Using Chrome Music Lab Song Maker for Composition
Division 1 & 2 students are studying how music determines the reactions and emotions of an audience when combined with images. One of their assignments will be to use Chrome Music Lab – Song Maker to create their own original musical compositions for film background music. When exploring Chrome Music Lab several factors need to be considered.
There are choices as to the instruments to be used: Marimba, Piano, Strings, Woodwinds and Synthesizer.
Choices of percussion include: Electronic, Blocks, Drum Kit and Conga
https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker/
If you click on settings button you are given additional choices such as:
Length of phrases (1 – 16 bars possible in total)
Beats per bar (2 – 7 possible)
Split beats (1 – 4 possible)
Scale (Major, Pentatonic or Chromatic)
Starting Note (Low, Middle or High C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B possible)
Range (1, 2 or 3 octaves possible)
Your notes are shown by different colours for each letter name:
C – red, D – orange, E – yellow, F – light green, G – dark green, A – dark blue and B – purple and accidentals are shown by gradient colours between those notes.
The tempo (or speed) of the composition when played can range from 40 to 240 beats – roughly one to two beats per second.
I chose 16 bars, 4 beats, split into 2, a Chromatic scale starting on Middle C of 2 octaves. I also chose a tempo of 119 for the song example that I created for this project.
https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker/song/6086800584998912
To begin click on any square and it will be filled in with colour that designates a note chosen. To choose and place percussion on particular beats click on the lowest two lines. Once you are ready to hear your composition click on the play button. Clicking on the play button will also stop your composition so that you may make adjustments as desired.
To remove either press on the undo button or click on any square previously chosen and the note will disappear. To begin again you may press the restart button but any changes made to the settings will also be lost as the site goes back to the default settings in place.
Once you are satisfied with your original musical composition you may save the web address to either a word document or email to yourself. We will begin the process of combining your composition with your video choice in the next two weeks.