Plea for help: summer school

[meeks]

Here’s the story:

For some time now, I’ve been teaching high school math to at-risk kids (meaning there essentially regarded as in peril from outside sources or to themselves)in a special education setting (a lot of parole kids as well). I’ve seen a lot of messed up stuff in Los Angeles that has broken my heart. But still I tread on….So; I got really good at what I do. But, all this raw academic stuff I decided to throw out in the summer and teach an “electronic music” class, because I want my high school kids to finally do what they want to do or experience something new…have some fun. I want them to get excited about something and want to go to school, instead of hanging around on the streets getting into trouble. I’d like to get a CD out for them by the end of summer, before I move to San Francisco!

Problem is our computers are shit, there is practically no budget, and I’m not going to break any rules (such as load my DAW, on the schools computers). I believe in modeling behavior and will strongly be modeling that synths are earned and not warezed! That there is another side of the business that is development that could be a future job…and you wouldn’t want someone taking the food off your plate. I will be using my lap top and hardware (firewire, mics, guitars, etc) to record that stuff but that’s the extent and I will be handling the recording, I feel that’s fair.

But this leaves the problem of what to use? Something that can save, use vst and does not have a difficult learning curve (my kids range from 2.5 to 12.9 grade equivalent, making it often difficult to teach all at same level)...ohh, and free. I’m thinking loops for a bit then going into synths and drum machines…don’t know though.

What do you think the best approach would be as far as curriculum and what to teach? Such as song structure, basic synthesis, history, etc….what would you have liked to learn in High School.
Now with that said and done, does anyone have any websites to the above mentioned? I’m really trying to put this together but am rather clueless as to the best approach. To be honest, I’m a much better doodler than composer and time is limited so I need a strong foundation. I just don’t want them jerkin around with hammerhead for the summer, I would really like to develop a strong curriculum and let these kids soar!

I will gladly take any advice, suggestions or recommendations that anyone has (most important IMOH). I would gladly accept any old software, hardware or magazine cd’s you were going to throw out. Even if you think its junk, it would be a most appreciated donation, and you never know. Please PM me for address.

Thank you all for your help and being such a supportive community. Hopefully by the end of summer there will be a new rap CD. I plan to document this undertaking and will keep you all informed on this thread of the progress.

Jeffrey Meeks M.S.

[pannewb]

FL would work, I think.

I personally would get in contact with the eXT devs at www.xt-hq.com and ask if you can get sort of a mass/educational discount. I think they can see the merit in what you are trying to do.

I would suggest you teach a litle scales before the kids sit down at the computers, and a little basic song structure. You sound like you have a plan, and my guess is that that is the most important thing in teaching. There is such a bulk of freeware out there that it should be possible to find MILLLIONS of synths to teach when you are done with that.

My little list:

Synth 1
PolyIblit
for simpleness
A-Bass
A-Key
A-Pad
A-Smalli
the 4Front synths.

I got an old CD with an OLD program called Technomaker that came with some techno loops. PM sent.

I could never have the patience to be a teacher. Or the character to sludge through all the crap people do to other people.

Good luck.

[scuzzphut]

There is a free version of Acid - Acid express, I think - which will be easy for the kids to use.

The downside, of course, is that there's no vst support in it, but if you are recoding loops on your laptop, this would be a good start. Probably undemanding on the CPU too.

If VST's in a sequencing environment are a must, maybe you could check your local ebay for some old Cubasis boxes, but better still , talk to Jorgen about a bulk ext licence deal , as panneweb suggested. I'm convinced he will help out. The guy is too cool for school

As for a list of VSTs, I would keep it short and simple.

Synth1
sfz & a selection of soundfonts - maybe a GM collection ?
Odo's drum machine (the on with the sample library)

for effects, LFX1310 can do everything, so maybe just stick to that?

Good luck, Jeffrey. This is an amazing thing that you're planning. I hope it works well

[Foxglove]

I'd suggest checking out the CM Studio that comes with the Computer Music Magaizine. You'd have to pay the price of the mag, but it comes with a fully loaded sequencer, and a bunch of tutorials on their website.

[scuzzphut]

good idea, foxy

[mckenic]

Hi Meeks,

I have a copy of Stineys ReMix you can have if it helps???

Cut down version of Live with one VST FX slot!

Im away on holidays tomorrow but PM me if you want it and I'll fire it off to you when I get back:)

HTH

Dave

[Meffy]

Have you considered contacting the makers/distributors of some of the more popular lightweight hosts? What you're doing is well worth supporting, and it might be possible to convince some big-hearted person to part with enough NFRs for the project, or as pannewb says, a discount. Couldn't hurt.

Best of luck with the project.

Meffy

[xoxos]

imo analog synthesis should be taught before/with math :p anyone understands a sine wave from nature even w/ intellectual obstacles that may prohibit them from recognising it..

hook up synthedit, demonstrate some basic analog waveforms, filtering and enveloping.. sound is all around.. math is sound is everything, v. catalytic data..

then hook up some beats

[meeks]

imo analog synthesis should be taught before/with math :p anyone understands a sine wave from nature even w/ intellectual obstacles that may prohibit them from recognising it..

hook up synthedit, demonstrate some basic analog waveforms, filtering and enveloping.. sound is all around.. math is sound is everything, v. catalytic data..

then hook up some beats

I actually do that in my other math classes, and have done that with Reaktor. It truely can put thing into perspective when talking about graphs and vice versa.

