This is a small arrangement for an Orff ensemble. The age-goal for this arrangement is anywhere from 4th to 5th grade. The melody is syncopated, but familiar, so students should be able to have fun singing it. The piece builds into the very end, where students singing or not playing are encouraged to clap and/or sing along. This arrangement would be fun for any group of older elementary school kids, and for anyone listening! For the electronic portion, the lesson could expand to include a loop pedal to loop the melodic ostinato or the bordun!
My desire to build a loop pedal came last semester. I have always had a passion for electronics/technology in music, and this passion was rediscovered during that semester. As my recital is also coming up, I had been thinking more diligently about what I wanted to perform. The idea of a self-written loop pedal piece was one of the most prominent ideas in my mind. So, as I was browsing the web for loop pedals to use, one of my professors asked a characteristic question of the JMU music education staff: “Why don’t you just build one?”
So, I did. I met with some staff at JMU and looked online for some Loop Pedal kits. I didn’t find any. So, I took the matter into my own hands, and started watching tutorial after tutorial after tutorial. After watching and reading all about pedals, and even dissecting one on my own, I created my own kit. I sketched, took notes, and created a diagram of the inside of my pedal. Before I went too much further, I realized: I don’t even know how a loop pedal works. So, I was lent a pedal by a professor, and my friends and I jammed! We had no cares about being imperfect or making mistakes, we just made music for making music. The discovery part of this project was one of the most enjoyable parts! Then, I got to work. I learned how to sauder, how to laser cut my own (clear acrylic) encasing, how to strip and cut wires, and more. The encasing-cutting was also a small journey. With some help, we designed and cut out the shape we needed for the pedal. However, the first time, the cutter damaged the acrylic underneath it. The second time, however, we covered the acrylic with a masking tape-consistency material, and there were no burn marks! This is the first of many examples throughout this process of the fact that it is okay to fail. I then simply started wiring the pedal. I would switch between watching the tutorials, following my own notes, and looking up forums online. The wiring process was one of the most tedious, and the longest part of the process. I messed up many, many times, and even had to almost completely start over. At the point of starting over, I was very frustrated. I had almost finished when I realized that I incorrectly wired two wires to the same destination, and almost had to completely scrap everything I had done. With the help of a friend, though, we were able to come up with a solution that would salvage the rest of my work! From there, I was finally finished with the pedal. Then, I tested it out. I plugged in the amp, a microphone, the power chords, and turned everything on. And it didn’t work. It has been about four months of work, on something that doesn’t function correctly. This could be a very discouraging moment for some, but it doesn’t have to be. The fact that it doesn’t work right now means that I get to learn more about how to make it work in the future. For example, I feel as if my next pedal should have a power input, instead of relying on the amp to fuel it. I could also incorporate microphone jacks instead of regular jacks. There are many things that I am able to try in order to fix this little pedal, but, unfortunately, those trials will not be able to take place before the end of this class. This is also okay, I have discovered. Life gives us the mindset that everything must be perfect. We naturally think that if my final project doesn’t work, I will fail. I do not believe this. I do not believe that I failed. I believe that I learned an immense amount about music technology, wiring, pedals, amps, and many more physical things. I also learned about failure, resilience, disappointment, frustration, determination, and reflection. I know that if I told my students that I made a loop pedal and it worked the first time I tried it, it would not teach them the same lessons as this will. This will show my students how incredibly okay it is to fail, as long as you learn meaningful lessons along the way, much like I did through this project. As you can see in the video below, it technically did "work". As I press the switch, the feedback coming through the amp changes in volume. I am not sure what this means, but it is very assuring to know that something is happening in that little box! When informed about this project, our group almost immediately formed. Davina Miaw, Sophie Harrison, Adam Miller, and I came together and started brainstorming. We had to choose songs that were non-partisan. We all have our own views, but stayed neutral for this event. We wanted to find songs that weren’t directly political in any way, but that were motivating to make a change. The songs we ended up choosing were: “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel, “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen, “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson, and “A Million Dreams” from The Greatest Showman.
This project will be an exciting experience in which I will have the opportunity to teach myself a song on ukulele. The assignment is comprised of two video reflections (vlogs) to track personal progress, and a multi-track video using band hub of a performance!
My Project
I have chosen to do a cover of a song. The song that I have chosen, entitled Hey Ya, was originally written by Outkast, but was covered by Obadiah Parker to turn it into a slower, beautiful song. While, I love the original version, I feel that Obadiah’s take on this song makes it very appealing and a great fit for ukulele!
