Musical Forms
Believe it or not, music has structure. Form in music describes the structure used to
organize the composer’s musical thoughts. You can think of form in music to form you
use in composing a business letter, a recipe of a favorite dessert, or the process you use to
get ready for school in the morning. Some of the most successful composers throughout
history have broken the rules of form, and helped create new ways of communication
through music. We’re going to cover three basic musical forms that you can use for the
basis of your compositions.
Arch Form
There are many variations on arch form. Like the form of an arc, the music starts simply,
gets more complex to a point called the climax, and “comes back down” to a simple state.
Adding layers (tracks) builds in volume and complexity. Arch form can play a part
alongside other musical forms, or act as a “free form.” The basic idea again is: simple—
complex—simple. What gets more complicated is up to you: volume, number of
instruments, musical ideas, rhythms, etc.
Rondo Form
The Rondo form was popularized during the classical era of music history. It is
sometimes written out like this: A B A C A D A E A F A, etc. The point is, the “A”
section comes back between episodes of new music. Rondos are fun, but challenging to
write. If you write a good “A” section, you get to repeat and hear it often in your rondo.
ABABCABA Song Form
You might say ab ab caba, but then you’ll just sound silly. This is a form that’s used in a
lot of popular music, like rock-‘n’-roll. An “A” and a “B” section get repeated. A middle
section “C” comes next. Then the song ends with more of A, B, and A. While the “A”
and “B” sections may have the same music, they may have different lyrics. Then again,
the “B” section might be considered a “chorus” where all “B” section lyrics are the same.
You decide, you can be the composer. Many times the “C” section will feature an
instrumental solo. It’s your time to shine on your electric guitar, on the drums, or
whatever you want to play.
Musical Bridges
The “bridge” isn’t a musical form, but is many times found in different musical forms. A
bridge pulls together different sections together. Many bridges involve the transposition
of musical keys; others might include moments of silence. A bridge can also be as short
and simple as a one-measure block that sounds different and signals a change to the
listener. After the bridge, the instruments take over and play the melody that was sung
earlier. If the “A” and “B” in your song are too different, you may need a “bridge” to pull
them together. Mozart used bridges. So do the Rolling Stones.
Questions
1. How is “musical form” like the format of a business letter or recipe for a dessert?
2. How might arch form in music represent real-life events? Can you think of two
examples in “real life” that follow the form of an arch?
3. What is the benefit of using the popular ABABCABA form or rondo in Garage
Band?
4. Why are bridges used, or needed, in musical forms?
5. Which part of the song form (ABABCABA) does the "instrumental solo" come
in?
Garage Band Controls and Interface
Tracks
Each instrument gets its own track in Garage Band. If you’ve looked at an orchestral
score of music, it is not unlike each instrument having its own staff on the music. Some
tracks allow you to choose a “software” or synthesized instrument. Other tracks hold the
effects for a particular type of “real” or recorded instrument. Double-clicking any track
name, or selecting a track and clicking on the “i” information button will reveal
settings for that track, including the type of instrument, and the effects assigned for that
instrument (under Details…).
Mixer
Mixer controls are located to the right of the track name. These include a pan knob knob
and an individual levels, or volume control, for each track. Panning refers to where the
instrument sounds in stereo—is it on the left, right, or somewhere in between?
Professionals will pan some instruments to one side or another to make the “space”
musicians perform in sound large, and wide. You can hide the mixer by clicking on the
small triangle near the word “Tracks” to get more space in your Garage Band window.
Controls
There are a number of additional buttons and controls in Garage Band. These
include:
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the Add Track button
the Information button
the Loops Browser
the Detail Track Editor
Shuttle Buttons (Record, fast-forward, play, rewind, and loop)
Time Display
Master Volume
If you want to change the synthesized instrument, or change the effects settings of a
track, use the information button.
If you want to sample the different loops installed on your computer, use the loops
browser button (eyeball).
