Experience Design: ​Electronic Instruments

● Summary/Overview​ (150+ words)

This musical experience will incorporate the electronic instruments ableton push,
turntables, and iPads. Learners will be taught the basics of each electronic instrument
and experiment through one of the most popular genres in the world. The music that will
be explored are rap songs, which is an extensive, but popular genre. The song that will
be performed is from Kanye West’s album “The College Dropout”. Even though this
piece is already complete, the experience won’t be limiting in any way creatively. For
example, the vocals for this piece will be the general track playing while the participants
alter the instrumental portions from the original song through scratching on the
turntables, adding new beats from the ipads and using sound clips taken from the
original soundtrack on the ableton push. A musical skill they’ll be able to develop by
using these instruments would be them creating rhythmic patterns from what they
already have to create something different, interesting, and new.
● Rationale​ Why may this experience be meaningful for this population? Why
might this content be worthwhile for participants in relation to lifelong music
learning? (150+ words)
Knowing how to use electronic instruments generally means that the learner can
have an instrument closely associated with the music they listen to and can incorporate
other skills they have like beat boxing (which can be more developed through recording
software next week). In fact, if someone is truly interested in the instrument they interact
with, it can encourage self motivation, because very few actual classes are created for
the purpose of electronic instruments, even though many of the musical skills they have
been learning from other visits from JMU students apply to them. Using these
instruments connects the learner with others who enjoy the feeling of learning them
more than they would another instrument. It’s similar to choosing an instrument in
elementary school, where many of the skills needed for a clarinet would be needed for
piano, but someone likes music making on one more than the other. Learning these
instruments, like any other creates a sense of pride at knowing music is made through
them. The musical experiences we are facilitating also encourage creativity. After
discovering the basics of the electronic instruments, the user has the ability to create
their own music from any genre. The initial improvisation from learning how to play on
these instruments, like any instrument, becomes a skill that can transfer into other
aspects of life. It can develops someone’s creativity and mental flexibility. Improvising
with others can also help those who struggle with anxiety and socializing because it can
help with decision making skills and help them become comfortable in social settings.
 ● Standards:​ Select between 2-5 Core Arts Standards for Harmonizing
instruments (novice level) that will act as the focus of your experience design
Anchor standard 5: Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation
Anchor standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

● I Can Statements: ​Reword/fold the standards into statements that the

participants might say at the end (i.e. I can identify, perform, and discuss
different interpretations and/or expressive ways to play the guitar using
different strumming patterns, MU:RE8.1.H.5a)
I CAN (ableton push):
1. Create a rhythm
a. This applies to anchor standard 5 because of the development of
understanding with the instrument involved that is needed to create the
rhythm.
2. Create pitched loop
3. Layer sounds in loops
4. Organize sounds into a musical form
a. Create a sequence to be looped
b. Layer sequences that sound good together
Materials and Visual Aids​: what do you need, specifically? Include the visual aids you
will need to use here
● Ableton push
○ a computer with live
○ Paper with squares to represent the ableton push. Colored pencils with
this for an optional activity involved.
○ Sticky notes to put on the ableton push buttons where the type has rubbed
off, or not. Maybe they should just be there to be big and obvious for
future use if any of them have the money for a push later

