In Lesson Five you'll write your most ambitious song yet: a ten chorus blues with texture and style variations in every chorus. You'll also use several new commands in the Detail menu.

Here's the lesson plan:

Chorus	Style	Effect	Listen
1	Jazz 4/4	Solo break in measures 11-12	listen
2	Jazz 4/4	New chord progression, bass pedal	listen
3	Samba	Samba style, original chords, staggered piano, bass, and drum entrances	listen
4	Samba	Soft piano, bass player gets ahead of the beat	listen
5	Bossa Nova	New chords, new drums, piano sits out, bass one octave higher	listen
6	Two Beat	Two Beat Swing substyle, soft piano	listen
7	Mixed	Mixing it up: Two Beat Swing piano, Jazz 4/4 bass, Samba drums	listen
8	Jazz 4/4	A gradual decrescendo	listen
9	Jazz 4/4	Random chord alterations	listen
10	Jazz 4/4	Reuse chorus 2 chords with closed voicing ballad piano style	listen
All 10 Choruses - Tempo = 160 [mp3] [MIDI]

Here's how it was done.

Set the Style

Click the Style tool

When the Style dialog appears, change the style to Jazz 4/4 and click OK.

Set the Form

Click the Form tool

When the Song Form dialog appears, set the Chorus Length to 12, the Total Choruses to 10, the Tempo to 160, and the Key Signature to C Major/a minor. Click OK.

Type the Chords

Type the following twelve bar blues chord progression:

Write the Song

Click the Write tool Every chorus will use different bass lines, chord voicings, piano comping rhythms, and drum patterns. Play it and listen.

Save As Adventure Blues

File / Save As

Choose the Save As command from the file menu. Name the song Adventure Blues, and click Save.

CHORUS 1 - Solo Break in Measures 11-12 Create a two measure rest for a solo break in measures 11-12.

Select measures 11-12

Detail / Write Rests When the Write Rests dialog appears, check the piano, bass, and drum instruments to silence them, and set This Chorus Only to 1.

File / Save It's a good idea to save the song after each chorus is changed. That way if you make a mistake, you can revert to the last saved version by choosing Revert from the File menu.

CHORUS 2 - New Chords, Bass Pedal

Chorus 2 will use a new chord progression and a bass pedal in measures 9-10.

New chord progression

Type the following chord progression into measures 1-12:

Select measures 1-12

Click the Write tool

When the Rewrite Measures dialog appears, set This Chorus Only to 2 and click OK.

Write bass pedal

Select measures 9-10

Detail / Write Bass Pedal When the Write Bass Pedal dialog appears, set the Pitch to g3, and then click rhythm but- ton 6 followed by rhythm button 3. Those two rhythms will be used in measures 9-10. Set This Chorus Only to 2 and click OK.

CHORUS 3 - Samba Style, Original Chords, Staggered Piano, Bass, and Drum Entrances

Chorus 3 will return to the original chord progression; use the Samba style; have the drums, bass, and piano enter one at a time; and have the bass play slightly ahead of the beat.

Return to the original chord progression

There's an easy way to display the chords for a specific chorus. Hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Macintosh) and click in the Chord Text Area. When the Chorus Number dialog appears, set the Chorus Number to 1 and click OK.

Choruses 3 and 4 to Samba style

You can change the style of several choruses at once using the From Chorus Through Chorus option. Choruses 3-4 will both use the Latin Samba style.

Select measures 1-12

Click the Change Styles tool

When the Change Styles dialog appears, change the Style to Latin and the Substyle to Samba. Set the range to From Chorus 3 Through Chorus 4.

Staggered entrances

Measures 1-4 will be drums only, measures 5-8 will be bass and drums, and measures 9-12 will be piano, bass, and drums.

Select measures 1-4

Detail / Write Rests When the Write Rests dialog appears, check Piano and Bass to silence those instruments, and set This Chorus Only to 3. Now measures 1-4 will play drums only.

Select measures 5-8

Detail / Write Rests

When the Write Rests dialog appears, check Piano to silence the piano, and set This Chorus Only to 3. Now measures 5-8 will play bass and drums only.

Measures 9-12 have not been affected: they'll play piano, bass, and drums. File / Save

CHORUS 4 - Soft Piano, Bass Player Gets Ahead of the Beat

Chorus 4 was changed to Samba style when you changed both choruses 3 and 4 to the Samba style in a previous step. Let's make the piano softer and use the Tweak Time command to shift the bass ahead of the beat.

Soft piano

Select measures 1-12 Detail / Change Dynamics When the Change Dynamics dialog appears, check the Piano, set its volume to 65%, and set This Chorus Only to 4. Click OK.

Bass gets ahead of the beat

Now let's create some rhythmic tension by having the bass play slightly ahead of the beat.

Select measures 5-8

Detail / Tweak Time

When the Tweak Time dialog appears, set Shift Bass By to -50 milliseconds, and set This Chorus only to 4. Click OK.

The bass will get even further ahead of the beat in measures 9-12.

Select measures 9-12

Detail / Tweak Time

When the Tweak Time dialog appears, set Shift Bass By to -100 milliseconds, and set This Chorus only to 4. Click OK.

File / Save

CHORUS 5 - New Chords, New Drums, Piano Sits Out, Bass One Octave Higher

Chorus 5 will use a new chord progression and a new drum set, have the piano player sit out, and have the bass play one octave higher.

