Electronic Set-ups For The Front Ensemble

I have been working with front ensembles (also known as pits) for marching bands and indoor percussion ensembles for awhile.  There is as a huge difference in sound between a miked ensemble and a non-miked a ensemble.  Too many directors view sound equipment as per amplification, however, it needs to be treated as bringing out what is getting lost.

The article I am posting is from Dynamic Marching.  They have provided a variety of set-up options, depending on budgets, to think about for you front ensembles.  If you are someone who has a front ensemble and have not tried any amplification, I recommend you to check out these set-ups and consider adding something to your ensemble.  It will bring more color and fullness to your ensemble.

Shure Microphone Setup Manuals

We do a lot of recording and live sound at my school and I thought I would post the two manuals in which refer to on a regular basis. 


In the Shure Microphone Techniques on Recording Guide, Shure Application Engineers describe 

particular microphone techniques and placement: techniques to pick up a natural tonal balance, techniques 

to help reject unwanted sounds, and even techniques to create special effects. 

In the Shure Microphone Technique on Live Sound Reinforcement Guide, Shure 

application and development engineers suggest a variety of microphone techniques for musical instruments to achieve these objectives. In order to provide some background for these techniques it is useful to understand some of the important characteristics of microphones, musical instruments and acoustics. 

Portable Document Camera for Projector

I was currently at our state's music conference and I went to a seminar where the speaker discussed using a portable document camera for a projector.  He discussed using the camera to project scores, show closeups of instruments, show closeups of particular techniques, and plug in to computer for videos and clips.  After getting ideas of how to use the devise, our music department is considering purchasing one for next year.  You can buy one of the cameras for around $400.  Must click on link and read more about the amazing options it has!

WavePad Sound Editor

Since we are working with the sound editing software, Audacity, I thought I would post about another free program, WavePad.  My dad got me into WavePad during college and I have been using it ever since.  I have used it for editing old vinyl albums to cd, editing simple recordings, and editing soundclips for sound effects in my indoor percussion ensembles. 

WavePad's interface is essentially a media player with a spectral display, time indicators, and specialized controls for manipulating the audio signal. We browsed to a folder of CD tracks we'd ripped as WAVs and selected one. WavePad displayed the file's audio spectrum in two zoom-capable views, a smaller overview of the entire track above a larger, more detailed graphical display. Playback controls, a timer with hundredths of seconds, and sliders for altering the view, zooming, and other functions ring the main view, while a toolbar gives access to noise reduction tools; speed and pitch settings; echo, reverb, and other effects; plug-ins; and other tools. Clicking the Play button played our audio track, with a moving red line tracking the output on the spectral graph. This made it ultra-simple not only to divide tracks manually but also to identify and remove artifacts like clicks and pops, copy specific passages, and remove lead-in and lead-out tracks. The zoom feature let us expand any section of the spectra for pinpoint editing, such as removing the all-too-audible "pop" and "thunk" as the stylus hits the record groove and the turntable's dust cover comes down at the beginning of a session converting analog LPs to digital music files. WavePad has some interesting and useful extras, too, such as a tone generator, batch converter, and text-to-speech tool.

iPhone

I know this doesn't exactly pertain to the readings this week, however, I would like to talk about one of the most well-rounded and most used devices in may classroom, the iPhone.  I use several apps on my iPhone everyday.  The Cleartune app, is a chromatic tuner, which makes easier tuning sections and/or individuals.  Tempo 2, a metronome app, is very similar to a Dr. Beat with the multitude of subdivisions and meter options.  But Tempo 2 allows you to set play lists of for specific tempos, this is a great options during musicals or, as a professional musician, at gigs.  FingerCharts is my favorite app, because it has all of the brass and woodwind instrument fingerings, as well as, alternate fingerings.  As a percussionist teaching at the high school level, this is a great app to have for helping students find better fingerings and/or difficult notes in the higher range.  Chords is a guitar chord guide app and I use it primarily in my jazz ensembles when chord changes become more difficult.  Chords is also nice because it allows you the option to play back the chord or play each individual note.  For bass guitar, I have Fret Surfer Bass.  This app allows my to check out bass positions to help with difficult runs during my jazz ensembles.  I use iTalk a lot to record my rehearsals.  I can record, listen, and email with this app.  It is nice to be able to hook up my phone on the way home and evaluate a rehearsal.  The iReal Book is a great app for any "jazzers" out there.  I have to list what this app can do:

