Introduction

Music Maker Pitch is a program for those just beginning to understand some of the principles of music. It introduces children to the idea of pitch without using formal musical notation.

It begins with the concept that low notes are situated on lower steps and higher ones on the top steps and moves on to a model of a conventional keyboard with low notes at the left and high ones to the right.

Another concept is introduced with the trombone, demonstrating that higher and lower notes can be produced according to the length of the trombone tube.

A further activity helps to establish the connection between patterns of dots and simple sequences of higher and lower notes. There are opportunities to compose and play back tunes as well as an activity for creating and editing tunes of greater length.

Teacher keyboard shortcuts

The five different activities in Music Maker Pitch can be chosen from the selection screen.

Up the stairs

The aim of this activity is to learn about pitch in the simplest way: i.e. the higher the note on the stairs, the higher the pitch.

There is a choice of instruments, from keyboard to cats' chorus. Click on the one you want.

Then click on the stair (or just above or below it) and the appropriate note will be played. You can also hold down the mouse button and slide up and down. A lot of learning can take place just at this simple level.

The next stage might be to record a simple tune. The controls at the bottom of the screen are like those of a cassette recorder or CD player. You can record, play back, wipe your previous recording – and even play your tune backwards!

play backwards	stop	play	record	delete existing tune

On the right of the record/playback controls is the tortoise and hare slider.

This controls the speed at which tunes are played. Experiment to find out what suits you best. On the left of the record/playback controls is a sound control.

Simon says

At the top left of the screen you will see a button with a picture of a computer and a face. Click on this to go into the Simon says game.

Simon says is an activity to develop both musical and memory skills. Click on the Play button and you will be asked to, 'Try playing this . . . ' A few notes will be played on the currently selected instrument. Try to repeat the sequence of notes. If you are successful, you will be rewarded by a, 'Well done!' and a little animation of Albert in the doorway. (This can be switched off if you prefer; see Configuration: Reward . You can also stop the animation by clicking on it.) If you are inaccurate, you will be invited to try again. Only the order of notes will be taken into account, not the rhythm. To hear the sequence again, click on the Play button. To start the activity again, click on the Wipe button.

You can have as many attempts as you wish. Each time you are successful another note is added to the sequence. For children for whom the visual observation is important, the handbell is probably the most appropriate instrument. It is possible to play this game with sound only or with visual movement only. Simply click on the Ear to remove sound. Click again to restore it. The same technique, only using the Eye icon, applies to the removing the visual movement. Playing this game without visual clues is quite demanding.

This game is a valuable learning activity for observation and memory skills, regardless of the musical content.

You can add your own tunes; see Saving a tune.

To return to the previous activity, simply click on the Computer/Face button again. To go back to the main menu, click on the Door at the top right of the screen.

Click on the Door to return to the main selection screen

The jolly keyboard

The jolly keyboard works in a very similar way to Up the stairs, except that in this activity a keyboard replaces the stairs and you therefore have access to sharps and flats. All of the record/playback facilities are the same – and the Simon says game works in the way explained above.

You can also play a tune using the number and QWERTY keys on your computer's keyboard.

Return to the main menu through the doorway.

The trombone

The trombone offers a variation on the first two activities. Here the notes are obtained by clicking on the trombone slider and moving it horizontally. (The slide moves in semitones to make it compatible with the keyboard when playing back tunes.) Once again, tunes can be recorded and played back. The playback takes place in the Cool Cat Café cellar. Once there, your tune will be played to a full audience. When your tune has been played, click on the stop button to return to the trombone screen.

Return to the main menu through the doorway.

The teacher or parent may want to bring out the underlying principle of the trombone, namely that the note is lower when there is a greater length of tube. Additional activities with Pan pipes or even cardboard tubes of different lengths will reinforce this point. Milk bottles with different amounts of water also make an interesting comparison.

Making tunes

Making tunes enables you to compose and edit longer tunes. The stairs have been turned around so that you can see them from a different angle. Your chosen instrument can be positioned (and repositioned) on any of the stairs by clicking the mouse pointer. Notes can be removed completely using the Eraser.

