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44 Charting Musical Creativity Intermediate Charting to Musical PowerPoint Creativity 2007 Overview This class focuses the use of five digital tools: Google Drive, Windows Media Player, itunes, Audacity, and ActivInspire. The ActivInspire version demonstrated is 1.5. Some basic familiarity with these tools will help the class progress more smoothly and be more productive. Objectives 99 Rip music files from CDs in Windows Media Player 99 Import and edit sound files in Audacity 99 Create ActivInspire flipchart pages, using selections from Shared Resources 99 Insert Manuscript Paper and Notation 99 Insert Musical Notes Charting Musical Creativity

45 Copyright Page Division of Technology 2014 Creation Date: 12-13/2013 Revised: 04-02/2014 This training material was developed by the Fort Worth Independent School District, Educational Technology Department, for use by the District. Other distribution and/or reproduction of this guide or portions thereof for training purposes, sale or commercial use is expressly forbidden without written permission from the Chief Technology Officer.

46 Table of Contents Charting Musical Creativity... 1 Getting Started... 1 Objectives... 1 Google Drive... 1 Windows Media Player... 3 Audacity... 5 Creating an Accompaniment Track in Audacity... 6 Saving, Exporting, and Editing in Audacity... 8 ActivInspire Shared Resources: Manuscript Paper, Notation, and Musical Notes Using Audio Files in ActivInspire Conclusion Appendix Using itunes with Audacity Educational Technology Participant Manual i

47 Educational Technology: For more information visit the Educational Technology Website: L-Z_/Technology/Educational_Technology Help Desk: For additional assistance with service requests, visit the Customer Service Website: Copyright & Acceptable Use For additional information regarding copyright and acceptable use, visit the Library Media Services Copyright and Acceptable Use page: ii Charting Musical Creativity Educational Technology

48 Charting Musical Creativity Getting Started This class focuses the use of five digital tools: Google Drive, Windows Media Player, itunes, Audacity, and ActivInspire. The ActivInspire version demonstrated is 1.5. Some basic familiarity with these tools will help the class progress more smoothly and be more productive. Objectives Participants will enhance their and their students resources for musical creativity as they import audio files using Windows Media Player or itunes, edit those files in Audacity, and insert the edited files into flipchart pages, adding Manuscript Paper, Notation, and Music Notes from ActivInspire s Resource Browser, then share their flipcharts in Google Drive. Google Drive Google Drive is one of several free or fee-based Cloud (Internet-based) Storage services. Offered through the personal account offers 5GB free storage, with monthly fees for storage of 25GB and higher. Figure 1 Google offers 30 GB of free storage, however, for anyone holding a Fort Worth Independent School District account (Figure 1). To access your FWISD employee account, first open your Internet browser and enter in the web address window. The following screen will appear (Figure 2): Educational Technology Participant Manual 1

49 Figure 2 1. Click Sign In. The first sign-in screen will appear. Figure 3 2. Enter your normal first.last username (with any number that usually follows your last name), inserting teachers. and fwisd.org. Leave the password blank and click Sign In (Figure 3). 3. At the second sign-in screen, enter your normal username and password and click Sign In (Figure 4). Figure 4 4. To access Google Drive, click the apps icon and then Drive. Notice that your login name shows that you are using the FWISD employee account (Figure 5). 2 Charting Musical Creativity Educational Technology

50 Figure 5 5. Clicking My Drive accesses any files or folders stored in your district account. Clicking Shared with Me accesses any files or folders created by others and shared with you (Figure 6). Figure 6 To upload files to Google Drive, simply Left Click and Drag the file or folder to the Drive browser window, or click the red Upload button (Up Arrow) and select File or Folder to upload. The file or folder will appear in your document list in Drive when the upload is complete. Windows Media Player This audio player comes standard with the Microsoft Windows operating system. Unless designated otherwise, this is the player that will always activate when importing or playing a CD or downloaded file. This program cannot, however, edit audio files, which is the reason for adding a program like Audacity, free software that has considerable editing capabilities but cannot import files. Using Audacity with Windows Media Player (or another media player) provides significant importing and editing capabilities. Figure 7 To use Windows Media Player, click on the Play button at the bottom left of the computer screen (Figure 7), or click All Programs and then Windows Media Player. The program will open, displaying the current library contents. Educational Technology Participant Manual 3

