1st MIDI Post

Here is some MIDI files to start with:

Total Praise - Richard Smallwood - Adoration
God Didn't Give Up - Deitrick Haddon - Crossroads
Calling My Name - Hezekiah Walker - Live in Atlanta
Baptist Benediction (Threefold Amen)

Enjoy!

Essential: VanBasco's Karaoke Player

Before I post any midi files, I feel that it is important to first explain what a MIDI file is. A MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) file is a file that contains sound data from musical instruments, like a keyboard. MIDI also allows for multiple instruments within the same file (for example, drums, keyboard, sax) and allows you to place them on separate tracks. Imagine the separate instruments playing together as cars traveling along separate lanes on a highway.

VanBasco’s Karaoke Player (http://www.vanbasco.com - freeware!), a program that enables you to view the actual keys on the piano that were pressed to produce the sounds of the separate tracks of a MIDI file (drum tracks are not shown):

An in-depth description of the interface can be found on the author’s website
here. Additionally, the application’s appearance can be changed with the use of skins. One skin in particular, Big Piano, is useful because it enlarges the piano window, making the keys easier to see. You can get it from the skin gallery. To quote the author:

To install a new skin, first download the .zip-archive of the file, e.g. skin.zip. Then extract the contents of the downloaded file to the installation folder of vanBasco’s Karaoke Player, e.g. C:’Program Files’vanBasco’s Karaoke Player. (To do this, you will need a file manager that is capable of reading .zip files. If you are using Windows XP, then Windows Explorer already supports this. Otherwise, you can download 7-zip - freeware!)

Then, inside vanBasco’s Karaoke Player, open the setup dialog. (You get to the setup dialog by clicking the note button in the top-left corner in the main program window of vanBasco’s Karaoke Player and choosing "Setup...".) Choose the "Misc" tab. In the box labeled "Skin" select the skin you just installed. Then close the setup dialog by clicking the "OK" button. The last step is to restart vanBasco’s Karaoke Player. Enjoy!

God First

Giving honor to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I open this blog to spread what has been given unto me to others--the gift of music. My original intentions for this blog is to post songs that I learn to play so that others can learn them as well. I'm still learning, but I will try to at least post 1 song a week if it will help anyone else who is learning to play gospel by ear. Additionally, this blog will host links to other great pages that may pertain to God, or programming, or video games, or gospel, or anything that somehow opened my mind further or could help make me a better person. Requests are welcome, I'll do my best!