What Are Soundfiles?

We provide two types of soundfiles – demo/performance and practice.

Demo/performance soundfiles are intended for listening.  Demo soundfiles are provided by the publisher and are typically for our specific arrangement.  We will often also share other performances – those may not be our specific arrangement but are great to get a sense of the piece.

Practice soundfiles are (not surprisingly!) for practice. We often create them for the pieces we are playing. They include a count-off at the beginning and usually announce rehearsal numbers/letters and other helpful details to guide your practice.

What Do I Do With Soundfiles?

We hope you will spend more time listening and following along in your music rather than actively playing along.

The more you listen and learn what the piece sounds like, the better you will play it and the easier you’ll be able to jump back in when you get lost – note, not “if” you get lost!

We want you to get in the habit of learning it by looking at the music, not learning by ear. Just listening is not always accurate and you can end up with some pretty obnoxious mistakes that are hard to unlearn.

Also, if you do too much playing along with the practice soundfiles, you may get so used to the recorded tempo that it becomes difficult to adjust to the conductor’s tempo in rehearsal. This can cause you to lag behind the group and can ultimately slow the whole group down!

Where Do I Find Soundfiles?

All practice soundfiles are stored in Dropbox.

• See email for links
• Email Diane if you need access

Music and practice soundfiles are shared this way due to copyright restrictions. Limiting access helps protect the music and ensures that the composers and arrangers who create it are paid for their work.

Demo/performance soundfiles are linked to on the current session pages for Concert Band and String Ensemble found under the Musical Groups menu.

How Do I Use Practice Soundfiles Effectively?

There are several really good reasons for listening to the practice soundfiles of music you are playing:

• To get a sense of how the music sounds, its style, its phrasing, its harmonies (Most important reason!)
• Following your music while listening to the soundfile (not playing) helps you understand how your part fits with the whole and helps you keep your place. If you can’t keep your place while listening and following in the music, you will struggle to keep your place when you are playing!
• Playing along with the music gives you more opportunities to “practice with the group” than you can get just in rehearsals. Practice soundfiles include a count-off to get you started. When listening to a demo/performance soundfile, however, you will usually not be able to determine when to play the very first beat, so wait for measure one to pass and come in on the next measure.
• If it goes by too quickly, see “It Goes Too Fast!” below.

New To Using Practice Soundfiles?

If you are new to working with practice soundfiles, DO NOT try to play along right away. 

Your first task is to listen several times while just following along in your own music (not playing), perhaps even using your finger to keep your place in the music. See if you can stay with the music, whether or not you can hear your own part (sometimes it doesn’t sound like your instrument because you are playing the same thing as some other instrument and your part adds to the overall, but isn’t itself distinguishable). Watch for things like holds or sudden loud spots or a change from legato to staccato to see if you can hear those as you listen. 

Until you can reliably follow along & keep your place in your music while listening and looking at your part, you will never be able to successfully play along. Be sure to do the listening first or it is just frustrating! Once you get good at that, try listening and speaking your rhythms. Once you can do that, then try playing with it, although you may find that it is too fast for you to keep up – see “It Goes Too Fast!” below.

It Goes Too Fast!

Don’t worry — almost everyone experiences this at first. There are some great tools to help you slow down the practice soundfiles.

Amazing Slow Downer

The Amazing Slow Downer software is truly amazing!  It slows down the practice soundfile without changing the pitch.

Practice soundfiles must be on the same device where the Slow Downer resides; you can not use YouTube, AppleMusic or soundfiles that are streamed from the web. 

For those of you cautious about what you download, this software site is safe according to Norton.

Web / Desktop Version at ronimusic.com.

iOS Version in the App Store.

Android Version in Google Play

YouTube

You can also slow down YouTube by clicking the gear and adjusting the percentage for demo/performance soundfiles. You don’t have minute control of the speed, but it is better than nothing!