Group items tagged

"This session will explore potential projects that involve creating music to modern video games. We will also explore how video games can be used to explore technology, music theory, music history, composing, and performing with modern video games. Experience with video games is not required as the focus is on the unique musical affordances students can experience when creating music to video games. Please feel free to bring an instrument as we will experience a mini project that requires everyone to musically contribute to a live video game in the session."

"This session will explore applications of video games inside and outside of the music classroom. We will explore various games, apps, and websites that allow students to engage with music through video games. Experience with video games is not required as the focus is on the unique musical affordances students can experience when engaging with music video games. Please feel free to bring an instrument, laptop, and/or tablet as we will be exploring a wide variety of uses of video games inside and outside of the music classroom."

"This session will explore potential projects that involve composing and performing music in the 8-bit aesthetic. We will also explore how the 8-bit aesthetic can be used to explore technology, music theory, and music history through composing and performing with 8-bit video games. Experience with video games is not required as the focus is on the unique musical affordances students can experience when composing and performing music to old school video games. Please feel free to bring a laptop with a way to write music notation as we will create and perform music to a live video game in the session. "

"The early technological constraints imposed on 8-bit composers can act as project criteria for composing and performing 8-bit music that interacts with live 8-bit video games. This two hour session will begin with an interaction with 8-bit media and then break out into groups to create short musical excerpts and sound effects for a live video game. After all of the groups share what they created, the session concludes with a discussion on musical problems, technological constraints impacting creativity, and future projects. "

"Students are highly motivated by video games as they can spend dozens of hours playing each week. What if educators could channel this motivation into composing by allowing students the opportunity to compose to old school video games? This presentation demonstrates a variety of 8-bit musical experiences that integrate technology, theory, history, composition, and performance with 8-bit video games."

This YouTube playlist could be used a source of inspiration for video game music projects. Watch some of the videos and think about what musical aspects students would engage in when working on a project like this.

This is a video game where you play as the wind guiding a flower pedal across a landscape. The game has been used to create live music to that puts the player as the conductor and the game as the score.

"This interactive session begins with a brief experience of making vocal music to an 8-bit video game. I then demonstrate how to create live 8-bit music using Ableton Live and a Launchpad. The session concludes with session attendees coming up and creating live 8-bit music to a live video game performance."

"In the past couple decades, instrumental education has evolved relatively very little in comparison to technology. Understanding how to augment music education through technology is vital to the growth of our field. This presentation provides some suggestions for using technology in instrumental settings to expand possibilities for both performing and teaching."

Joy Tunes is a music video game for recorder or for piano; however, any instrument can be used with a microphone and a computer to control the characters and play the various levels created. There is a free portion of the game with the option to buy more levels. Some of the levels can develop ear training while others levels develop reading notation.

A tutorial on using Ableton to create music videos with Minecraft video clips and audio samples. This project could be done with any video game sounds as it's essentially a sampling project

A demonstration of a modern video game recreated with 8-bit music. This video also demonstrates pixel art and could be used as an example of an interdisciplinary project.

I use Pinterest as a resource for inspiration on how to use music technology. Look for boards related to music education or specific pinners who post quality resources. Even better, become someone who contributes to the community to help it grow.

This Twitter list is of chiptune/video game music artists. This is a great resource to find people who are active in the 8-bit community.

Demonstration of a violinist playing music to Super Mario Brothers.

The Amazing Slow Downer allows you to adjust the speed of an audio file so you can transcribe or practice along to an audio file at any speed you want. The pitch of the file does not change while you vary the speed. You can also export the audio file to be whatever tempo you wanted

I use Twitter lists to make it easier to sort through high volumes of tweet for information about specific topics. For instance, if I want to find out what people in music education are talking about, I click on my list titled "music education" and it only shows me music educators I have added to that list rather than all of the Twitter users I follow.

SmartMusic has a lot of great resources built into the program to assist with assessment and feedback; however, it is also limited in that it is a computer determining pitch and rhythmic accuracy. While this feedback is better than none, I caution educators who use this as the only form of assessment and feedback. I personally think there is more to music than pitch and rhythm and I think that technology should encourage students to think as musicians rather than simply telling students when they are and are not musical based on two criteria.

This YouTube playlist contains digital instruments and/or hybrid setups/ensembles.

"This session will explore various uses of technology to augment teaching in a way that is conducive to student-center learning. The focal points of the session will revolve around exploring questions such as: How can we use technology to assess students at an individual level while engaging an entire class of students? How can we find out how to use technology in the classroom? How can we use technology to provide more feedback to students? How can we combine various technologies to do things they weren't designed to do? Experience with technology is not required; however, bringing a laptop, tablet, and/or smart phone will assist with the discussion and experience."