Have just acquired a hand-me-down iPod Mini 4gb, second generation (I think)- not state of the art, I know, but bear with me. (Apologies, too, for the rehash- I know iPods were discussed a lot when they first came out, but thought I'd try to tap into the existing state of knowledge.)
So far, I've been plodding away trying to get brain to register tunes with their titles, but can't help feeling there might be more inventive ways of using the technology to progress.
I'd be very grateful for any ideas people might be willing to share- bearing in mind, mine doesn't have any of the bells and whistles that come with the later models.
About all I'm capable of doing with my iPod is when I hear a tune I think I know the name of it, I look at the display to see if I'm right. It's frustrating though if the name isn't displayed. For example, I thought I heard Brenda Stubbert as one in a set so I looked at the display and it says Boy's Lament Medley. That's no help at all.
And then the only other thing I can do is if I hear a tune I like but don't know the name of it, I'll look at the display to find out what the title is. Hopefully they won't have titled it Boy's Lament Medley or some such thing, but too often they do.
sbhikes - one of the more useful features of this web site shows the tune titles for many artists under the Recordings menu (just look to your right of this page) One you get the correct titles, you can actualy go into you i-tunes setting and change "Boy's Lament Medley" to the individual tune titles.
I was asked to do a wedding for a couple who decided to go renaissance as their theme. I was asked to play the wedding about a week before it was scheduled. Assuming they wanted appropriate music I worked up a tune list of about two hours worth, pretty good for a non dot reader. I could play the tunes but for the life of me couldn't remember how to start them. The solution was the ipod. I ran an earphone up my tunic to my ear. I then started the tune list and played along. Since I wasn't bothered with any breaks I more or less played my tune list completely through without a break or a miss. Keeping up with the tunes I was able to play a full two hours not missing a note. Turned out however the happy couple wasn't into renaissance as a hobby, they just wanted a unique wedding. They were ecstatic about the performance and I was happy that technology made up for a rather forgetful brain.
Another thing you can do is set iTunes to start and stop at certain places in a medley. Listen to "Boys Lament Medley" and note on the time bar where Brenda Stubbert's starts and stops. Select "Get Info" ( "Apple-I" on a Mac) select "Options" and set the start and stop times to coincide with where the tune falls in the medley. It usually takes me a little tweaking to get it right, but that way you don't have to listen to several tunes you're not trying to learn to get to the one that you are. This works well for me, as I'm always getting distracted and trying to pick out the tunes that aren't the one I'm s'posed to be learning,,,
Aikifiddler- that sounds really useful. Sorry to be slow, but could you explain a bit more: after setting the start and finish times in 'Options' for, say, the middle tune of a set, does that tune then appear on its own somewhere on iTunes?- i.e how do you home in on it thereafter, and get it onto the iPod?
I'm not sure if your model of iPod has this, but if you, on the iPod, go under Extras-->Games-->Music Quiz, you can help sharpen your skills by trying to match the song/tune that starts playing to one of the 5 choices listed. You have about 10 seconds to figure it out, and after about 3, wrong choices start to fade off the screen. I find it great at helping me learn/remember tune names when I've got some spare time on the bus/train. Hope this helps!
GET the software program Transcribe! (for mac/pc/linux), SPLIT the tune medleys into individual tune tracks (or even just two As/two Bs, etc), NAME them with the correct titles, IMPORT them into iTunes, CONVERT them in iTunes to smaller MP3 files (Transcribe! exports as AIFF or WAV formats) SET iPod to repeat ONE track - OFF you go!
You can also have Transcribe! export with speed and EQ settings, i.e. slow the tune down for easier learning, and reduce the bass boom of backup instruments, so it is easier to hear the melody.
Transcribe! is available for 30-day trial at seventhstring.com and no, I don't own stock, I just love the program.
I was given an i-pod for my birthday; it was OK or so I thought until I came across a voice memo recorder for it. I think the mini has the same facility. This turns the player into a good quality recorder; having it to hand in sessions means I can record a new tune when someone starts playing and can learn it from the recording at my leisure! Belkin make them as do other manufacturers.
sbhikes-for slowing things down do a search and read up on Audacity. It's great, but yes, it does take an extra step. What a cool idea to have an iPod that has a slowdown function. Steve Jobs, are you listening? Someone introduce that man to ITM
Just found another really cool trick - AFTER you select the starting and stopping points, with the medley still selected, go up to "Advanced" and select "Convert Selection to MP3" (or whatever file type you've specified in Preferences") iTunes will then make a 2nd file with the same name, but it will only contain the tune you selected. Then you can rename that file as the tune name, have one file that's the medley and another that's the tune.
