PLAYING PRACTICE FILES
WITH A SLOWER TEMPO
Are you using MACINTOSH OS10? GO TO #10
Are you using Windows XP? GO TO # 1
1. Go to http://www.lopc.org/practicematerials.asp
2. Scroll down to the title desired. On the
3a. Right-click on your part and choose “Save Target as” with a
Left click
b. Specify
a location like My Music (a subfolder of
My Documents). Click Save.
Note:
You may simply double-click your part if your music player is already
associated with these files and you have broadband internet access.
When you are ready to practice….
5.
Open your music folder (OR My Documents if the music file is still inside.)
6.
Double-click your title. The Windows
Media Player should now be playing the tune.
To
use the Tempo or Balance controls with Windows Media Player 11 (the most recent
version), select View > Enhancements and click Show Enhancements. The program will display one of the
“enhancements”. You need then to right-click
anywhere in this window and select Play Speed Settings.
7.
The Tempo controller is a slider at the bottom. It is normally set at 1.0. You
can drag it left (play slower) or right (faster).
8. To access the Balance Control with stereo
files, right-click anywhere in the Enhancements window and select Graphic
Equalizer. Dragging the slider to the
right will further increase the relative volume of your part. Dragging it to the left will suppress your
part as you become more proficient.
9.
On your music, you can write the Time counter readings for the difficult
parts. Most players display a stop-watch
that shows minutes and seconds since the beginning of the track.
There
is usually a progress slider that moves from left to right as the file is
played. The progress slider can be
dragged back (left) to replay some part or forward (right) to skip something.
If
you are using a different player than Windows Media Player, let us know if you
are experiencing difficulty and we will research that player for you.
END
OF LESSON The following is for the
Macintosh users.
10. go to http://www.lopc.org/practicematerials.asp
11. Scroll down to the title desired. On the
12. Right-click on YOUR part and choose “Download Linked file” and then right click
again.
13. An automatic download
process moves the selected part as an icon onto YOUR DESKTOP.
14. Open iTunes. Drag the
file ICON to bottom of gray area at the left edge of iTunes window.
Play
the song in the usual fashion.
END OF
LESSON unless you want to reduce the Tempo?
GO TO #14
14. Open GARAGE BAND. It
is in your dock, with an guitar ICON.
15. On the GarageBand
“finder”, press the “Create a New Project”
16. In the “Save As:”
window , type the name of the song.
17. The default
destination is “Garage Band.
18. Press the “Create”
button at bottom right. Then Press the “continue” button.
19. This is the Garage
band work area. You can close the piano keyboard icon.
20. DRAG the practice file icon into the work area. Bottom
left corner is O.K.
Take a closer look at the Garage
Band work area.
From left to right you
have the Track instruments, the mixer and the tracks, themselves. From top to
bottom you have the tracks that have been “called up” by the
There is a very limited
number of voices that clearly define the
PITCH of a note.
Pop Flute for Ladies, Tenor Sax for Tenors, Alto
Sax for Base
When the play is STOPED,
you can move your mouse over each part of the screen to see the function of
that button. You can listen to only YOUR part, by clicking on the HEADPHONE
icon. You can MUTE one or more parts by clicking the speaker icon for THAT track.
21. To CHANGE an existing
instrument you double click the instrument ICON . You now see a screen titled
“Track Info”. Drag the scroll bar to the bottom and CLICK on Woodwinds. Then,
select one of the three voices suggested above.
Close the track info screen.
22. The TEMPO control
appears when you click on “Tempo”, the right-most part of the blue lighted
numbers. Click on the left most icon and you will see a time counter. Use this
to find that troublesome passage.
For more help, contact Terry Dearborn, terrylau@flash.net, 925.283.2913