• Create, collect and share chord charts or your favorite songs for reference while practicing or performing.
• Practice with a full rhythm section (Piano or Guitar plus Bass and Drums) with realistic sounding accompaniments for any properly formatted chord chart.
• The play along feature includes Jazz Medium Swing, Bossa Nova and Rock styles.
• In-App Purchase is available for: Jazz Styles Pack (12 styles), Latin Styles Pack (7 styles) and Pop Styles Pack (10 styles). See demos below.
• Includes 50 exercises for practicing common chord progressions.
• Each song can be transposed to any key or to number notation (Nashville system).
• Eb, Bb, F and G global transpositions for horn players.
• Create multiple editable playlists.
• Create new chord charts or edit existing ones with the built-in editor.
• Share individual songs or playlists with other iReal b users via email or through the forums.
• Share printable versions of individual songs via email.
• Print any chart using AirPrint (requires iOS 4.2).
• Export audio as WAV and AAC (requires iOS 4).
• Loop a number of bars for focused practicing.
• Customizable color themes.
• Support for iRig/AmpliTube and other guitar connection kits using the Background Audio setting.
• Universal App: runs on any iPhone or iPod Touch device as well as running optimized on the iPad (Requires iOS 3.1 or higher).

As you can see this app is great for not only my own personal use, but can be and is used in my classroom to for improv in my jazz ensembles.  Also having the power of iTunes is great, it allows you to pull music examples.  I don't know how many times I have been in a class and I think of a tune that I could reference something from and I just pull my iTunes library up and show them.  It is also nice having the power to download songs instantly.  I could go on more about the iPhone but I will just leave you with this last thought.  We live in a world and are educating students that have immediate information at their finger tips, we need to use this technology to keep up and give relevance to our students.  I feel the iPhone and iPad are two of the most prolific inventions of our time and can be used for great things within our classrooms, we just have to finds creative ways to use them. 

Zoom H4n

Since we are reading about evaluating performances, I thought I would post a device that we use at our school for rehearsal, personal, and performance evaluations.  The Zoom H4n is an easy to use and easy to handle recording device.  It also includes:
-Onboard X/Y stereo condenser microphones
-Adjustable playback speed that ranges from 50 to 150 percent, while keeping pitch the same
-You can set your H4n to automatically record whenever sound above your designated level is detected
-Built-in reference speaker
-Built-in tuner
-Selectable metronome sound
-A large, 1.9" LCD screen with backlit graphic display
-Rubberized, shock resistant chassis
-Even without external software, you can divide a recorded file at any desired point, right on the H4n.
-Built-in normalizing feature lets you optimize the volume level
-Convert WAV files into MP3 directly on the unit

Smart Music

Smart Music is award-winning interactive music software that provides the ideal practice environment. With a subscription to SmartMusic, students have unlimited access to the world’s largest accompaniment library for all ages and skill levels, which includes thousands of pieces of music.

Teachers create and send customized assignments from a huge, growing library of band and orchestra titles, which includes solo contest pieces and popular method books.

Students open an assignment from their teachers, which contains customized instructions for playing a particular piece of music.

• As the music appears on the screen, they play or sing along with background accompaniment.
• Following each performance, SmartMusic provides an immediate assessment, displaying the notes that students performed correctly in green and the notes they performed incorrectly in red.
• Students record and listen to each performance to hear how they really sound and how their part fits within the whole.
• When they are satisfied with their performance, they send a recording to their teacher who can assess, score, and build a portfolio to track their progress over time. 

Students improve faster with instant feedback about which notes they’ve gotten right or wrong and by listening to recording of their performance.

Teachers grade assignments, track student progress, and can build portfolios of student work.
I really enjoy using this program when working with students on improvisation.  Students have the chance to play over changes and see specific notes that may be a bad selection for the chord provided in the progression.  They get to see their tendencies and hear what it sounds like.