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7 Switched-On Songs
Songs for the beginning student featuring a unique mix of contemporary musical styles with colorful sounds from the exciting "switched-on" days of electronic music. Students will love the "retro" synthesizer sounds in the accompaniments. The first song starts with the note B. Each new song adds another note: A, G (two songs), E, and D (two songs). The melodies use easy rhythms and can be taught by rote. Suitable for classroom and/or performance.
Long Shorts! (B) ABs! (B, A) Flying (Beyond All Gravity) (B, A, G) Day Is Done (B, A, G) Night Winds (B, A, G, E) Crazy Cats! (B, A, G, E, D) Into The Future! (B, A, G, E, D)
"As in previous compositions by Muro, the Seven Switched-On Songs are organized following a logical progression. introducing the pentatonic scale (B,A,G,E,D) in descending order, adding one note at a time. Student success is insured since selections are structured with simple note values consisting of quarter, half, and whole notes, especially helpful in developing a smpooth delivery of tone. The song form used in most of the selections is AABAA, offering repition of melodic and rhythmic patterns in addition to the repition within the musical phrases. The music is clearly notated with breath marks, dynamics, and ample spacing, providing a score that is easy to read. Included with the student score are comments and suggestions to improve and vary performance. Each selection has been given an imaginative title characteristic of the style and musical content. The titles "Long Shorts," "Abs," "Flying (Beyond All Gravity)," etc., have hidden musical connections that students would find amusing and motivating." American Recorder From the composer: "In 1968, Columbia Records released the album “Switched-On Bach”. This album used the music of J.S. Bach to introduce the world to the sound of multi-tracked tonal electronic music. “Switched-On Bach” became the largest selling classical record in the world. As soon as I heard the sound of the Moog synthesizer used on the album, I knew that I wanted to play a synthesizer. Synthesizers in the late 1960s and early 1970s were very primitive musical instruments by today’s standards. They played only one note at a time, they needed constant tuning, and they were difficult to control; however, they created a vocabulary of new musical sounds. In “7 Switched-On Songs”, I have used several of the most popular synthesizer sounds from this era. These sounds include sliding notes, wind effects, “tickies” (rapid arpeggio effects), and the ever-popular “wow” sounds. Several sounds on the recordings came from two of my oldest instruments – an ARP Odyssey from 1977, and a Korg Mono/Poly from 1981. It was a challenge to create music using synthesizer sounds almost exclusively while avoiding the sampled acoustic sounds that I normally use. I hope you enjoy the results!"
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