Detailed process​: What specific steps, questions, and directions will be involved? What
will you do? What will participants do? Be specific with what each of you are doing and
be overly detailed. Include minute markers to time out the overall arch of the
experience. Plan a collaborative activity at the beginning for everyone, breakout small
sessions in the middle for more direct instruction, and some cumulative activity at the
end where people can demonstrate what they learned (without asking them to perform
alone).
● Have them split themselves into groups and let them choose which instrument
they’d like to go to first. Kind of have it cycle around for a while if they want and
they’ll end the session by playing one song together that we’ll probably film on
our phones.
○ We will switch stations every 15 minutes.
● We are planning on showing an example of what they can create as a whole
throughout the experience at first. Alyssa will let the electronic turntables play the
whole song (or vocals, whichever file is open first), she’ll scratch for a few
stanzas, Kate can finger drum through novation for a few measures, and Wylie
can play a few stanzas worth of preset rhythm loops.
○ After this, the learners can split themselves around based on which
instrument interested them the most during the initial introduction. They
have the opportunity to switch whenever they feel like it (because some of
the instruments have more of a learning curve than others, and there are
more of some instruments than others)
● Another option: Letting them split up with their friends to approach the instrument
they feel they enjoy the most. This is similar to the first day of Music Technology
where it’s an open house type thing, but with more instruction.
○ The learners have the option to roam around, but if they enjoy the
instrument they’re on, they can develop their understanding of it. The goal
is about 15 minute sessions, but again, it’s up to what they want to do and
how many resources they’ll be provided.
Ableton Push​ (​questions​, ​plan​):
● Be prepared to explain your way through mistakes that just generally
happen when working with the instrument. “Alright, the computer says you
somehow ended up on drum rack, why don’t you click browse on the
board and find midi to go back to our original soundboard setting”.
Through this, also be prepared for their interests to be enveloped with
discovering all the different sound the board has to offer (I know I did this,
I have yet to see someone who’s using it for the first time not wanting to
do that). The experience with the vocal track might end up with them using
presets from ableton live, and I should expect letting that happen.
● Ask what they associate ableton with/if they’ve seen it and what they’ve
seen. Ask if any of them know how to do anything on it thus far. (5
seconds-ish)
 ● Play a pre-written looped song while people are exploring areas. Play on
top with different instruments-just have fun with it. It could encourage other
students to decide the timbre isn’t right, and they want to do something
themselves.
● Sticky notes on important buttons should be there before the program
begins.Things like session and new track. This is because some of the
typing on the buttons have rubbed off at this point, and it would be nice if
they could see what was supposed to be there.
● After that, ask them if they have any idea on a rhythm that would work well
with the loops given, have them explore.(1-7 minutes, depending on how
many people have ideas)
● If they start looking bored with creating live rhythms on top, ask them if
they would like to create a new rhythm to then add live melody on top of.
● Open a new document, because I don’t want to get rid of a layered
sequence that I’m proud of. (30 seconds)
● Show how to create a loopable sample by using one of the rhythms they
came up with, but I won’t be pressing the buttons, they will. Around this
time, I can show the optional coloring in boxes pages that I’ll have off to
the side. If they want to take a page and practice there before presenting
their loop, they can. Using the optional sheets, however, can help drive in
the importance of musical form and structuring into the activity. (2-8
minutes, because the push sometimes does things no one expects it to)
● Let them play live melodies to play with the layered rhythms they created.
This can introduce another concept of tonality.

Assessment: ​How will you specifically assess the individual participants in relation to
each “I Can Statement”? Consider creating checklists and/or rubrics as a means of
assessing your teaching.
ABLETON PUSH:
● My initial idea was for them to show me they were understanding is for them to
be teaching each other, but in a lot of ways, these particular learners probably
wouldn’t want to do that. Some might, so I’m going to leave this here
● After I give them aid in their first time through, if they can figure out how to loop a
new track with little to none of my help, that shows me that they processed
information through my lesson plan, and that makes me happy.
 ● If they have something to present at the end when they are playing the song with
all the other instruments, it’s a success for the purpose of the 5th anchor
standard which literally states that learners are supposed to develop their skills to
present to a larger group. It doesn’t need to be the most perfect sounding track,
but it is a track nonetheless.
● Are they able to come up with something to experiment on without my help?
● Did they ask any questions?
● If they say anything about structuring a loop that will become a repetitive and
catchy song, that would be something that would go above and beyond anything
else on this list, as focusing on what knowing how to form does in multiple
settings is higher thinking.

Extensions:​ What will you do if you run out of things to do? What would you do next?
What resources and suggestions would you make for the men who want to move ahead
with this?
Collective: As a group because we are working with different types of electronic
instruments, we will have plenty of things to do. If we finish our activity early, we can
give the men the opportunity to switch instruments. We can have them rotate stations if
they happen to pick up quicker than expected. For those who want to move ahead with
these resources we can give them links and suggestions to learn more.
Adaptations:​ How will you adapt your teaching and the tools so a wide variety of
people, ability levels, and interests can be engaged? Consider adaptations to:
○ Size: ​With size, we can look into the smaller elements of the
instruments meaning looking into different instrument orientations
on the Ableton Push to provide smaller sound range to avoid
overwhelming the learners, or having the learners use the physical
record player before moving on to the electronic one which
provides a larger supply of music making.
○ Color: ​Helping guide them in a general understanding and learning
experience. With the Ableton Push, there is the option of having
papers off to the side that the learners can fill in boxes that will
correlate with the buttons on the Push. This can help the learners
with learning the keys quickly to finger drum a rhythm that they can
record later. Colors with the turn tables can include the
headphones that will identify the specific instrument they’ll use so
that they don’t accidently listen to the sounds that someone else is
creating.
○ Pacing: ​Though they will be spending the majority of their time
with one of the instruments, those who find they have had an
easier time with one instrument may move on to another. Though
they are given the opportunity to move on they don’t have to, it is
just an option for those who move at a quicker pace. On the other
hand with those who are struggling with one instrument are allowed
and encouraged to switch stations. Those individuals may have a
greater success when working with another instructor and their
teaching methods.
○ Modality? ​Beginning with an example, some people learn aurally
and visually better, even though all forms of learning are needed.
With Ableton Push, there are the options of pure example on the
technical stuff while they play with the instruments, them just trying
out the instruments without any instruction, and basing it off of
doing. There is still the option with planning their next moves on
paper before they experiment on the instrument itself.