The Slow Blues Multitrack Example

This musical is about 149 seconds long. It may time a bit of time before it begins to play so be patient.

The first five tracks were created using the Magic GarageBand option. The bottom two tracks with voice over and special effects were added afterwards. Volume control points were also 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. My voice is in the Male Speech track. The special effect sounds of audience and crickets are in the track at the bottom labeled 1track-special.

Classroom teachers and students 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 are 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, adult 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 September 27, 2010 Page author: Houghton