Personally, there will be a few challenges for me throughout this project. On the technical side, it continues to be a challenge to switch my fingers from chord-to-chord. As I practice I get better, but there are certain chords in my song (F to G) that are just very difficult to switch to in time. I will also struggle with strumming to an extent. At the Illinois Music Education Conference, I attended a session on Ukuleles, in which I learned some different ways to strum, so I will definitely be implementing those in my own personal practice!
Aside from technical challenges, performing this song on the ukulele will be my first time singing by myself in front of anyone— ever. This will probably be one of the biggest challenges for me. Coming out of my instrumentalist shell will not be easy, but it is totally possible, and I will have a great time nonetheless! Check-In 1
Check-In 2"Hey Ya Cover"
MUED273Together, Davina Miaw, Brandon Rhinehart, and I created a cover of a Billboard Top 100 song. (posts) This selection took us a few minutes of deciding. Finally, we discovered that we enjoyed Portugal. The Man’s Feel It Still on BandHub. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBkHHoOIIn8) We were ambitious in our ideas on how to make this cover a success. I feel like we tried our absolute best with the materials at hand, and made a product that we all thoroughly enjoyed! Our group was determined to make this cover our own piece of work. We avoided using a pre-made YouTube backing track, by making our own. Brandon worked very hard to make a backing track with the drumset on GarageBand. He used the actual song to create drum loops that lined directly up with the song. We also created a beat by having Brandon clap along with the back-beat. Davina and I then played a bass line on the piano together, in two different octaves. Finally, we all got together, learned the words to the song, created a couple props, and sang the song together! For the most part, the recording process went smoothly. However, we discovered that about 3/4ths of the way through our cover, one of our tracks skipped, but then fixed itself. Every time we went to record over this track, if kept glitching, and there was no way to prevent it. As we were recording over the track, we would try to catch up to where the track glitched to. However, when we did this, the time it took for us to catch up to the track when recording then also glitched at the same time, making all the tracks out of time. This was one of the most frustrating parts of the process. We tried to fix it in multiple ways, as well. As you can see in our cover, at one point, as we are singing, I take my headphones off and begin singing without listening to the backtrack. This was one of our solutions, because singing along to a backtrack that is out of time is very difficult. We ended up slowing down in relation to the tracks as we sang alone, but it all ends up coming back together at the end somehow! This experience built stronger relationships between our group members. We were faced with several frustrating situations, but we were all able to help each other out to avoid getting too stressed out. I, personally, began to get frustrated a few times, but we all ended up laughing it off, and persevering! This process also taught us a lot about problem-solving. The issue with the glitch in the track was a big one. We were able to discuss and explain the problem with one another, and work together to come up with different ideas and solutions to ensure that our cover sounded as good as it possibly could. As a musician, I was able to think hard about the solution to this problem. However, my previous experiences with a problem like this were never quite like this. I tried multiple ways to solve it: Taking the headphones off, keeping a metronome running throughout the song to stay on track, listening to the skipped track and try to keep steady, and more. However, we were unable to find the source of this problem, and didn’t quite end up being able to fix it. Through this project, though, I feel that we all gained a stronger relationship with one another, and enhanced our musicianship and problem-solving skills! Our Cover: https://bandhub.com/s/5a24c0228775e068a68a8262
https://bandhub.com/s/5a24c0228775e068a68a8262
#MUED271
Throughout my time at JMU, to say that I have grown as a musician is quite an understatement. I have overcome so many obstacles and barriers within myself that I didn’t know even existed until I got here. Not only have I learned so much from my private lessons on saxophone with Dave Pope, but also through different experiences with other people and professors I have learned about myself and my capabilities as a musician. My first semester of freshman year, I took a music technology class. That class helped me expand my abilities as a musician through different means of music technology. (http://ericaunroe.weebly.com/musicianship/creating-peace) and (http://ericaunroe.weebly.com/musicianship/dont-let-me-down) In addition to this, the class exposed me to different genres of music that I otherwise wouldn’t have really explored. I was very secluded to a few genres before I got here, but now I have very much learned to appreciate all music out there. (http://ericaunroe.weebly.com/musicianship/chance-the-rapper). By the time I leave JMU, I hope to have grown even more, which is definitely possible. The more I grow within my own musicianship, the more I can teach and use to guide my students toward success in their future! I have so much farther to go in my musicianship. I can never be perfect, but I can absolutely strive to be as close as possible! #MUED271MUS 150
Chancellor Johnothan Bennet is also known as "Chance The Rapper". Chance is 23 years old and has been making music since 2011. He is a well-known hip hop artist from the western part of Chicago, Illinois. Chance is not signed to a record label. He has been very successful for the past 5 years without one, and he is determined to keep it that way. In his mixtape entitled "Coloring Book" (May 2016), he wrote a song that expresses how much he wants to stay away from record labels.