51 Figure 8 To play a file, simply double-click the filename/icon, or click once and press the Play button at the bottom of the screen (Figure 8). Figure 9 To copy (Rip) song files from a CD (Figure 9): 1. Select the CD, uncheck the box next to Album (unless you want to import all songs), 2. Put a check in the box(es) next to the song title(s) you wish to copy, and 3. Choose Rip from the menu selections at the top of the player s screen. The file will show a message that indicates the status of the copying, and also when finished. The copied file will now appear in the Windows Media Player under Music, and found (even when Media Player is not active) under Documents>Music. To change Rip settings in Windows Media Player (Figure 10): 1. Click the arrows just to the right of the Rip button (arrows will appear when a CD has been inserted into the drive). 2. Click Rip Settings and Format. 3. Choose desired Format. For editing in Audacity, choose either.wav or.mp3. 4 Charting Musical Creativity Educational Technology

52 Figure 10 Audacity Audacity is a free and relatively easy-to-use audio editing program that is helpful for creating accompaniment tracks and customizing recordings for special use. Figure 11 Download the program from (Figure 11). After downloading, follow the installation instructions, but do not close the download web site. Figure 12 Once Audacity is installed, click the link ( to download and install LAME, an.mp3 encoder (Figure 12). The link will take you away from the Audacity site, but your antivirus software should scan the download file for safety before proceeding. Check to be sure. LAME allows keeping files in the space-saving.mp3 format. Follow the download and installation instructions. To open a file for editing, click File>Open, then search for the desired file: if the file was imported by Windows Media Player, look under My Documents>My Music. Educational Technology Participant Manual 5

53 Figure 13 If the file comes through itunes, first open itunes. Right click the selection and select Show in Windows Explorer (Figure 13). Typically, the file path will begin as itunes>itunes Media, with another two or three levels to reach the actual file location. Be sure to enter the full file path into the Audacity filename box before clicking Open. Creating an Accompaniment Track in Audacity To create an accompaniment track from a standard stereo file, the steps will vary according to software version. It s not currently possible to remove all the vocals without drastically changing the sounds of the other instruments, but the volume of the vocals will be significantly reduced, the result being typically very adequate for use as an accompaniment track. Here are the steps for the various Audacity versions/releases: Figure 14 Audacity (Figure 14): 1. Click one stereo track to highlight; 2. Shift click the other so that both tracks are highlighted; 3. Click Effect; and 4. Scroll down to choose Vocal Remover (for center-panned vocals) from the dropdown menu. Once the process finishes, then click away from the tracks so that they are no longer highlighted, and press Play to test. 6 Charting Musical Creativity Educational Technology

54 Figure 15 Audacity (or alternate for any version): 1. Click the dropdown for the top track, and choose Split Stereo Track (Figure 15); Figure Click on the bottom track to highlight only that track; 3. Click the Effect tab at the top of the screen and choose Invert (Figure 16); 4. Click away from the track, so that neither is highlighted; and Figure 17 Educational Technology Participant Manual 7

55 5. Click on each track s dropdown and choose, Mono (Figure 17). Press Play to test the result. Figure 18 For creating accompaniment tracks, two Audacity features can be really helpful: Change Pitch and Change Tempo (Figure 18). The controls work independently, so that a change in tempo does not affect pitch. Highlight the tracks, Click Effect and the desired tool to modify the file. Saving, Exporting, and Editing in Audacity Audacity uses a proprietary file type,.aup, which may be opened by Audacity but not by other typical media players. Figure 19 To save your work in a more widely-compatible format, choose File>Export (Figure 19), then choose the filetype that you wish to use. 8 Charting Musical Creativity Educational Technology

