Good aid

dancingflutist3000 · Post by **dancingflutist3000** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 9:30 pm

About a few years ago I bought a keyboard at the grocery store
(don''t worry this post DOES have to do with something relevent). It was kinda
cheap and I didn''t think of it as any use at all except for a fun "toy". I
was wrong. Anyway. . .the keyboard comes with a song book and has 99 songs in
it. The songs range from something as simple as "Yankee Doodle" and "Happy
Birthday" to song''s like "Canon (Pechebel)" and "Fur Elise". The keyboard has
a system so that you can turn of the harmany part of the song and play that, or
turn off the melody part of the song and play that. What''s nice is I can turn
of the automated melody and play the melody on my flute. It''s nice because I
can play songs like "Fur Elise" without it sounding weird because the keyboard
is playing the harmony. The keyboard has a metronome too which helps. Though I
don''t actually play piano myself the keyboard is a very useful tool (note I
said TOOL not TOY) Just wanted to add that little comment. [;)]

dancingflutist3000 · Post by **dancingflutist3000** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 9:32 pm

One thing though, I can't play with the songs on any
instrument other than a C instrument. The harmony is meant to harmanize with a
the piano which is a C instrument and therefore the harmany/melody would need to
be changed to a different key for a different kind of instrument

johnbegud · Post by **johnbegud** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 1:30 am

If I'm not mistaken, you can compose your own tune/song
there. Just play a chord on your left hand and the accompaniment melody will
follow the chord notes. You can also record the sequence for playback later.
I'm actually using my keyboard, too. I play a flute sound on it and then,
translate the notes to my acoustic flute. I'm still very slow when doing this.
Hopefully, someday I could directly play on the actual flute with using the
keyboard anymore. vic

bigzlinds · Post by **bigzlinds** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 10:35 pm

That is sooooooo cool! Did you know there is a program for the
computer called MidiNotate...you get the program on your computer, then upload a
midi, then you can pick and choose the parts you want to harmonize with you and
then you can play any song you can find...one of my favs is...lol...Pirates of
the Caribbean...but there are also TONS of classical stuff...and very fun to
work with. That keyboard must be cool.

dancingflutist3000 · Post by **dancingflutist3000** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 8:36 am

We're playing "The Pirates of the Carribean" in band and it
is so much fun! We're doing a movie theme at our next concert.

Cleartone · Post by **Cleartone** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:52 am

You have stumbled into a small part of a very big world. This
is the world of sequencing, sampling and computer programs. I have spent time
with these items and use them today to compose songs to play the flute over.
Right now I am using a program called "reason" together with a program "Logic" I
can compose songs on a keyboard that has a USB port cord that connects to a
computer. I use a labtop for gigs. Everything is sequenced and ready to go. All
I have to do is press play so to speak and be ready with the flute. I can even
download files from other people any where in the world and use their songs or
even re-arrange their songs. That is a quick explanation. But like I said this
is a world in of its own. To make a long story short playing along with an
instrumental is a valuble tool. Back in the old days (cough, cough) I would buy
records(round black things you play on a turntable, Ha Ha) of flutists like
Herbie Mann, Hubert Laws, Tim Weisberrg and many others plus classical
recordings by Rampal, etc. I would play along with them. For the classical
recordings I could buy the sheet music for the jazz ones I would pick them up by
ear. I stll occasionally pick up a song by ear from a record if I want to do a
jazz song that has no sheet music available. There have been many companies that
have cashed into this play along practice method. Music Minus One, Jamey
Aebersol to name a couple. Today if you wanted to you could go to a sheet music
store and ask them if they have any play along CDs. I am sure you could find a
lot of them. They might be just as cheap and just as fun as the keyboard you
bought. Plus you could cover some more serious material like flute concertos and
such. Just an idea.

powayflute01 · Post by **powayflute01** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 7:22 pm

Cleartone is absolutely right. The way I learned to do improv
on saxophone is to listen to sax artists on the radio (or cds or on my computer)
and play along... Keyboards have greatly helped me too. I have never taken piano
or any other instrument before flute, although we've always had a keyboard
around the house to plunk on. A few weeks ago I took it out and started playing
chords...you have NO idea how much it helped me see the way chords are organized
and it made so much more sense out of chords and scales and such...