Book 2: The Struggles Are Quite Real

If you haven't been keeping up with me (like you should have), I made a schedule within my first week of this project that outlined what I wanted to accomplish. Basically, I had myself learning everything I needed about transcribing and the program that I would be using to assist so I could get into the real work as soon as possible. Looking back, I might have overshot a little. I'll get more     into that later.

(Here's what the software looks like by the way. It's called Transcribe!, I know, what a creative name. I thought that you guys might want to know what I'm actually working with before I really get down into it.)

Transcribe!

This program is a nifty little thing. Now when I first came up with this idea, I had this misconception that I would somehow be able to simply listen to things and write down exactly what I heard, despite the fact that I definitely wasn't born with a musical ear.

(That's Beethoven by the way. Did you know even he used Transcribe?)

After exploring for a bit, I figured out that I was very very wrong. Even those who are experienced with transcription don't just transcribe by ear. Instead, they use software, much like mine, in order to be able to alter the music to make the transcribing process easier. After looking around for a bit online, I found that Transcribe! was widely suggested, and decided to get it even though it won't last me the entire duration of the genius project (I'm going to have to pay the subscription fee :( ).  Now here comes the problem, Transcribe turns out to be kindddaaa difficult to use.

When I first started, I couldn't understand a thing. I knew that it was supposed to allow you to do all sorts of cool stuff (bookmarking points in music, taking out vocals, slowing things down), but I couldn't figure it out. However, after some experimenting, and many Youtube videos, I think I'm getting the hang of it. I should be ready to start with the actual transcriptions by about the middle of next week. I have some of the videos that helped me below.

Book 1: The Beginning

I have been playing piano for almost as long as I can remember. It started out just simply watching my sister play, but eventually, my parents would get me started. Now that was a long time ago, probably somewhere around 8 years. Up to this day, I'm still playing, despite the fact that I am quickly running out of time to practice. It was actually my mom who more or less forced me to start. Back then, it used to be a chore. But as time went on, it started to become enjoyable.

My teacher played mostly classical music. In turn, the only music she taught me was classical music. That was fine with me, until I started hearing more modern songs on the radio. It didn't take me long before I started wanting to be able to play them. The problem was, most of these songs were sung, with instrumental accompaniment. Meaning, they weren't specifically for the piano, making it much harder than the classical music I was used to playing, which had only a piano part. So I tried my second option, which was to search sheet music up online. But, most required payments. For the ones that didn't, I often found parts that I disagreed with and wanted to change, but I had no real motivation too, and eventually I would start playing piano less and less. 

With the introduction of the Genius Project, I have been given a chance to do what I had wanted years ago. I now have some real determination to gain the ability to take music that I hear, and write out the notes that makes the song sound the way it sounds. 

 

 The breakdown:

Week 1: 

-learn about the history of transcription

-get some tips and tricks on transcribing (its not all one giant step)

-pick and easy song to practice

Week 2:

-possibly get the Transcribe software to start learning the basics (slows music down, mark points in song)

-continue working on the first song

-familiarize myself with the sound of the notes on the piano

Week 3:

-pick out final song (modern) that I will be working on for the remainder of the weeks

-learn some common chords that can help me with transcribing in the future

-findings ways to learn the key of a song

Week 4-6

-to be decided

I have a plan for getting started, which mostly involves familiarizing myself with the sounds of the piano. Funny right? You would expect a person whose has been playing for 8 years to know the sounds of the piano by now. Yet, the biggest connection I can make to any note that I play is where I would see it on my sheet music, which obviously isn't very helpful. After the 3rd week, I will probably be working long and hard on my final song as I doubt it would be easy (just looked it up, and it seems like most transcriptions, even for music gods, take hours for just small sections of music).

How I'll measure my success:

I have to say, when I first picked this topic, I was pretty scared of failure. I wasn't born with a musical ear (at least not to my knowledge), and the time I spend practicing piano hasn't gotten far less over the years. But, this is an educational project so this is what I will be measuring my success. 

1. Highest success

-full transcription of final piece

-includes both the melody and the bass

-ability to effectively use software to aid in transcription 

-knowledge of common chords 

2. High success

-almost full transcription, or simpler transcription with just simple chords and a melody

-ability to use software

-some knowledge of common chords

3. Partial success

-basic transcription 

-melody is present, but the bass isn't really there

-little knowledge of how to use the software

-little knowledge of common chords

4. Not very successful

-transcription either doesn't match, or is far too simple

-no knowledge of software

-no knowledge of chords