This class is for high school students at Winnebago Lutheran Academy who want to learn how to make music on computers. We use Audacity and Garageband as our main tools, and we have fun almost every single day figuring out how to make music using audio and MIDI, but we also learn how to record vocals and instruments and even play guitar and drums if we need to.
We keep personal blogs (look on the right column of this page and click on our names) to help us remember what we've been working on, keep track of the all the decisions that we've made on our projects, and to share with our family and friends the music that we've created.
Musicians who go by the names of Bacalao, Glomag, Nullsleep, Covox, and many others have created a new electronic music subgenre using parts from old video games to make new musical instruments. In addition to describing this music, this article highlights the way people employ "alternative" objects for musical uses, and it also discusses recording techniques like sequencing.
Q1. How are electronic games adapted into musical instruments?
Q2. How are the musicians in the 8-bit subgenre like the early pioneers of electronic music?
Dale Witte is the choir director and music technology teacher at Winnebago Lutheran Academy, Fond du Lac, WI. He has been teaching since January 1990 and really enjoys teaching students how God's gift of music works. Dale is also a church organist, piano player, violinist, and church music composer.