American music
There are three levels within this part of the site.
| Access 3 or Foundation Level Standard Grade |
| Intermediate 1 or General Level Standard Grade |
| Intermediate 2 or Credit Level Standard Grade |
General information
This section covers all aspects of American and Jazz music.
Remember that to complete an Intermediate 2 or Credit level course, you must cover the material in the other two levels, as the knowledge and understanding of the 'concepts' are built up over all three levels. In particular in this topic most of the concepts are covered at the first two levels and they should be studied carefully. While these materials can be used on their own, most benefit will be gained by using them in conjunction with playing and experiencing the music live.
Composing using MIDI files
Throughout the 'American and Jazz music topic' you will find various MIDI files in the composing page at each level, which you can download and use as practice for composing your own music. There are three levels.
Access 3 - Foundation level: Drag a file to your desktop and import the file to your music-writing program. Drag the melody notes up or down to create a melody from a given chord structure. Ensure that your quantise is set at 1/8 note or quaver.
Intermediate 1 or General level: Drag a file to your desktop and import the file to your music-writing program. Drag melody notes up or down to create a melody from a given chord structure. Again ensure that your quantise is set at 1/8 note or quaver.
Intermediate 2 or Credit level: Drag a file to your desktop and import the file to your music-writing program. Drag chord accompaniment patterns into order to create your own composition and then create your own melody.
Listening to the sound files
All audio clips require Flash player. Click on this trial sound file to check if you have this installed on your computer:
You don't have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.
This website makes use of Adobe Flash Player, you have an old version which cannot play the content we've created.
Why not download and install the latest version now? It will only take a moment. 
We recommend that you use headphones to enjoy the best quality from the sound files.
Check out the Help page if you need any further assistance using the resource.