Here's a link to Module 8 (Musical Note and Scales):
https://maketolearn.org/musical-notes-and-scales-1/
This module involves creating a melody from a chord progression.
Snap! 10 musical notes and scales (berkeley.edu)
I ended up reworking my chords because it turns out there was nothing on Hooktheory that matched my chord progresion. Before it was G-C-B-A but now it's G-C-F-G. When coming up with the melody, I mainly just played around with the different notes from the chords and seeing what I liked, but I still don't feel like the chords and the melody match very well. However, having a physical MIDI keyboard and using it with TuneScope was very helpful in figuring out what my composition would sound like, since before I was using GarageBand on my iPad to simulate a keyboard, which was mildly cumbersome.
For my visualization component, a MIDI keyboard is required. I decided to do something similar to the dot keyboard, but instead I wanted to mimic those Synthesia software YouTube videos where pressing a key lights up the key on screen. It was relatively easy to set up, but I came across a weird error I wasn't sure how to fix. I wanted the notes to fade back to their "resting color" slowly, so I used a wait block to aid with this, but it resulted in the keyboard being not as responsive, so I got rid of it. However, I noticed that the keyboard is still quite slow to flash notes that you play.
Update: here is a more responsive version of my MIDI keyboard visualization.
I drew inspiration from video games that have a repeating motif in the background and I have been playing a bit of Luigi's Mansion on my friend's Nintendo Switch, so I tried to create an ominous theme to the melody and chords.
In addition, I made a separate visual to go along with the MIDI Keyboard input (this was accidentally in the other forum from a different semester along with my response to a peer, I will add a new one later today)
For this music assignment, I wanted to do something different and original, which led me to experiment with chord progressions, including minor B, minor A, major D, and major G. I aimed to create a light and playful melody that complemented these chords so I added sixteenth, eighth, and quarter notes from the chord to compose my melody. I also took the advice from last week to create my chords first then matching up with the melody, everything turned out much better and harmonic than before.
Update: I created a new beach visual for the music to align with my idea from the beginning when I worked on the chord progression. I also adjusted a few notes in melody and chords to ensure everything blended harmonically, and nothing sounded disharmonic and odd. I also added a dog running across the beach animation to match up with the music based on the melody track.
https://snap.berkeley.edu/snap/snap.html#present:Username=herrrren&ProjectName=Melody%20
For this project, I recreated the chords I made from the previous assignment. I've been experimenting with the notes from each chord block I used, but I'm struggling on making the piece sound like music. It's literal noise as of now. Not much progress is being made.
Revised:
- made sure each measure only had 4 beats
- added rests to where feels needed
- recreated my melody and popped it into a reporter block
- added a new drum track
Snap! Build Your Own Blocks I utilized the chord progression and melody from last project. For this time, I add the base melody to this piece of music. I am still thinking about how I can change the last part of my melody to make it sounds more harmonic.
Updates: I add a animation about a bird flying in the sky.
Updates: I made a complete a new animation. I made a clone of petal but it seems like we don't need MIDI mini play at all?
Updates 3/31/24: I utilized the chord progression and melody from last project. To make the music sounds more harmonic, I add the base melody to this piece of music. For animation part, I added dandelion and a dark green dot. I use the the current note block to coordinate actions with notes being played by the play tracks block. If the current note is not as same as the note in play tracks, the dark green dot will make a clone of itself and start scattering.
First Try: For this assignment I had accidentally created the melody last week so I stuck with the same melody and plan on tweaking it to work better with the chords. I altered the chords using what we learned in class Monday, creating a stable chord progression by checking the chord progression chart and using the block that includes the chord position this time.
Second Try: As I was working on my chords, I changed it from C-E-G-E to C-E-G-A but it started making a really weird sound and repeating constantly so I had to revert it to the blocks I used without the chord progression. I couldn't figure out exactly what went wrong. For this piece I kept everything else about the sound the same but added more animations like the mushroom which appears when the character is hitting the box. There is also another character included who runs at the end.
Third Try: I kept the melody, chords, and drums the same but synced up the movement to the beat. I had it change sprites to appear more like actual movement from using a sprite sheet and had it travel a certain number of steps so it looks like both characters are walking across the screen to the beat.