- Chance raps about his life, problems, wife, daughter, etc. He is also a religious person, so some of his songs are all about the many blessings in his life and how he thanks God for giving them to him. - He uses many different extra vocals in his works. He uses church/gospel and childrens choirs, and many other vocalists. - Chance has collaborated with many well-known artists such as Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, Justin Bieber, and 2 Chainz. - He also uses other orchestral instruments like trumpet and piano in his songs. - Some of his songs are "chill", but then some of them are also very lively and upbeat. Analysis: - All of Chance's songs tell a story. He is very poetic and expressive with his lyrics. His expressiveness is his theme. - His pieces are full of experiences, feelings, and opinions. He freely expresses how he feels and isn't ashamed of it. - Chance uses rhyming lines and electronic beats and autotune to help convey his message to his audience. In the future, I can teach my students about the different genres of music that's out there. Much like myself, maybe this will open to eyes to a world of music that isn't just classical. This will hopefully make them more aware of music in general. Until this assignment, I wasn't a fan of Rap/Hip Hop. The closest I had been to liking this genre was after I listened to Hamilton. (Yeah. I know) I had even been introduced to Chance's music by my boyfriend. He tried to explain to me the meaning and stories in his lyrics, but I still couldn't bring myself to become much of a fan of Hip Hop. It wasn't until I was studying and being completely absorbed in this music that I discovered the true emotion behind this Genre. Hopefully everyone can one day put themselves out of their comfort zone and give other genres a try. Maybe they'll end up like me. This assignment opened my eyes and expanded my love for music even further. So, thank you! #MUS150I don't typically listen to pop music all that much, but scrolling through and trying to decide what song to use as my cover, this song came to mind. This might be sappy, but it reminds me of the times my boyfriend and I will be driving around in his car listening to the radio. Every time this song came on, without fail, I would exclaim "I love this song!!" and proceed to crank up the volume. I just loved the opening part of this song. I loved the key it was in, and how simple the background music was. I loved singing it (even though I did it very poorly.. which is why I chose to play the lyrics on my primary instrument.)
This process started off with me learning how to play the intro on the piano. It didn't take that long, considering how much my Aural Skills class has helped me with ear training. Once I was done fiddling around on the piano, I decided to write down the different parts I would need. 1.) Piano 2.) Rhythm #1 3.) Rhythm #2 4.) Piano #2 and 5.) Saxophone. After I had decided these things, I got straight to work. I decided not to go with any vocals, because, I mean, I'm not a vocal major for a reason. I put all of the melodic parts either on Piano or Sax because those are the two instruments I can play best at the moment. With the rhythm, I thought about doing different sounds with my mouth or my body, but as I was noodling around with some options, I found that the knocking and pencil-tapping on the piano bench sounded better than any sound I could produce myself! This experience was actually something that I'd always wanted to do, but just never did, because I couldn't sing very well. But this allowed me to express my creativity in a way that I always wanted to. It's helped me create a different version of something, to make it my own! This experience will help me in the future because now that I've learned to step out of my comfort zone and make a cover of a song that includes ZERO singing, I feel like this is a lesson I could teach to my future students one day! MUS 1501.) In class on Tuesday, we did something that I've never done before. Before class, we were told to bring our instruments. I wasn't told why, no one was, but I knew it would be interesting! When we got to class, we were given another visual score idea. This time we used a picture showing the statistics of how many people of different nationalities are imprisoned each year. We were then told to pair up with someone and create a couple little melodies in a certain key, that fit the mood/aura of the visual score. I paired up with a flutist, and we created a couple sounds and uploaded them to the google doc for the class. After that, Jon uploaded everyones pieces and put them onto the mixer-board thing (I'm not sure what its called). After that, we all got out our instruments, went to the front of the classroom, and began to play melodies and sounds that went along with the portion of the picture we were instructed to represent. Throughout the whole experience, our instructors weren't telling us what to do, they let it be completely up to us. They would help if needed, but we were very independent in our creativity for this project.
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EricaThis page will be used for music-type things such as videos of myself playings, pieces I have composed, pieces I would like to play, and concerts! Archives
November 2019
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