Oooh, just went back and reread Laughtonb's post. Off to make another software download....
Thanks, Aiki and Laughton- just what I needed.
Bliss- glad someone else is in the starting zone with these things- on the bright side, it can only get better.
Have been adapting Aikifiddler's method (for isolating tunes within a medley using iTunes) to hook out nuggets from Clare FM podcasts and transfer them to the iPod- a good way of getting some Frankie Gavin tunes without spending a fortune... Geez, as if I wasn't hooked enough as it is
I used to do the isolation thing in iTunes with the set points, and I still do if I just want to skip over a long, boring intro, etc...
But what if you want individual sound files of all three tunes in a medley? You would have to repeat the set point process three times.
In Transcribe! you set Section Markers on a visible audio spectrum, mark out what parts you want to keep, and what parts you want to ignore. It exports the marked sections into individual sound files.
Plodding with an iPod
Plodding with an iPod
Have just acquired a hand-me-down iPod Mini 4gb, second generation (I think)- not state of the art, I know, but bear with me. (Apologies, too, for the rehash- I know iPods were discussed a lot when they first came out, but thought I'd try to tap into the existing state of knowledge.)
So far, I've been plodding away trying to get brain to register tunes with their titles, but can't help feeling there might be more inventive ways of using the technology to progress.
I'd be very grateful for any ideas people might be willing to share- bearing in mind, mine doesn't have any of the bells and whistles that come with the later models.
# Posted on November 25th 2007 by P-K
Re: Plodding with an iPod
About all I'm capable of doing with my iPod is when I hear a tune I think I know the name of it, I look at the display to see if I'm right. It's frustrating though if the name isn't displayed. For example, I thought I heard Brenda Stubbert as one in a set so I looked at the display and it says Boy's Lament Medley. That's no help at all.
And then the only other thing I can do is if I hear a tune I like but don't know the name of it, I'll look at the display to find out what the title is. Hopefully they won't have titled it Boy's Lament Medley or some such thing, but too often they do.
# Posted on November 25th 2007 by sbhikes
Re: Plodding with an iPod
sbhikes - one of the more useful features of this web site shows the tune titles for many artists under the Recordings menu (just look to your right of this page) One you get the correct titles, you can actualy go into you i-tunes setting and change "Boy's Lament Medley" to the individual tune titles.
# Posted on November 26th 2007 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Plodding with an iPod
Oh boy! Did I ever get it right. . . .
I was asked to do a wedding for a couple who decided to go renaissance as their theme. I was asked to play the wedding about a week before it was scheduled. Assuming they wanted appropriate music I worked up a tune list of about two hours worth, pretty good for a non dot reader. I could play the tunes but for the life of me couldn't remember how to start them. The solution was the ipod. I ran an earphone up my tunic to my ear. I then started the tune list and played along. Since I wasn't bothered with any breaks I more or less played my tune list completely through without a break or a miss. Keeping up with the tunes I was able to play a full two hours not missing a note. Turned out however the happy couple wasn't into renaissance as a hobby, they just wanted a unique wedding. They were ecstatic about the performance and I was happy that technology made up for a rather forgetful brain.
# Posted on November 26th 2007 by jrathbun
Re: Plodding with an iPod
Another thing you can do is set iTunes to start and stop at certain places in a medley. Listen to "Boys Lament Medley" and note on the time bar where Brenda Stubbert's starts and stops. Select "Get Info" ( "Apple-I" on a Mac) select "Options" and set the start and stop times to coincide with where the tune falls in the medley. It usually takes me a little tweaking to get it right, but that way you don't have to listen to several tunes you're not trying to learn to get to the one that you are. This works well for me, as I'm always getting distracted and trying to pick out the tunes that aren't the one I'm s'posed to be learning,,,
# Posted on November 26th 2007 by aikifiddler
Re: Plodding with an iPod
jrathbun was that a hammer dulcimer
renaissance set I assume?
My kids all have ipods but I do not; I use Iriver. Just for recording.
If I had an ipod I would try to hook it up to my car. I only listen to tunes when I drive; not run or walk or sit. Sometimes at the office.
# Posted on November 26th 2007 by dogmageek
Re: Plodding with an iPod
aikifiddler - that's a great tip. I didn't realize you could do that. Too bad you can't also slow it down. Then I could use it for learning.
