teaching

June Lesson Materials

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Lately I have been working on extensive additions and edits to my Ukulele, Guitar, and Bass Guitar Method Books. I wanted to add more familiar songs to my Note-Reading Method Books for Ukulele, Guitar, and Bass Guitar, so I added Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb/Merrily We Roll Along (both without  and with the high note), Ode to Joy, London Bridge, Ring Around the Rosie, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row Row Row Your Boat, French Song, Old MacDonald, Yankee Doodle, and Happy Birthday. I added these songs at appropriate points throughout the lessons, all in various keys (mostly in C Major, F Major, and G Major, but a few of them are also in D Major and Bb Major). I also changed the name of my original Ukulele and Guitar Method Books to “Chord-Strumming Method”, in order to better differentiate it from the “Note-Reading Method”. I added and updated PDFs of all of these lessons on the “Ukulele”, “Guitar” and “Bass Guitar” pages.

In my Mallets Method Book, I added the same songs to Unit 1 (The Key of C Major), Unit 2 (The Key of G Major), and Unit 3 (The Key of F Major) and also updated the PDFs on the “Mallets” page.

For Bass Guitar, I also started a method book, which I am calling “Bass Guitar Chords Method Book” (for lack of a better name). This book parallels my Guitar Chord-Strumming Method Book, and is meant to teach a bass player what to play in order to follow the guitar player. It teaches the bass player what the root, 3rd, 5th, and octave is for each chord, so that they will know what their options are. My Guitar and Bass Guitar Method Books could be used together as a sort of “Rock Band Method Book” if a teacher needed material for guitar and bass students to play together. PDFs of the “Practice Instructions and Fretboard”, “Unit 1: Major and minor Chords”, and “Unit 2: Common Chords Progressions” of the Bass Guitar Chords Method Book can be found on my “Bass Guitar” page.

Please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

May Lesson Materials

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In May I focused on two projects. In my Guitar Method Book I wrote Unit 10: More Bar Chords with the Root on the E String. I also put together a separate document called Progressions Using Only Three Chords.

For Unit 10: More Bar Chords with the Root on the E String, I added BbM, BM, CM, and Bm. I had previously added these chords as bar chords played with the root on the A string, but sometimes they are played with the root on the E string, depending on the rest of the chords in the progression. This is my longest unit by far, and it will be my last unit focusing on bar chords. I haven’t covered every single possible bar chord, but I’ve covered the most common ones that will allow students to play progressions in the most common keys, and hopefully at this point they could extrapolate how to play any additional bar chords that they might come across (like F#M, Cm, etc.).

I also had the idea to focus on all of the different progressions (within a four-measure phrase) that could be created using only three chords. Since there are many songs that only use three chords, I thought it might be a good idea to focus on exercises that (1) teach students who want to write their own songs how much variation they can have, even if they are using very little material, (2) show ukulele students that they can play a lot of music with only three chords once they finish Lesson 2, (3) show guitar students that they can play a lot of music with only three chords once they finish Lesson 4, (4) show students how common it is to have progressions using I IV V when they start to recognize that those chords are used in the songs they know, and (5) give advanced students who are learning scales, modes, and riffs more variations to practice over. In the composition/songwriting version (Progressions Using Only Three Chords, found on my Composition/Songwriting page) I only used the Roman Numerals below the staff, so that it is left open for them to choose whichever keys they prefer. For guitar, I focused on the key of G Major, so in addition to the Roman Numerals below the staff, I also added the chord symbols (GM CM DM) above the staff (Progressions Using Only Three Chords for Beginning Guitar, found on my Guitar page). For ukulele, I focused on the key of C Major and also added the chord symbols (CM FM GM) above the staff (Progressions Using Only Three Chords for Beginning Ukulele, found on my Ukulele page).

