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Instructional Movies
EDITING MUSIC IN PRACTICA MUSICA, SONGWORKS OR COUNTERPOINTER:
The Active Staff		Describes the "active staff," how to tell which staff is active, and how to change the active staff.
Adjusting beams and stems		Stem lengths can be adjusted by dragging. This also can be used to adjust beam heights and beam angles.
Complex beam groups		The order in which you select notes for beaming affects the beam structure and can be used to create specific groupings.
Changing clefs		In most Practica Musica exercises, choosing a clef automatically changes the exercise clef. But in a writing activity you can alter selected clefs and add additional ones.
Changing pitches		Show how to quickly change the pitch of entered notes, either singly or in groups.
Changing rhythms		To change the rhythmic value of entered notes or rests, just select the items and choose the desired value.
Deleting items		Selected items are deleted by the delete key (backspace in Windows). Delete/backspace will delete the previous item if nothing is selected.
Entering notes		You can enter notes by clicking them directly in the staff or by playing them on the keyboard (though some activities don't allow keyboard entry). See also The Active Staff.
Entering text		Shows how to enter both lyric and free text. When in the text layer, text blocks are draggable with the arrow and can be copied and pasted to save time.
Item labels		Most staff items can have a brief text label. These are especially useful in marking first or second ending symbols.
Multiple tracks		Shows how to enter multiple simultaneous voices on a single staff. Each staff can have up to 8, though you rarely need more than 2 or 3.
Selecting items		Selecting is a basic operation - you need to select items before you can delete them or alter them. This shows various ways to select single items or multiple items.
Selecting a hidden key signature		The key signature for C major or a minor is invisible, of course, unless it follows a different key signature. But it shows up as a blue rectangle when selected.
Tempo changes		The tempo change symbol is usually entered above the topmost staff, so make sure that staff is the active one when you enter it. It can be printable, or just there for its effect.
Ties and slurs		Selected notes can be tied or slurred by clicking the tie or slur buttons. Ties and slurs also have draggable controls.
The active staff		Explains the "active staff," how to tell which staff is the active one, and how to change the active staff.
Adjusting beams and stems		Stem lengths can be adjusted by dragging. This also can be used to adjust beam heights and beam angles.
Complex beam groups		The order in which you select notes for beaming affects the beam structure and can be used to create specific groupings.
Changing clefs		How to change a clef that is already in the music, or enter clef changes within the music.
Changing pitches		Show how to quickly change the pitch of entered notes, either singly or in groups.
Changing rhythms		To change the rhythmic value of entered notes or rests, just select the items and choose the desired value.
Deleting items		Selected items are deleted by the delete key (backspace in Windows). Delete/backspace will delete the previous item if nothing is selected.
Entering notes		You can enter notes by clicking them directly in the staff or by playing them on the keyboard (though some activities don't allow keyboard entry). See also The Active Staff.
Entering text		Shows how to enter both lyric and free text. When in the text layer, text blocks are draggable with the arrow and can be copied and pasted to save time.
Item labels		Most staff items can have a brief text label. These are especially useful in marking first or second ending symbols.
Multiple tracks		Shows how to enter multiple simultaneous voices on a single staff. Each staff can have up to 8, though you rarely need more than 2 or 3.
Selecting items		Selecting is a basic operation - you need to select items before you can delete them or alter them. This shows various ways to select single items or multiple items.
Selecting a hidden key signature		The key signature for C major or a minor is invisible, of course, unless it follows a different key signature. But it shows up as a blue rectangle when selected.
Tempo changes		The tempo change symbol is usually entered above the topmost staff, so make sure that staff is the active one when you enter it. It can be printable, or just there for its effect.
Ties and slurs		Selected notes can be tied or slurred by clicking the tie or slur buttons. Ties and slurs also have draggable controls.
Songworks Ideas		Shows the Songworks idea generator at work. The last idea in this movie has a haunting quality.
EXAMPLES OF PRACTICA MUSICA ACTIVITIES:
About activities		Explains what an activity is, and how to use and customize the Activity menu.
Active listening		Active Listening (TM) is essentially a rhythm-reading exercise, but you are taking part in an ensemble reading of polyphonic music. It is not done for points - just for fun.
Altered chords		An advanced activity dealing with secondary dominants, Neapolitans, and augmented sixth chords in progressions. Resembles the Chord Progression Ear Training activity.
Atonal Dictation		Atonal Dictation presents atonal series of increasing length. They are generated at random but have reasonable melodic shapes. An advanced activity.
Chord Progression Ear Training		Roman-numeral identification of chords in the context of a progression. Progressions in this activity are generated by Practica Musica so they are different each time you attempt it.
Chord Spelling		The difference between this and Chord Playing is that you must know the correct "spelling" of each note (for example, whether to use D# or Eb).
4-Part Dictation		A polyphonic pitch dictation exercise. The examples in this activity are not generated, but are drawn from the chorale literature.
Pitch Dictation		Shows the form of the Pitch Dictation activity that uses generated tunes that are new each time. There's also a "library" Pitch Dictation activity with melodies from the literature. See also Rhythm Dictation, Pitch/Rhythm Dictation, and Progressive Dictation.
Pitch Errors		How to do the Pitch Errors activity, which is an error detection exercise. You are to locate the notes whose notation doesn't match what you hear, and fix the notation.
Pitch Matching		The first of the classic Practica Musica activities, and a good place to start.
Pitch/Rhythm Dictation (Full Dictation)		Write melodies by ear, with responsibility for both the pitches and the rhythmic values.
Progressive Pitch Dictation		This dictation activity uses a progressive set of composed examples instead of generated melodies. This is a good beginning point if you want to learn to write melodies by ear (a skill that also improves your understanding of music).
Rhythm Dictation		Like Pitch Dictation, it has both a "generated" and a "library" version. Here you work on the time values of notes in a melody, but pitches are supplied for you.
Rhythm Reading		Tap the letter keys (or a MIDI keyboard) to perform the rhythm of the melody on the screen. This isolates the rhythmic portion of sight-reading; pitches are supplied for you. These melodies are generated and always new.
Single Pitches		This is a beginning-level pitch reading activity with a game-like falling balloon timer. The balloon doesn't fall very smoothly in the movie, but you'll get the idea.
Textbook Examples		The activity collection includes several players that present the music examples from Exploring Theory. This way you can hear the examples as well as see them.
Transposing		PM includes exercises in both real and tonal transposition. This is a very practical skill as well as good general training.
EDITING PRACTICA MUSICA ACTIVITIES:
Adding Library Examples		Activities can use music examples either generated by Practica Musica or drawn from example files. This shows how to add examples to the menu of an activity that uses example files. The example files become part of the activity file when added; an activity file is always complete in itself.
Creating an Activity, Part 1		This begins a four-part series illustrating the creation of a simple activity called Transcribe Alto C. Part 1 shows the creation of the activity file, filling out the description, and making the menu. These four clips are large and might run slowly, depending on your internet connection.
Creating an Activity, Part 2		Part 2 takes you through the creation of the action buttons and the music window template for the sample activity titled Transcribe Alto C.
Creating an Activity, Part 3		In Part 3 we create some messages to the student, select keyboard controls, and enter instructions to appear in the Instructions menu item.
Creating an Activity, Part 4		Part 4 shows the definition of the example material used in the sample activity and how we specify that all examples appear in the alto C clef. It concludes with a quick test of the activity. You can download the finished product, "Transcribe Alto C.act," in the Activity Downloads area under "Reading Pitches."