If you want to transpose or change the sound of a recording, or of a MIDI
recording, use the detail editor
If you want to change the tempo of your song, use the time display.
Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
How do you add a new track to the Garage Band interface (screen)?
What do you click to change the effects settings for an instrument?
Can you define the musical term tempo?
Adjusting the left and right knob on the mixer adjusts the level of… what? What’s
the term for how much sound comes out on the left or right channels of the stereo
signal?
5. The time display can show music playing back in minutes and seconds or in
musical measures. Which would be more helpful if you’re trying to compose
some music for an iMovie project?
Loops
Loops are pre-recorded fragments of audio. You might consider them musical puzzle
pieces. The classic example of a loop is a drum track, a series of one, two, or three
measures worth of music with a drum rhythm designed to repeat. Loops do not need to be
just drums, however. Loops can also be melodic phrases, strums of a guitar, or even
sound effects. Loops of recorded audio appear blue in Garage Band’s timeline.
Garage Band’s loop browser allows you to search for loops by type, and allows users to
“check off” favorite loops for easy navigation when composing. Combine different
categories to “drill-down” to more specific results (for instance, combine “world” and
“dry.” The Scale pull-down menu helps users match the mode of the loops to their
composition. Blue loops are recorded sound, and do not change tempo or transpose as
well as green loops, which contain MIDI data. Drag a loop from the browser into the
timeline to add it to your composition.
Beats and Measures
When speaking of music, musicians will use the terms beats, tempo, and measures. But
what are these? A “beat” is what you feel in the music, something that happens in real
time. Think of a beat as the pulse you hear in a song that makes you nod your head, or tap
your foot. Beats are spaced equally apart. Garage Band measure the speed of loops in a
unit called BPM, or beats per minute. A slow song may have a beat rate of 65 BPM. A
fast, dancing song may have a beat rate of 130 BPM. This “beat rate” is called tempo.
Beats are usually combined in larger units called measures. A lot of popular music has
music arranged in 4-beat measures. Other music may have measure lengths of 2, 3, of
even 6 beats. Garage Band measures the length of music in measures along the top of the
timeline. The first beat of each measure is the strongest beat. When you first start a new
Garage Band composition, it will ask you the tempo and how many beats per measure
you want to use. 4/4 and “C” are the most common. 4/4 means four quarter notes per
measure.
Record Audio
Garage Band also records audio. Connect an electric guitar to GarageBand, and it records
the sound of your guitar. In fact, if you tell Garage Band you’re using a guitar, you can
shape the sound by choosing a number of different software-based amplifiers, each with
their own style of sound. You can also record any “real” instrument, such as a flute,
acoustic guitar, or someone’s voice using a microphone. There are a number of settings
for different instrument and voice types in Garage Band which help make each sound
their best. These settings are called effects.
Record MIDI
The Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) was designed in the 1980s to let music
synthesizers to “talk” to one another. The MIDI standard has evolved with personal
computers. You can connect almost any MIDI instrument to your Macintosh and record
the digital impluses of notes into Garage Band. Garage Band “plays” these notes back as
“software instruments.” In effect, Garage Band ships with a number of different
synthesized instruments using different types of synthesis. Examples include Grand
Piano, Space Harpsichord, Jazz Organ and strings. MIDI data appears green on the
timeline in Garage Band. In fact, some GarageBand loops are MIDI loops rather than
recorded-audio loops. With MIDI, Garage Band creates the “sound” of the music on
demand, as it’s played. To record MIDI into your Macintosh, you will need a MIDI
interface, a serial adapter that translates the MIDI signals into signals your computer can
understand. A number of new keyboards produced use USB—the MIDI interface is
already built-into the machine.
Questions
1. What is needed if you want to record your voice into Garage Band?
2. What are the settings called used to enhance instruments, such as your voice, in
Garage Band?
3. Why don’t all keyboards require the use of an external MIDI interface to work
with Garage Band?
