Week 1: Meditation AND GarageBand?

Welcome to my Music Tech blog! What do you think of when you hear "Music Tech"? Do you use technology in your music?

For me, it wasn't long ago that I started incorporating technology into my music. When I started studying at the Con and dreaming of becoming a music teacher, I realised that as a teacher of the next generation musicians, it is mandatory to look into technology. So I started self-taught myself a few music tech programs, browsed YouTube, and discovered that Music Tech industry is a whole new world that I did not know! Since then, my 'Musiking' process has changed a lot in many different ways. How has YOUR music changed since you were introduced to music tech? Let me know in the comments!

Now, in the final year of my degree, I started taking a course called "technology in Music Education"! Sounds interesting right? Would you like to join me on my tech journey?

The first week started with a meditation session. Following James' lead, I meditated with my eyes closed, and as I was thinking about why I was doing this, I realised that I was naturally listening to the sounds of nature and my thoughts were clearing.

Modern society is busy. Students encounter with endless media and screens in front of them, and the latest trend, short-form, is even more viral. That's why it's important for us as music teachers to understand and embrace both the pros and cons of technology in education.

I feel like I need to get out and enjoy nature more. Of course, meditation doesn't always have to take place in nature, but it's worth it to spend some time in the open. If you're interested, join me! Let me know if you want to know how I do it, and I'll write more about meditation in my next blog post.

If you're approaching technology in Music for the first time, I'd recommend loop composition.

There are a lot of composing programs out there, but I recommend Garage Band, Soundtrap, and Logic. All you have to do is browse through a bunch of loops, find the one you like, drag it onto a track, and you've got a composition. It's really easy, isn't it? I just composed an airy, Electronic, House music that I've never composed before, and it only took me about 20 minutes. This is a great way for students to get familiar using DAW* and explore loops in different styles and genres.

vv This is my first project! vv

What do you think?

By the way, do you know why the tracks are different colours? It's the difference between MIDI* and loops. Tracks composed using MIDI are green, while loops are blue.

Some music tech terms:

DAW (Digital Audio Workstation): is an electronic device or application software used for recording, editing and producing audio files.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface): is a standard to transmit and store music, originally designed for digital music synthesizers. MIDI does not transmit recorded sounds. Instead, it includes musical notes, timings and pitch information, which the receiving device uses to play music from its own sound library.