Kelli+Thredgold+Lesson+Plan

__**[|Lose the weight the easy way]Choreography Unit - Music Editing**__


 * Lesson Before:** Choreography – creation of a piece in small groups
 * Lesson After:** Performance – performing choreography to edited music


 * Lesson Concept:**
 * Learning to edit music using the music program: Audacity
 * Convert the edited file to an .mp3
 * Students edit and convert a song for their choreographic project


 * Purpose of the Lesson:** Knowing how to edit music to fit choreography is key to professionalism in dance. Knowing how to edit music, allows you to create a complete choreographic work, rather than just steps to music that doesn’t particularly fit your movement.

__**Day One:** Introduce students to Audactiy__ Go to the computer lab – check with administration to see if it is okay that you download the program onto the computers. Activity: 6. Have students practice or teacher demonstrates perform 7. Save the song as a .aup file
 * 1) Go to http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ and lead students through downloading the program
 * 2) Show students how to save program to their computer
 * 3) Open Audacity
 * 4) Upload an mp3 file into Audacity
 * 5) Lead students through basic editing tools:
 * Song must be stopped to make any editing
 * Cut
 * Copy
 * Paste
 * Effects
 * Reverse
 * Fade in
 * Fade out


 * Assignment:** Have all students bring an .mp3 file (song) that they think works with their choreography. Students should bring song on a CD or a Flash Drive.

__**Day Two:** Go to the computer lab__
 * Activity #1:** Students get into their choreographic groups and share the songs that they brought. Each group then decides on one song.
 * Activity #2:** Students work as a choreographic group to edit the song they chose.

As a group, students must accomplish the following: Give students the rest of class to work on editing their song.
 * Song must be the right length for their piece and end professionally (fade out, etc.)
 * Song must be cut in at least one place
 * Song must be copied and pasted in at least one place
 * Song must include at least one basic effect (fade in, fade out, reverse, etc.)
 * Songs should be saved to the computer as an .aup file in their student network


 * Assignment:** Each group needs to come class next time with a blank CD.

__**Day Three:** Go to the computer lab__
 * Activity #1:** Give students half of the class time to finish their editing.
 * Activity #2:** Lead students through how to convert their song to an .mp3 file
 * 1) Export the song to a .wav file
 * 2) Go to www.zamzar.com and show them how to convert music to an .mp3 fil


 * Activity #3:** Each group burns their edited song as well as their original song onto a CD for their performance and to turn in for grading.


 * Assignment:** Students need to come ready next time to practice their dance with their edited music. Students will perform their dance after the next class period.

Kelli Thredgold Lesson Plan

Music is a key component to dance! Audacity is a free program that performs basic music editing.

**Audacity Lesson Plan**

Introduction: Since this is a dance class music is a big part of what we do. Often times money does not permit for professional editing of music. The purpose of learning about this program Audacity is to learn the basic skills of editing music. We will learn concepts of fade in and outs, cutting a song to be shorter, slowing down or speeding up the tempo of a song and then the combination of two songs. We are going to learn the basic skills that you can use later in your dancing career. The benefit of learning how to edit your own music is you start to gain a better understanding of the mechanic of music which in the bigger picture can actually help gain a better understand of chorography and performance quality.

**Assignment 1: The Basics** - Import a song onto Audacity - Work with different effects -add 4 different effects to your song. (they don’t have to all fit together. ) This is just getting use to the program and exploring what different effects can be added to a song.

**Assignment 2: Cutting a song** - Import another song to Audacity - Cut a verse and a chorus out of your song (so it becomes a verse, bridge, chorus) - This time it is required to make your song “fit” The song needs to flow together and sound as if you did not cut the music. (for some song it is impossible to make it sound totally perfect due to lyrics or instrumental qualities, but try your best to trial and error different cuts to make your song sound good!) - Add effects such as fade in/out to make your song sound like it finishes

**Assignment 3: Putting 2 and 2 together** - Get into groups of 2 or 3 - Import both edited songs into one Audacity project. (if in a group of 3 choose two songs to import. You do not need to do all three.) - Take your two edited songs and find a way to mix the two songs together. (You don’t have to use the full length of both songs. Just find a way to mix the two songs to start forming a medley.) - Once the songs are mixed together pick a section to change the tempo. (speed it up or slow it down) - Choose one other effect that you want to add into the song - The use your fades to make the song sound finished.

**Assignment 4: Application!** - This is the most fun part of all!! - Take your personal edited song and choreograph a small solo - This is your opportunity to shine! The solos will be performed in class!

*This unit is estimated to take about 3 weeks, so don’t feel overwhelmed or stressed out. We will have enough time to get everything done. Have fun and let your imagination roll!!

This is an example of a cut I did using Audacity. The song I used was "Say Hey (I Love You) by Michael Franti & Spearhead ft (Cherine Anderson)" (Now this is a rough cut so don't judge too much! But this program is useful because it's free and it can accomplish what is needed to make simple edits to music)

Original Song: media type="file" key="say hey.mp3" width="240" height="20" Edited Song: media type="file" key="say hey edited 2.mp3" width="240" height="20"