4. Why are loops like musical puzzle pieces?
5. What color are MIDI-based loops in Garage Band’s timeline?
Mixing Your Composition
Mixing is the process of combining together different, discreet tracks of audio. Flour,
sugar, milk, and eggs are combined to make a cake. You “mix” them together to get the
end result—a delicious cake. All mixing is usually done at the end of creating a
composition. While you may certainly make these adjustments at any time during
playback, mixing is considered a “fine-tuning” aspect of fixing your song before
exporting it to iTunes.
Pan
Each track contains a virtual knob for adjusting pan. The best way to evaluate your pan
settings is by using headphones connected to your Macintosh.
Volume
Volume is the number one item pros like to adjust. Instead of volume, you may hear the
term “levels” being used. Garage Band provides a real-time display of the levels for each
track. Levels should never light the track “alarms,” the two red lights that appear next to
the levels display. This is a warning that your track is too loud, and should be adjusted.
Tracks with levels too high can sound distorted when they’re mixed into the final audio
file.
Mute
You can mute a track to “silence” it temporarily. This helps when mixing together a lot of
tracks, to hear what the “whole” sounds like without all the “ingredients.” Ever wonder
what chocolate cake would taste like without the chocolate? That’s what mute is for.
Solo
What does a track sound like by itself? Use the solo button on the track to mute all the
other tracks.
Envelopes
Each track can be controlled by two envelopes. By using these lines which live
underneath each track, you can change the pan and volume settings over time. Maybe the
trumpet needs to get louder here… or maybe you want the sound of the synthesizer to
crawl slowly from the left-side of the stage to the right? Use these controls to pinpoint
moments on the timeline where these need to happen.
Questions
1. Why do you have to watch the levels for each track? What happens if they go too
high?
2. When you mute a track, what does this do?
3. What does the icon for “solo” look like in Garage Band’s mixer/track display?
4. What advantage does mixing in Garage Band have over “mixing” a recipe, such
as a cake, or pancake batter?
Exporting Your Composition
After you have tweaked your settings (pan, volume/levels, tuning and tempo) it’s time
to export your composition. Exporting “mixes down” your song into a two-track file: a
left/right stereo AIFF file. The resolution of this file is 44.1 kHz at 16 bits. This is the
same as CD-quality sound. Choose “Export to iTunes” in the File menu.
iTunes are now Your Tunes
iTunes creates a special playlist with all the compositions you create using Garage Band.
The AIFF file Garage Band automatically imports into iTunes is large. A quality AIFF
file is great for burning a CD of your own music. But what if you want to share the
music digitally through e-mail or the web? What you will need to do is convert the
digital file into a smaller, compressed file. The most popular format is MP3, a model by
which the sound file is compressed and made smaller. MP3 stands for MPEG-3 layer 1
standardized by the Motion Picture Experts Group as a high-quality compressed audio
format. MP3s are typically one-tenth the size of an uncompressed AIFF file, which
means they’re small enough to transfer online. To convert your AIFF “original” into an
MP3, follow the procedure below.
Converting AIFF to MP3 using iTunes
1. Choose Export to iTunes within Garage Band.
2. Wait, while Garage Band creates the “mixdown.”
3. Next, Garage Band should launch iTunes. Search for your new playlist, or the title
of your Garage Band composition.
4. Check the Preferences for iTunes under Import. Make sure MP3, 128 bit is chosen
as the resolution for MP3 files.
5. Select your track, and choose “Convert selection to MP3” under the Advanced
menu.
6. Look for your new track in the Library. You may want to drag it, and drop it on
your new playlist. Compared the sizes of the original AIFF to the MP3.
Questions
1. What do the letters MPEG stand for?
2. Apple uses AAC encoding for music sold at the iTunes music store. What do the
letters AAC stand for?
3. When did the MP3 standard become adopted? Can you believe it's that old?
4. Do you think a 192-bit MP3 file will be larger, or smaller, than a 128-bit MP3?
5. What is an advantage of saving the original AIFF file Garage Band produces?