# Posted on November 26th 2007 by sbhikes
Re: Plodding with an iPod
Aikifiddler- that sounds really useful. Sorry to be slow, but could you explain a bit more: after setting the start and finish times in 'Options' for, say, the middle tune of a set, does that tune then appear on its own somewhere on iTunes?- i.e how do you home in on it thereafter, and get it onto the iPod?
# Posted on November 26th 2007 by P-K
Re: Plodding with an iPod
OK- I think I've figured it out- though that seems to rule out listening to the other tunes in that set on the iPod?
# Posted on November 26th 2007 by P-K
Re: Plodding with an iPod
Anyone know if it's possible to record on the ipod mini 4gb (software 1.4.1) ?
# Posted on November 26th 2007 by P-K
Re: Plodding with an iPod
I'm not sure if your model of iPod has this, but if you, on the iPod, go under Extras-->Games-->Music Quiz, you can help sharpen your skills by trying to match the song/tune that starts playing to one of the 5 choices listed. You have about 10 seconds to figure it out, and after about 3, wrong choices start to fade off the screen. I find it great at helping me learn/remember tune names when I've got some spare time on the bus/train. Hope this helps!
# Posted on November 26th 2007 by fiddle85
Re: Plodding with an iPod
Yes, I've just found that- many thanks- great for sharpening up on tune starts. Excellent!
# Posted on November 26th 2007 by P-K
Learning Tunes with an iPod
GET the software program Transcribe! (for mac/pc/linux), SPLIT the tune medleys into individual tune tracks (or even just two As/two Bs, etc), NAME them with the correct titles, IMPORT them into iTunes, CONVERT them in iTunes to smaller MP3 files (Transcribe! exports as AIFF or WAV formats) SET iPod to repeat ONE track - OFF you go!
You can also have Transcribe! export with speed and EQ settings, i.e. slow the tune down for easier learning, and reduce the bass boom of backup instruments, so it is easier to hear the melody.
Transcribe! is available for 30-day trial at seventhstring.com and no, I don't own stock, I just love the program.
# Posted on November 27th 2007 by Laughtonb
Re: Plodding with an iPod
I was given an i-pod for my birthday; it was OK or so I thought until I came across a voice memo recorder for it. I think the mini has the same facility. This turns the player into a good quality recorder; having it to hand in sessions means I can record a new tune when someone starts playing and can learn it from the recording at my leisure! Belkin make them as do other manufacturers.
# Posted on November 27th 2007 by CiaranMulholland
Re: Plodding with an iPod
I got a super duper IPod some months ago. I don't know how good as I cannot understand how it works. It seems to reject downloads from the computer.
# Posted on November 27th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: Plodding with an iPod
sbhikes-for slowing things down do a search and read up on Audacity. It's great, but yes, it does take an extra step. What a cool idea to have an iPod that has a slowdown function. Steve Jobs, are you listening? Someone introduce that man to ITM
Just found another really cool trick - AFTER you select the starting and stopping points, with the medley still selected, go up to "Advanced" and select "Convert Selection to MP3" (or whatever file type you've specified in Preferences") iTunes will then make a 2nd file with the same name, but it will only contain the tune you selected. Then you can rename that file as the tune name, have one file that's the medley and another that's the tune.
Oooh, just went back and reread Laughtonb's post. Off to make another software download....
# Posted on November 27th 2007 by aikifiddler
Re: Plodding with an iPod
Thanks, Aiki and Laughton- just what I needed.
Bliss- glad someone else is in the starting zone with these things- on the bright side, it can only get better.
# Posted on November 27th 2007 by P-K
Re: Plodding with an iPod
Have been adapting Aikifiddler's method (for isolating tunes within a medley using iTunes) to hook out nuggets from Clare FM podcasts and transfer them to the iPod- a good way of getting some Frankie Gavin tunes without spending a fortune... Geez, as if I wasn't hooked enough as it is
# Posted on November 27th 2007 by P-K
Re: Plodding with an iPod
I used to do the isolation thing in iTunes with the set points, and I still do if I just want to skip over a long, boring intro, etc...
But what if you want individual sound files of all three tunes in a medley? You would have to repeat the set point process three times.
In Transcribe! you set Section Markers on a visible audio spectrum, mark out what parts you want to keep, and what parts you want to ignore. It exports the marked sections into individual sound files.
# Posted on November 28th 2007 by Laughtonb
Re: Plodding with an iPod
Have just found a tune called 'The Diddeley-I-Pod' (played by Shannon-Gavin-McGoldrick)- who says this music isn't in touch?
# Posted on November 30th 2007 by P-K