56 Figure 20 A space-saving version for ActivInspire use is.mp3 (Figure 20), which is available in Audacity after downloading and installing the LAME add-on: 1. Choose File>Export 2. Choose filetype (i.e.,.mp3) 3. Name your file (i.e., Original Name no vocal ) 4. Select the folder location (i.e., My Documents>My Music). In Audacity, Save keeps the file in Audacity s special format, and Export allows saving in other file formats. Figure 21 Editing in Audacity is much like editing a text document (Figure 21). Copy, Undo, and Paste are actions found under the Edit menu, and typical text-editing shortcuts work the same in Audacity (Ctrl-X, Cut; Ctrl- C, Copy; Ctrl-V, Paste; and the Delete key). Educational Technology Participant Manual 9

57 ActivInspire Shared Resources: Manuscript Paper, Notation, and Musical Notes ActivInspire has considerable resources for creating and supporting song notation. All references in this class will be to ActivInspire version 1.5 and its Shared Resources. Figure 22 Open ActivInspire. 1. At the top of the screen, click View (Figure 22); 2. Select Browsers; Figure Charting Musical Creativity Educational Technology

58 3. Choose Resource Browser, second from left (icon with music notes and clapperboard, Figure 23); 4. Click Shared Resources (three-person silhouette); 5. Scroll down to click Subjects, then Music. Figure 24 Under Music, we will be using Manuscript Paper, Musical Notes, and Notation (Figure 24). Click to open the Manuscript Paper folder, then choose one of the staff paper styles. Figure 25 Click and hold the left mouse button to drag the paper to the flipchart page (Figure 25). This serves as a background. If you want to reduce or enlarge the paper, an area snapshot may be used. Educational Technology Participant Manual 11

59 Figure 26 In the toolbox: 1. Click Tools (crossed hammer and wrench icon); 2. Click Camera, then Area Snapshot (Figure 26); 3. Position the snapshot box over the notation area that you wish to use and click Clipboard; 4. Add a new flipchart page, then Right Click and Paste the snapshot into the page. Figure 27 Left Click on the snapshot and resize as desired by clicking and dragging the bottom right corner of the object, or clicking the star/up (or, down) arrow icon on the marquee tool bar until desired size is achieved (Figure 27). 12 Charting Musical Creativity Educational Technology

60 Figure 28 Follow similar steps to insert music notes contained in the Notation folder. 1. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the note onto the flipchart page; 2. Left Click the note to resize, if desired; and 3. To make the notation process more efficient, Right Click the note and choose, Drag a Copy (Figure 28). This allows duplicating as many notes to the pages as needed, without having to access the browser. Add notes and music symbols as desired for single use or as a template. Be sure to select Save As under the File tab at the top of the flipchart to name and save the chart. Figure 29 Musical Notes is a set of twenty-four individual chromatic sounds (G>G) that can be used as starting pitches for songs, as tuning notes, as overlays for a keyboard page, or in other ways (Figure 29). The notes sound one at a time, not as chords. The click-and-drag technique works the same for these notes as for Manuscript Paper and Notation. Educational Technology Participant Manual 13

61 Figure 30 To add a starting note or reference pitch to your page, a helpful strategy is to create an invisible overlay, using the Transparency Tool. 1. Left Click to position and resize the note as desired to cover the Notation; 2. Select the Transparency Tool ( sunburst ) from the marquee tool handle; 3. Adjust the transparency of the note by holding down the left mouse button and sliding the sunburst to the desired level of transparency (Figure 30). Even while transparent, the musical note will sound when clicked, as long as ActivInspire is in Presentation Mode (blue snowflake at top of screen). Using Audio Files in ActivInspire Several options are available for using sounds or song files in ActivInspire. The simplest is to Click and Drag a sound file from the Resource Browser (Resource Browser>Shared Resources>Sounds>Music, Figure 31), which provides a variety of instrument sounds, along with Animals, Effects, Nature, People, and Transport. Hold down the left mouse button while dragging the speaker icon onto the flipchart page. Release the mouse button to release the sound icon, then left-click on it to activate the sound. Figure Charting Musical Creativity Educational Technology