Please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

Film/TV/Game Music

“Town Music” (New Arrangement of “Pastoral Theme”)

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This month I worked on updating “Pastoral Theme” because it was originally written in Sibelius, and I always wanted to see what it would sound like if I gave it the DAW treatment. It reminded me of the style of music you might hear when playing a video game and visiting a town, so I changed the name to “Town Music”. Before taking it out of Sibelius I rewrote the end of each phrase and changed the bass rhythms, because when I originally did it as an assignment, it was good enough and I was trying to learn how to write things quickly and move on from them. I think the rewrite is a little more interesting and flows a little better, so I’m glad I made the changes.

I also thought this would be a good opportunity to compare my different string libraries. The music is meant to repeat (like video game music would), but instead of an exact repeat, I switched to a different string library, using five of them, one right after the other. I fiddled with them as little as possible, to see which ones sounded best right out of the box, so I would know which ones to use if I’m under a tight deadline. I used the same modulation and expression on all of them, mostly just to create the overall subtle dynamic contour. I also didn’t do any panning, because I wanted to just rely on each of their seating positions when they were originally recorded. I had to do some balancing, because the ranges of their default volumes were all over the place, and for the most part I used the same reverbs (as well as a few other effects) on all of them, with a few slight adjustments when necessary. On one of them I also had to do some pretty drastic surgical EQ because a few notes had some crazy overtones piercing through. Which one(s) do you like most/least (A, B, C, D, or E)?

teaching

March and April Lesson Materials

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In March and April, I gave the bar chords lessons in my Guitar Method Book an overhaul. I moved some chords and exercises around, and even added a few more bar chords. All of these materials and more can be found in the “FOR MY STUDENTS” drop-down menu under “GUITAR”.

Here is a detailed description of what I changed and added:

In Unit 6, Lesson 36, I now introduce the high Em bar chord (with the root on the A string) to use in progressions where it is more appropriate/easier than the original low Em chord (starting with a i iv v progression in A minor, but not i iv v in E minor). I also incorporated it into Lesson 38 in 12-Bar Blues in A minor, but again not in E minor. 

In Unit 7, Lesson 43, I now introduce Am as a bar chord (with the root on the E string) to use in progressions where it is more appropriate/easier than the original Am chord (i iv v progressions in D minor and A minor). I also incorporated it into Lesson 44 in i VII VI V and i V VI VII progressions in A minor, as well as in Lesson 45 in 12-Bar Blues in D minor and A minor. 

In Unit 8, I was originally going to add DM and high EM as bar chords (with the root on the A string), but instead I decided to introduce them in their own unit. I went through all of Unit 8 and removed any progressions with DM and EM that would work better with them as bar chords (I IV V progressions using bar chords in G Major, D Major, and A Major etc.). Unit 8 still focuses on introducing BbM, BM, and CM as bar chords (with the root on the A string), using mostly progressions in the keys of F Major, C Major, E Major, E minor, D minor, and A minor.

In Unit 9 I finally introduce DM and high EM as bar chords (with the root on the A string), using mostly progressions in the keys of G Major, D Major, A Major, A minor, G minor, and a few in D minor and E minor. In Lesson 68 I also introduce the high FM bar chord (with the root on the A string) because it made more sense as a VI chord in A minor when using the high EM bar chord as V, and also in the key of D minor as the III chord.

Please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

Film/TV Music

Nightwing Returns, Season 2, Episode 4

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Last year I scored the second season of a Nightwing fan series. Episode 4 was released on March 29th and can be watched here.

Here are YouTube videos of the soundtrack.
Track 401 Main Title
Track 402 Batman vs Crescent
Track 403 Credits and Mid-Credits Scene
Track 404 Post-Credits Scene

I also made a YouTube playlist of the full score.

Film/TV Music

Nightwing Returns, Season 2, Episode 3

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Last year I scored the second season of a Nightwing fan series. Episode 3 was released on March 22nd and can be watched here.

Here are YouTube videos of the soundtrack.
Track 301 Main Title
Track 302 Dick and the Court of Owls
Track 303 Oliver Looking for Dick
Track 304 Dick as Batman
Track 305 The Court of Owls and Oliver
Track 306 Credits

Film/TV Music

Nightwing Returns, Season 2, Episode 2

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Last year I scored the second season of a Nightwing fan series. Episode 2 was released on March 15th and can be watched here.

