Acoustica
Cherry Audio

Introduction

  Download a PDF copy of this user guide
Introduction 1. Constructing a Music Lab with Mixcraft 2. A Survey of Mixcraft 3. Using Audio with Mixcraft 4. Using MIDI with Mixcraft 5. Mixcraft Video 6. Using Mixcraft's Effect Plugins, Loops, and Instruments 7. Music Composition with Mixcraft 8. Using Mixcraft for School Projects Appendix

WELCOME

Mixcraft’s Teaching Guide is designed to compliment educational programs that use Mixcraft. The book examines Mixcraft’s many capabilities including, for example, digital signal processing and music composition. Suggestions on how Mixcraft can be incorporated into both music and non-music assignments (e.g. marketing/advertising, podcast creation, and the spoken word performances) are provided throughout the course of the book. Also with the book is an “Additional Materials Download” which includes teaching aids, such as printable lesson plans (in .pdf form), that give students and educators the ability to work through assignments together. However. more importantly, the text offers strategies for teaching these principles and articulates complex concepts in terms that students will understand. In addition, the internet contains many tutorials on various areas of Mixcraft use. Acoustica’s Mixcraft University video tutorials page contains dozens of informative Mixcraft tutorials. Finally, Mixcraft itself contains an excellent “Help” section. Feel free to use these resources in conjunction with this manual.

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS DOWNLOAD

You can download the Additional Materials for this book through this link (433.MB zip file)

The Additional Materials file contains sample projects, videos, photographs, and student handouts that can be helpful in teaching the lessons in this guide.

THE LAYOUT OF THE BOOK

Chapter 1 begins with suggestions on constructing a music lab. Various designs are offered to help educators create an ideal teaching environment. Chapter 2 examines Mixcraft’s various functions and features including details of the interface and preferences for tweaking the software to match the demands of the individual classroom. Chapters 3 and 4 offer brief tutorials on two principal areas – how to use both audio and MIDI with Mixcraft. For educators interested in developing film or video lesson plans, Chapter 5 covers Mixcraft’s video functions. All of the software’s extra features, such as plugins, virtual instruments, and audio loops, are surveyed in Chapter 6. And finally, Chapter 7 covers what presumably the majority of educators will be interested in – music composition using Mixcraft.

There has been a strong demand for lesson plans specifically designed for Mixcraft. Consequently, the final two-thirds of this manual offer detailed, exemplary lesson plans that are designed specifically for grade school, middle school, and high school students. The lesson plans are divided by estimated classroom time and by relevance to interdisciplinary topics. Chapter 8 covers the formal introduction to these comprehensive lesson plans.

Please note that Mixcraft 10 Pro Studio was used for all screenshots in this guide.

If Mixcraft 10 Recording Studio edition is used, some backgrounds may have a slightly different appearance, but there will be no differences in functionality.

NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR MUSIC EDUCATION

Before formalized and national guidelines were created for music education, school administrators were perplexed by how to measure and assess the educational value of a music-based curriculum. As a result, the National Standards for Music Education (NSME) were created. These nine standards are intended to guide educators when creating and teaching student projects and lesson plans. In this book, all of these standards are addressed. There are lesson plans on solo and group music performance, on listening and analyzing music, and of course, on composing and arranging music within specified guidelines. Additionally, many of these standards can supplement the lesson plans in ways that are not outlined in this text. Should educators wish to extend the proposed lesson plans, brainstorming with the concepts inherent in the NSME is an excellent approach.

THE NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR MUSIC EDUCATION

  1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

  2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

  3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

  4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.

  5. Reading and notating music.

  6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

  7. Evaluating music and music performances.

  8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.

  9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.

(Taken from National Association for Music Education Standards web page)