Beats & Bars & Kicks & Snares (oh my)

So now we've started to get into making our own beats, we need to go over a couple of concepts so that we can understand each other when we talk about music.

Here are a few musical terms that I want you to know:

• Beat - A unit of counting musical time. Think of them as "seconds".
  
• Bar - A group of beats (usually 4). Think of them as "minutes".
  
• Tempo - The speed of a piece of music.

The Drums
If you want to talk about beats, then you have to talk about drums. And if you want to talk about drums, then it is important to understand a little bit about what the different sounds are and what role they play in making a drum beat.

Take a look at the picture of a standard drum kit below:

Out of all the different parts, the three most important ones are:

1. the Snare
2. the Bass Drum (aka "Kick")
3. the Hi Hat

These three instruments hold down the core of the beat, while all the others just add extra excitement at certain times. In general...

The Snare holds the beat steady. That's why it usually hits steadily on the 2 and the 4. In hip hop, a clap or snap can serve the same purpose.

The Bass (aka Kick) drum defines the rhythm and tells you when to nod your head! That's why you almost always hear the Bass on the first beat of the bar ("the 1")

The Hi Hat accents the rhythm and adds flavor to the overall feel of the beat. One important thing to know about the Hi Hat is that it can open and close. When it's closed, it makes a nice, tight sound ("tick, tick, tick"). When it's open, it makes a loud ringing sound ("TSHH!")

Let's take a look at this video of a guy playing the drums. Pay attention to which instruments he's hitting and what kinds of sounds they make. Try to count along with him (1,2,3,4) as he plays, remember: the snare hits on the 2 and the 4!

click here

Now that we know something about how real drums are played, we can apply this information to making our own beats using the Redrum. Right now you're going make up a beat for a famous song called, "Calabria".

1. Double click on the Macintosh HD icon on your desktop.
2. Double click on your folder to open it.
3. Now find the Media Share icon on your desktop to open it.
4. Go into the folder called Class Materials.
5. Find the file called "Calabria.rns" and drag it into your folder.
6. Once it is transferred into your folder, double click on the file to open it.
7. Hit the Spacebar to listen to the melody. Recognize it?
8. Make a beat that goes along with this melody. Remember to look for different sounds and find ones that work for you. Try to mix it up and give it your own style. Try changing the tempo to make it faster or slower than it is right now.
9. Now make a second beat on Pattern 2 in the Redrum.
10. Copy the first pattern to the track in the Sequencer Window from Bar 1 to Bar 9, then have the second pattern come in from Bar 9 to Bar 13.
11. Copy the melody so that it plays over your first pattern (Pattern 1) and then stops for the second pattern. (Hint: Hold down the Option button and click and drag your pattern.)
    
12. Show the instructor when you are finished.