62 There are a number of instrument clip art images (Figure 32), many of which match the available sound files. To make the clip art Play the sound, follow a few simple steps: 1. Select instrument clip art by accessing Resource Browser>Shared Resources>Subjects>Music>Instruments. Clip art is arranged by orchestra family (woodwind, brass, percussion, string) and keyboard; 2. Click and drag the desired image(s) to the flipchart page; Figure 32 Figure Navigate to the desired sounds (images from paragraph, above) and Drag the sounds on top of the images. If the sound is not on top of the graphic or text, 4. Left Click the speaker icon, select Reorder and Bring to Front (Figure 33); then 5. Click the blue snowflake at the top of the screen to change from Presentation to Design Mode. This allows clicking on the sound icon to resize it to fit the image and to make it transparent (the Educational Technology Participant Manual 15

63 sunburst slider). Click back on the snowflake to return to Presentation Mode and the sound will be activated. Figure 34 Using imported sound or song files works similarly, once the sound is on the flipchart page. To bring the file to the page, choose Insert among the tabs at the top of the page, then Media (Figure 34). Locate the audio file, typically under My Documents>Music, and click Open. A speaker icon will appear in the lower right area of the flipchart page. Change to Design Mode as previously, and resize or adjust the icon as desired. Return to Presentation Mode to activate the audio file. Figure 35 To attach the file so that it plays when clicking on an object, another option is available. Rather than overlaying the object with the speaker icon and making it transparent: 1. Click Insert at the top of the screen, then Link, and finally, File (Figure 35); 16 Charting Musical Creativity Educational Technology

64 Figure Locate the file, highlight it, then click Open (Figure 36); Figure A dialog box will open, from which you may choose, attach to existing object; 4. Click the box with dots of ellipsis (Figure 37). Figure 38 Another box opens to select the desired object from among those already on the page (Figure 38). 5. Highlight the desired object or text and Click OK; 6. Returning to the previous box, choose Store file in flipchart; and 7. Click Ok. In Presentation Mode, your audio file will be activated whenever you click on the attached object. Educational Technology Participant Manual 17

65 Conclusion Windows Media Player, itunes, Audacity, and ActivInspire may be used together as powerful tools for musical creativity. Notating songs, editing audio files to create special arrangements or as accompaniment recordings, and creating professional-looking print notation for electronic presentation or printing are some of the uses of these software programs. Teachers may prepare lessons and students may create projects, ranging from very simple to extremely complex. All this is free for use, with considerable storage and sharing capacity through Google Drive. 18 Charting Musical Creativity Educational Technology

66 Appendix Using itunes with Audacity Figure 43 NOTE for songs in itunes: ONLY songs stored in.wav,.aiff, or.mp3 formats may be edited in Audacity. The default copy setting in itunes is Apple s proprietary.aac format. To change itunes default Import Setting: 1. Click on the icon at the top left corner of the itunes screen and click Preferences from the dropdown menu (Figure 43). Figure Click Import Settings in the drop-down box that opens (Figure 44). Educational Technology Participant Manual 19

67 Figure Choose desired encoder from among the storage formats (i.e.,.wav,.aiff,.mp3, Figure 45). Click OK to set the new default copying format. Figure 46 To open files in Audacity that are already in the itunes library but not in a compatible file format with Audacity: 1. Right Click the filename; 2. Click Create.MP3 Version (Figure 46). The new file will appear in the library under the previous one. Hovering the mouse pointer over the filename will reveal the filetype. 20 Charting Musical Creativity Educational Technology