Re: Creating music for PianoBooster using MMA - Everyone can help.

Posted by trevh on
URL: http://piano-booster.139.s1.nabble.com/Creating-music-for-PianoBooster-using-MMA-Everyone-can-help-tp4167350p4622147.html

Hi Louis,
I'm very glad that you enjoyed them.  :)

I'm still working on extracting the "lessons" text which might give
you some context of the levels, when I send them.

AND I've found levels 41 to 50, seemingly all classical music. I don't
know yet whether they are more difficult than level 40, or just a
separate branch of study. I'll keep you informed!  :)

> Thanks for that I have enjoyed playing these pieces, they certainly
> start very easily and very slowly build up in difficulty. Some of them
> sound a bit odd, are they all compatible with GM (General MIDI)? Is the
> Miracle system  GM compatible? How far did you get with Miracle system?
> can you play all those lessons? The seem to work quite well with PB once
> you put the left and right piano parts on channels 1 and 2.

Yes, I noticed that also! There WAS a "Miracle Keyboard" that sold
with the system before the days of GM -- I lusted after one but by the
time I had the cash, they'd stopped selling them here in Australia
(out of business worldwide?)  So ... ...

The lessons seem to be routed through a patch converter which is user
configurable (I made one for the Kawaii K1-II when I first got the
application) but it seems the "studio" executable that I use to
generate the smf-s doesn't -- sorry about that. I'm mostly using the
accompaniment tracks to compare and control with MMA

I certainly can't play all those lessons.  :) I can't even recall how
far I got now but it DID help me to study a piano unit ("Piano 101"?)
at Curtin University to get me a distinction level pass, including
practice as well as theory. That probably equates to a "very good
beginner". :)

And it was a "non-core" unit of a "Geographic and Information Systems"
grad dip that I did not finish. (I discovered that I liked piano a lot
more than geography when connected to information systems). <grin>


> Copyright is quite simple, it is automatically belongs to the person or
> organisation who created the original work. Whilst many of those pieces
> are based on traditional tunes, the accompanying midi tracks do count as
> original work (someone created and composed these parts) and so are
> subject copyright and belong to the person who created these
> arrangements. Without permission from the copyright holder these
> arrangements cannot be included with piano booster.

"Oh sir, if it were only that simple!"  :)

All jokes and polemics aside though, I DO feel that if we stick to
folk tunes, MMA and personal study only use of other materials for no
direct commercial gain, everything will be fine. Your ethos and that
of Bob at MMA should keep the project as a whole in the clear.

> This has given me a few ideas for putting together some sort of music
> course. There are certainly lots of easy traditional or out of copyright
> pieces that we can use. I am getting the hang of MMA now so it is quite
> easy to add an accompaniment to a piano part. I don't believe there is a
> right or wrong way to learn the piano. I think the best ideas can come
> form us all. Let us know what works for you, so any help with creating
> pieces would be welcome.
>
I LIKE the sound of that, Louis!
I'm getting a tutorial or two from a Computing Science graduate hoping
to craft a simple slideshow application that will display text and
graphics to a student, then pass an appropriate midi file to PB where
the student will spend whatever time they need in building their skill
and getting a fuller understanding of the music before returning to
the next slide.

In the longer term, I'd love to have PB pass it's skill assesment back
to the slideshow where a decision algorithm might suggest drills etc
to the student, again to have the correct midi file passed back to PB.

Miracle did that sort of thing with a duck shooting gallery and
paratrooper jump (chords) arcade type games. You'll get the example
when I send the text extraction to you, when finished.

But unlike miracle, I hope I can create a framework of empty slides
for people to insert their own based on their favourite lesson book or
teaching strategy.

Whereas Miracle was really aimed at young children (it taught my two
kids to sight read way before music classes at school). That will
solve the copyright probs for sure. I can also find more appropriate
game ideas within PB itself rather than jumping out to another
application (using lyric / finger display provision?).

Certainly duck shooting and paratrooper action are not really
appropriate anymore. :)

I'm looking forward to your forum posts - they seem to spark soo many
ideas for me!
best regards
Trev


--
Trev Holland
[phone]
www.hypertrike.org
LoGo "Courier" # US-051
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