Click on the Eraser button and the mouse pointer will change to an eraser. Remove unwanted notes and then click on the Eraser button again to cancel the erase function.

The Arrow button at the top right of the stairs takes you to the next section of stairway so that you can continue your tune.

You will notice that there is now a left pointing arrow at the top left of the screen. Click on this to go back to your first section of notes.

This division into sections is a preparation for the notion of musical bars, although the terminology is obviously not appropriate at this stage. If this causes children problems, encourage them to use Making tunes for editing, but use The jolly keyboard or Up the stairs to hear it played with absolute accuracy. (To do this the Transfer Tunes option must be switched on – see Configuration: Transfer tunes between games.)

The playback options are available as in other activities. In this way tunes can be tried out and edited until the composer is satisfied. The note descriptions can be changed to sol-fa names (see Configuration: Note descriptions).

The Lock button at the top of the screen fixes all the notes of the current tune in position to allow the pupil to hear a note without changing it. Pupils can then click on each note in turn and attempt to play the tune in the correct rhythm. When the last note on the right side of the screen is played, the next section of the tune is displayed.

Spot the tune

This game reinforces what has been learnt in previous activities and provides a foundation for the later introduction of musical notation.

Click on the Arrow or on the Hippo to hear a short phrase played. Four patterns are displayed, one of which represents the musical phrase just heard. If you select the correct one, Hippo will congratulate you. If not, you will be invited to try again and given a visual clue. Should you be wrong again, one of the incorrect patterns will disappear. This will continue until only the correct pattern remains. If you want to hear the phrase again, simply click on the Arrow once more. When you have identified the tune, click on Hippo or the Arrow button to try a new one. The level of difficulty can be adjusted (Easy, Medium, Hard) as can the number of notes (4, 5 or 6) – see Configuration: Spot the tune level.

Saving tunes

This will open a standard Save dialog box showing the contents of the My Music folder that is created in the My Documents > Mmaker Pitch folder when Music Maker Pitch is first run. When the file is saved the Music Maker Pitch file type extension – .tun – is added.

It is possible to save the tune in another location using standard Windows navigation. The My Music button is a short cut back to the default folder.

Loading a tune

To load a previously saved tune click the right button to pop up the menu and select the Load option. This will open a standard Loading window displaying all of the tunes in the My Music folder. Double-click on the tune you want.

To load one of the installed demonstration tunes, click on the Demo Music button. This takes you to the MMPitch > Music folder where the application was installed.

Alternatively you can drag a Music Maker Pitch file (Tun files) to the Music Maker Pitch window and it will be loaded.

You reach the Configuration Editor from the Main Menu screen: hold down the CONTROL key and press F2.

General options

Recording

When this option is switched off, the record button is not available.

Strict tempo

When switched on, this ensures that even if tunes are recorded with long gaps between notes giving unintentional irregularity, these will be ironed out into a regular tempo on replay. Switch this option off if you want to have control over the tempo of your tunes. Making tunes will only deal with strict tempo, a point which needs to be borne in mind if it used to edit tunes composed without strict tempo.

Reward

When switched on, Albert Mouse will appear in the doorway on the successful completion of Simon says and Spot the tune games. He will play a little tune and then the door will close. If this reward is not required, switch off this option.

Transfer tunes between games

This enables a tune composed in one activity, such as Up the stairs, to be automatically available when you leave that activity and use another one, such as The jolly keyboard. Bear in mind that tunes composed on The jolly keyboard using sharps and flats will have them removed if the position of the note is moved in the Making Tunes game.

Auto clear tune

When this option is switched on, the computer will automatically remove a previous tune which has been recorded when you start to record a new one. (You will be prompted to save it, if you wish.) When this option is switched off, an additional (Wipe) button is added to some of the screens. Now, when you start to record a new tune, your notes will be added on to the end of your previous tune – unless you use the Wipe button first.