For this assignment, I created a new melody that accompanies the chord track I created for the previous week's assignment. I am still working on it to make it sound better, but I'm on the right track. I changed the instrument from saxophone to piano because it harmonizes better with my chords. Currently, I am kind of struggling to fix the issue that the second half starts before the first half finishes, so the sound overlaps which makes bad noises.
Updated: I switched my melody back to the original melody that I had for the previous assignment but I kept the instrument to piano. I added a turtle that has multiple poses. I put them as costumes and whenever I press a key. It switches the costumes. I kind of hard-coded switching costume part so I have a bunch of else-if statements. Since I already had a character, I used the hide button to change my character (sprite).
I am building from my pre existing project, but changed my melody instrument and octave of the second half of the melody. I hope to play around more easily with the melody when I can play around with the keyboard.
Updated Version:
https://snap.berkeley.edu/snap/snap.html#present:Username=evc2bds&ProjectName=Week10-%20Melody%20w%2F%20Anim
For this assignment, I added a simple melody to my chord progression. I then created a sprite with many different costumes. When rotating through the costumes, it looks like the sprite is dancing. I then made a code block that changes the sprite's costume when a note is played so that it looks like the sprite is dancing to the music.
From 3/20:
For this assignment, I used the MIDI keyboard to play with different chords and notes. Once I found a chord progression that I liked, I added a simple melody that I thought worked with the chords. I definitely want to continue to tweak the melody to make it flow better with the chords, but think that it is a good starting off point. For Monday, I plan to add a sprite that moves with each note that is played.
https://snap.berkeley.edu/snap/snap.html#present:Username=lexiliiiii&ProjectName=HW9
Updated: I built the whole project based on my previous homework. I find it easy to add animation, but I hope to add some animation that can play each time with my music rhythm. I haven't found out how to do that in this assignment.
Updated: I expanded more on my music part and made it longer. For the animation part, I added more costumes to it so the monkey could have more actions to do. Basically, what I can do is to make the monkey costume rotate in different centers, what I actually want to do with the costume is to vertical flip it. But I haven't figured it out yet.
[Snap! Build Your Own Blocks](Melody - 3/20)
Made a new chord progression, as my last assignment's was a bit lackluster, and made a melody I think goes with it
I really like your song! I think you did a great job of adding in the drums with the melody. I think it could be cool if you add some sort of animation to go with the music.
https://snap.berkeley.edu/snap/snap.html#present:Username=kidusfasil&ProjectName=Music%20Project%202
I implicitly did this assignment when redoing my motif with chords last week and I was pretty happy with it so I am using it again.
Update (3/26) : I added the animation which shows things slowly growing during the chord progression as it fades to night on the last chord. I am having a little bit of trouble with timing it with the chords and did it in a inefficient way by hardcoding the time each costume has to wait before switching assuming 1 second delay for initializing Tunescope, 4/4 time signature, and 60 bpm (I.e 1 beat per second). Also might have intermediate costumes between chord progressions but didn’t have time to do that tonight.
Update (4/1): Tried playing around with current note block but I couldn't find an efficient solution to count notes due to Tunescope delay :(. The synchronization seems to be semi-consistent luckily
https://snap.berkeley.edu/snap/snap.html#present:Username=rjha11054%40gmail.com&ProjectName=Chords
I tried out something new musically. It took a little bit of research but I found a chord to start on on and worked with it to see what sounded nice.
I liked the intro into it. I also really liked the use of lasting chords. You could try using the chord block. That might make it easier to get the notes. Overall really liked the originality.
I love your melody and chord, it sounds very cool. It would be great if you added a visual to accompany your music.
Your music part is pretty cool since the melody and chords are very harmonic. I think your project will be better if you can add animation along with it.
I love the idea of your visualization component. I love how it changes the color when you press the key corresponding to the note. I think it would've been nicer if it switched back to red when you press the same key that is already turned white and the program is a bit slow so I need to wait to press other keys. I can't press multiple keys fast because the program can't follow.
I love the new version of your melody. It aligns perfectly with your visualization. I would suggest that you can develop your visualization using the keyboard.