New chord progression

It's not really new; they're the same chords you used in chorus 2. There's an easy way to display the chords for a specific chorus. Hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Macintosh) and click in the Chord Text Area. When the Chorus Number dialog appears, set the Chorus Number to 2 and Click OK.

New drums

Now let's use the Set Drum Notes dialog to create a drum set file that uses only the Ride Cymbal.

Settings / Drum Notes

When the Set Drum Notes dialog appears, enter a zero for all drum notes except the Ride Cymbal. A zero will silence a drum sound.

Save the new drum set

Click the Save Set button When the Save Drum Set dialog appears, name the new drum set "Ride Only," and then click Save. The drum set file extension used on Windows is ".jdr."

When the Ride Only drum set file has been saved, the Save Drum Set dialog will be closed, and the Set Drum Notes dialog will still be on the screen.

Cancel the Set Drum Notes dialog

Click Cancel

You must click the Cancel button in the Set Drum Notes dialog at this point. If you click OK instead, the drum notes in all ten choruses will be changed. Now that you've created a new drum set file, you're ready to use it.

Select measures 1-12

Detail / Change Drums

When the Change Drums dialog appears, click the Open button to load a Drum Set file.

When the Open Drum Set dialog appears, select the "Ride Only" drum set file you just created and click Open.

In the Change Drums dialog, set This Chorus Only to 5, and click OK.

The piano sits out

Select measures 1-12

Detail / Write Rests

When the Write Rests dialog appears, check the Piano to silence that instrument, and set This Chorus Only to 5.

Transpose the bass one octave higher

Detail / Transpose Measures

When the Transpose Measures dialog appears, transpose the bass up 12 half steps and set This Chorus Only to 5.

File / Save

CHORUS 6 - Two Beat Swing Substyle, Soft Piano

Chorus 6 will use the Slow 4 Two Beat Swing style with a soft piano.

Change style to Two Beat Swing

Select measures 1-12

Click the Change Styles tool

When the Change Styles dialog appears, set the Style to Slow 4, the Substyle to Two Beat Swing, and This Chorus Only to 6.

Soft piano

Select measures 1-12

Detail / Change Dynamics

When the Change Dynamics dialog appears, check the Piano, set its volume to 70%, and set This Chorus Only to 6. Click OK.

File / Save

CHORUS 7 - Mixing It Up: Two Beat Swing Piano, Jazz 4/4 Bass, Samba Drums

Chorus 7 creates an interesting mix of styles by combining a Two Beat Swing piano, a Jazz 4/4 bass line, and Samba drums. The bass is already in the Jazz 4/4 style, so you just need to change the piano and drum styles.

Piano to Two Beat Swing

Select measures 1-12

Click the Change Styles tool

When the Change Styles dialog appears, set the Style to Slow 4, the Substyle to Two Beat Swing, the Instrument to Piano only, and This Chorus Only to 7.

Drums to Samba

Select measures 1-12

Click the Change Styles tool

When the Change Styles dialog appears, set the Style to Latin, the Substyle to Samba, the Instrument to Drum only, and This Chorus Only to 7.

File / Save

CHORUS 8 - A Gradual Decrescendo

Chorus 8 will gradually get softer, two measures at a time. Select measures 3-4

Detail / Change Dynamics

When the Change Dynamics dialog appears, scale each instrument to 90%, and then click OK.

Select measures 5-6

Detail / Change Dynamics
Follow the same procedure, scaling each instrument to 80%.

Select measures 7-8 and change dynamics to 70%
Follow the same procedure, scaling each instrument to 70%.

Select measures 9-10 and change dynamics to 60%
Follow the same procedure, scaling each instrument to 60%.

Select measures 11-12 and change dynamics to 50%
Follow the same procedure, scaling each instrument to 50%.

File / Save

CHORUS 9 - Random Chord Alterations

Chorus 9 will surprise you with some random chord qualities.

Click the Random Chord Alterations tool

When the Random Chord Alterations dialog appears, check the qualities you want as surprises, and click OK.

The Random Chord Alterations dialog settings will take effect the next time you write a song and will be ignored on subsequent writes. You'll select measures 1-12 and rewrite chorus 9. The altered chords will be substituted this one time. The next time you write, the alterations will be ignored.

Select measures 1-12

Click the Write tool

When the Rewrite Measures dialog appears, set This Chorus Only to 9, and click OK.

File / Save

CHORUS 10 - Reuse Chorus 2 Chords with Closed Voicing Ballad Piano Style

Reuse the chords of chorus two

Let's use the same chords that were used in Chorus 2, this time with a Ballad piano style. Hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Macintosh) and click in the Chord Text Area. When the Chorus Number dialog appears, set the Chorus Number to 2, and click OK.

Write the song

Click the Write tool

Note: The Jazz 4/4 Ballad piano style is guaranteed to play both chords. The Jazz 4/4 Swing and Bebop piano styles might play both chords or only one of the chords.

Closed voicing ballad piano style

Click the Change Styles tool

When the Change Styles dialog appears, set the Style to Jazz 4/4, Substyle to Ballad, Piano Voicings to Closed, the Instrument to Piano only, and This Chorus Only to 10. Click OK.

File / Save

Play Adventure Blues

Turn off any selected measures

Click any white space in the Chord Entry View to turn off the selected measures. This prevents the Play Chorus Number dialog from displaying when you click the Play tool.

Click the Play tool