For new users, it is less confusing to have Auto clear tune switched on. If you are using one of the activities to build up a longer tune from a series of shorter ones, it is probably better to have the program set to Strict tempo (see above) as it is difficult to maintain a consistent tempo otherwise.

Confirm loading of tunes

When this option is switched on, you will be asked to confirm that you wish to load a tune from the My Music folder. When switched off, a newly-selected tune will be loaded immediately.

Border on

If you are running Music Maker Pitch on a screen displaying more than 650 x 480 pixels, a region of the desktop will be visible. Click on this checkbox to hide the desktop with a border.

Full screen

As an alternative to using a border, click this checkbox to have Music Maker Pitch fill the screen. Note that in full screen mode, the only means of opening the About screen is to press CONTROL + F1; to open the Configuration screen, press CONTROL + F2.

Note descriptions

The descriptions which appear underneath the notes in Up the stairs and The jolly keyboard can be Name (i.e. A to G) or Tonic Sol-Fa. Alternatively, neither need be shown.

Tune bar length

This controls the number of sections in the Making tunes activity. The maximum is 99. To alter the maximum number, type into the writable box or use the up and down arrows to the right of the box.

Spot the tune level

This controls the level of difficulty of the Spot the tune game. Click on the downward arrow and a drop down menu will appear. The current selection is highlighted. To change it, click on one of the other items in the list. Number of notes This refers to the number of notes displayed in Spot the tune. Click on the downward arrow and a drop down menu will appear. The current selection is highlighted. To change it, click on one of the other items in the list.

Number of notes

This refers to the number of notes displayed in Spot the Tune. Click on the down arrow and a drop-down menu will appear. The current selection is highlighted. To change it, click on one of the other items in the list.

Languages

This program is in our Talk·2·Talk range which gives the user exposure to two languages in parallel. This option only appears if one or more additional languages have been installed; teachers have the option of using any two. Contact Resource Education or your usual supplier for details.

If you have purchased additional languages, put the Music Maker Pitch Languages CD in the drive and press CONTROL + F3 from the main menu screen and follow the on-screen instructions.
When the installation is finished, open the Configuration editor (CONTROL + F2) to see the additional features shown at the bottom of the panel.

First

You can choose which language will be presented to the user as the First language. Any text on the screen – including the title screen – and all recorded speech is then in this language.

Second

There is an optional Second language which will repeat any spoken phrases in another tongue, rather like a simultaneous translation.

Any spoken words will be heard initially in the First language, followed by the same expression in the Second language.

Choose None for single-language use.

The Talk·2·Talk system we have devised can support up to 40 different languages, giving teachers the opportunity to develop skills in both modern foreign languages (MFL) and English as an additional language (EAL/E2L) by immersive means.

There are several areas in which this approach will be useful:

For details of the language sets that are available, see our dedicated website: www.talk-2-talk.com

When the desired options have been selected, click on Save to save the selected options as the default for the next time you run the program. If you only want to use the selected options in the current session, click on OK.

A 'content-free' program

Although Music Maker Pitch comes with lots of example tunes, it is in essence a 'content-free' package, like a word processor or painting program. The content is provided by the users and will be determined by the way in which they wish to use it. Like all such programs, the flexibility – or open-endedness – is so great that it can be difficult to know where to start. The suggestions and activities provided here are one way of getting started.

It is very important that computer generated music is only part of a child's experience. In the notes which follow, suggestions are made for activities away from the computer but any other opportunity should be taken to broaden musical experience and to relate what happens in the program to the reality of actual instruments.

The concepts on which Music Maker Pitch concentrates are those of pitch, timbre, dynamics and tempo.

What are high and low notes and can children identify them? Notes can ascend and descend relative to each other. Some series of notes are called scales with letter (or solfa) names.

Some instruments have variable pitch, some are genuinely high pitched and some low. A large Venn diagram could be used to sort instruments – the piano fitting into the intersection as it covers such a wide range.

