Table of Contents

New Music Alive Book II: Composition Resources in the Classroom

Lesson Seven: Electro-Acoustic Composition

Strand: Composing
Strand Units: Improvising and creating; Talking about and recording compositions
Curriculum Objectives:

  • select from a wide variety of sound sources for a range of musical purposes
  • invent and perform pieces that show an increasing awareness and control of musical elements
  • record compositions on electronic media

Linkage: Performing - Singing, Playing Instruments
Concept Development: duration, dynamics, structure, timbre, texture
Integration: ICT
Additional Skills: Interacting with music technology creatively

Listen Back
5 min

Open your class tape piece in Audacity and project it onto a whiteboard or screen so the whole class can see.
Listen to the piece together.

Composing
30 min

In this lesson we are going to compose an "electro-acoustic" piece which combines both electronic music and acoustic music. We can use the earlier tape piece to provide the electronic part and we can use our voices or instruments to provide the acoustic part.

Once again, consider:

  • Do you want to leave the tape part as it is or do you want to make any changes? Do want to cut it up into different bits or leave the whole thing as one?
  • Would you like your composition to start with the tape or with instruments/voices?
  • Are there any sounds you want to put in this piece that you didn't get to use earlier (or indeed, any new ones that you have recently come up with)?
  • Are there any parts of the piece where you want to add acoustic sounds that are similar/different to the tape?
  • Are there any sections of the piece where you want to use just the voices/instruments and leave a gap in the tape part?
  • Are there any sections of the piece where you want to use just the tape part and leave out the voices/instruments?
  • Is there anything you want to leave out and anything you want to use more than once? Are there any sounds you would like to combine together?
  • Should we end with tape or acoustic instruments/voices?

  • Save your work! The easiest way is to simply press "Ctrl+S" on your keypad after every few changes you make.
  • Go back over your work regularly as the piece progresses so you have an idea of how long each section lasts and what might come next.

Record Your Piece
5 min

Note: Since you cannot play the tape part in Audacity while you are using it to record, make a CD of the tape part first. Playing the tape part from a CD will leave Audacity free to record all the sounds in the room - the children singing and the CD playing.

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Lesson Seven: Supplementary Notes

Composing

Before you start, be sure to keep your original tape piece as it was before you make any changes. Then save a copy of that piece by clicking "Save Project As..." in the File Menu and giving it a new name. Now you can make your changes and create your new electro-acoustic piece.

If you are keeping a Class Composition Journal, you might want to read through it and see which of the children's questions this piece raises or solves, which ideas it draws on and what new ideas have come from it.

  • This could be a great closing track on your Class CD.

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