HW 5 - JFugue, National Anthems, and Black MIDIs
Note that this fifth homework assignment has two parts, both of which will involve use of JFugue. Note that you are required to submit a full ZIPPED NetBeans project that includes all work for both parts. In the first part, you're going to use JFugue to create a National Anthem for a real country based on sheet music for piano. In part two you'll be making your own Black MIDI song.
SETUP - Note that we'll be using the NetBeans IDE for this portion of the assignment. So, to start, download and install the NetBeans IDE, which is a program for writing Java applications. Create a new project titled FirstNameLastNameMIDIs, where you replace your first and last names in the project title. Next you'll need to download the JFugue you are choosing to use (i.e. 4 or 5) and save it to your project directory. Then, inside NetBeans, right click on your project and select Properties. Go to Libraries and click on Add JAR/Folder, select the JFugue JAR file you just downloaded and make sure the Reference as Relative Path radio button is selected before clicking Open.
A National Anthem MIDI Piece for Piano (50%)
To start with, you are to select one of the National Anthem piano pieces listed on the Cantorion site and construct a note-for-note JFugue MIDI version of it. Note that the site provides the sheet music as well as a demonstration of it being played. Also note that some of these pieces are quite difficult (but great to play for a skilled pianist), so choose your piece carefully. Once you have chosen your piece, you must first reserve it via the appropriate Google Doc (see Blackboard. Neatly add your nation to the reservation list in in alphabetical order with your name so that other students may see what has already been reserved. No two students may produce the same song. Note that your JFugue program should be named after the nation and that when played, your program should save the generated JFugue pattern to a MIDI file of the same name. It should then play the piece.
Your very own Black MIDI (50%)
In lecture we discussed Black MIDI music, well now it's time to make some. Note, of course, that we'll be doing so within reason (i.e. without needing Terabytes of data). Inside your project, create a new Java Program called FirstNameLastNameBlackMIDI replacing your name in the title. Add a main method to this .java file and inside (using helper methods as needed) compose your own original song using a commonly use song structure with different common chord progressions for different parts. Don't just throw a bunch of requirements together. Carefully construct your original work. Your song must be at least 3 minutes in length and must use at least 8 Voices, including a percussion Voice that makes use of at least 5 layers. Note that for your different voices, you should really pour on the layers to produce huge numbers of notes in the instruments (and perhaps percussion) of your choosing. Make sure the song has a beginning, middle, and end (again, use a familiar song structure like we discussed in lecture), and make it dynamic with soft parts and loud parts, fast parts and slow parts. This allows for more dramatic music. Note that you are going for something big here. Take advantage of the full capabilities of JFugue to make something interesting, something beautful, something insane. These works will be presented at the end of the semester in our visualization tool (i.e. HW 6), so put your best effort forward in the construction of these songs. Again, note that your program should save your song to a local MIDI file of the same name as your program, and then should play it.
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