What is a tune? This is harder to answer than might appear. The crucial concept tends to be that of pattern and repetition. Having said that, and considering 20th century developments in music, a tune is probably anything someone calls a tune.

Progression

The activities in Music Maker Pitch are not presented in any particular order but there are some implicit progressions that are worth bearing in mind. Free play is probably the best place to start and Up the stairs offers this in its simplest form. There is obviously a progression from the use of Up the stairs to The jolly keyboard as the latter introduces sharps and flats. Up the stairs helps initially by restricting choice: most tunes can only start at one place on the scale and children can explore this by finding the right place to start simple tunes that they know. On The jolly keyboard , they will be able to produce the same tunes on the white keys but an extension activity here is to ask them to start the tune a note above or below its previous starting point. This way they will see how sharps and flats fit into music. This may be explored formally by working out some of the scales starting with different notes.

The way octaves work can also be explored in either of these activities. Children will occasionally run out of notes at one end but they may discover that they can use the note an octave above or below the note they want. It may not sound good, but it will sound right.

Spot the tune fits alongside all this, rehearsing listening skills and examining the distance in pitch between notes. The Simon says games do the same, as well as developing memory and concentration skills over time.

The trombone demonstrates the idea that there are other ways to produce and alter pitch and will link well into practical work away from the computer.

Perhaps the most formal and conceptually advanced activity is Making tunes. Here children must think of the representation of a tune rather than the sounds it makes. Can they predict the way a tune will sound before they play it? The process is somewhat simplified by notes making a sound as they are placed vertically but their horizontal relationship affects rhythm. Although Music Maker Pitch is aimed at the concept of pitch, all tunes have rhythm and the formality of Making tunes helps children get to grips with this. Look at some of the example tunes supplied to see how rhythm has been dealt with in them.

Flash cards

This is a simple exercise for a whole class or large group. Create a set of flash cards, perhaps using the characters that represent the sounds in Music Maker Pitch, and give each card a note sequence of two or three notes. Perhaps you call the cat Erica. The children could sing 'Er-ic-a' using the first three notes of the scale. Simply hold up the cards in turn and have the children sing. Other characters can be given different note sequences. This way a tune can be built up and performed. This activity also demonstrates how tunes often rely on repeated sequences. Children can write their own sequences and the tunes can be played on instruments as well as being sung.

As an extension, cards can be made representing just one note. Remembering a single pitch is a lot more difficult than recalling a simple sequence, however.

Languages

TheTalk·2·Talk system we have devised can support up to 40 different languages, giving teachers the opportunity to develop skills in both modern foreign languages (MFL) and English as an additional language (EAL/E2L) by immersive means.

There are several areas in which this approach will be useful:

Science and maths

Children can experiment with objects which they hit or blow down. They should be encouraged to divide the into high and low pitch or to predict what sort of note an object will produce. They can then try to put the objects into order of ascending pitch. Try to keep to the left right convention with this; some nearby steps or set of shelves would be an additional help.

This process can be developed further using jars containing different amounts if water or blowing down tubes of different lengths. Children can predict the note likely to be produced or try to estimate the amount of water or length of tube required in order to produce a particular note. The measurement of amounts and lengths brings in maths as well as the science and music..

Composition

Children can create tunes away from the computer and record them later using Music Maker Pitch. They will need some simple form of making a representation of their tune. For this they can make up a worksheet, taking account of rhythm as well as pitch.

For beginners it can be helpful to use tuned instruments with a pentatonic scale, which uses five notes instead of seven. The easiest pentatonic scale is the scale of C with B and F removed (CDEGA). This is easily achieved with chime bars or by removing notes from a xylophone (remember to removed sharps and flats too). The pentatonic scale makes it unlikely that any composition will sound wrong. Given its association with eastern cultures, using this scale will provide opportunities to delve into other curricular areas.

Finally

It is important for children to discuss what they are doing. This will help with overall assessment. They should share their likes and dislikes and give some explanation of them. A good insight into children's musical thought processes is through the changes made in a composition, why they have made changes and in what way they think the changes improve their tunes.