall behind too much, here it is. I will do further edits to this same clip for 2b. Thanks for the video on how to use Kaltura – another first!

Here is the transcript:

Does this sound familiar?

If any of you have ever taken music lessons such as piano, violin, cello, or flute, this may sound familiar.

That’s right. Scales. Something you may not have enjoyed having to learn.

Couldn’t we just have stuck to learning how to play fun music
or beautiful songs? But your teacher may have insisted that scales were important, and that you needed to grow your technical skills.

And if you were like other, many other students
you had to take Royal Conservatory, where this technical
part was mandatory.

So, for those who are not familiar with scales. It wasn’t just scales
we had to learn.

There were other technical things like arpeggios.

and triads…solid form…and up and down.

And then alternate pattern.

And back to triads again, but this time in broken form.

So, were our teachers right? Did we need to learn scales?

Are scales essential?

Maybe not essential, but helpful.

As you can hear, this is an example of a famous piece of music that either people love or hate. And it’s Canon in D by Pachelbel.

And if you’re listening, you can hear the broken triads and arpeggios.

So maybe our teachers were right. Having a little technical skill can help you to make beautiful music. Enjoy.