A.4. Key

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The other information you're supposed to supply when you create a new GarageBand project is its key .

You've probably heard of this business of keys beforefor instance, in every movie where somebody tries out for a Broadway musical and tells the piano player, "'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' in the key of F, please ."

The key of a song specifies its "main" note, the one that it seems to revolve around and land on. In very simple melodies like folk songs, nursery rhymes, and anything by 'N Sync, you can usually figure out the key by looking at the last note of the tune; the song usually ends on the note whose name matches the key . (Musical notes are named after the letters from A to G. Middle C, for example, is the C in the middle of the piano.)

The key of a song also determines how hard it is for you to sing or play. After all, you can always transpose a song (shift it higher or lower into a different key), but after puberty, your voice is pretty much stuck with the range of notes nature gave it. Fortunately, GarageBand can transpose a too-high song down into a lower key to accommodate your voice.

Usually, you choose the key of a GarageBand piece at the moment of creation (Figure A-1). Whatever key you choose here will automatically affect any loops you use in the song, because when you add them to your timeline, they instantly transpose to match your key, no matter what key they were recorded in. (That's one of the most amazing software features of GarageBand.)

Figure A-6. If you look closely, you'll see that the lower example actually starts one note higher than the upper one. It's been transposed from the original key of C into the higher key of D.


MUSIC CLASS
GarageBand's Idea of a Beat

Technically, "beats per minute" is a vague term ; it doesn't tell you what kind of note is getting a click. When you see "120 beats per minute," does that mean "quarter notes per minute?" Or " eighth notes per minute?" Or what?

As you can see by the little tempo notation shown here, real sheet music generally tells you explicitly. In this example, just above the sheet music, a little logo tells you that a quarter note = 120 beats per minute.

To be perfectly correct, GarageBand ought to change the tempo of your piece when you change the time signature to, for example, 6/8. After all, "a beat" is now an eighth note, so the piece ought to play at twice the speed.

But that's not what happens. In short, when GarageBand's tempo controls say "beats per minute," they really mean "quarter notes per minute," regardless of what kind of note is actually getting a beat.

If you're a trained musician, this behavior might throw you. On the other hand, imagine how deeply the prototypical garage- band rock musician might care, and maybe you'll cut Apple a little slack .


In fact, you can change the key of your song at any time. Just make sure the Master track is showing ( -B); double-click its header; and use the Key pop-up menu again. GarageBand instantly transposes all of the green and blue loops you've used in your piece, as well as any green MIDI Software Instrument regions you recorded yourself. (See Figure A-6.)

It does not, however, shift the key of any purple Real Instrument recordings you've made (for example, by singing into a microphone). That's why it's important to finalize the key of the song before you add the vocals or other live recordings to it.


Tip: Of course, you could always sing first , and then add the loops. In that case, you'll want to figure out what key you sang in and change the project's key to match, so that any loops you add will fit your key.
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GarageBand2. The Missing Manual
GarageBand2. The Missing Manual
ISBN: 596100353
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 153

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