3.2 Bass Lines

VIDEO CHAPTERS

• Description & Objectives

  Description:
  Students will create a chord part and generate a bass line to an existing melody by copying the chordal track and deleting all but the lowest notes. They will then compose a drum part with intention.

  Musical Objectives:
  Discover what a bass line is and its connection with a chord part.
  Learn the importance of rhythm in a bass line.
  Use a chord part to create a bass line by preserving only the bottom notes.

  Technical Objectives:
  Change a region’s octave.
  Access the piano roll.
  Select and delete notes in the piano roll.
  Duplicate notes in the piano roll.
  Copy and paste notes in the piano roll.

• Teacher Prep & Materials

  Prep:

  Find song examples with clear bass lines from the student collaborative playlist. Practice playing bass and chords on a piano keyboard to a pop song that students will know. Try creating your own bass lines from chordal parts with different variations. Experiment with copying bass lines from songs that you like by using this method.

  Materials:

  3.2 Project Rubric
  SOUNDTRAP TEMPLATE

• Procedure

  As a Class:

  1. Watch the top video and discuss bass as a low-pitch, rhythmic melody.

  2. Complete some of the connection activities to build confidence and understanding of the material.

  3. Watch the longer step-by-step videos and create a chord progression, generate a bass line with three levels of energy, and compose a drum groove together using the teacher’s device connected to a projector.

  Individual:

  1. Instruct students to copy and paste the assignment URL from their LMS to open the Soundtrap Assignment on their own devices.

  2. Have students watch the short step-by-step videos to create an original chord progression, a bass line, and a drum groove.

  3. Remind students to check their work by viewing the checklist.

  4. When students are done, they can show each other their compositions, add chordal layers, and/or learn about moving bass lines by accessing the enrichment videos.

• Assessment

  Informal Assessment:

  • Check for understanding by asking questions during the class viewing of the step-by-step videos.

  • Walk around the room while students are completing the individual portion of their projects to check if they understand the technical objectives like duplicating chord tracks, accessing the piano roll, deleting notes to create a bass line, and creating rhythms by copying and pasting/duplicating notes in the piano roll.

  • Check the range of student bass lines by looking at the range indicator in the piano roll (C3, for example) and by listening to their compositions. Some bass patches in Soundtrap transpose the pitches down, so it helps to listen.

  Formal Assessment:

  • The completed bass line projects can be graded by the instructor against the rubric. Students can also present their projects to each other in small groups or to the entire class.

• Connection Activities

  Range Identification Game (Is it BASS?):

  Prime student ears by focusing on range. Play a known melody on a piano keyboard in different octaves. Have them show you the general range of the melody by having them squat, stand, or jump to show low, medium, and high. Next, move to playing two pitches and instruct students to identify if the second note has moved up or down by having them show the direction with their pointer finger. After a few of these, play a four-note bass line (C Am F G) with the left hand on a piano keyboard while playing chords in the right hand over a drum loop. Ask the class if the bass line is correct by prompting them with “Is It Bass?” (like the show "Is It Cake?"). Purposefully play incorrect bass lines by moving notes to the wrong octave, changing the rhythm every measure, and/or playing more than one note at a time.

  Bass Line Drawing:

  Have students draw what they think a bass line looks like on paper. Remind them that good bass lines use repetition and that there should be repetition in their drawings. Give students an opportunity to compare drawings. Show them drawings (or piano roll examples) of bass lines that are either in the wrong octave, have more than one note playing at a time, or do not have any repetition. Have them play detective to figure out what is wrong with the bass line and how it can be improved.

  Drum and Bass Beatboxing:

  Have students verbalize the bass line for a section of the song by singing it with a nonsense syllable like “dum.” Repeat the section until the class can sing the bass line without the recording. Have the students sing the bass line while other students sing the drum part using percussive sounds.

  Bass Line Listening:

  Listen to student and teacher-selected music and try to identify the bass line. Ask them the following questions: Is the rhythm the same or different every bar? How many long notes are there in the bass line? What about short notes? Does the bass line change notes while the chord stays the same?

• Differentiation

  Enrichment:

  If students have an understanding of the material and you would like them to access the enrichment videos, enter the password 88tg88tg. The enrichment videos show how to create moving bass lines with octave jumps and leading tones. It is possible for students to end up in the incorrect range when doing octave jumps, so remind them that bass lines should be low-pitch, rhythmic melodies. Students can write lyrics to their projects if they like and/or they can create another progression with various chord layers in addition to adding octave jumps and leading tones.

  Remediation:

  If students are having trouble with the technical or musical elements of the lesson, partner them up with students who have a firm grasp of the topic. The project can be simplified by removing the rhythmic alterations of the bass line.

• Notes

  This is the first time that students will be writing original chord progressions, bass lines, and drum parts in the same project. It helps to break down the completion of the different tasks into short checkpoints with clearly defined start and end times to keep students from being overwhelmed. Make as many connections as possible with bass lines and chord progressions in student and teacher-selected songs. The more you can get students critically listening to music with a producer’s mindset, the easier it will be for them to create the sounds they hear in their head.

• Standards & Pathways

  Core Arts Standards

  1. Creating:

     • Anchor Standard 1 (Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work): Learn to create bass lines from chord progressions.

     • Anchor Standard 2 (Organize and develop artistic ideas and work): Apply bass lines to song sections.

     • Anchor Standard 3 (Refine and complete artistic work): Use copy/paste and duplication techniques to refine bass lines.

  2. Performing:

     • Anchor Standard 4 (Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation): Discuss and create bass lines in class.

  3. Responding:

     • Anchor Standard 7 (Perceive and analyze artistic work): Check bass lines using a checklist.

     • Anchor Standard 8 (Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work): Present bass lines to peers.

  4. Connecting:

     • Anchor Standard 11 (Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding): Connect bass lines to real-world music applications.

  Technology Literacy Standards

  1. Empowered Learner (ISTE Standard 1):

     • Use music production tools to create and track bass lines.

  2. Creative Communicator (ISTE Standard 6):

     • Experiment with bass lines and present them digitally.

  Career Readiness

  • Music Production: Skills in creating and arranging bass lines.

  • Sound Engineering: Understanding technical aspects of bass lines.

  • Broadcasting and DJing: Ability to create and analyze bass lines for performances.

  • Multimedia Production: Integrating bass lines into various projects.