The piece is about 149 seconds long. The first five tracks were create by the Magic GarageBand option. The bottom two tracks with voice over and special effects were added afterwards. Volume control points were added manually. As you listen, study the timeline of the 7 tracks in the screenshot picture below. Can you follow the progress of the piece as it plays across the timeline? Here's a hint. Notice which instrument type is sounding the loudest, then look across the blue dots that are the volume control points to find the peak point that matches.
Classroom teachers that want music composition curriculum that can scale from pre-school to adult can do some exploring with a fine product called Sibelius Compass. A wide variety of other software products is available for building musical knowledge and compositions from both Sibelius and Finale.
One does not have to pursue music composition to have endless fun and learning with audio compositions. However, for those who want resources for pushing on to next steps with music, more capable readers might want to check out a couple of books on music theory (Miller, 2005) and music composition (Miller, 2005).
Miller, M. (2005). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition. Alpha.
Miller, M. (2005). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory. Alpha.
Parent chapter - Updated April 13, 2009 Page author: Houghton