[Shane Sanders]

imo analog synthesis should be taught before/with math :p anyone understands a sine wave from nature even w/ intellectual obstacles that may prohibit them from recognising it..

hook up synthedit, demonstrate some basic analog waveforms, filtering and enveloping.. sound is all around.. math is sound is everything, v. catalytic data..

then hook up some beats

I agree. Talk about the ocean. Show them how the tide swells and recedes. Then immediately play them a loop that builds up, climaxes, then goes back to basics. It's the building block of almost all forms that exist -- unless you want to simultaneously introduce them to post-modern aesthetics. In that case, maybe let them hear something like Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" album and talk about how the cascading flurry of lines is like a rainstorm.

-S

[meeks]

pannewb: thank you so much! PM sent and I agree synth1 is fundamental.

Scuzzphut: I'll definently look into your leads. 6 was on my mind for gates, but Tyla tutorial link is down. Not that I need it, but it would cut down on time.

Foxglove: Good eye, and lord do I have a lot of these CD's. Yet, while I've used the synths, I never really used there host. I'll check it out tonight, and they do have a lot of tutorials...as does NI on there site. Thanks.

mckenic: Thanks, PM sent.

Meffy: I'll be looking into that, but for personal reference whats NFR's?

xoxos and shane: Your right, but my biggest concern is time, its a six week project...its going to have to based somewhat on math. Since I plan to be taping the project, I would like to get some PR for the school as well as some good teaching footage as I plan to do national boards (apparently they require a great deal of video taping of teaching in action), so I may kill a few birds with one stone, mabey not.

But again, it is for the students, realistically I don't how much fundamentals of math I can get in. I plan to attack the theory on keyboard and transfer that over into some guitar lessons when others are pluggin away at the host. We'll see, it will be tricky but I'm up for the challenge

On another note: I dressed my seniors in thier cap and gowns today and watched them enter adulthood. It was a flawless graduation that was very emotional. Teachers that wont be back said thier goodbyes, more emotion. It has been one of the greatest days in my life. Now I'm somewhat on break to plan this out more. Time moves on. My wife and kids have been out of town for the last week and arrive from San Fran tonight. Apparently, we've bought a house and sold this one yesterday! Shows you how in touch I am in reality when KVR is around. She is really great at that stuff....I'm clueless and ask strange people who come and see our house if they would like a cup of coffee with me, no one has excepted (I did show a girl my beatles and Who album collection today) ...I'm glad my wife is coming back.

Enough ranting, thank you all for your help. Keep up the suggestions.

[Shane Sanders]

xoxos and shane: Your right, but my biggest concern is time, its a six week project...its going to have to based somewhat on math.

That's cool. Well, on a simple level, the ocean's tide is either a zero or a one, with an untidy sliding scale of degrees leading to the two extremes. And so is a musical line that moves from the I to the V and back to the I. It's the kind of analogy that reaches into the imagination: and for the receptive and perceptive, it can sometimes tap into larger truths. All oscillation in nature is a mirror of something else, an expression of a sine and yet something else. The trick, imo, would be to spark within a student the desire to search those things out. You can only expect so much in 6 weeks, and maybe the old "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime" proverb is the best strategy. You definitely seem like you're after something good for the kids. I applaud that! I wouldn't be too concerned with teaching them where the "render to wave" button is, etc. Better to teach them that programs exist that allow them to preserve thought, to capture it and mold it. Then if they're gonna do that, they'll eventually find the "render to wave" button and much more. I'm a teacher at heart, too, so I really empathize with your challenge. It sounds like so much genuine fun. Good luck.

[scuzzphut]

meeks - NFR means "Not for Resale" - it's a license typically dished out by developers to beta testers or to other developers. Basically a copy of the softwar to use freely, but which has no commercial worth.

As for Tyla's tutorials, I contacted him and he lost them in a HDD crash Better edit the site.

[DiLate]

I would have killed to have a teacher like you in HS..

Dont be afraid to include alot of exposure to the students, ie. each day set aside time to hear some really interesting selections stressing the lesson of the day. Anything from the extremly experimental to the more commercial stuff (ie. chemical brothers <-- great for teaching rises and falls, and everything from complex syncopation to extreme minimalism) and dont be afraid to let a few profanities fly, its art afterall. Always remember to keep them smiling, be genuine, and as they say: "Dont fake the funk".

There are those who say they're gunna change the world.. you seem to be making good on that promise. Keep molding the minds of the youth.

..and dont be suppriesed if they show up high.. often.

-DiLate

[herodotus]

I would start with Audacity and some free drum loops.

You can play with the native effects in Audacity right away, and then move on to The Kjaerhus Classic series for the basics.

Then you can get acid xpress from acid planet where more free loops can also be found.

This playing with loops stuff doesn't have to take up that much time, say a week. The students can be making some danceable noise right away, while learning about things like plugin folders, what basic effects like reverb and compression do, and what the different file formats are, in a relatively painless way.

They can then go on to the more complex job of sequencing with more confidence, having already been "making music" in a way.