Here are YouTube videos of the soundtrack.
Track 201 Main Title
Track 202 Dick and Oliver
Track 203 Dick and Barbara
Track 204 Penguin’s Hideout
Track 205 The Court of Owls
Track 206 Credits

teaching

February Lesson Materials

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In February I finished my Guitar Method Book Note-Reading Unit 1, which teaches the eight natural notes on the three high strings (G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G) and Unit 2, which teaches the nine natural notes on the three low strings (E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F). I also rearranged my “Guitar Beginning Riff and Solo Exercises” so that all of the major pentatonic and minor pentatonic exercises are side-by-side, and I also put all of the quarter note rhythms first, followed by all of the 8th note rhythms.

I worked on my Snare Drum Method Book for the first time in a long time. (To give you an idea of how long it’s been, all of my sentences had TWO spaces after the periods… which I changed.) I did a bunch of overall formatting clean-up, but the main thing was that I rearranged Units 5 and 6. Originally Unit 5 focused on 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, and 12/8 using mostly 8th notes with occasional quarter notes, dotted quarter notes, and rests, and Unit 6 added 16th notes to the same set of meters. In the updated versions Unit 5 is all of the compound meters (3/8, 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8) first using mostly 8th notes with occasional quarter notes, dotted quarter notes, and rests, and then adding 16th notes to those same compound meters, and Unit 6 is the complex meters (two versions of 5/8 and 3 versions of 7/8) first using mostly 8th notes with occasional quarter notes, dotted quarter notes, and rests, and then adding 16th notes to those same complex meters.

It had also been a long time since I worked on my Drum Set Method Book, so it was in need of some updates. I realized that in addition to 4/4 which is the most common meter in music, I should also include exercises in 2/4 and 3/4 at the beginning of the book since they are also relatively common. I followed the same format that I originally used to introduce 4/4 on drum set: building a basic quarter note beat, building a basic 8th note beat, learning how to navigate four-measure phrases, and then playing a whole song form. I added 2/4 and 3/4 versions of those exercises parallel to the 4/4 versions, so that the students will be well versed with all three meters right from the beginning.

Please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

Film/TV Music

“Ancient Battle Hymn” (New Arrangement of “Mystical Chant”)

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In January I participated in the Made with Musio composing contest. The rules were to use only Musio instruments and feature at least one of their choir libraries. Since I had used Cinesamples “Voices of War: Men of the North” for my piece “Mystical Chant”, I decided to treat it to a new arrangement. I started with replicating it using Musio’s equivalent library “Nordic Voices: Men of the North”, then I included its counterpart “Nordic Voices: Women of the North”. As I added more and more layers (especially the percussion), it began to take on a different character, so I named this version “Ancient Battle Hymn”.

I wanted the A section to be more conversational, so the melody goes back and forth between the Men of the North and Women of the North. I also added timpani (with medium mallets), and string instruments (Norwegian Hardanger Fiddle, Icelandic Shetland Gue, Viola Da Gamba, and Icelandic Bass Tagelharpa) to make it sound a little more rustic.

For the B section I wanted to evoke a more “warlike” sound for the battle hymn, so I left out the strings, and added more voices from the Voxos choir (as if it is the entire village singing). I also switched to the hard mallets for the timpani, added more drums (Icelandic Medieval Drum, two Icelandic Inuit Drums, and Djun Djun), and wind instruments (Low Woodwinds Ensemble, Icelandic Lur Horn, 12 Horn Ensemble, Bass Trombone, Tuba, and Cimbasso).

For the last section I returned to the overall texture of the original A section, but with added inner lines in the Nordic Voices choir parts. I also ended it with a Voxos Solo Boy, which I think adds a nice little twist to the story.

Composer for Film, Television, Video Games, Theatre, and the Concert Stage. All content Copyright © 1994-2025 Timothy D. Girard. All Rights Reserved.